Milwaukee Bucks 2014 - 2015 (part 1)

[superfly]

If this team had a healthy Parker and Sanders, they would be a legit contender to make the NBA Finals. Not the favorite mind you, but it would have been possible. Coming off a 15 win season, that is astounding.

 

Also, for those of you who doubted me, you now see the state legislature has said no way will they pass Walker's plan for funding the new arena. At one point I was highly confident something will get worked out. Then, I'm constantly reminded this is Milwaukee and Wisconsin, and there's a real possibility this drags on forever and we'll be watching the Seattle Bucks in a couple years.

 

No way they pass it UNLESS they all get a little pork coming back their way.

[jerichoholicninja]

If this team had a healthy Parker and Sanders, they would be a legit contender to make the NBA Finals. Not the favorite mind you, but it would have been possible. Coming off a 15 win season, that is astounding.

 

Also, for those of you who doubted me, you now see the state legislature has said no way will they pass Walker's plan for funding the new arena. At one point I was highly confident something will get worked out. Then, I'm constantly reminded this is Milwaukee and Wisconsin, and there's a real possibility this drags on forever and we'll be watching the Seattle Bucks in a couple years.

 

Speaking of things that drag on forever, is there a danger that the Brewers will start getting bumped off of FSN at the end of the NBA season since the Bucks might actually be playing for something?

[Jenkins5]

Here is a look at the bucks this season vs over .500/playoff type teams. 7-14 W/L Total. I have broke them down in colors. Some one made a comment about how bad we do against the best teams and really I disagree. We play the best teams very tough. Only lost by 10+ points to them 5x this season. We are a consistent rebounder and a consistent scoring treat away from contending with the big boys. He just don't rebound or score enough to match our defensive talent.

 

Green is a Win

Red is what I considered a close really good game played, usually 6 points or less

Pink is more of the 7-10 point losses where you hung around but never really close close

Blue are games where we really didn't take care of business at all

 

Atlanta

W 107-77

L 85-90

 

Memphis

W 93-92

 

Houston

L 103-117

 

Portland

L 97-104

W 95-88

 

LA Clippers

W111-106

L 102-106

 

Dallas

L105-107

L102-125

 

Washington

L 97-108

L 100-111

 

Cleveland

L 108-111

W 96-80

 

Chicago

L 86-95

L87-95

 

San Antonio

L 95-101

 

Phoenix

W96-94

L 96-102

 

Oklahoma City

W 85-78

L 101-114

 

So according to my standards we have:

Won 7 Games

Lost 6 Close Games (2pt, 3,pt 4pt, 5pt, 2 6pt games)

Blown Out 5 Games

And had 3 In lose loses (5 if to go 6 to 10)

we have

[rwa12]

This team feels like a chemistry team to me. I'm not sure introducing a specialist, or a scorer will help. To find someone who can specialize, and play the D that Kidd expects would be tough. I enjoy watching this team, at the beginning of the year, I thought they would be fun to watch, but not have the talent to compete. They are incredibly fun to watch, and they've been highly competitive. I agree with Geezy, I don't think they've been outclassed that often, regardless of record. They're scary as a 5 or a 6 seed.

[Vgmastr]

If this team had a healthy Parker and Sanders, they would be a legit contender to make the NBA Finals. Not the favorite mind you, but it would have been possible. Coming off a 15 win season, that is astounding.

 

Also, for those of you who doubted me, you now see the state legislature has said no way will they pass Walker's plan for funding the new arena. At one point I was highly confident something will get worked out. Then, I'm constantly reminded this is Milwaukee and Wisconsin, and there's a real possibility this drags on forever and we'll be watching the Seattle Bucks in a couple years.

 

Speaking of things that drag on forever, is there a danger that the Brewers will start getting bumped off of FSN at the end of the NBA season since the Bucks might actually be playing for something?

 

No, they created the FSN alternate channel a few years ago so they can air both games at the same time.

[molitor fan]

Wow - Giannis told me to stuff his role player designation I made down my own throat....watch this compilation from the 27/15/4 Rocket game

(which shows 2 amazing blocks, tho he was credited for 1 block on the night - NBA official scorers suck)

He reminds me so much of Magic Johnson in this montage...the spinning court to court assist he made 1/4 of the way in was simply an incredible play...there are about 5 Wow, I cannot believe what he just did plays in this video, and that is not even including the 3 18 footers that he hit - which if he can consistently hit that will literally make him an MVP candidate one day

 

http://www.bucksketball.com/2015/02/giannis-already-set-a-new-career-high-come-look-how-good-he-is/

 

 

Just a reminder - he will not be able to drink until a couple weeks after this upcoming Thanksgiving......insane

[Noche]

That is one hell of a draft pick Hammond made.

