We're gonna be seeing shit like this for the next 2 years.........
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In less than 10 months we will know for sure. Giannis can sign the Supermax on July 1, 2020. If he doesn't sign the first day (or at least indicate he's going to and wait for the team to make salary cap moves during next season's free agent period), we'll have an answer.
I loved Brogdon, but if Giannis is upset that they didn't sign an injury-prone, good but not great, player to massively overinflated contract and that is a tipping point, he's going to find an excuse to leave anyway. We all debated whether giving Middleton a big contract was wise, but Middleton is only 15 months older than Brogdon and other than a freak hamstring injury caused by the Bucks previously awful facilities, he's always been available.
CBSsports also put out this speculation today.
https://www.cbssports.com/nba/...eve-the-unthinkable/
Basically, the only way this works is if the Warriors trade Klay Thompson or the Bucks agree to some sort of sign and trade to net an aging, massively declining Draymond Green. Neither of those are likely to happen.
If Giannis doesn't sign, and I'm the Bucks I keep him until the day he's not under contract. Old Bucks fans should know more than anyone that you never get true value for a superstar when you trade him (at least in the prime of their careers). Kareem was the original guy who forced his way out of a situation he didn't like and the Bucks have not been back to the NBA Finals in 45 years despite getting back a lot more talent than the Bucks would likely get during a lame duck year for Giannis (Elmore Smith, Dave Myers, Junior Bridgeman, and Brian Winters).
I may be a hopeless optimist, but I bet he signs the Supermax.
There is no validity to saying the Warriors are a threat to do anything. Their cap would be impossible to navigate and still maintain the roster. It’s a nothingburger.
The only way Giannis leaves Milwaukee is if something turns him off about the team’s management, the coach, the roster, and the city. Right now, he loves the Management, loves the coach, loves his teammates, and loves Milwaukee and the state of WI. They have a beautiful new arena, the entertainment district is a monument to him (though he is probably indifferent), and he’s coming off the best Bucks season in 30 years. It would take a collapse of proportions unseen in the history of the league to turn this thing south. It’s barely possible, and totally unlikely.
He's not going anywhere...
Ramona Shelbourne is a hack. She’s the same author of an article that came out right after the playoffs ended that basically questioned his loyalty and commitment to Milwaukee. Eff that noise.
She is a pot stirring joke of a journalist.
If for some reason Giannis has a change of heart and wants out that would suck but I’ll tell you what the Pelicans don’t look so bad now and in the future given what LA gave up to get him. That’s the floor for any kind of deal. Steph Curry won’t get any healthier over time and not sure I’d want to give up a Klay Thompson and multiple 1st round picks to get him but hey it’s all banter at this point. I just don’t want it to become a distraction this year as the Bucks have a golden opportunity to get to the ECF or beyond.
Here’s another reason he isn’t going anywhere- the CBA opt out clause after the 2022-23 season.
The Antetokounmpo Camp is most certainly not going to risk drastic changes in the CBA that might impact what he can earn, especially noting that the key point in the new negotiations will be player movement.
The Bucks aren’t stupid. If they believe Giannis wants out they will make a deal that brings back a healthy return.
The Anthony Davis trade basically rebuilt the Pelicans overnight. In 2-3 years that team could be a powerhouse.
The Bucks get fined 50K for comments that Jon Horst made about their intent to offer Giannis a super max contract next year.
I get the fact you don’t want other teams tampering but WTF it’s the damn team that drafted and developed him! What an asinine rule. LeBron James can openly recruit players but a GM of a team can’t comment on one of his players. That’s ridiculous.
Such bullshit... the Lakers openly commit actual tampering and they fine the fucking Bucks. 
Where’s Magic Johnson to consult Jon Horst on what he can and can’t say about players?
The league office has done so many things right but they are flat out wrong to fine the Bucks on this.
Tschmack posted:The Bucks aren’t stupid. If they believe Giannis wants out they will make a deal that brings back a healthy return.
