Milwaukee Bucks 2014 - 2015 (part 1)

[HiAndTight]

Like Sanders last year and Gooden for 17 years prior.

Amazingly Gooden for this year as well. They can stop paying him next year though.

 

the top thing that has impressed me about this ownership group is that they didn't do anything dumb like throwing money after drew gooden or bobby simmons to try to move up to the final playoff spot in order to help create support for the arena. This team will probably be not that good next year, but much better than this year obviously.

 

 

Isn't it a bit early to make that assessment either way?

[fondybrewfan]

I don't think there is anyway they can't be better is there? I mean they were horrendous last year and now they have added a strong talent in Parker and will hopefully be using Giannis' talents a little better. Plus having a healthy and hopefully mentally stable Sanders improves the team a lot as well. They probably still top out at 35 wins but I am expecting them to be better and a hell of a lot more entertaining.

 

It is interesting that they are proposing to change the draft lottery next year so that the worst 5-6 teams all have an equal shot at the #1 pick. If that happens I am guessing the Bucks will be one of those 6. Based on talent alone Philly is probably far and away favored to have the worst record next year.

[Jenkins5]

I've seen power rankings that have the Bucks around 20-23 already. Most experts are really fasenated with the young core of the Bucks and really if they keep Mayo/Ersan/ Delfinio, and Jabari and Giannis both play way they are capable of (considering they at both 19) The Bucks could really surprise people this year. Most important, they are doing it the right way.

 

I personally love the depth except with some of the additions, I believe we do need to clear some room.

 

Henson has put on 20-30lbs which is huge for him and his career. This should allow him to play 5 better without being pushed around as much. I don't think Sanders should go anywhere. He works hard in the clubhouse with Giannis and and some of the younger guys and offers a ton defensively. He can be exciting on that end of floor. Middleton and Knight showed worth last year. Wolter I don't think will ever be much more than end of bench guy but worth continuing to develop. I think O'Bryant is a lock due to his toughness and ability to score down low. Inglis I hope makes it and has the role Giannis had to start last year (develop in NBA/garbage time)

 

C

Sanders

Pachulia

Raduljica

 

Power 4's (C/PF)

Henson

O'Bryant

 

Stretch 4's (PF-SF)

Parker

Illysova

Wright

 

Point Forward

Giannis

 

SF

Middleton

Delfino

Inglis

 

SG

Mayo

 

Combo Guard

Knight

Bayliss

Wolter

 

PG

Marshall

 

 

As you can see, 2 things

1)Kidd as an incredible amount of flexibility to work with

2)Tough decisions on the roster will need to be made soon

 

I think with Kidd as the head coach, Marshall is the dream point guard for the team. A 6'4 floor general who is completely unselfish and was considered the best pure passer in a decade which he put on display last season in LA. Forget the unique/rough road to the point he took over in LA, guy will get the most and cause Giannis, Parker, Henson to all thrive. I like Knight but he does not have the vision, natural passing ability, and floor general it factor that Marshall does. He is a Ramon Session Combo Guard and Bucks are better off playing him more at 2.

[Outlander]

Looking at that roster and with the recent injury to George I think they could end up with the dreaded 8 seed. However, as a previous poster mentioned they are doing it the right way with young talent so if they end up with the 8 seed it is because guys like Parker and Giannis developed and Sanders is more like the player from the 2013 season. Could have done without the signing of Bayliss but I guess it is only a two year deal similar to the previous season contract to Gary Neal, hopefully without the attitude.

[FVBrewerFan]

Not too concerned with how many wins they have this year. This year should be all about moving Mayo, Irsan, Pachulia, and Delfino. Or even Sanders if they want to do that. This would give them a ton of money to play with next year, and moving forward.

 

Then it's about figuring out how to use all the young pieces, and looking for improvement from guys like Henson, Giannis, Knight, etc. Basically, this is the first year of the rebuild, and by the end of the year you want to know what you have, and what you need moving forward.

 

They just need to move as many of those big contracts as they can. Not only is it throwing money and cap space away, those guys will take valuable minutes away from the young guns.

[yoshii8]

Not too concerned with how many wins they have this year. This year should be all about moving Mayo, Irsan, Pachulia, and Delfino. Or even Sanders if they want to do that. This would give them a ton of money to play with next year, and moving forward.

