Milwaukee Bucks 2014-15 Season Review: O.J. Mayo
Dec 26, 2014; Atlanta, GA, USA; Milwaukee Bucks guard O.J. Mayo (00) in action against the Atlanta Hawks in the second quarter at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
No one projected Ovinton J’Anthony “O. J.” Mayo’s basketball career to end up in Milwaukee as a bench role player. From a high school prospect nearing LeBron James-level hype, attending USC as the highest graded player in the 2007 recruiting class (ahead of Derrick Rose, Kevin Love, James Harden, and Blake Griffin) to becoming the third overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft, O.J. Mayo seemed destined for NBA greatness.
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Conventional opinion states he’s never lived up to the hype. Not in the four seasons in Memphis that saw him go from scoring 18.5 points per game his rookie season to 12.4 points off the bench in his fourth season. Not in his one season in Dallas where he started every game, but lost steam after the All-Star break. Certainly not in Milwaukee where after sustaining a shoulder injury he gained weight to the point that he couldn’t play due to conditioning.
So Mayo entered the 2014-15 Milwaukee Bucks campaign with not just a chip on his shoulder, but with the goal of erasing the perception that he was a lazy, overpaid player cashing in on a big contract.
He wasted no time creating a splash with his preseason play–but that’s about as valuable as the dust on top of my monitor.
The real story is how big of an impact did O.J. Mayo have on the 2014-15 Milwaukee Bucks. Find out in our season review of O.J. Mayo.
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