The dust has (mostly) settled. Where are the Bucks in the EC hierarchy?

[M-C-G]

I guess I see the east making a pretty big jump this year...I mean Carroll really improves Toronto, i think that was a great add. Paul George being back should return Indy to the playoffs. Atlanta is certainly going to fade a little bit. I think Miami is going to be massively overrated by most, but here goes;

Tier 1 - Conference championship
Cleveland

Tier 2 - 100% playoff homecourt
Chicago
Atlanta

Tier 3 - 1 home court team, other 3 in the playoffs
Milwaukee
Toronto
Miami
Washington

Tier 4 - 80% lottery, 20% playoff
Indiana
Orlando
Boston
Charlotte
Detroit

Tier 5 -100% lottery
Brooklyn
New York
Philly

[paulpressey25]

Great question. Great debate.

Seems to me it comes down to Jabari and Monroe. Both are capable of being very prominent 20 point scorers. Both could be defensive sieves that could blow a hole in the entire defensive scheme. How those two pan out could result in a win total somewhere between 37 and 55 wins.

[Tuxedo38]

Great question. Great debate.

Seems to me it comes down to Jabari and Monroe. Both are capable of being very prominent 20 point scorers. Both could be defensive sieves that could blow a hole in the entire defensive scheme. How those two pan out could result in a win total somewhere between 37 and 55 wins.

I could see our defense declining a little bit, but I don't see how Parker/Monroe would make it drastically worse when we Zaza/Ersan playing significant minutes last season.

[pifhluk23]

Anything under 45 wins I would consider a disappointment.

[AussieBuck]

I don't think the dust has settled at all. The starting lineup is a weird 2K creation. If we turf MCW early and Giannis goes nuts I think we can have homecourt in the first round.

[Prez]

Comes down to how much of the loss in bench depth will be compensated for by the addition of Jabari/Monroe, and internal development for MCW/Mids/Giannis/Henson and I guess Ennis/Inglis/etc. I think the loss of Duds, Zaza, and Ersan is going to hurt more than most think. A 2nd unit of Vasquez-Mayo-Duds-Ersan-Zaza with Henson and Inglis sprinkled in would've had a ton of firepower and could probably push us to 48-50 wins, but 3 of them gone we're really throwing our young guys into the fire. I hope they rise to the occasion but I wouldn't be surprised if we're still in that 40-42 win range. Maybe I'm underrating Monroe and Jabari's return..

[chonestown]

I have no idea how to slot Chicago. They could go as high as 2 and I think their floor is waaaaay lower than it has been. Putting aside my less than sparkling opinion of the corn mayor, it's pretty easy to envision a scenario where Pau, Rose and Noah all miss upwards of 25 games.

Bucks are between 3 and 6. Pacers will be much improved, the Wiz will be good, the Bulls are better right now and the Cavs are the Cavs. Home court is about a 40-60 possibility, so I'll go with 5. Throw in the Heat and 5 seems reasonable.

[Rendei]

The Bucks will be fighting for the 2 seed with about 7 other teams. How it all plays out will go according to chaos theory really. Random injuries, trades, legal issues, player development, locker room drama, reffing abnormalities, Kardashian dating interests, racist owners, snake coaches. and tank commanders snatching large roles are just a small selection of crap that can shake up the list. It's hard to predict it all. But it'll be fun!

[Licensed to Il]

The East still pales in comparison to the Western Conference, but these projections are difficult because this is the first year in a while we won't see 5-6 teams tanking from the start.

With an acknowledgement that anything can happen due to injuries, trades, and chemistry.. I see the East shaking out like:

Cavs (juggernaut)
Hawks (Splitter increases the versatility and front line of the conferences already most versatile team)
Bulls (will emphasize the regular season less, and be more dangerous once the playoffs begin. Obviously everything hinges on Rose and Noah staying healthy... something much more likely with Thibs gone. Hoiberg will need a good start to the season to get buy in)
Heat (Getting Winslow and G Green helps them so much. Its criminal how Riley pulls solid bench guys out of nowhere)
Bucks (I feel even with our new offensive firepower, that our defense will be far ahead of our offense. Parker or Giannis making "the leap" to stardom lifts us higher)
Wizards (Could be higher if they axed Wittman)
Toronto (though with a slow start they could blow it up)
Detroit (Will really surprise people, though it all hinges on Drummund playing energetically and consistently)
Orlando (I still think Skiles can coach up anyone. Staying power is his problem of course)

I think Chicago and Toronto are the wild cards. Chicago has some assets to make some moves but that front office just can't part with "their guys".

