Thanasis Antetokounmpo's new contract with the Milwaukee Bucks is for two seasons at the veteran minimum. The second year has a player option.@spotrac
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) August 14, 2021
Giannis the GM of the team now?
Still celebrating
Public service announcement
— UK Bucks (@UK_Bucks) August 14, 2021
The Milwaukee @Bucks are the NBA Champions.
That is all.
@El-Ka-Bong posted:Giannis the GM of the team now?
Francis, Alex and Kostas have scheduled flights to Billy Mitchell. 34 is dispatching Bud to pick them up.
Giannis is now a minority owner of the Brewers.
I wonder if there is anyone with the Brewers that's a Packer shareholder? Need to make this thing go full circle.
@PackerHawk posted:Giannis is now a minority owner of the Brewers.
I wonder if there is anyone with the Brewers that's a Packer shareholder? Need to make this thing go full circle.
There were a lot of people (like me) who purchased those shares 20 years or so ago. I would bet there is a chance that Craig Counsell's family has some given that he grew up in Wisconsin as a huge sports fan.
Some more on Monty Williams speech in Bucks locker room
A non issue… Giannis desires to associate himself with folks with like values. It was a refreshing show of respect and another example of Giannis showing his teammates the way he wants his teammates to behave in victory. He’s been an example already of how to conduct yourself in defeat.
Little something about Divincenzo and Allen:
Bucks extend Budenholzer:
https://bleacherreport.com/art...-after-nba-title-run
Budenholzer has his deal. I think it’s just as likely he does t see the end of it as he does.
Giannis attended a wrestling event Friday night. Here's him and Alex with The Big Show. Man that guy is huge.
@Music City posted:Bucks extend Budenholzer:
https://bleacherreport.com/art...-after-nba-title-run
Budenholzer has his deal. I think it’s just as likely he does t see the end of it as he does.
He gets at least two of the three years. I don't see how he gets fired even in Year 3 if it turns out he can't get by a healthy Nets team. If those guys stay healthy (and that's a big, big if), I don't know how you can expect to beat them in a 7-game series.
@MichiganPacker2 posted:He gets at least two of the three years. I don't see how he gets fired even in Year 3 if it turns out he can't get by a healthy Nets team. If those guys stay healthy (and that's a big, big if), I don't know how you can expect to beat them in a 7-game series.
I’ll say this- the Bucks, of all the teams in the NBA, have as good a shot as any of them. They defend. They have the offense to compete. And they have the knowledge that they took Durant at his best and beat him.
Giannis is not as good today as he’ll be. Holiday can assert himself more offensively. And Middleton has played well against them already. Patty Mills joining them is pretty interesting- but the Bucks still have a size advantage. If the Bucks G position produces more (which it can with better all around players in Hill and Allen), they can stay with the Nets.
As the league tends to move more toward guard oriented play and long range shots this current Bucks team is as good if not better than the team that won it all last season.
Some people are making a big production out of losing Tucker, but the reality is he wasn’t as effective against certain teams (see Phoenix) and he gave them little to no threat offensively. Granted, not having DDV in the playoffs was an issue as well, but Hill and Allen are major upgrades on both ends of the floor over guys like Forbes and Teague.
What got the Bucks in trouble this year was when Holiday went out the backup guards got exposed. Not so much this year.
@MichiganPacker2 posted:He gets at least two of the three years. I don't see how he gets fired even in Year 3 if it turns out he can't get by a healthy Nets team. If those guys stay healthy (and that's a big, big if), I don't know how you can expect to beat them in a 7-game series.
Even if they stay healthy you have Irving in the mix. How long until he wears out his welcome in the locker room? And how good is Harden going to be with the new rules on instigating contact?
The thing with the Nets (as Packer Hawk and Tschmack both comment on) is how to distribute the shots. Harden showed last year in the limited time he was healthy that he is willing to play point guard.