 

 

I disagree. I think this year is all about developing Giannis, Parker, Henson, Knight, Sanders and the rest of the young core. I don't want to see the Bucks go out of their way to play the mediocre vets just to up their trade value, while hindering the development of the young core.

 

 

Why do we need huge cap space right away? IMO, we don't need to be huge factors in the FA market, we need to develop through the draft.

[fondybrewfan]

I think Mayo is really the only guy they should be moving. Ersan, Delfino, and Zaza are all pretty solid veterans to help out the young guys. Ersan could very well have a bounce back year; he still is a good talent he just had a horrendous year shooting.

[patrickgpe]

Bucks unveil new jerseys for next season

 

http://www.nba.com/bucks/features/bucks-unveil-jersey-changes-for-2014-15

 

Very minor changes, but I like it as opposed to the larger B and S. Still hope for a full overhaul in 15/16

[FVBrewerFan]

Not too concerned with how many wins they have this year. This year should be all about moving Mayo, Irsan, Pachulia, and Delfino. Or even Sanders if they want to do that. This would give them a ton of money to play with next year, and moving forward.

 

 

I disagree. I think this year is all about developing Giannis, Parker, Henson, Knight, Sanders and the rest of the young core. I don't want to see the Bucks go out of their way to play the mediocre vets just to up their trade value, while hindering the development of the young core.

 

 

Why do we need huge cap space right away? IMO, we don't need to be huge factors in the FA market, we need to develop through the draft.

 

 

Not sure I'm following. Pretty sure we agree, and just said the same thing about developing the young players. Maybe I'm missing something?

[yoshii8]

I meant I disagree that this year needs to be all about moving those vets.

[Jenkins5]

Zaza plays C which takes away time from Sanders and developing C/PF combo guys Henson and O'Bryant

 

Ersan takes away development time from all PF/SF's including Henson, O'Bryant, Parker, Giannis, Inglis, Middleton

 

Delfino takes away time from Giannis, Middleton, Parker, Inglis, Knight, Wolter

 

Mayo takes away time from Giannis, Inglis, Middleton Knight, Wolter

 

He isn't saying we need to spend our season showing these guys in order to trade them, he means this season we need to trade some of the guys not in our teams future plans. It is great to have these guys as vets to help young guys out but they are competitors and most likely don't want to ride the bench.... that will just cause rifts in the locker room such as it did last year which is absolute poison to a young team. I think Delfino and Zaza could stay and fill those vet roles but Ersan and Mayo are still very competitive players who could help another team out....we need to get picks or other young future prospects for those guys

[FVBrewerFan]

Exactly, thanks Young G for explaining my point better than I did myself. Anyone not in the plans 3 years from now has no reason to be on the roster today. And I like Irsan, Delfino, and Zaza. If this was a team making a playoff run this year, those would be nice pieces to have.

 

The reason you want to clear cap space for next year and beyond is to create flexibility. It doesn't mean now you can go out and get a LeBron or KD. But now you can lock up a Giannis, Henson, Knight or Parker long term if you wanted to do that. You can bring in a FA or two that fits what you need.

 

All of this starts with Sanders and Mayo. Do they want to move Sanders or not? I don't know, and we don't know all the details as well as the Bucks do. Next, you try to move Mayo and get whatever you can. Moving the other guys isn't as important, they'll be easy to move later in the year anyhow.

[Jenkins5]

Next draft class is a big C/PF draft at the top. Think you let Sanders play this season and then move him before the draft if they are in line to grab one of the big men down low

[TooLiveBrew]

I'm curious to hear takes on the Love/Wiggins+Bennett trade. Decent return for the T-Wolves?

[patrickgpe]

great trade for the wolves. Love wasn't coming back after this season and every team knew that. To get the last 2 #1 overall picks and another first pick for that is a great haul.

 

Normally when other GM's know that the player will not resign with 1 season they only give lowball offers, Minnesota got much more that that.

[FVBrewerFan]

Yea Love/Wiggins would have been a great deal for the T Wolves, given the situation. Throwing in Bennett makes it even better. Bennett didn't have a good rookie season, but he looked a lot better this summer.

 

Kudos for the T Wolves to get everything they could for Love, who was leaving anyhow. At the same time, the Cavs didn't exactly get robbed. They have a window to win it all, and wanted Love badly.

