Milwaukee Bucks 2019 - 20 Season Thread

[areacodes]

The talk about the points scored in the first half had me interested, so I looked it up.

 

Phoenix Suns dropped 107 on 11/10/90 breaking the record of 90 set by the Denver Nuggets 3 days earlier.

 

The three highest combined first half for scoring all occurred within 8 days of each other and each included the Nuggets.

 

Suns/Nuggets - 174 on 11/10/90

Nuggets/Spurs - 173 on 11/7/90

Warriors/Nuggets - 170 on 11/2/90

 

Sorta crazy that that all happened within about a week of each other... and now we can get back to the Bucks pulling away at the end of the game.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Mids must have seen my post that he's not a legit second star.

[FVBrewerFan]

They don't need to make a move. Arguably making a move last year messed with chemistry a bit. The only team that can stop the Bucks from winning it all is....the Bucks.

[adambr2]

Bucks lost 2 games in October, 1 in November, 2 in December, and with one game left to play, 1 game in January.

[homer]

.500 record is clinched!

[areacodes]

 

Magic number for a playoff spot is 11 games. Looks like they have 7 games left before the All Star Game, can they clinch a playoff spot before?

[GAME05]

I see no reason the Bucks would have to do anything drastic if they don't win the Finals this year. This isn't like an OKC team from last offseason that could reasonably say they won't make the Finals with the players they have. Instead it's a team that barely lost to Toronto and would have beat the Warriors if they had. Sometimes you just lose and that's the breaks. If lesser teams never won there'd be no point of having a playoffs in the first place.

 

A tiny change from Budenholzer, or a made bucket or two instead of a missed one would have changed everything last year. Neither are a reason to turn everything over.

 

And really, teams change a lot from year to year even if you try to keep everything the same. No doubt Horst has already made a decision on this, but if Giannis decides not to sign an extension this offseason, the Bucks will have to decide whether or not to trade him. Maybe they won't want to end up like OKC in losing a lot of huge players for nothing in return.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Keeping Giannis, that's the reason.

 

Not necessarily if they don't win the Finals, but why/how they don't win the Finals. If they don't even get there, or they get dominated by LA, then something is wrong with the formula and they'll be branded a regular season tiger. This is my only hang-up with this team. They look great, but they have to crush the best of the best in the playoffs. Until they do it, that'll be the knock on them.

 

If that happens, I think you can expect a significant shake-up to keep Giannis - that would be the reason, despite doing everything he's asked to this point. If they lose in 7 and two games go to OT, then sure, you can run it back.

[tmwiese55]

I think GAME05 nails it in his post in that you don't have to change it for the sake of changing it. As said, they could and possibly should've won it last year and obviously they can this year too. So you're not in a "you can't win it all with this team" situation. You clearly can, not sure if they will as there is other teams that can too. It's not like the Raps Lowry/DD combo that you knew could not win it all so they rolled the dice.

 

But I'd add that if Bledsoe massively clams up again in the late playoffs that could lead to shaking it up with him. I think they have the perfect insurance policy with Hill but if that happens again this year I can see them trying to come up with something there to change up PG. But I'd also say people are way too quick to crucify people over small samples in the playoffs. But 3 years in a row I can see being enough of a reason to explore options. Just don't forget Lowry was a know playoff choker flopper before he stuck daggers in everyone last year. FVV was choking the whole playoffs and their fans wanted him benched, then he went nuts.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Idk. If the Bucks end the season with anything short of at least a super competitive Finals, that Giannis conversation is going to get a lot more uneasy. If they are decidedly outplayed but anybody, it's awfully hard to reboot without a significant change. Particularly if they are upended in the ECF again.

[RobDeer 45]

Kris had an ok game last night. Great to see him step up with Giannis out.

[FVBrewerFan]

It's plausible Giannis would be more likely to leave if they win it all. IF he's getting any pressure from family, friends, agent, Nike, the Association, etc. he may actually feel it's easier to leave after doing what he wanted to do- win a title for himself, his team, and the city.

 

We just don't know what factor(s) will sway him to stay or leave. Yes, we know he's said as long as they are competitive he's staying, but I think we would all agree nothing is that simple or absolute.

[homer]

I don't think Giannis is going anywhere.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

It's plausible Giannis would be more likely to leave if they win it all. IF he's getting any pressure from family, friends, agent, Nike, the Association, etc. he may actually feel it's easier to leave after doing what he wanted to do- win a title for himself, his team, and the city.

 

We just don't know what factor(s) will sway him to stay or leave. Yes, we know he's said as long as they are competitive he's staying, but I think we would all agree nothing is that simple or absolute.

 

I think that's a good point. I don't think he's going anywhere because it's going to be really hard for anybody to pass up the certainty of $250 million this offseason when he's offered the supermax that only MKE can offer. I mean, it's kind of stupid to do it, honestly.

 

But we just don't know. I don't take athletes at their word.

[adambr2]

It's plausible Giannis would be more likely to leave if they win it all. IF he's getting any pressure from family, friends, agent, Nike, the Association, etc. he may actually feel it's easier to leave after doing what he wanted to do- win a title for himself, his team, and the city.

