Milwaukee Bucks 2018 - 2019

[tmwiese55]

Yes having LBJ out of the East will make it a heck of a playoffs to watch this year. Of course you still have GSW waiting for you but so be it, anything can happen then. An injury to just one of their stars makes them very beatable now since their depth isn't anything close to what it was a few years ago.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

A very Bucks thing to do would be draw Miami in the 1st round and lose again.

[tigerbrew]

Great win by the Bucks beating the Rockets, Brogdon is becoming the team's second best player this season.

[FVBrewerFan]

Great win by the Bucks beating the Rockets, Brogdon is becoming the team's second best player this season.

 

In years past, that's a loss. It felt like a loss coming in, then throughout the 1st half I figured they were done. Of all the positives we talk about, one huge thing they have this season is confidence. They understand runs happen in the NBA, they absorb it and then move on and take the game back. Love it.

[OnTheBlack]

Yes having LBJ out of the East will make it a heck of a playoffs to watch this year. Of course you still have GSW waiting for you but so be it, anything can happen then. An injury to just one of their stars makes them very beatable now since their depth isn't anything close to what it was a few years ago.

 

 

Kinda feels like when we had the Big3 and shoulda made the finals when we lost to the Sixers in 7. The East winner was gonna face Shaq, Kobe and that great Lakers team.

[coolhandluke121]

Great win by the Bucks beating the Rockets, Brogdon is becoming the team's second best player this season.

 

I don't agree about Brogdon. He benefits tremendously from the defensive attention that Giannis, Khris, Lopez, and Bledsoe get. How often do you see the other team's best defender on him? How often do you see them double-team him? He often gets all the way to the basket without a help defender showing. It reminds me of some of those crazy stats about Jabari's fg% playing with Giannis and/or Khris vs. playing without either of them (I think it was like 55% vs to 40% or something). I think there are quite a few guys out there who could get a lot of layups playing with these guys in this offense. Sterling Brown has shown a similar propensity to take it to the rim off the bounce against weaker defenders, for example. And he's quicker and more decisive about it, not to mention a much better defender.

 

Brogdon is very efficient when shooting, but I also think that's a little misleading because his shortcomings aren't measured in missed shots but rather in stagnant possessions and all the direct and indirect consequences of that. He's an over-dribbler and he's got a little bit of a Snell thing going in terms on keeping his 3-point percentage elevated because he only takes the wide open ones, which are there because of the gravity of the superior offensive players on the team.

 

Don't get me wrong; he's good, and there's not that much separating the best players on the team after Giannis. But he's not as good as Bledsoe or Khris; he's just more likable for a variety of reasons (consistency, poise, effort, grass-is-greener effects). I think the Bucks would struggle a lot more without Bledsoe or Khris (or even Lopez) than without Brogdon, and the advanced stats like RPM support that.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Yeah, just watching the games, there's no doubt that Bledsoe is the #2 guy on the Bucks. I love Brogdon, but he can't create the way Bledsoe can. I coveted Bledsoe way back to the days he was on the Clips, and was ecstatic when we got him.

[coolhandluke121]

Yeah, just watching the games, there's no doubt that Bledsoe is the #2 guy on the Bucks. I love Brogdon, but he can't create the way Bledsoe can. I coveted Bledsoe way back to the days he was on the Clips, and was ecstatic when we got him.

 

His defense looks really good too. I was worried after the Boston series because it looked like he could barely change direction on those knees, but maybe he was just gassed from carrying such a heavy load without a capable backup during the regular season. In any case, he and Khris are similar in the sense that sometimes you get greedy and want them to be terrific all the time, but you can't forget that they're both plenty good despite their flaws.

[Mr Southpaw]

I could not watch the game last night, but it seemed as though they are starting to understand how good they can be. They ended up playing 13 players and beat a pretty good team with their second and third string players. I don't understand why Bud doesn't put C. Wood in the game in these sort of games. Maybe he is the secret weapon!

[homer]

Brogdon is shooting 90+% from the free throw line 50% + from 2pt and 40%+ from three. Yes he is benefitting from the new space this offense provides but he is lethal when he shoots it. I maintain he's really underrated on both ends of the court.

