Milwaukee Bucks 2015 - 2016

[davego]

Does Monroe fit an up-tempo offense? I like him too, but not sure if he fits Kidd's approach.

[FVBrewerFan]

Any of these guys would make the Bucks a better team. Right now they have Pachulia at C, Parker at the 4/3, and Henson at the 4/5. That's really about it.

 

I do think a defense first Center is what firs the Bucks. You can never have too many rim protectors and/or big bodied, physical presence. If he can score it's a bonus, but not necessary. If they sign Middleton, which it looks like they're going to do, scoring will need to come from Parker, Giannis, Middleton, and MCW or whoever the PG is. Plus you have the bench. So they really don't need a 16 PG+ type of Center.

 

I like Monroe, but he's more of a 4/5 type of guy, leaving Zaza as the only guy on the roster that can match-up against certain centers across the league- and not match-up very well at that. Sure, they can play small against some teams with Monroe at the 5, Jabari at the 4, etc. but there will be plenty of times that's not enough size.

 

All this to say this is a critical point in the Bucks history. They have ZERO big long term contracts right now, so they need to be careful before they get excited with all the cap space they have and just start signing guys that don't fit. Better off waiting if that's the case.

[greeg35]

Does Monroe fit an up-tempo offense? I like him too, but not sure if he fits Kidd's approach.

Rebounding is good for up tempo offense.

[davego]

Correct, but he makes them 5 on 4 on offense.

[brwrsfan]

It's looking more and more like Tyson Chandler might be the best bet to be signed. He seems to have some interest and we certainly seem to want him. He's the oldest, but that likely also means he's the cheapest and wouldn't require a long term deal (I'd say 2-3 years).

 

It really boils down to Dallas. if they sign Jordan (which seems 50/50), they'll almost certainly let Chandler go. If Jordan goes elsewhere, then it gets interesting. I think Chandler would be a great fit. Solid on both ends, veteran leader.

[brwrsfan]

Middleton returns for 5/70. Still seems like a ton to me.

 

Brook Lopez returns to the Nets do cross him off the center list. Looks like we did meet with Monroe in the middle of the night last night so maybe something could happen there yet.

[Jenkins5]

Usually when national services look at top prospect, ceiling out weighs production. So for them, they would rank our system by which prospect has the highest ceilings. Therefore, your Cravy, Hall, and Wagners rank lower.

 

In my eyes off the top a national service will be on

1. Meredois

2. D. Williams

3. N. Kirby (once signs)

4. Diplan

 

Lopez is still young and his body is still filling out and adding power. That's exciting as he was one of the most projectible pitchers in his draft class. I think he would be slotted probably 5th right now if you are counting Kirby. Taylor Williams in the mix.

 

Ortega is do interesting.... He was the 3rd wheel to Rizzo & Gomez in DSL for those years and now he is shotting up! He doesn't strikeout anyone at all but man he can flat out pitch and hit his spots. He just refuses to walk anyone. Pitches to contact & keeps his pitch count low to go deep into starts.

[tmwiese55]

5/70, yea I'd prefer a little less too but it's the nature of the league now. We just have to get used to it. One thing about that though is that I believe they can only have one 5 year deal at a time, I don't know exactly how it works but this may prevent them from giving more than 4 years to Giannis or Jabari, whichever is better. Essentially this is what screwed the Wolves with Love. They would only give him a 4 year deal because they wanted to save the 5 year for Rubio (who isn't good), and it ticked him off.

 

Not sure why someone here thinks Monroe is bad at offense, unless they're saying he's slow and won't be able to keep up in the open court. Few bigs can really but I wouldn't be concerned about that with him. I'd be more worried about his D, he's considered a poor P&R defender so I doubt he'll be able to switch much on D and that's not what they want. And I'd be concerned what someone else said about him being more of 4/5 mix than true 5, so he'd have trouble against bigger lineups. However, the league is going small so that will be rare. Should be able to run a Monroe, Parker, Giannis, Middleton, MCW lineup a lot. If they're determined to sign someone I'd rather have Chandler due to shorter term contract and being cheaper, and I think he fits what they need better. But of course he's old so you have the injury risk.

[Baldkin]

Middleton was really, really good after Knight got traded last year. Yes, it's only 30 games, but still.

