RealGM

ShootingtheJ wrote:Doc finally limiting Beasley's minutes. Horst's biggest mistake was not dumping him for 2nd or 2. At this point he's not worth even having on the roster.

When he's on, he can't miss a three, but it's been a long while since he's been on.

Jez2983 wrote:Ha ha **** I'm lucky I was super busy today. We are going to have to turn this team round 360 degrees.

You kidd, of course, but listening to Doc postgame I think he is a coach who understands how far you have to turn around to get better and has a plan to cure the current malaise. I like that he said the current Lose to the Worst Teams in the League Tour might be part of "our story," which seems to me to be a skillful application of lipstick on a pig, as we say in the USA, but it could have the effect of removing the embarrassment of the current run and helping them rebuild a little pre-playoffs confidence.

Who knows? There might be something to that. Or as Jason Kidd would say if he ever took first-year Latin, ad astra per aspirin.

Imagine if Horst convinces ownership to pay for 4 head coaches before he loses his job. I will never make fun of him for being a Fed Ex driver again if he manages that.

I am thinking that in the remaining games we should experiment with different combinations of players plus the big 3 and Lopez. The time has come to think outside the box.

Start Green instead of Beas. Play Thanasis, mjb and Livingstone to see if they can help mainly in defense. Give them ample time.

Big 4 plus them.

Doc seems to have run out of ideas. He often says I don’t know.

(Also maybe send an emissary to Bud to ask for his advice. It can’t hurt to try.)

Desperate times call for desperate measures. And the present time is exactly that.

Sigra wrote:

fan230 wrote:I couldn’t see today’s game. So, what happened? Why are the Bucks suddenly losing game after game to weak teams? Only a few weeks back they were playing normally; something seems to be broken suddenly. Any insights at this sudden change? It is not as if the team grew old in a week! I am mystified.

There has to be something that has fundamentally been knocked askew suddenly, but what could it be?

Any insights?

end of regular season for veteran team that is #2 (and wouldnt mind being #3). players try to avoid injuries and think about playoffs only. therefore they dont play hard.
their oponents are teams already eliminated from playoffs and have nothing to lose. they have only few games left and give 100%

I dont know. its like people on this forum are new to NBA

Yeah all veteran teams with championship hopes look completely lost, unmotivated and lethargic going into the playoffs. Get with the program, guys. Havent you seen the NBA before?

fan230 wrote:I am thinking that in the remaining games we should experiment with different combinations of players plus the big 3 and Lopez. The time has come to think outside the box.

Start Green instead of Beas. Play Thanasis, mjb and Livingstone to see if they can help mainly in defense. Give them ample time.

Big 4 plus them.

Doc seems to have run out of ideas. He often says I don’t know.

(Also maybe send an emissary to Bud to ask for his advice. It can’t hurt to try.)

Desperate times call for desperate measures. And the present time is exactly that.

At the very least,

Bev
Dame
Khris
Giannis
Brook

should be given some run as a starting(& closing) lineup.

Hey atleast our expectations are low. Hoping to just see a round or two in the playoffs. We can still enjoy that right? We will have plenty of time to wallow in misery again when Giannis is gone.

Does anyone have Lillard's stats/efficiency when Giannis sits? Seems like he looks and plays a lot better every time it happens. Yet one more thing we can trace back to the coaches, the inability to mesh the two high usage, relatively ball dominant players all season.

Horst had a rough year.

I didn't catch last night's game (I haven't watched many lately) but I've noticed ever since the refs have "swallowed the whistle" post-ASB even when Gianni is doing his best Amar'e impression in the 4th quarter and ceding to Dame and Khris, those two can't drive past anyone and make a layup. Dame's (and other guards like him) are not getting the soft foul calls they normally do.

Forget where I saw in on YT, but there was someone taking about how other than Freak hardly anyone on this team can drive to the hoop.

trwi7 wrote:Imagine if Horst convinces ownership to pay for 4 head coaches before he loses his job. I will never make fun of him for being a Fed Ex driver again if he manages that.

I like Horst, but if we don’t show an extra gear in the playoffs and get bounced early, time for him to go.

Of course then we have to hope Haslam doesn’t hire Gar Forman or something

LUKE23 wrote:Does anyone have Lillard's stats/efficiency when Giannis sits? Seems like he looks and plays a lot better every time it happens. Yet one more thing we can trace back to the coaches, the inability to mesh the two high usage, relatively ball dominant players all season.