[GAME05]

If you look through the game logs Giannis tends to take just 5-8 shots per game. It's just been that for the past few he's taking a lot more. Against Houston he took the most shots of anyone. Taking 5 shots in a game and I'd agree, that's more role player. I don't know if this is a conscious thing or what, but it's been great to watch him take that many more shots. And his longer jumper has been landing, which he's been working on and has got to be a huge confidence boost.

 

edit: just read an article that the Maverick's GM wanted to draft Giannis ahead of Milwaukee, but Cuban nixed the idea in order to trade down and get a cheaper player so that they would have extra money to make a run at Dwight Howard. And the Hawks tried to trade into the top-15 to get him but weren't able to. phew!

[tmwiese55]

from CBS power rankings:

Last five games for Giannis Antetokounmpo: 17.6 points, 10.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.0 steals, 1.6 blocks shooting 63 percent from the floor. He is well ahead of his projected improvement curve and "Greek Freak: Playoffs Edition" is enough to get you excited about the Bucks.

 

---

All he needs is a competent 3 pt shot and he's a star. if he ever got a great shot then he's Kevin Durant. All accounts are that this kid works his ass off so I have to think he'll be able to greatly improve the shot this offseason. Especially if he doesn't play in any international competition and just focuses on improving his shot.

[fondybrewfan]

I think he is far more athletic than Durant ever was. If the defense has to respect his jump shot I don't know if there is guy in the league that could consistently stay in front of his on the drive. His improvement from Year #1 to Year #2 has been amazing; he has even gotten a lot better since November. By the time he is a 3-4 year vet in the league he could be that perennial all star everyone has been hoping for. Couple him with Parker and hopefully Knight and that is a really outstanding core.

[tmwiese55]

I agree, he might be the most athletic person ever in the league. Durant is no slouch on that though, people tend to forget he's 7ft tall with the handle of a PG and has added the rim attacks to his game more and more over the years. Although I haven't been able to see many of his games this year, I might guess he has toned it down a bit this year with the ankle problem.

[Invader3K]

Apparently a story came out via Mark Belling on WISN this afternoon, that the Menominee and Seminole tribes have agreed to put $200 million towards a new arena, and not ask for naming rights...but it is contingent on the Kenosha casino being approved. Very interesting to see where this goes (if anywhere).

[superfly]

Giannis on triple double watch...barely into the 3rd quarter. Wow

[owbc]

Apparently a story came out via Mark Belling on WISN this afternoon, that the Menominee and Seminole tribes have agreed to put $200 million towards a new arena, and not ask for naming rights...but it is contingent on the Kenosha casino being approved. Very interesting to see where this goes (if anywhere).

 

Not going anywhere as long as Walker is trying to win votes in Iowa.

[davego]

This would place pressure on the Governor Walker to at least reconsider his standing on the Kenosha decision. In my opinion, it would be hard to turn down these funds. Granted, I'm biased towards the arena and gambling!

[fondybrewfan]

$200 Million is a hell of a lot of money. If that means the state has to bond less for the construction that does have to offset some of the risk associated with the Kenosha casino. The $200 Million is basically a bribe to the state to approve that casino. Its amazing that tribes have that much money sitting around to basically just throw away.

 

I was surprised Giannis didn't finish off the Triple Double; he was within only a couple rebounds and assists at the end of the 3rd quarter. Even thought he didn't get it; last night was just another game in a good long string of consistently good games from him.

[Baldkin]

Apparently a story came out via Mark Belling on WISN this afternoon, that the Menominee and Seminole tribes have agreed to put $200 million towards a new arena, and not ask for naming rights...but it is contingent on the Kenosha casino being approved. Very interesting to see where this goes (if anywhere).

 

Not going anywhere as long as Walker is trying to win votes in Iowa.

 

There is that, and there is also the issue of the state's agreements with the Potawotomi tribe, which any agreement to build in Kenosha may violate (a federal court would be involved to determine this).

[fondybrewfan]

Yeah if that provision wasn't included in the contract with the Milwaukee casino then the Kenosha casino probably would have been approved a long time ago. State taxpayers and voters would be incredibly pissed to find out that the state had to pay a casino because said casino didn't make enough money. It is ludicrous to even think about. The Menomonee have offered to cover those losses; but then you are still relying on a 3rd party to have the capability to pay what could amount to a pretty substantial amount of money.

