Giannis and Middleton (and Beauchamp) are out tonight.
Might be a good time for Dame to go for about 60. He actually might need to for the Bucks to score 100 points.
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Bucks up 27-23.
Dame has shot like crap, but still ahead.
Just saw Boston extended Jrue Holiday 4 years 135M are they fucking insane? He will be 34 in June.
@Tschmack posted:Just saw Boston extended Jrue Holiday 4 years 135M are they fucking insane?
That was part of the problem with the Bucks keeping Jrue. He's making way too much money for what he is and extending him for 34 million a year for 4 years is just stupid. He turns 34 this summer.
Like thatâs nuts. Middleton isnât a cheap date either but itâs 3 years 30M per year. And heâs a year and a half younger than Holiday.
Giannis Antetokounmpo finishes the regular season having averaged 30.4 points on a career-best 61% shooting to go along with 11.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists, also a career best, in 73 games. He is the first player in NBA history to average 30 points per game on 60% shooting.
Bucks up 14 at the half. Portis goes for 24. Beasley has continued his recent terrible play, but everyone else has played fairly well.
Now you know why the Lakers didnât mind giving up on Beasley.
You canât play that guy if heâs hitting 25% from 3.
@Tschmack posted:Like thatâs nuts. Middleton isnât a cheap date either but itâs 3 years 30M per year. And heâs a year and a half younger than Holiday.
And Middleton will have a role longer than Jrue just because he's a knockdown shooter. Middleton could play the Kyle Korver role for many more years. Jrue struggles on offense as it is. In another couple of years, what's going to be the difference between Jrue and what Pat Beverley currently is?
@Tschmack posted:Now you know why the Lakers didnât mind giving up on Beasley.
You canât play that guy if heâs hitting 25% from 3.
I'm not sure you can play him in playoff games even it he hits 40% from three.
He's the latest in the line of Mirotic, Bryn Forbes, and Grayson Allen. Guys that hit 3s when there is no pressure, but when it gets to the playoffs or critical games they tighten up (with the exception of Forbes vs. the Heat in 2021) and their defense can't keep them the floor.
Bucks up 19 going to the 4th. Portis with 28 points on 13 of 17 from the floor. Dame with 26.
Holiday is shooting 43 % from 3
Lillard is shooting 35% from 3
@The Crusher posted:Holiday is shooting 43 % from 3
Lillard is shooting 35% from 3
I love Jrue, but the degree of difficulty on these shots are dramatically different.
The vast majority of threes Jrue is shooting this year are wide open. On the Celtics this year, he's the equivalent of Malik Beasley (42% from three this year) - the guy who gets a lot of open shots because he's the 4th or 5th option. We've seen what Jrue shoots from there when he has to be the guy who generates the offense or takes the contested threes and it's not good (every playoff series as a Buck).
Lillard often has a guy face guarding him as soon as he crosses half court.
If Dame had the shots Jrue has taken this year, he'd probably be shooting about 55% from three. If Jrue took the shots Lillard has taken this year, he'd be shooting about 25% from three.
Of course, if you are Jrue fan and/or a Dame lukewarm supporter (like me), you could say that if Dame actually at least tried to put some effort into playing defense, his shooting percentage would drop as well.
Holiday is not a 45% from 3 guy. He might be this year, but thatâs misleading because Brown and Tatum draw so much attention that Holiday is getting a lot more clean looks.
This is why straight up Iâd rather have Middleton than Jrue. Yes, Holiday is a better defender but Middleton is so good in the midrange game and he can hit difficult shots as well. Heâs also a better FT shooter.
@Tschmack posted:Holiday is not a 45% from 3 guy. He might be this year, but thatâs misleading because Brown and Tatum draw so much attention that Holiday is getting a lot more clean looks.
This is why straight up Iâd rather have Middleton than Jrue. Yes, Holiday is a better defender but Middleton is so good in the midrange game and he can hit difficult shots as well. Heâs also a better FT shooter.
The Celtics (or eventually whoever the dump the contract to) will be paying Jrue 34 million in his age 34, 35, 36, and 37 seasons. It may work out for them the next year or two, but you have to think by the time he's 37 he'll be packaged in a trade to dump salary and end up in the buyout market.
Middleton will be making roughly 32 million for his age 33 and 34 seasons.