[superfly]

Brogdon is shooting 90+% from the free throw line 50% + from 2pt and 40%+ from three. Yes he is benefitting from the new space this offense provides but he is lethal when he shoots it. I maintain he's really underrated on both ends of the court.

 

Splash Mountain tho.

[nate82]

 

Splash Mountain tho.

 

Lol splash mountain!

[coolhandluke121]

Brogdon is shooting 90+% from the free throw line 50% + from 2pt and 40%+ from three. Yes he is benefitting from the new space this offense provides but he is lethal when he shoots it. I maintain he's really underrated on both ends of the court.

 

It's possible to have numbers and not be that good though. There's no stat for the stagnant possessions he creates by over-dribbling, and he's really slow by today's perimeter defense standards. He doesn't close out shooters or stay in front of quick drivers. That's why advanced stats are rather unfriendly to him. Basketball is still kind of stuck in the equivalent of baseball's "RBI's bro" phase, but sometimes the guy driving in the run is more replaceable than the guys setting up his opportunities (getting on base in baseball or being the guy who draws the other team's best defenders and frequent double-teams in basketball).

 

That may sounds excessively negative out of context, but remember that I originally responded to someone saying he's been the second-best player on the team. I'm not trying to bash him, but 2nd-best player on a top-3 team is excessively high praise for the role he's playing. He's a role player, but his role is opportunistic scoring and that tends to get you incorrectly labeled as a star in basketball. He's good, but his impact is nothing special. He's like O.J. Mayo before he discovered obesity and cocaine.

[Mr Southpaw]

Brogdon is shooting 90+% from the free throw line 50% + from 2pt and 40%+ from three. Yes he is benefitting from the new space this offense provides but he is lethal when he shoots it. I maintain he's really underrated on both ends of the court.

 

It's possible to have numbers and not be that good though. There's no stat for the stagnant possessions he creates by over-dribbling, and he's really slow by today's perimeter defense standards. He doesn't close out shooters or stay in front of quick drivers. That's why advanced stats are rather unfriendly to him. Basketball is still kind of stuck in the equivalent of baseball's "RBI's bro" phase, but sometimes the guy driving in the run is more replaceable than the guys setting up his opportunities (getting on base in baseball or being the guy who draws the other team's best defenders and frequent double-teams in basketball).

 

That may sounds excessively negative out of context, but remember that I originally responded to someone saying he's been the second-best player on the team. I'm not trying to bash him, but 2nd-best player on a top-3 team is excessively high praise for the role he's playing. He's a role player, but his role is opportunistic scoring and that tends to get you incorrectly labeled as a star in basketball. He's good, but his impact is nothing special. He's like O.J. Mayo before he discovered obesity and cocaine.

The eye test tells anyone he is a super smart basketball player that just wins. I will take him any day.

[LouisEly]

If I have to choose one or the other, I'd rather extend Brogdon than Middleton.

[OnTheBlack]

If I have to choose one or the other, I'd rather extend Brogdon than Middleton.

 

 

If it were up to me it'd be closer than I think it'd be to others. I think they'll find a way to retain all 3(including Bledsoe). But Brogdon just keeps improving. You're not going to get much improvement from the other two. Which is fine, they're both pretty good, but Brogdon is strong, physical, he's longer than people realize and he's shooting the lights out. And he's just a winner.

 

He's not on the same level of Kawhi or anything, but there are some similarities there. Both second round picks who aren't freakish in their pure athleticism, but who have the size, strength, big hands and play smart and make it tough on the guy they're guarding and can get physical with them. Again, there's a substantial gap between the two, not saying they're equal by any means, but I think Brodgon still has some upside left.

 

 

It's going to be a historically important off-season for the Bucks. I don't know if they're good enough to win it all as currently constructed, not sure who they have that can develop into another star level player(Wilson has looked really good as of late, but I've just about given up on Maker becoming a "star").

 

I know I should just be enjoying this team playing good basketball right now, but I want to see Giannis re-sign, and while everything he has said has pointed to that, they're going to have to make smart decisions this off-season in order to keep Giannis from having to completely carry the team(right now he's getting a lot of 4th quarters off and they're not abusing him too much...which is awesome) and entice him to stick around. I hope not locking him up for that 5th year doesn't come back and bite us.