[superfly]

Wolves robbed the Cavs...for once something goes right for that sorry team. Bennett could very well end up better than Wiggins down the road due to the inherent risk associated with Wiggins' rawness.

[homer]

Wolves robbed the Cavs...for once something goes right for that sorry team. Bennett could very well end up better than Wiggins down the road due to the inherent risk associated with Wiggins' rawness.

 

 

If Cleveland wins a title will it really matter if they were robbed?

[fondybrewfan]

This probably will turn out to be a win win. Cleveland has Lebron, Love, and Irving for the foreseeable future and should be good for a very long time. They didn't necessarily need Wiggins to win a title. Minnesota obviously got two very high upside players for 1 season of Love. Both sides should be happy.

[jjfanec]

Not sure I agree that the TWolves robbed the Cavs. In an NBA trade I would have to guess the teams that get the star ending up winning the trade more often than not.

 

Just look at a previous TWolves trade of a star. They traded a much older Kevin Garnett and came away with Al Jefferson, Gerald Green who was considered a promising young player, Sebastain Telfair, Ryan Gomes and then two first round picks - one at 6 and one later. So they got a very promising, established young player in Jefferson and high first round pick, a later first round pick, a 21 year old in Green who averaged 16.5 ppg his first two season, and then other pieces in Gomes and Telfair. All for a guy who didnt want to be on their team anymore but they still were big time losers in this trade.

 

Compare that to this trade. The future first round pick isnt very valuable unless it isnt Cleveland's actual pick since that pick will like be in the late 20's. Bennett is a first overall pick in name only. He got lucky to be in a terrible draft littered with top 10 guys who have been disappointments. Bennett would have been lucky to be a top 6 pick this year even before everyone saw his deficiencies last season. 2013 may go down as the worst draft in the last 20 years. Wiggins obviously has tremendous upside and he is a good get for Minnesota but the other two pieces seems much more likely to bust than boom.

 

It is a solid trade for the TWolves but also a very good trade for Cleveland

[Boomer5]

Great trade for both teams. Love's power outlet passes with that team is going to be pure beast mode (with apologies to 2011). The Wolves did great too.

 

I sure wish the Bucks would have traded for #1's rather than junk all these years. They are the kind of team that should demand a #1, even if it is 3 years in the future on every trade they make. I don't recall a front office that churns junk into slightly worse junk trade after trade. There a few exceptions, but sheesh, what a bad FO.

[jjfanec]

Looks like the Wolves are flipping Bennett and others for Thaddeus Young. That doesnt make a ton of sense to me as Young has a decent sized contract and isnt a super young talent or anything. Maybe the Wolves dont think that much of Bennett's summer league showing

[bani1717]

This probably will turn out to be a win win. Cleveland has Lebron, Love, and Irving for the foreseeable future and should be good for a very long time. They didn't necessarily need Wiggins to win a title. Minnesota obviously got two very high upside players for 1 season of Love. Both sides should be happy.

 

I agree that its a win win, but the Cavs by no means have those three for the foreseeable future and there is no guarantee that they will be good for a very long time. The James deal is only two years so he could easily leave two again not too far down the road. Not to mention that Love doesnt have to stay around for more than a season.

[fondybrewfan]

I only said that because the intention for the opt out on Lebron isn't to leave but to increase his salary from the new TV deal. Love is a little trickier; he is only signed through this year but has given CLE a verbal commitment that he would sign an extension. Of course there is nothing binding there and he could leave. It just seems pretty likely that those 3 will be together for a while. I can't imagine Lebron leaving CLE a 2nd time and Irving is already signed long term. It is all up to Love; if he doesn't sign the extension then this is a horrible deal for CLE.

[Boomer5]

I only said that because the intention for the opt out on Lebron isn't to leave but to increase his salary from the new TV deal. Love is a little trickier; he is only signed through this year but has given CLE a verbal commitment that he would sign an extension. Of course there is nothing binding there and he could leave. It just seems pretty likely that those 3 will be together for a while. I can't imagine Lebron leaving CLE a 2nd time and Irving is already signed long term. It is all up to Love; if he doesn't sign the extension then this is a horrible deal for CLE.

 

Correct on LBJ. The two year deal is only to maximize his future salary. He is not leaving. I can't imagine the backlash for his legacy if he leaves twice especially after that open letter explanation.

 

I heard Love had agreed to an extension in principle, or is that premature?