The Anthony Davis trade basically rebuilt the Pelicans overnight. In 2-3 years that team could be a powerhouse.
The main reason they may be a powerhouse is that they won the lottery (again) and got Zion Williamson. If Zion doesn't turn into the next great NBA player, they aren't going to be a powerhouse.
The guys they got back for Anthony Davis are a good haul, but you never get true value for a real superstar. Look at the Bucks and Kareem 45 years ago.
I believe it is inevitable that Giannis will sign with the Yankees
I see what you did there.
El-Nuke-the-Hurricanes-Bong posted:I believe it is inevitable that Giannis will sign with the Yankees
No way, that's a dumb take. He'll be a Patriot. Take over for Brady.
Very few players play for one team their whole careers.
That’s true Pikes but Giannis seems like a different dude. In a way he’s like Kobe- not particularly liked or chummy with other players and ultra focused on winning. Sometimes that approach rubbed people the wrong way.
As long as the Bucks continue to provide talent around him I think it’s unlikely he bolts from Milwaukee.
Pikes Peak posted:Very few players play for one team their whole careers.
In large part because they, their agents, or their families want them to get to the warm climates or New York for the lifestyle, the endorsements, or just the attention from ESPN.
I think that’s generally the case but Giannis seems like an outlier. As long as Horst and the ownership are committed to winning I think he’ll be fine. If they break up the roster or make a bunch of changes all bets are off.
Hard to believe but the new NBA season starts in 3 weeks.
The Warriors have a brand new multi-Billion with a "B" stadium to keep full. Klay is already ruled out for 2019-2020 -- some are predicting the W's don't even make the playoffs.
Right now....this is nothing to think about....until it's something to think about. This season is ultra important to the Bucks franchise.
One more thing not mentioned......Curry & Giannis are friends. They have the same family ideals. They get it.
In any event....today is the DAY! Enjoy the season fellas
Now Giannis adds fuel to the fire.........
MNPackman posted:Now Giannis adds fuel to the fire.........
So there goes “I want to stay in Milwaukee”??? 
Just can’t believe ANYTHING they say. How many championships does he have to win to stay???
So this was an interview in the Spring of 2019...
And they waited to release this article until the day the regular season opens.
Seriously.....boys & girls ...stop clicking that link!
Depends on what he thinks "underperformans" means.
Not making it to the Conference Finals? League Finals?
It's not exactly news. Why would he want to stay in Milwaukee if the team isn't successful? This interview was before the playoffs but I would think there has been no underperforming to date since the interview.
Boris posted:Seriously.....boys & girls ...stop clicking that link!
No kidding. Shite
Really interesting piece from ReamGM:
https://basketball.realgm.com/...ty-Is-Taking-An-Edge
But in this discussion about the future, we need to also acknowledge how much Giannis has already revealed about his values. Loyalty is way up there. He often deflects his accomplishments to his teammates. He’s said that he’s happy in Milwaukee. The team has certainly done everything he’s asked, including giving his brother a 15th roster spot. And you can tell he has a lot more reverence for Budenholzer than Kidd at this stage. Budenholzer’s values certainly appear to align with his own.
But it doesn’t seem like his quest to win is in his mind an entitlement. He does not pal around with the rest of the NBA’s great players. There will be no banana boats for this kid.
Why does this matter? Because it means that none of the values that make up today’s NBAAU player appears to drive this man. He’s said this year on multiple occasions that he doesn’t play basketball for himself- he does it for those that matter to him. His quest to win seems to come as a survival instinct- not like Lebron, who seeks validation of the greatness he has in his mind already achieved. That is the difference between being told that greatness was your right and having your next meal come from how many cheap sunglasses you sold today.
And for many of us old school folks that grew up watching guys like Magic, and Larry, and Michael pursue greatness because they simply wanted it, it’s a refreshing alternative to the entitled star attitude of today’s player. The first place he has been taught to look when he fell short of what he wanted to accomplish was in the mirror. Imagine that... but that’s because Charles didn’t raise his boys to be victims, and if his #2 son doesn’t achieve what he wants, he knows he just has to work harder.