[ReasonablySober]

Why do people see the defense declining?

[RRyder823]

Why do people see the defense declining?

I'm not entirely sure. Apparently some people think ZaZa and Ersan are light years ahead of Jabari and Monroe on D maybe?

[ReasonablySober]

Zaza was a key to the defense and Parker is gonna need to make strides, but it's not like they're physically incapable of doing so.

[breakchains]

The concern definitely isn't physical. Both Monroe and Parker are physically superior to last year's counterparts. But a major part of any team defense, and especially ours, is understanding, instincts, and general defensive bball IQ. Both of last year's guys were high IQ guys who executed the system well. Let's see how Monroe and Parker do in the system.

[ReasonablySober]

The concern definitely isn't physical. Both Monroe and Parker are physically superior to last year's counterparts. But a major part of any team defense, and especially ours, is understanding, instincts, and general defensive bball IQ. Both of last year's guys were high IQ guys who executed the system well. Let's see how Monroe and Parker do in the system.

I definitely agree, but that's all the more reason to get them the most minutes they can handle. There isn't a place for guys like Zaza and Dudley on a team with a core three years from serious contention.

[BUCKnation]

Cleveland
Chicago
Milwaukee
Miami
Atlanta
Washington
----Whatever else

Chicago will be fine. If they lose Rose for an extended period then they drop, but they will be a very tough team still. I don't trust Miami to stay healthy, but they have a nice team no doubt. Atlanta lost Carroll and they seemed to run out of gas at the end of the year. Not sure what to think of them as they were damn good in the reg. season. Washington still has Wall and Beal, but lost their 3rd best, arguably best (at times), player so they will fall off a bit. Toronto will suck and its the East so who cares about the low seed fodder.

I expect the Bucks to be very good. I think losing Zaza will hurt as he could've provided some nice bench minutes, which will be tough to replicate given the current roster. I don't think losing Ersan or Dudley will hurt on the court though.

Another season for the core should provide for a more cohesive and hopefully more successful unit.

[tydett]

If people seriously think that Zaza and Dudley had higher Bball IQ than Jabari and Monroe, come on... there's a reason they're both career journeymen. Jabari and Monroe should easily be able to equal their contributions, if not better them.

[Ayt]

We have a number of potential breakout players which makes us one of the more interesting teams in the league. Our entire starting five is made up of players that could take a leap forward which is kind of amazing. It is difficult to predict how the season will play out given that.

[RealBucksFan]

1. Cleveland
2. Chicago
3. Washington
4. Atlanta
5. Milwaukee
6. Miami
7. Detroit
8. Indiana

I think the Bucks will most likely be in the 3-7 range. Most teams do improve on paper in the offseason and surprise teams, like the Bucks were last season, frequently regress. But the addition of Monroe and the promise of the Bucks young talent gives the team plenty of room to grow. Monroe, Giannis and Middleton is a heck of a big three and I have super high hopes for Jabari, although I don't expect him to make an immediate impact next season. I do worry that MCW could be this team's Josh Smith, holding back his talented teammates, but the addition of GV should enable the team to bench MCW if he plays anything like he did last season.

I think Atlanta is due to decline and the loss of Carroll really will hurt, just by upsetting the delicate balance the team had on offense and by forcing them to play a major offensive liability in Thabo Sefolosha at SF. Atlanta had a very balanced offense last season and subbing out an excellent offensive player for a bad one who takes forever to shoot will hurt. Splitter should help the bench unit, though, and Atlanta has plenty of room to regress and still be a top-4 team in the East.

I am assuming Washington will grow from their positive postseason performance last year and will start taking more threes. And a healthy Beal could really help them. I think they are on the rise, although they do lack great depth, especially down low, so injury trouble could doom them.

Miami has a talented roster, but everybody is super injury-prone, so it isn't like the full roster is going to be healthy all at once that often. They will be better than last season, most likely, but Deng and Whiteside could be due to regress. Even Wade may continue to decline.

[Bucks_MacGyver]

Just win 47-52 games and then see where you are on the standings


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[MickeyDavis]

Giannis is the key. If he has developed a decent jumper look out. And of course Jabari's health. I'd say 3-5 depending on those factors