John Salmons takes aim for the fourth seed

The Milwaukee Bucks were an immensely successful team last season relative to expectation, and there's no reason why they can't be even better in the coming year. There aren't a lot of young pieces on the roster set to grow, but the internal development of Brandon Jennings and Andrew Bogut combined with the numerous moves Milwaukee has made to shore up their offense should put the Bucks firmly in the East's quasi-elite.

They're not even close to Miami. They're still a long way away from Orlando. But the Bucks were good and have gotten better, and that counts for something. While it's never a sound long-term strategy to shoot for merely being competitive, the Bucks have taken steps, even if there's not evidence of a durable plan to elevate Milwaukee to championship contenders.

Still, for now, the Bucks are good. Good enough for John Salmons to make public note of his expectations for the coming season, via the Sporting News:

"For me, I prefer having expectations. I have usually played under the radar, and I always struggle with people not recognizing how good we are as a team. But we should be good right from the beginning. I think last year we were a surprise team, but we are not going to be a surprise team this year. I think we can finish among the top four in the East."

There's no question that the Bucks will be right there in the thick of things, but top four? Miami and Orlando are locks, the Bulls should be up there, and the Celtics and Hawks are definitely in the mix. All of those are fine regular season teams, so fine that Milwaukee could easily be locked into the sixth seed for the second straight year. Fourth is well within Milwaukee's reach, but it's early, yet.

Maybe the Bucks will pick up in the '10-'11 regular season in the same ridiculous fashion that carried them through the tail end of the '09-'10 campaign, or maybe they'll look sluggish as Scott Skiles integrates the new offensive cogs. Either way, it's entirely too early to make predictions; training camp isn't even upon us, and with so much left to be determined, Salmons' expectations will have to be left lingering in the air for now.



(probasketballtalk.com)