Nice write up.
Unlikable entitled jackasses like LeBron make it hard to watch the NBA. Giannis is not only extremely talented but his values and unselfish attitude make you cheer for him. I've said it before - comes from good parenting.
Agree with PackDog good writeup Music City!!
The good news for Giannis, he has one thing in common with Magic, Bird, and Jordan, an insatiable desire to be great and be the best. In terms of personality, he's actually better off than any of those 3 in my opinion. Jordan was a borderline sociopath whose true personality was covered up by great marketing and spin doctors. Bird was a bit prickly and nowhere near as friendly and gregarious as Giannis.
Giannis and Magic are probably the closest in terms of comparisons as both have an incredible charisma and are friendly and easygoing with the public. But even Giannis separates from Magic in the fact that Magic let the fast lane of Hollywood/LA get the best of him to the point that it nearly cost him his life. Here is to hoping that Giannis can somehow balance being the best basketball player in the world along with keeping a down to earth and somewhat humble profile.
Even if Giannis leaves Milwaukee, I hope he can continue to be what on the surface appears to be a great guy off the court.
I can't even begin to tell you how bad I want the Bucks to win a Championship with this guy. Even just one. I'd be sooooooo happy.
How about Rodgers wins his 2nd Super Bowl & Giannis wins his first Championship in June....how's that sound?
Jesus this shit is getting old.....
If he really does decide to go, there's no trade the Bucks could make to make up for his loss. Man I hope it never gets that far. I think the Bucks have done everything right ever since letting Jason Kidd/Joe Prunty go. It's not a completely flawless team even at 45-7, but it is an excellent one that will give any other team a huge obstacle to get past.
The Bucks may not be "flawless" but man are they historically good!
Only part of that article worth reading....
"And if it's not Antetokounmpo, the Warriors will be well-positioned to go after the next superstar who becomes available via trade."
I mentioned this in the game thread....Remember when the Bucks played in SF? At halftime they had "Greek Heritage Night" Seriously?!?! There's also a good GIF floating around of Curry talking to Giannis saying something like...."C'mon let's do this!!"
Warriors are actually setup real nice even if they don't get Giannis. Lottery pick plus Klay & Steph & an aging Green. Plus now the addition of Wiggins. They're also very good with 2nd round picks.
Ironically, the biggest flaw that could prevent the Bucks from winning a title is Giannis' FT percentage. Yes, Bledsoe has struggled from outside in the playoffs, but George Hill and DDV's development create some backup if that happens.
The Bucks opened the Raptors ECF series by winning the first two games and Giannis going 18-24 from the line. In the following 4 losses, he went 16 for 36. Even worse, he was a mildly bad, but not awful 6 for 10 in the one game that was a blowout win for the Raptors. The other 3 games were the following:
1. Game 3 loss in OT (Giannis 2 for 7 from the line)
2. Game 5 loss by 6. Game tied with 2:44 and Bucks down 2 with 34 seconds left. Giannis 4 for 9 from the FT line
3. Game 6 loss by 6. Bucks down 3 with 9 seconds left and can't secure a defensive rebound after a Raptors miss. Giannis 5 for 10 from the line
There's this narrative that developed that the Bucks got run out of the gym the last 4 games by the Raptors. That's not near the case. The Bucks lost for three reasons. If any of those three don't happen, the Bucks probably are NBA champs giving the Warriors injuries in the Finals.
1. Fred Van Vliet went 14 for 19 from 3 over the last 3 games.
2. Bledsoe struggled.
3. Giannis didn't hit FTs. He shot 44 percent in the three close losses. If he hits 75%, the Bucks probably win in 5 or 6 games.
The national media (some of which have reasons to want Giannis in a large market for ratings - ESPN, TNT, etc.) ignore reasons 1 and 3 and focus on Bledsoe's struggles and the fact that Middleton isn't a "superstar" as the reason they lost.