 

Kenosha would certainly draw gamblers away from Milwaukee; but one would also think it would be bring in new gamblers from Illinois too. I don't understand why these casinos can't just compete on an open market basis; let the best casino win. They shouldn't be guaranteed anything.

[adamb100]

This is working its way into politics but businesses hate competition. Competition means they have to compete and not just sit and do nothing and rake in $$. In the case of Potawatomi, I imagine they would change there slot payouts to be more in favor of the player to grab people who would otherwise hit up the Hard Rock Casino. That's less money for Potawatomi.

 

The open market approach is the republican way of doing things, which is why it is in many ways shocking that Walker didn't approve the casino.

[fondybrewfan]

This is going a little political; but the only reason I have read for him saying no is the potential for a big cost to the tax payers in the future due to the Menomonee contract. If that contract didn't exist I think he would have approved it using the open market approach.

 

But enough of that already. I think I might watch the dunk competition for the first time in forever on Saturday. Giannis probably needs to come up with something really spectacular since it is probably harder for tall guys to win.

[tmwiese55]

Anyone at all concerned that all this winning is taking a bit of playing time or experience away from the young players that need it or is it balanced the 'learning to win' element of it all? For example, last night's game they finished and played most of the fourth with Zaza, Middleton, Mayo, Bayless, and I think Dudley. I think I'd rather lose a few more games but have Giannis and Knight on the floor at crunch time, maybe even Henson more too. I mean, what's the different between the 6 seed and the 8th seed, they're not winning it all and are very unlikely to win a round one series.

 

I know Kidd is doing a lot off of game flow as plenty of games Knight does finish, but I feel like Knight and Giannis should be in for the last 6 minutes of every game as they're the most important building blocks for the future.

[CheezWizHed]

$200 Million is a hell of a lot of money. If that means the state has to bond less for the construction that does have to offset some of the risk associated with the Kenosha casino. The $200 Million is basically a bribe to the state to approve that casino. Its amazing that tribes have that much money sitting around to basically just throw away.

 

HAHAHAHA. Just throw away. HAHAHAHAHA

 

Its called investment. I've never seen the casinos hesitate to build more and bigger casinos as soon as legislation lets them. Doyle passed a law back a few years ago and Potawatomi broke ground on expansion *the very next day*.

 

Casinos are a voluntary tax on people; most of whom shouldn't be doing it. Maybe we should just raise taxes and give people free scratch tickets.

 

I certainly hope this is a no deal.

 

edit: Sorry, I realize this isn't the political forum. And I probably "over did it". Back to the Bucks: Does anyone think that Kidd's turnaround in Milwaukee will result in him jumping to a bigger market eventually? or will they invest in Kidd to stay (partial GM, ownership piece, whatever)?

[fondybrewfan]

I was semi-mad that Giannis didn't play at all in the 4th quarter last game despite being very close to a triple double. Just throw him out there to get the stats; it would have been cool.

[GAME05]

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/25065619/video-charles-barkley-declares-war-on-math-with-rant-against-analytics

 

not Bucks related, but recently Charles Barkley went off on how stupid analytics are, specifically directed at the Rockets GM. Particularly insulting comment that analytics is just for the untalented to be able to participate in the game.

 

I'm all for it in baseball and think it's vital to finding good players. But I don't know how indispensable it necessarily is in basketball because you have fewer players and a smaller talent pool. The Rockets GM is big on it but I think Harden and Howard and Lin weren't so much picked up because of analytics but because they were the best players available. If you have a fast team I get that Anthony Mason would be a bad pickup, but how much do you really need analytics to see that?

[Baldkin]

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/25065619/video-charles-barkley-declares-war-on-math-with-rant-against-analytics

 

not Bucks related, but recently Charles Barkley went off on how stupid analytics are, specifically directed at the Rockets GM. Particularly insulting comment that analytics is just for the untalented to be able to participate in the game.

 

I'm all for it in baseball and think it's vital to finding good players. But I don't know how indispensable it necessarily is in basketball because you have fewer players and a smaller talent pool. The Rockets GM is big on it but I think Harden and Howard and Lin weren't so much picked up because of analytics but because they were the best players available. If you have a fast team I get that Anthony Mason would be a bad pickup, but how much do you really need analytics to see that?

 

Analytics can show lots of things. The biggest revolution recently has come in points-per-possession, and showing just how valuable spacing and having 4 3-point shooters on the floor can be. Analytics can drive team philosophy and find undervalued players (like Khris Middleton and Kyle Korver) who, despite pedestrian "box score numbers" completely effect the game on a higher level.