 

To put his deal in perspective: In 2 years, it will be the equivalent of an 8M/year deal in the current salary cap. It's a steal.

[CheezWizHed]

Usually when national services look at top prospect, ceiling out weighs production. So for them, they would rank our system by which prospect has the highest ceilings. Therefore, your Cravy, Hall, and Wagners rank lower.

 

In my eyes off the top a national service will be on

1. Meredois

2. D. Williams

3. N. Kirby (once signs)

4. Diplan

 

Lopez is still young and his body is still filling out and adding power. That's exciting as he was one of the most projectible pitchers in his draft class. I think he would be slotted probably 5th right now if you are counting Kirby. Taylor Williams in the mix.

 

Ortega is do interesting.... He was the 3rd wheel to Rizzo & Gomez in DSL for those years and now he is shotting up! He doesn't strikeout anyone at all but man he can flat out pitch and hit his spots. He just refuses to walk anyone. Pitches to contact & keeps his pitch count low to go deep into starts.

 

*Waves hand slowly in front of face*

This isn't the thread you are looking for....

[CheezWizHed]

How are Jordon or Monroe on picks, passing and other off the ball activities? Certainly we want to avoid the Anthony Mason "black-hole" type that couldn't do anything without the ball in his hands and if he got it, forget about getting it back.

 

The center doesn't have to be excellent at scoring to help out the team offensively. If he crashes boards and moves well with the offense, that could be enough.

 

There is only one ball. If you have great scorers, the best thing the others can do is to free them up to score.

[tmwiese55]

Jordan operates all off the ball, like Chandler/Sanders. Screen/roll/catch/dunk, that's it. I'm not an expert on Monroe but I think he's capable of getting his own buckets but I don't think he's a black hole like Mason or say Al Jefferson.

 

This was in a grantland article about Ty Lawson, who i've mentioned earlier as a potential target:

 

The Bucks: Imagine Jabari Parker and Giannis Antetokounmpo running with a guard who can actually score. Trade Michael Carter-Williams, throw in a pick, whatever it takes. Like Minnesota, this is probably too much fun to really happen, and that’s for the best, because if it did, I’d probably have to move to Milwaukee tomorrow.

[Jenkins5]

Usually when national services look at top prospect, ceiling out weighs production. So for them, they would rank our system by which prospect has the highest ceilings. Therefore, your Cravy, Hall, and Wagners rank lower.

 

In my eyes off the top a national service will be on

1. Meredois

2. D. Williams

3. N. Kirby (once signs)

4. Diplan

 

Lopez is still young and his body is still filling out and adding power. That's exciting as he was one of the most projectible pitchers in his draft class. I think he would be slotted probably 5th right now if you are counting Kirby. Taylor Williams in the mix.

 

Ortega is do interesting.... He was the 3rd wheel to Rizzo & Gomez in DSL for those years and now he is shotting up! He doesn't strikeout anyone at all but man he can flat out pitch and hit his spots. He just refuses to walk anyone. Pitches to contact & keeps his pitch count low to go deep into starts.

 

*Waves hand slowly in front of face*

This isn't the thread you are looking for....

 

Oops! Lol just noticed that! Ha

 

Middleton and Vasquez now eat up 20 million in salary.... Monroe is a tad not tougher to squeeze in with a Max contract. Money is on Chandler being a Buck.

[tmwiese55]

some info on Monroe here. I guess I'm on board with him. Sounds like a great passer along with good post game. And shows good effort/attitude on D in spite of not being a rim protector. Interesting thing in here is it says Brook Lopez is really good on P&R, I had always heard the opposite. Doesn't matter as he's back to BKN anyway, but I know it was talked about in this thread

 

http://www.thebirdwrites.com/2015/1/28/7925463/the-argument-for-greg-monroe-over-omer-asik-synergy-sports

[FVBrewerFan]

I still don't like paying role players $14MM. It's not as simple as saying "that will be worth "x" 2 years from now." When the cap goes up, most of that new cap room will be taken up by new contracts that get signed then. Vasquez and Middleton are good players, and at least Vasquez is only for 1 more year.

 

It's almost like they're trying to win NOW, and I don't think they're ready for that. Adding Chandler or Monroe on top of that is another big contract. I would much rather keep the cap space this year and wait a year to reel in a big fish or two. After another year of MCW, Giannis, and Parker playing together they will be in a much better position to know who they need, if MCW is the answer at PG, etc.