The 2022 Nets will be just like the 2018 Warriors. Curry and Klay are HOFers, but their best offense was to maximize Durant's shot attempts or force doubles on Durant to get others open shots. Harden and Irving are both HOFers, but again, any possession that Durant doesn't touch the ball is a win for the defense.
Will Irving and Harden continue to be OK not being "the guy" in crunch time? I think Harden will be, I'm not sure about Irving.
A trade that would improve both teams involved but will not happen would be for the Nets to trade Irving to the Sixers for Simmons. The Sixers really want to trade Simmons for Lillard, but Irving is almost as good a player and is less of a defensive liability (Irving's biggest problem is that he's a flake). Irving immediately upgrades the perimeter offense for the Sixers and has Embiid to protect the rim on defense. Simmons gives the Nets an elite defender to guard people like Giannis, Tatum, Middleton, Butler, etc., and if you are playing with Durant and Harden you don't need to shoot.
Irving is a top 15-20 player in the league based on pure talent. He might be the hardest guy in the league to defend off the dribble.
The problem is he’s an absolute head case and is prone to just giving up or throwing in the towel. He’s one of the worst chemistry guys in the NBA. With “load management” all the rage Irving took it a step further. He opted out of a lot of games for “personal reasons.” Whatever and good luck with that Nets.
Everyone is penciling in the Nets and Lakers but honestly the Bucks are the best TEAM. They can score, they have size, they can rebound and contest the rim, and most of their roster features players that are well above average defensively. Holiday and Giannis are elite in that category.
The best thing Brooklyn could do is trade Irving or Harden to allow the offense to run through Durant. I mean, you take away shots from him and you aren’t very smart. That’s where a Simmons trade would make perfect sense. Not that Philly would want Irving, but Harden might make sense. Simmons can pass and play tough D and set up KD.
I don't think the Nets or the Lakers will be in the finals next year. Sorry, ESPN.
I don’t think so either. Especially the Lakers. I’m going to love to see how Russ and LeBron coexist given both of them basically demand the ball at all times. Anthony Davis is completely unreliable given his health issues, and if AD can’t go or isn’t 100% that’s a 6-8 seed which in the WC probably means another first round playoff exit.
Until they actually prove it, I don’t trust the Nets. Why should we? They don’t play defense and there’s only one ball to go around.
@Tschmack posted:I don’t think so either. Especially the Lakers. I’m going to love to see how Russ and LeBron coexist given both of them basically demand the ball at all times. Anthony Davis is completely unreliable given his health issues, and if AD can’t go or isn’t 100% that’s a 6-8 seed which in the WC probably means another first round playoff exit.
Until they actually prove it, I don’t trust the Nets. Why should we? They don’t play defense and there’s only one ball to go around.
If Durant is healthy, the Nets are in a tier with the Bucks over the rest of the east.
I could see the Lakers sitting various guys for a third of the regular season games (or keeping the minutes of LeBron and AD low in the game they do play) to keep them fresh and getting a good seed only to struggle in the playoffs when they have to decide how to shrink the rotation and cut minutes. That is not going to go over well if guys like Rondo, Carmelo, etc. go from playing 25-30 minutes a game to being spectators in the playoffs.
I want to see Russ and Rondo spending a whole season of quality time with each other. That definitely has no chance of blowing up.
Ideally, if you are the Lakers you don’t have Russ and LeBron on the floor at the same time. I’m not sure how that will work or fit given their style(s) of play.
Westbrook is such a paradox in that pound for pound may be the most talented individual contributor in the league. The problem is he’s not a leader, and his teams don’t excel. He’s terrible at initiating or running an offense. He makes really dumb decisions as well. Sure, he can fill up the stat sheet and he works hard, but the game is so much more than that.
You know damn well Russ will give Rondo the hands at some point. Reminds me of Stephen Jackson and Ron Artest playing together with the Pacers. Someone was going to throw down given alpha dog status.
@PackerHawk posted:I don't think the Nets or the Lakers will be in the finals next year. Sorry, ESPN.
Yup! I agree 💯!!!