 

We just don't know what factor(s) will sway him to stay or leave. Yes, we know he's said as long as they are competitive he's staying, but I think we would all agree nothing is that simple or absolute.

 

I think that's a good point. I don't think he's going anywhere because it's going to be really hard for anybody to pass up the certainty of $250 million this offseason when he's offered the supermax that only MKE can offer. I mean, it's kind of stupid to do it, honestly.

 

But we just don't know. I don't take athletes at their word.

 

I just don't know how much the supermax offer is really a factor, as crazy as it sounds. Unlike other sports where guys just usually go to the highest bidder, money seems to be less of a factor in the NBA. I'm guessing that's part of the design of why we can offer more than anyone else because if we couldn't we'd never have a shot at keeping these guys. But having the ability to offer Giannis 5/250 when no one else can just isn't the leverage that you would think it would be.

 

I don't know enough to quantify what income a star like Giannis can make outside the NBA, but my own guess is that if he really wanted to go to New York or LA and build his own brand and get into endorsements, he's not going to come out behind.

 

I have absolutely no idea what Giannis is thinking. I would think if he's sold on staying, he's going to sign it right away in July when it's offered. I think if he declines to sign it and speaks of wanting to wait to sign anything until he hits free agency, he's as good as gone.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I was going to say he would come out behind if he turned it down this summer and blew out a knee. But I'm actually not sure that's even true. Ignoring that he seems lower risk for that kind of injury than say, Joel Embiid, I'm not sure it would even matter. Someone would pay him just as much the following offseason.

 

If he wants to leave, he is. It's that simple and nobody knows.

[tmwiese55]

Besides that it just seems like he wouldn't do it (which you have to take with a grain of salt) I do think if you look around the league it's going to be very tough for him to jump into a better winning situation than MKE in straight FA type of way, a KD GSW thing does not seem to be out there. He'd have to: pull the AD drama move which seems out of DNA, go to a clearly worse team, pick a team when he's a FA and force a trade from MKE to make salaries work. Or what I think is the likely route if he were to leave which is signing the max as soon as he's offered and then see how it goes for a bit and demand a trade later, ala the Paul George type move.

 

ETA: Spitball a couple situations that could be good and have cap space. MIA could be an option as they clear out some folks. But, do you really want to tie your prime to an aging Butler 1-2 years from now? MKE is a better spot. ATL could be a sleeper if their young core keeps improving and show some ability to win (not just put up stats) as they'd still all be on cheap rookie deals so they'd have tons of cap space.

[wallus]

If Giannis were American and loved the Hollywood lifestyle, I would be concerned about him leaving. He seems very old school and loyal so I am not worried about him leaving. The Bucks really need to be like the Spurs and draft Internationally if all things are equal as I think those guys are more likely to be okay with a small market situation.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I don't really hold any weight in that stuff or what it "seems like" he might do. Most of the flattering things Giannis has said about Milwaukee have to be framed with the fact that this guy just turned 25. He said at a lot of these things at 22, 23.

 

He has powerful people in his ear, all the time, and he could very well just change his mind or his long-term goals, or he/his girlfriend may just want his family based somewhere else. I'll be convinced he's staying when he signs. Until then it's just guesses based on his very limited media leaks about it. It's easy to say the right things and change your mind when the opportunity to leave becomes tangible.

[Mr Southpaw]

I don't really hold any weight in that stuff or what it "seems like" he might do. Most of the flattering things Giannis has said about Milwaukee have to be framed with the fact that this guy just turned 25. He said at a lot of these things at 22, 23.

 

He has powerful people in his ear, all the time, and he could very well just change his mind or his long-term goals, or he/his girlfriend may just want his family based somewhere else. I'll be convinced he's staying when he signs. Until then it's just guesses based on his very limited media leaks about it. It's easy to say the right things and change your mind when the opportunity to leave becomes tangible.

 

R-E-L-A-X

[OldSchoolSnapper]

...I'm totally relaxed. Weird post. I'm saying that I don't hold any stock in what professional athletes say when it comes to their own free agency before they hit free agency. It's amazing to me that anybody does at this point.

 

I can't wait for Giannis to re-sign with the Bucks and then be told I was wrong for predicting something I never actually did. That'll be fun.

[adambr2]

Yeah no one is freaking out about Giannis. I think he will stay, but I, too, won't be convinced of its certainty until he signs. I can think of plenty of reasons to believe he will stay, but let's be realistic, we've seen enough of NBA stars and the people they surround themselves with to know that they can be entirely unpredictable and there is greater than a 0% chance that he leaves.

 

Accepting that reality isn't synonymous with freaking out. The "r-e-l-a-x" posts would be much better saved for the start of next season if he hasn't signed yet and people are already talking about how we're going to be a 30 win team again in '21-'22.

[homer]

So the Bucks...

[FVBrewerFan]

After his monster game, Khris Middleton is now a 40/50/90 guy.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I'm headed to the game tomorrow night which will be my first regular season game at Fiserv. I've done some random kids events there and saw the first preseason game last year but never a real game. I got the Greek Night package, likely would have skipped the post-game Q&A since it's so late, but with what's happened the last week I might want to stick around for it. Of course I guess they could throw Thanasis in there but I'd hope they wouldn't do that to the fans.