Giannis has to hit his FTs at a higher percentage. He might average 20 attempts a game in the playoffs. The Bucks will be giving away 3-4 points a game if he hits 60% instead of 75-80%. In reality, as great as Giannis is, if he left because he can't win a title in Milwaukee even though his FT shooting was one of the major causes would be worse than Kevin Durant leaving for the Warriors. The Thunder lost that series in large part because Klay Thompson went nuclear for 19 points in the 4th quarter of Game 6. Durant concluded he wasn't going to beat them in OKC.
The other thing to remember is they got nothing out of Mirotic
i think Korver and DDV and Marvin Williams will help there
Tschmack posted:The other thing to remember is they got nothing out of Mirotic
i think Korver and DDV and Marvin Williams will help there
A lot of people forget that, also.
Mirotic was 6 for 31 from 3 for the series and the Bucks were -34 in the 63 minutes that Mirotic played in Games 3-5 (before they benched him completely in Game 6). They were +4 in the other 81 minutes.
As bad as Bledsoe was, the Bucks were -11 in his 118 minutes. In the 79 minutes he was off the court, they were -25. In other words, they were much better with Bledsoe than without.
The fact that Mirotic's defense was most similar to that of Jabari Parker was as big a problem as his shooting.
The other semi-flaw in the Bucks is that they are not great at contesting 3 pointers, I believe they were #20 in terms of defensive percentage of 3s made per attempt. Most teams aren't good enough to take advantage of that but I think teams like Raptors, Celtics, and Heat will bomb away and test the Bucks from that perspective.
I think the Bucks will make some adjustments if they face those teams and they do get hot from 3, but it's probably the only stat where the Bucks fall below the NBA average, just about every other stat the Bucks are at the top or close to it. They don't need to change or adjust anything right now, but it's possible they'll need to change things up a bit in the deeper rounds of the playoffs. Let's be honest, for the Bucks they are on cruise control until they hit the 2nd round of the playoffs. That's when the real challenges begin.
fightphoe93 posted:The other semi-flaw in the Bucks is that they are not great at contesting 3 pointers, I believe they were #20 in terms of defensive percentage of 3s made per attempt. Most teams aren't good enough to take advantage of that but I think teams like Raptors, Celtics, and Heat will bomb away and test the Bucks from that perspective.
I think the Bucks will make some adjustments if they face those teams and they do get hot from 3, but it's probably the only stat where the Bucks fall below the NBA average, just about every other stat the Bucks are at the top or close to it. They don't need to change or adjust anything right now, but it's possible they'll need to change things up a bit in the deeper rounds of the playoffs. Let's be honest, for the Bucks they are on cruise control until they hit the 2nd round of the playoffs. That's when the real challenges begin.
The Bucks have essentially traded Brogdon, Mirotic, and Tony Snell for Wes Matthews, Kyle Korver, and Marvin Williams. Matthews and Williams allow you another option to match up against Horford, Myles Turner, and Serge Ibaka who are a problem for Brook Lopez in pick and roll and what causes the defensive scrambling that results in wide open 3s in the offensive schemes used to attack the Bucks.
A bunch of articles in the national media were talking about how the Bucks blew it by not laying out the big money to get Brogdon when he opened the season well for the Pacers. He's now shooting 44% from the field and 33% from 3 for the year. He's a nice player, but his efficiency doesn't scale with higher usage and he's not as good a defender as Wes Matthews. Matthews is 19 million a year cheaper and the Bucks have a draft choice that will probably end up in the 16-22 range in the first round.
Brogdon's now shooting a lower % from 3 than Bledsoe, and he's already missed 14 games (and played less than 10 minutes in 2 others because of injury). I haven't seen a single article following up on the fact that the Bucks probably made the right move.
The Bucks made the right move on MB
He’s a spot up shooter and having Giannis create those looks is paramount.
The single biggest issue on Brogdon is health. As in he’s not been able to stay healthy.
The national media can eat a bag of dicks as they either don’t respect Milwaukee or they are writing about 34 wanting out of Milwaukee. I hope the Bucks win the title just to STFU the haters or critics