Denver at full strength, with Utah in the mix makes it real tough to coast through the season… and that’s exactly what the Lakers will have to do with their aging and injury prone roster. Only in the West, that might have you playing the play-in games. When you add in Phoenix, GS, and even the Clippers with Dallas coming and Portland, an improving Memphis squad and NO with at least a talented roster on paper… the West is going to be a bloody 82 games.
In the East the Nets have a clear advantage in that the top of the East is very good, but shallow. The Celtics have a new coach and an incomplete roster, Philly has the Simmons situation looming, and Miami needs to prove it. Milwaukee and the Nets are above- the rest are incomplete in one way or another.
Great Brewhoop breakdown of of how the Bucks can repeat:
Here’s a painful look at the 2016 draft and the selection of Thon Maker. The Bucks could have had:
- Dejounte Murray
- Caris Lavert
- Pascal Siakem
- Damontas Sabonis
They mention Brogdon, but they got him in the second round, so not sure what they were thinking there in the article.
But there were folks who were in love with Maker. He just has never been able to develop his game. He’s physically unable to hold up against any physicality, and he’s now relegated to playing on bad teams in roles he simply can’t succeed in.
@Music City posted:Here’s a painful look at the 2016 draft and the selection of Thon Maker. The Bucks could have had:
- Dejounte Murray
- Caris Lavert
- Pascal Siakem
- Damontas Sabonis
They mention Brogdon, but they got him in the second round, so not sure what they were thinking there in the article.
But there were folks who were in love with Maker. He just has never been able to develop his game. He’s physically unable to hold up against any physicality, and he’s now relegated to playing on bad teams in roles he simply can’t succeed in.
I get what you are saying, but a lot of teams missed in that draft and miss in every draft. In the last 25 years, the Bucks have picked only 3 guys that you'd call great draft choices for the place they were picking (I don't count Dirk or guys like that that the Bucks picked in prearranged deals for other teams). It's Giannis, Michael Redd, and Brogdon. Then there are some average guys that are decent NBA players but are a dime a dozen (Bogut, DDV, etc.) and don't really move the needle to be a contender. Then, it's mostly picks they completely whiffed on (Maker, DJ Wilson, Joe Alexander, Marcus Haislip, TJ Ford, etc.).
The biggest miss the Bucks had this decade was Jabari Parker at #2 overall. Was that all injury-related or was he never going to play defense? I'd say the latter was a bigger factor. We could have had Embiid, Aaron Gordon, Jokic, Capela, LaVine, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Randle, Marcus Smart, or Jordan Clarkson (among others).
How about Bogut in the 2000s instead of Chris Paul?
The nice thing is that it doesn't matter. The Bucks drafted by far the best player in the 2010 drafts (only AD and Kawhi would be in the same conversation right now).
The great thing about the NBA is that as unfair as it is that the Nets and Lakers are assembling all-star teams, there's always a chance you can get a hit in the draft that makes you competitive for a title: Giannis, Jokic, Doncic.
The Bucks have been drafting players for over 50 years. Giannis has been a full-time player for only 7 years and he already has more career win-shares than any other Bucks draftees that played for them besides Kareem, Moncrief, Marques, and Bobby Dandridge.
They won their first title because they made the draft pick that was as easy a top pick as there has ever been in NBA history. They were good enough to win a title in the 80s because they drafted two superstars in succession (Moncrief and Marques). They won this one (with a lot of assistance from Middleton and Holiday) because they did the equivalent of hitting three grand slams HRs in the same inning to get Giannis at the 15th pick.
It’s sort of poetic justice in a way because Jabari Parker was as good of a can’t miss scorer as there has been since Carmelo Anthony.
As good as Giannis is without Middleton and Holiday they don’t win the title. They got Middleton in a throw in deal for Jennings and Knight (that was nice). New Orleans gave Jrue away for almost nothing in retrospect.
https://sports.yahoo.com/jrue-...e-ida-223902869.html
Jrue.....he's such a good guy. No wonder Durant likes him & his family so much.