Horst had a rough year.

Without Giannis (6 games)
32/4/8 on 48/41/91. 21 fga, 10fta.

With Giannis (63)
24/4/7 on 42/35/92 17fga, 7fta.

Without Dame (8 games)
32/10/8 on 58/4!/56 21fga, 11fta

With Dame (63)
31/12/6 on 62/30/66 19fga, 11fta

Very basic stats and missing context so idk if you can really take much from them. Think it’s obvious that Dame helps Giannis with his gravity and spacing, and that Dame really struggles as a second option and the lack of spacing and driving lanes when he shares the floor with Giannis. If someone has a cleaning the glass account, you can see their stats when one of the other is on the bench and really play with the lineup stuff. Without having those stats in front of me, I would guess we’re really good when those two are on together just because of sheer talent.

What's really crazy is that the Dame/GA/Midds 3-man lineup has a net rating of +17.0 in 731 minutes. Only one 3-man lineup is better with more minutes and only three lineups in the league are better if you move the qualifier to 500+ minutes.

They haven't been on the floor together enough and the supporting cast outside of those three has been an abomination.

If I was a player on the Bucks the past week or two I definitely would have been keeping my eye on the standings. There is literally no benefit to winning the last 3 games. 1st is out of reach and 3rd/4th if we win those games also out of reach. At least now they will be closer to deciding own destiny. I'd take the Knicks/Magic/Pacers all day everyday over the 76ers/Heat. Why put yourself through that in round 1.

The Pacers/Heat game tomorrow will be very important.

Wonka wrote:Pat C playing 34 minutes and contributing nothing is becoming a real issue.

They are missing the Mamu Mystique and everybody knows it but Jon Horst.

They've been banged up, the bench has significant problems, and the late season malaise might be kicking in, but yeah, it's fair to wonder if Doc is leaving some meat on the bone himself.

He came in and made significant systemic improvements, especially defensively. I think the players respect him, and he brought in a professional staff behind him. These are all good things. I also think they're playing too slow on offense, he's running too many non-functional lineups, and there have been multiple iffy late game decisions now where I don't think he gave the team the best chance to win.

Neuromancer56 wrote:

ShootingtheJ wrote:Doc finally limiting Beasley's minutes. Horst's biggest mistake was not dumping him for 2nd or 2. At this point he's not worth even having on the roster.

When he's on, he can't miss a three, but it's been a long while since he's been on.

He's hit just 7 of his last 41 from 3. He was bad in March and completely unplayable lately.

PG Graveyard wrote:Hey atleast our expectations are low. Hoping to just see a round or two in the playoffs. We can still enjoy that right? We will have plenty of time to wallow in misery again when Giannis is gone.

My expectations are unchanged.

My expectation is still a championship. That's always been the goal. Don't allow Horst and the Bucks to move the goal post and define success as an Eastern conference finals visit. That's not why we traded for Damian Lillard.

When that doesn't happen, I expect major changes.

ShootingtheJ wrote:

Neuromancer56 wrote:

ShootingtheJ wrote:Doc finally limiting Beasley's minutes. Horst's biggest mistake was not dumping him for 2nd or 2. At this point he's not worth even having on the roster.

When he's on, he can't miss a three, but it's been a long while since he's been on.

He's hit just 7 of his last 41 from 3. He was bad in March and completely unplayable lately.

AJ shot a little better in March at 36% and is great overall to start April but has not seem to be clutch.

The real menace is Pat C. He had a good January but every other month has been garbage.

I think the best route is to decrease Beasley minutes and give Green more time but also cut Pat C minutes and give them to Andre. He should've had emergency point duties over Pat anyway.

LUKE23 wrote:What's really crazy is that the Dame/GA/Midds 3-man lineup has a net rating of +17.0 in 731 minutes. Only one 3-man lineup is better with more minutes and only three lineups in the league are better if you move the qualifier to 500+ minutes.

They haven't been on the floor together enough and the supporting cast outside of those three has been an abomination.

Most of those minutes were under Coach Griff.

Under Doc though, nobody dominates Charlotte like the Bucks do

https://www.nba.com/stats/lineups/advanced?CF=MIN*G*40&DateFrom=01/29/2024&DateTo=04/06/2024&GroupQuantity=3&OpponentTeamID=1610612766&dir=D&slug=advanced&sort=NET_RATING