PG Thread (Indiana) - 5 in a row

[Triple 7]

Bucks currently hold the longest winning streak in the NBA.

[blazza18]

Woelfel thinking Russ is the MVP is so Woelfel of him.

[Jez2983]

Woelfel thinking Russ is the MVP is so Woelfel of him.

Not that I agree with him, but he's probably right.

[worthlessBucks]

Playing well since Alex took to the radio waves.

[Fotis St]

1.5 out of 6th. That is pretty crazy..

So much for Kidd lost this team.

Nah ... Middleton found the team... Kidd is still completely LOST

[Chapter29]

I expected a win at home against this team. They may be ahead of us in the standings but they aren't that good, we are playing well and have their number a bit it seems.

Giannis continues to play at a star level. It's amazing his output night in and night out. We need it.

Middleton. The Difference. His overall game is quite impressive. There are guys in the NBA who's work doesn't show up in the stat box. People say they do the little things, the dirty work. Middleton does those things and does the things that shows up in the stat box as well. Just a great player to have.

Monroe. I would not mind one bit if this dude opts in or is resigned. I'd actually prefer a contract that's a tad less per year but on a 3/4 year deal. He's quite good for us and fits imo as a 6th type guy. He's easily our best C and really is our starter for all practical purposes right now.

Delly. I know he plays tough and smart and all but I much prefer Brogdon. Delly for me is a 20mpg back up, making him overpaid.

Snell. One of those guys that does the little things, the dirty work. He's pretty good for us and fits very well. We need to find a way to get him a few more 3's. Bet he gets overpaid for this and if that's the case I hope its not us.

Vaughn. Slowly and I mean slowly is rounding into an NBA player. He still can't shoot though. I will continue to stand pat with the notion that he was drafted as a pure shooter and still years later can't frickin shoot. He seems to be a solid defender and reasonably quick and athletic. He doesn't look lost out there any more. Just can't frickin shoot. WTH?

Henson. Good game. I will not be fooled.

Maker. At this point he needs to sit. He has enough to go on to work this offseason. His confidence is shot it seems. His 3 ball which was his go to staple is out of wack and he's getting destroyed at C defensively. Sit down young man and go work on your game and your body. Go eat a sammich.

Special shout out to Jason Terry. Dude's playing pretty well for an old man.

[hege53190]

8th seed baby!

I know this is mocking but with Middleton back, I believe that this team just needs to get into the playoffs and out of the 8th seed and we have a legitimate shot at the conference finals. I may be drinking to much of the kool aid but damn this team is fun to watch.

FFS we have the second best player in the conference, possibly the best second banana in the conference and the best 6th man. This is easily the best team/future that we have had since 2001 and probably since the 80s

[vinnymate]

Man I don't want to be a party pooper, but a couple of wins and people seems to forget a few games ago we were literally one of the worst teams in the league.

We still have Kidd as a coach, so at the end of the day we are still on the path of mediocre. In a playoff series against a good team, we are going to get exposed badly.

No way we win a playoff series against the Cavs, Wiz, Celtics or Hawks. I'm not going to rule out the Raptors, because they have been so terrible for a while, they need Lowry badly and their coach is also pretty bad. If we had a half competent coach we should in front of the Pacers and Pistons EASILY.

[Shaffty]

Man I don't want to be a party pooper, but a couple of wins and people seems to forget a few games ago we were literally one of the worst teams in the league.

We still have Kidd as a coach, so at the end of the day we are still on the path of mediocre. In a playoff series against a good team, we are going to get exposed badly.

No way we win a playoff series against the Cavs, Wiz, Celtics or Hawks. I'm not going to rule out the Raptors, because they have been so terrible for a while, they need Lowry badly and their coach is also pretty bad. If we had a half competent coach we should in front of the Pacers and Pistons EASILY.

You seem to forget we added a top 15 player after that and removed arguably one of the worst defenders in the league from playing 35 minutes

[vinnymate]

Man I don't want to be a party pooper, but a couple of wins and people seems to forget a few games ago we were literally one of the worst teams in the league.

We still have Kidd as a coach, so at the end of the day we are still on the path of mediocre. In a playoff series against a good team, we are going to get exposed badly.

No way we win a playoff series against the Cavs, Wiz, Celtics or Hawks. I'm not going to rule out the Raptors, because they have been so terrible for a while, they need Lowry badly and their coach is also pretty bad. If we had a half competent coach we should in front of the Pacers and Pistons EASILY.

You seem to forget we added a top 15 player after that and removed arguably one of the worst defenders in the league from playing 35 minutes

Wait Middleton is a top 15 player? His top 30-40 in my books.

Yes Jabari is a poor defender and might hurt us in the short term on defense, but we need him healthy or else there is a limit to our ceiling.

Like I said we are on a hot streak, people are quick to forget the crap that happened before it. I will reserve some judgement to see if we can close out the rest of the season strongly.

[coolhandluke121]

Since Jabari went down, they have held every team below its current scoring average except Utah, LAL, and Brooklyn. Average difference is just over -3 ppg for the opposition. Since Beasley also went down (coinciding somewhat with Henson playing less and Khris playing more/better of course), they have held every team below its scoring average, and the difference is almost -10 ppg.

Since Jabari's injury, they are scoring almost exactly 1 ppg more than their season average. Since Beasley's injury, they are scoring almost exactly 1 ppg less.

Between Jabari's injury and Beasley's, opponents scored about 2.5 ppg more than their average and the Bucks scored just over 2 ppg more than their average.