I just love hearing stories like this
Bobby Dandridge going into the HOF:
That made my night. Loved that dude! Kind of lost in history. Awesome.
@MNPackman posted:Bobby Dandridge going into the HOF:
I liked Bobby D and I'm glad he got in.
Serious question, how similar a player is Khris Middleton to Dandridge? They'll end up with about the same amount of all-star game appearances (Dandridge made 4, Middleton is at 2 and should get 1 or 2 more). They are about the same size, both great shooters, and both won titles with the Bucks.
Is Middleton a future Hall of Famer? The only guys that have scored 40 in a Finals game that aren't either in the Hall of Fame or locks to get in are Jimmy Butler and Middleton.
If he continues to play at a high level for the next 5-6 years I think he's a good bet.
@MichiganPacker2 posted:Is Middleton a future Hall of Famer? The only guys that have scored 40 in a Finals game that aren't either in the Hall of Fame or locks to get in are Jimmy Butler and Middleton.
If he maintains his current level for the next 3 or 4 years, he should be. But that’s not a foregone conclusion. He’s in his prime right now, he just turned 30 in AUG.
He has improved his explosiveness the last couple years by working harder in the gym (Giannis’ influence here is probably huge). He wasn’t really able to dunk a couple years ago- now he is, and he’s able get by defenders off the bounce. That’s the commitment he needs to make to play at an elite level for that duration- and in doing that, both justify the max investment they made and also keep that Championship window open.
Middleton chances for the Hall of Fame probably depend on making a few more all-star teams. the problem will be the pressure to put a few guys from the big market teams on that shouldn't get put in front of Middleton (or Holiday for that matter). If healthy, there are about 7 locks for the Eastern team that you can identify before the season starts.
Giannis, Durant, Harden, Tatum, Embiid, Irving, and Trae Young (will make it this coming year)
LaVine, Vucevic, Jaylen Brown, Ben Simmons, Randle, Beal, and Sabonis all made it last year (Vucevic as an injury replacement).
12 guys make it, so there are only 5 open sports. Beal is probably close to a lock even though he might be one of the worst defense player in the league (along with T. Young).
I wouldn't trade Middleton or Holiday for anyone outside of the top 6 on that list (and I probably wouldn't do it for Irving either), but getting Middleton on will still be a stretch. He should be a lock at this point, but we'll see.
Holiday has only made one all-star team in his career. That's borderline criminal. It just shows how little these types of selections value defense. But he has virtually no chance of making it, even though he might have been the second most important player on the 2021 Olympic team this year after Durant.
Bucks name Lisa Byington as the new play by play announcer to replace the retired Jim Paschke. She will be the 1st full time female announcer of a pro team.
Bucks release Diakite- it just never seemed like he understood the game. Had a bit of an edge, but never seemed to understand heady play. Lots of questionable stuff he’d do.
He needs to go to Europe and work his game, then come back.
@Music City posted:Bucks release Diakite- it just never seemed like he understood the game. Had a bit of an edge, but never seemed to understand heady play. Lots of questionable stuff he’d do.
He needs to go to Europe and work his game, then come back.
The Thunder claimed him on waivers. It's odd that a guy with 5 years of coaching from Tony Bennett at Virginia didn't understand heady play. The typical Virginia player in the NBA really understands the nuances of the game (Brogdon, DeAndre Hunter, Joe Harris, and Mike Scott are examples).
Bennett's program is largely predicated on his pack-line defense. Diakite was mainly a screener in his "Blocker / mover" offense, which I have never been found of. Like Bobby Knight, Bennett is often credited for having "smart players", what I've learned in my 36 years coaching is that it more about who you recruit, who they are before you ever get them. Knight liked to recruit offensively fundamentally sound players who could shoot. Bennett likes to recruit guys who will buy into his defense and style of play. These players typically already have a higher basketball IQ than the norm. Diakite was an outlier at UVA personality-wise, but was athletic enough to both protect the rim and "show" on ball screens 25 feet from the basket.