 

Also, a totally useless exercise, but can you imagine if the Bucks had taken the risk and gone with Embid 2nd in that draft? THAT'D be a team I'd be happy to see face the Warriors. Again, totally useless, but sometimes my mind wanders when I get paranoid that despite Giannis declarations of love for the city of Milwaukee, he could be gone like Kareem and have his HOF career for someone else. And obviously teams are already looking ahead to the AD, Giannis free agency sweepstakes in 2021....hope it never comes to that.

[coolhandluke121]

 

Also, a totally useless exercise, but can you imagine if the Bucks had taken the risk and gone with Embid 2nd in that draft?

 

I mean, can you imagine if they had heeded all the red flags with regard to Jabari and gotten anything of value for that #2 pick, whether before the draft or at any point before he tore his ACL the second time and still had trade value?

[coolhandluke121]

The eye test tells anyone he is a super smart basketball player that just wins. I will take him any day.

 

I guess if some other team really thinks he's the 2nd-best player on arguably the best regular-season team in the league and pays him accordingly, we'll find out. My money is on him struggling to maintain this if he ever gets the kind of defensive attention guys like Giannis and Khris get.

[homer]

DJ Wilson has gone from being a guy that was borderline headed to China to play next year to a guy that might end up as a pretty darn good NBA player. Amazing transformation that I doubt happens under Kidd.

[coolhandluke121]

DJ Wilson has gone from being a guy that was borderline headed to China to play next year to a guy that might end up as a pretty darn good NBA player. Amazing transformation that I doubt happens under Kidd.

 

Kidd was terrible. Some people gave him credit for Giannis and Khris improving their skills under him, but improving skills is the most rote part of coaching. They were learning some bad habits about how to play. You can see how Bud coaches spacing and ball movement, and it's amazing. I was thrilled the first time I saw DJ play this year because they were clearly coaching him to set screens constantly and get open behind the arc, and he was buying in. He was lost last year. He's been absolutely terrific. I honestly can't put an upper limit on how good he could be eventually.

 

ETA: Hate to say it, but I think Suki's vitamins get some of the credit too. I know I'm cynical, but we're talking about a trainer who arrived with somewhat of a reputation for pushing those boundaries, and we're seeing results that (indirectly) support a lot of cynicism.

[HiAndTight]

 

Also, a totally useless exercise, but can you imagine if the Bucks had taken the risk and gone with Embid 2nd in that draft?

 

I mean, can you imagine if they had heeded all the red flags with regard to Jabari and gotten anything of value for that #2 pick, whether before the draft or at any point before he tore his ACL the second time and still had trade value?

 

 

Oh c'mon. "All the Red Flags" before the draft? You're drastically overstating the negative opinions about Jabari heading into that draft. There was a consensus top 3 and everyone had him in it and some had him atop it, some had him at #3, but you can't blame the Bucks for drafting him OR for not trading him at a 20 year old kid who looked to have bounced back from an ACL tear, had his bounce back and was knocking down a good chunk of the 3's he was shooting.

 

Nobody saw the situation devolving like it did.

 

I'm not saying drafting Embid at the time would have been wise....only with the benefit of hindsight can I say it was a good move. You can't say the inverse is true with Jabari.

[HiAndTight]

DJ Wilson has gone from being a guy that was borderline headed to China to play next year to a guy that might end up as a pretty darn good NBA player. Amazing transformation that I doubt happens under Kidd.

 

Kidd was terrible. Some people gave him credit for Giannis and Khris improving their skills under him, but improving skills is the most rote part of coaching. They were learning some bad habits about how to play. You can see how Bud coaches spacing and ball movement, and it's amazing. I was thrilled the first time I saw DJ play this year because they were clearly coaching him to set screens constantly and get open behind the arc, and he was buying in. He was lost last year. He's been absolutely terrific. I honestly can't put an upper limit on how good he could be eventually.

 

ETA: Hate to say it, but I think Suki's vitamins get some of the credit too. I know I'm cynical, but we're talking about a trainer who arrived with somewhat of a reputation for pushing those boundaries, and we're seeing results that (indirectly) support a lot of cynicism.

 

If it was nothing more than just having a guy do something over and over again without any viable and helpful coaching, then every coach would do it and so would every organization. That's just not how it works out.

 

You also seem to speak in hyperbole. Kidd was terrible. No, he wasn't. He may not be on the level of Coach Bud, but he was not terrible.