Even with Middleton being banged up the last couple of years, there is a big difference paying that level of money to a 34 year old who is one of the best shooters in the NBA relative to a 37 year old guy who also has a lot of miles on him.
Thereâs a pretty sizable statistical difference with Holiday in his 3pt shooting percentage in regular season v playoffs.
For his career, Jrue is 37% from 3 which is respectable. In the postseason? Only 33% from 3, including last year when he was 28%.
Thereâs little to no difference with Middletonâs numbers - heâs a shade under 39% for his career during the regular season and actually slightly above that in the playoffs.
Look, a lot of us love Jrue but something that was very overlooked was his expiring contract this year. Yes, Damian Lillard makes a lot more money but if you are Milwaukee there is no way they could have signed him to that extension nor run the risk of letting him walk for nothing.
If the Bucks do decide to pivot from Dame heâs still got a lot of value in terms of a trade. Not so much going forward with Holiday.
@Tschmack posted:Thereâs a pretty sizable statistical difference with Holiday in his 3pt shooting percentage in regular season v playoffs.
For his career, Jrue is 37% from 3 which is respectable. In the postseason? Only 33% from 3, including last year when he was 28%.
Thereâs little to no difference with Middletonâs numbers - heâs a shade under 39% for his career during the regular season and actually slightly above that in the playoffs.
Look, a lot of us love Jrue but something that was very overlooked was his expiring contract this year. Yes, Damian Lillard makes a lot more money but if you are Milwaukee there is no way they could have signed him to that extension nor run the risk of letting him walk for nothing.
If the Bucks do decide to pivot from Dame heâs still got a lot of value in terms of a trade. Not so much going forward with Holiday.
Yes. That's the biggest issue with the way the salary cap rules work in the NBA.
Once you go over the cap, there is a huge incentive to resign your current players even if the money no longer makes sense. If Middleton and Lopez would have walked after last year, the Bucks could have only replaced them with minimum salary guys. Same thing for Jrue had he stayed and been a free agent this year. The players and agents know this so they leverage that for that last big contract.
So, you'd risk ending up with Giannis in his prime on the floor with a bunch of Cam Payne and Malik Beasley types.
@MichiganPacker2 posted:So, you'd risk ending up with Giannis in his prime on the floor with a bunch of Cam Payne and Malik Beasley types.
We both know Giannis will never let that happen.
Titles are what he's looking for. You can see it in his eyes.....and if he cannot get it here in Milwaukee. He'll go somewhere else like Golden St or OKC
@Boris posted:We both know Giannis will never let that happen.
Titles are what he's looking for. You can see it in his eyes.....and if he cannot get it here in Milwaukee. He'll go somewhere else like Golden St or OKC
I hope not. If he does he needs to look in the mirror at some point for why they've fallen short.
Hit your FTs is pretty simple and controllable.
2019. He goes 17 for 36 from the line over the 4 straight losses. That includes 2 for 7 in the Game 3 OT loss. If they go up 3-0, they win that series. A lot of other things happened that contributed to those losses (playoff Eric Bledsoe and FVV going nuclear), but if Giannis hits 75% of his FTs in the ECF they likely get to the Finals and win a title over the depleted Warriors in the Finals.
2023. He's coming back from injury, but going 10 for 23 from the line in the Game 5 of that series in a game you lose in OT was probably the biggest contributor.
In 2020 and 2023, he also got hurt. That's not the front office's fault. In 2022, Middleton got hurt or I think they win that title. Middleton slipping on a wet court in Round 1 of the playoffs was just bad luck.
Horst has made some very questionable decisions this year, but one of the main reasons the Bucks were eliminated in the playoffs in at least two years they oculd have won titles was the fact that Giannis couldn't hit even 50% of his FTs when he needed to.
For those not following the Knicks worked over Boston pretty good last night and Brunson absolutely cooked Holiday.
On the other end of the court, he was 1-4 from 3 and scored 7 points in 29 minutes.
We know Boston didnât have much to play for but we also need to acknowledge that this isnât the vintage Holiday version that Boston is going to get moving forward. Hell, we saw it last season when Jimmy Butler just destroyed him time and time again.
Yes, Boston has a gaudy record but if they donât at least show up and play with top effort on both ends of the court I donât see them as the NBA Champion this year.