 

Don't get me wrong, I don't think of any these moves are disastrous. I like the game of all the players being discussed here, including Middleton and Vasquez. It just seems like they finally got cap relief and they're treating it like they just got their allowance and can't wait to spend it.

[tmwiese55]

I totally agree, I'd rather wait a year or two because they're not winning the title right now anyway. It seems they're determined to do something though and you for sure can't just let Middleton walk for nothing. I wish it was only 4 years just to decrease the commitment and make trading him easier if needed. DeMarre carrol just got 15 mil and Middleton is way better, other similar guys are getting right in the same ballpark, it's just the going rate now.

 

To me a guy like Monroe doesn't make them a title contender anyway so I'd rather see how Giannis and MCW develop and if Jabari is ok before making big financial commitments. You might need that money for a PG or a wing scorer if Giannis doesn't learn how to shoot.

 

But really though let's say you get Monroe, trade MCW for Lawson. Lawson, Middleton, Giannis, Jabari, Monroe with Bayless, Vasquez (might have to trade Vazquez to get lawson too), Zaza, Henson, Mayo. Really that might be 2nd best team in the East assuming improvement from Giannis and Jabari being respectable. I'd probably say Chicago is 2nd but we'd be in a battle for 3rd with Washington/Tor/Atl. If Lebron gets hurt you might find yourselves in the Finals.

[brwrsfan]

Well Chandler to the Suns. There goes that option. Not going well for the Bucks and big men at this point as the two with Kidd ties are both already gone.

[tmwiese55]

I read something the other day too that non-destination teams like MKE should try to make their signings this year because not everyone has space. Two years from now, all teams will have massive cap space so no one will sign in Milwaukee. So they could be factoring that in

[GAME05]

I keep thinking that by not taking Portis in the draft, Milwaukee's plans really counted on landing one of the many good Centers in FA. I guess the best of what's left is Monroe or Lopez.

[superfly]

I always get a kick out of people who think any pay is an overpay. K Mids is the ONLY semblance of a scorer we have (a very efficient one though), yet heaven forbid we can't pay him. We paid him 900k last year...he deserves to eat too at some point. The kid has done nothing BUT improve from the first day he set foot in Milwaukee. He is not at his ceiling, this is an absolute steal down the road when it really matters (IE - when Giannis / Parker / MCW are theoretically coming into their primes).

 

Who is to say MCW or Parker (or Giannis!) ever make it to max money status anyway? You can't base it on that, quite frankly I thought Parker was OK last year, somewhat average actually. Wiggins was much better. The K Mids deal had to be done, and we'll deal with it down the road. 3 and D guys have trade value, but Middleton may have scorer value as well.

[craigharmann]

Middleton extended, Vasquez picked up.....wonder if there's a plan at work here. If so, I'm curious to see what that plan is.

[brwrsfan]

I keep thinking that by not taking Portis in the draft, Milwaukee's plans really counted on landing one of the many good Centers in FA. I guess the best of what's left is Monroe or Lopez.

 

My thoughts exactly. We needed shooting, but passing on a potential big that could have helped us immediately....I thought that meant we were pretty confident in our ability to sign a C in FA. We still could, and Monroe would be great, but that doesn't seem all that likely to me.

[patrickgpe]

I read something the other day too that non-destination teams like MKE should try to make their signings this year because not everyone has space. Two years from now, all teams will have massive cap space so no one will sign in Milwaukee. So they could be factoring that in

 

I think alot of free agents are going to take 2 year deals, knowing that there could be a large payday coming with the expanded cap. I know Monroe was only looking for a 2 year with a player option.

[tmwiese55]

Everyone thought that but so far it's been almost all 5 year deals. I guess these guys still value locking in the guaranteed money over taking that risk. Lebron might be the exception because his salary is a blip on the radar of his overall income. There's another unknown stipulation that if you have 10 years of experience your max is higher than when you have 9. So there's even more motivation for a guy with 8 years to take a two year deal, then re-up again after the 10th. I think this factored into Millsap doing a short deal and it could become relevant for Durant too.

[tmwiese55]

well looks like Monroe deal is done. If they're doing this put me in the camp of trying to trade MCW for a proven PG and shooting for the 2 seed. Lawson/Bledsoe, someone like that