 

And Wilson has looked good. But it's an interesting the contradictions you have with Brogdon and Wilson. Brogdon has thrived, yet you dismiss his 40/50/90 season and chalk it up to everyone else, but with Wilson, you can't put a limit on how good he could eventually be? Brogdon has played far better and been a far more important part of the team this year. Wilson has been a nice surprise as it looked like he couldn't handle the NBA last year.

 

 

Anyway, I love the coaching upgrade and I can do that without labeling Kidd as "terrible," I love Brogdon and can see what he's doing and what he's doing in key minutes for this team, and I agree, Wilson has made an enormous jump this year. But he's still gonna need to take another couple jumps just as big as the one he took this year for him to be a front line starter on a contender. Thon looked every bit as good as him for long stretches, namely in the playoffs and he's stagnated quite a bit. There seems to be some friction there with him and the coach.

[HiAndTight]

The eye test tells anyone he is a super smart basketball player that just wins. I will take him any day.

 

I guess if some other team really thinks he's the 2nd-best player on arguably the best regular-season team in the league and pays him accordingly, we'll find out. My money is on him struggling to maintain this if he ever gets the kind of defensive attention guys like Giannis and Khris get.

 

 

Giannis? Yes, if teams start doubling and tripling Brogdon, I would expect his production to go down. I don't know who has ever hinted that he was on the same level as Giannis. One's is potentially on his way to becoming the best player in the league. There's a reason why we're talking about him MAYBE becoming the 2nd best.

 

I don't get it though. He's shooting and scoring. He's playing very good D. He DOES often defend the other teams best guard. Not sure why we need to look past the contributions of him and pick away at why he's performing so well and excusing it.

 

He's playing great on a team that has had the best record in the NBA, or been right around it. He'll never be defended like LeBron or Giannis or any other HOF talent because he isn't one.

[HiAndTight]

DJ Wilson has gone from being a guy that was borderline headed to China to play next year to a guy that might end up as a pretty darn good NBA player. Amazing transformation that I doubt happens under Kidd.

 

 

I was so busy traveling for work that I missed a big chunk of the Bucks games. Everytime I talked to my Dad he kept telling me how great this Harris looks, how he's playing really good D, looks like he's got a shot, and is an athletic big man. Not a clue who he was talking about and Wlison didn't even enter my thought process.

 

Got back home, went through the games I'd missed on DVR and realize he was talking about Wilson. I think he STILL gets Tobias Harris confused with him since I complained for a while about that little gem of a trade and he had him on his mind.

 

Anyway, Wilson looks like he's gone through the Giannis off-season. Remember how rail thin he was coming out. Now he's actually got a little bit of girth and after watching him, I agree, his turnaround has been amazing.

 

 

I knew it was a longshot, but I was hoping Thon would turn into a more athletic, better shooting, but probably less physical version of Capella. Now maybe that'll be Wilson. Still holding out hope Thon can figure it out at some point because we've all seen how good he can be and the energy he brings to the Bucks when he's right. Plus....there aren't a whole lot near 7 footers with his touch, and athletic ability....so it'd be nice to see him get more out of it. Of course he's still plenty young.

[coolhandluke121]

 

Also, a totally useless exercise, but can you imagine if the Bucks had taken the risk and gone with Embid 2nd in that draft?

 

I mean, can you imagine if they had heeded all the red flags with regard to Jabari and gotten anything of value for that #2 pick, whether before the draft or at any point before he tore his ACL the second time and still had trade value?

 

 

Oh c'mon. "All the Red Flags" before the draft?

 

Nobody saw the situation devolving like it did.

 

I'm not saying drafting Embid at the time would have been wise....only with the benefit of hindsight can I say it was a good move. You can't say the inverse is true with Jabari.

 

Duke was often better with him on the bench. His defense was that bad, even in college. One of the ultimate empty stats guys in the history of the NBA. Was also fat several times before he even turned 21. Yes, the red flags were there. And yes, some people did see the situation devolving like it did. He was a consensus top-3 pick in the same way Chris Carter would have been a consensus all-star after leading the NL in home runs if he had played 30 years ago - because there are still a bunch of people making those decisions who have no idea about the nuances involved in evaluating players.