Henson's impact has been document elsewhere on multiple occasions as well.

The returns on defense far outweigh any loss of offense when you're talking about defenders who aren't just bad, but hideous. We're in David Lee/Gooden territory here. Other guys can pick up most of the slack on offense. Defense allows you to control a game and makes you a reliable team.

[Shaffty]

Man I don't want to be a party pooper, but a couple of wins and people seems to forget a few games ago we were literally one of the worst teams in the league.

We still have Kidd as a coach, so at the end of the day we are still on the path of mediocre. In a playoff series against a good team, we are going to get exposed badly.

No way we win a playoff series against the Cavs, Wiz, Celtics or Hawks. I'm not going to rule out the Raptors, because they have been so terrible for a while, they need Lowry badly and their coach is also pretty bad. If we had a half competent coach we should in front of the Pacers and Pistons EASILY.

You seem to forget we added a top 15 player after that and removed arguably one of the worst defenders in the league from playing 35 minutes

Wait Middleton is a top 15 player? His top 30-40 in my books.

Buy a new book

[vinnymate]

You seem to forget we added a top 15 player after that and removed arguably one of the worst defenders in the league from playing 35 minutes

Wait Middleton is a top 15 player? His top 30-40 in my books.

Buy a new book

If you are going to go there, you obviously don't own any books.

HIs a good player, but no one has ever said Middleton is a top 15 player.

Happy to change my opinion if you provide some references.

[coolhandluke121]

You seem to forget we added a top 15 player after that and removed arguably one of the worst defenders in the league from playing 35 minutes

Wait Middleton is a top 15 player? His top 30-40 in my books.

Yes Jabari is a poor defender and might hurt us in the short term on defense, but we need him healthy or else there is a limit to our ceiling.

Like I said we are on a hot streak, people are quick to forget the crap that happened before it. I will reserve some judgement to see if we can close out the rest of the season strongly.

You're paying lip service to defense but not getting the overall impact. Either Khris is much better than you're giving him credit for or Jabari is worse. The dramatic difference in their play right now requires some combination of those.

And we can forget all the crap that happened before because the reason it happened is horrible defense and we don't have to worry about that anymore.

[HaroldinGMinor]

If Khris is top 30 - 40 then what does that make Jabari? Top 100?

[paulpressey25]

The dramatic difference in their play right now requires some combination of those.

We had this same phenomena in the Big 3 years. There was a point in time when Tim Thomas actually cared about basketball and could literally defend all 5 positions. Karl would put him in the game in place of Big Dog and the team looked even better.

And yes, I know Vin Baker is an icon. He was awesome. But at the time he was dealt, Tyrone Hill was a better fit as well.

It doesn't mean VIn and Glenn sucked. But to win with guys like that you need a perfect defensive eco-system, which is hard to create.

[Chapter29]

I wouldn't put Middleton as a top 15 guy in the league, but I would say he's very good and probably even underrated.

He is very good and very good for us. He was a huge addition to this team.

[coolhandluke121]

If Khris is top 30 - 40 then what does that make Jabari? Top 100?

Realistically that's in the right ballpark. Remember last spring when Jabari started tearing it up, scoring almost as much per 36 as he did this year on better efficiency for about the last 2 months of the season? ESPN's rankings, which are usually pretty decent no matter how much you want to nitpick them, downgraded him from #49 at the start of the year to #69 after the year was over despite his spring performance. Based on his overall game and his advanced stats this year providing more questions than answers about his reputation as a future star, I'm sure he would have slid again had he stayed healthy. Unlike most stuff out there, those rankings actually account for defense and ignore the hype. I'd say 80-100 depending on whether he's hitting his 3's is realistic, if not a little generous.

It's both. People have failed to give Khris credit for being a legit top-25 player because they don't properly weigh defensive impact, and they've had Jabari too high for the same reason but in the other direction.

[vinnymate]

You seem to forget we added a top 15 player after that and removed arguably one of the worst defenders in the league from playing 35 minutes

Wait Middleton is a top 15 player? His top 30-40 in my books.

Yes Jabari is a poor defender and might hurt us in the short term on defense, but we need him healthy or else there is a limit to our ceiling.

Like I said we are on a hot streak, people are quick to forget the crap that happened before it. I will reserve some judgement to see if we can close out the rest of the season strongly.

You're paying lip service to defense but not getting the overall impact. Either Khris is much better than you're giving him credit for or Jabari is worse. The dramatic difference in their play right now requires some combination of those.

And we can forget all the crap that happened before because the reason it happened is horrible defense and we don't have to worry about that anymore.

Yes in the short term Jabari defense is a huge problem, but I was saying in the long term the ceiling is there. Unless you feel we have enough talent (even without Jabari) to be a top team in the East?

No doubt Khris is a very good player, but the sample size is relatively small to coin us one of the top teams in the East all of the sudden. I'm going to see how the rest of the season plays out before jumping to any conclusions.

Also right now with Kidd being coach is a disadvantage - with an iso heavy offensive system and still irregular rotations this far into the season. In a playoff series teams with coaches like Brad Stevens or Budz with show their worth.

[coolhandluke121]

It doesn't mean VIn and Glenn sucked. But to win with guys like that you need a perfect defensive eco-system, which is hard to create.

Exactly. I'd add that unlike, say, Dirk or Nash, they're not the type of guys you give that kind of consideration to when building a team. Not even close, really. It just pigeonholes you at every other position.