Who is Milwaukee Bucks Top Player For First Half Of Season?

The Milwaukee Bucks started out the 2012-13 NBA season on a tear winning six of their first eight games. However, the magic has worn off as Milwaukee currently sits in the eighth seed of the Eastern Conference with a 26-25 record. One player in particular has helped the team stay afloat despite dealing with an injury as of late.

Center Larry Sanders is the Most Valuable Player on the Bucks for the first half of the season. Sanders leads the team in rebounds (8.5) and blocks (3.2) per game. He is also second on the team in field goal percentage (.525) and player efficiency rating (18.4). Sanders has been dealing with a back injury lately but has still managed to put up good numbers. It should be noted that the 24-year-old’s 3.2 blocks per game leads the NBA and is a huge reason why Milwaukee leads the league in blocks per game (7.5).

The third-year player has improved drastically in every part of his game since last season, which is why he is the heavy favorite to be the Most Improved Player of the Year on the Bucks once this year concludes.

Many people may be surprised to see that point guard Brandon Jennings is not the MVP of the first half considering some of his statistics rank at the top of the league among guards. It is true that Jennings leads the team in points (18.5), assists (6.1) and steals (1.94) per game. However, he also plays the most minutes on the team (11.7 minutes more than Sanders) which is a good reason why he is able to score almost 19 points per game. Not to mention, he has one of the worst shooting percentages on the team (.395) which means he takes way too many shots and does not make nearly enough of them.

Sanders may only score 11.2 points per game but if Jennings did not hurl up bricks every other shot and instead fed the ball in the middle then maybe the 6-foot-11 center could get some more offensive work in opposed to padding his rebound statistics.

If fans in Milwaukee have learned anything over the past week, it is that Jennings will probably not be a part of the Bucks much longer and he is perfectly fine with that. Sanders is the player that the team must begin to rebuild around. Of course, that is not saying he is already at the top of his game and does not need much work, but it is saying that Sanders has shown incredible potential to be a top defensive player in the league for years to come.

As for now, the Florida native must keep working hard, stay healthy and continue to play at a high level to help Milwaukee clinch a playoff berth.