12/01/11 - 11:43am
Luc Ready for Next Step by Devon Jeffreys

With the season less than a month away from its start, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is ready to get back to work.

Luc is excited to get back to basketball this season, wherever he may end up as a restricted free agent.

It's been a longer than usual wait for Luc and fellow NBA players this season. But while keeping up with labor negotiations, and even participating in some as the Bucks' player rep, No. 12 has kept himself in shape and ready to roll once the parties came to an agreement.

"As a professional athlete, you've got to stay in shape," Mbah a Moute told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "It's awful tough in this situation. Normally you try to get in peak shape before the season, but it's hard when you don't know when the season will start. You just have to keep training and stay ready so you're able to perform from the beginning."

This particular offseason for Luc is further complicated by the fact that he does not know where he will be playing when the season begins in the last week of December. As a restricted free agent, Luc can field offers from any NBA team and the Milwaukee Bucks have the right to match those offers. But many teams will be vying for one of the league's best defenders, so anything can happen. Charlie Widdoes of ClipperBlog sees a possible fit in Los Angeles, where Luc played his college ball and makes his offseason home:

At 6'8″ and 230 pounds, he has the size and strength to guard both forward spots and the versatility to stick 2′s (see above). For perspective, well-known lockdown defender, Tony Allen, allowed 101 points per 100 possessions each of the past two years, Mbah a Moute was not far behind at 103. Synergy has him somewhere between "very good" and "excellent" from isolation situations to the post. He's a cerebral player with a history of achievement (a finals appearance and two other Final Fours in three college seasons, a playoff berth with the Bucks), the classic anti-Clipper that could be an asset to a young, developing core.

Luc will have a week to weigh all of his options as he cannot sign an offer sheet until December 9th. At that point, the Bucks will have three days to match the offer or let No. 12 continue his career elsewhere. Luc is just anxious to see how it all plays out and be able to get back on the court.

"It's pretty cool to be at a point to finding out where I'm going to be at," Luc told the Journal-Sentinel. "It's good to be in this process and I'm blessed to be in this situation."

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