PG OKC - Grizzled Vets School Youngins

[PG Graveyard]

AJJ is precious defensively but liability on offense, still he balances the team

He's really not. Every time someone tries to cheat off him, he goes over and sets a devastating screen on some unsuspecting fool. He's too smart to be bad defensive player. He just needs to adjust to the elite defenders with his passing.

He just needs to clean up some of these asinine passes he flips out there at times. Other than that I love the guy. Absolutely what we needed in our starting lineup. He was phenomenal on SGA

[ShootingtheJ]

It really hurts the Thunder that Caruso left his talent in Chicago. Both the Thunder and Bulls lost in that trade.

[Badgerlander]

I chuckled at the broadcast last night when SGA drew a ticky tac foul on AJ Green and one of the commentators was like “SGA knows he has a young player on him and just goes to work.” I laughed, AJ is a year younger than SGA, like gtf out of here

[jimmybones]

Outside of the obvious- Giannis, Giannis and Dame pairing, Khris health- AJax and AJ Green being super legit rotation pieces are my favorite storyline. Love those dudes

[MickeyDavis]

We go to OKC on 2/3. I wish it were sooner, it's going to be chippy.

[WeMajor34]

I’ve already seen a good amount of NBA media saying Giannis is the MVP favorite after last night.

I don’t agree with the MVP being a foregone conclusion after a narrative forms. That happens every year nowadays. It should always be about the play on the court.

BUT I truly think Giannis is the MVP and if his narrative takes shape and doesn’t stop, I’m not complaining as a Bucks fan.

Great win for everyone last night. The Bucks are still contenders and on any given night, they can play like the best team in the league. I just hope we’re healthy come playoff time and that we make a move or two to upgrade the roster.

[tydett]

Squint at OKC and you see a bizarre version of the 2018-19 Bucks. Incredible defense that let's them absolutely wax teams, dominant young superstar who sets the tone for his team, young guys really flourishing in the spotlight. They have a similar issue to that 2019 team in that if Shai can't carry them, they just really have nobody else who can playmake and get dudes easy shots, leading to huge 3 point shooting anomaly nights. Yes, last night's game "didn't count" so it's easy to excuse it as the Thunder not caring, but these guys are competitors - they want to win every game they play. The Thunder just ran into their own version of the Raptors who let the rest of the team try to make something happen - and they couldn't.

[Ruben Quevedo]

Squint at OKC and you see a bizarre version of the 2018-19 Bucks. Incredible defense that let's them absolutely wax teams, dominant young superstar who sets the tone for his team, young guys really flourishing in the spotlight. They have a similar issue to that 2019 team in that if Shai can't carry them, they just really have nobody else who can playmake and get dudes easy shots, leading to huge 3 point shooting anomaly nights. Yes, last night's game "didn't count" so it's easy to excuse it as the Thunder not caring, but these guys are competitors - they want to win every game they play. The Thunder just ran into their own version of the Raptors who let the rest of the team try to make something happen - and they couldn't.

I had the same thought. Looked like our offense when teams rolled out the Giannis wall and we didn’t know what to do. Start giving up shots on the other end, heads drop, and a 10 point deficit suddenly feels like a mountain to climb.

[BigO]

Thoughts:

1) Credit to the coaches for getting AJJ to play defense the way he's capable. Last year he was still trying to defend from behind and now it's all about staying in front of his man.

2) These tourney games were played like the playoffs. The scores were all down. Fewer fast breaks, more physical defense. That doesn't play to the Thunder's strengths of athleticism.

3) Shooting still is the calling card to win in the NBA and OKC is just not a great shooting team. Getting a great defender in Caruso is always a plus, but what they really need are more spacers.

4) I still would like a Looney type player for interior defense, switching defense and rebounding.

5) One of the few dominant rebounding games for the Bucks, mainly because of how bad OKC shot. Giannis with 19, BP with 9 and even Lopez had 9.

[Willie Colon]

I’ll take this trophy. It’s nice to win some silverware again. I think fans will start to appreciate the NBA cup in a few years. In big European soccer leagues like the Premier League there are a few in season cups, and they mean something to the fans. It’s nice to win a tournament and lift a trophy.

All soccer leagues have in season cup tournaments. Some are mostly used to get reserve and youth squad players a chance to shine. It makes sense because of how large rosters are. Although the continental cups are massive and sometimes hold even more prestige than the league title.

It would be cool if the winner of the NBA cup gets to play all the best Euro teams in an international tournament like the FIFA Club World Cup.

[chonestown]

AJJ is precious defensively but liability on offense, still he balances the team

He's really not. Every time someone tries to cheat off him, he goes over and sets a devastating screen on some unsuspecting fool. He's too smart to be bad defensive player. He just needs to adjust to the elite defenders with his passing.

His screening was there from the jump, particularly when it's done to allow Dame to flare out. I think he always looked like a player but he going to need a coach to figure out how to take advantage of his attributes and minimize the situations where's he asked to do something he's ill-equipped to handle. His 3-ball is enough to warrant attention from defenders and I would expect that to improve unless Oppenheimer get his hands on him.

[Badgerlander]

It really hurts the Thunder that Caruso left his talent in Chicago. Both the Thunder and Bulls lost in that trade.

Thats why I hesitate to give up anything for DFS, the quick decline of defensive role players over 30 is real

[Lippo]

Adam Silver does not act like anything approaching a human being. Jesus is he creepy.

Hes learch from the adams family .lol

Golem from LoTR

[Lippo]

AJJ is precious defensively but liability on offense, still he balances the team

He's really not. Every time someone tries to cheat off him, he goes over and sets a devastating screen on some unsuspecting fool. He's too smart to be bad defensive player. He just needs to adjust to the elite defenders with his passing.

His screening was there from the jump, particularly when it's done to allow Dame to flare out. I think he always looked like a player but he going to need a coach to figure out how to take advantage of his attributes and minimize the situations where's he asked to do something he's ill-equipped to handle. His 3-ball is enough to warrant attention from defenders and I would expect that to improve unless Oppenheimer get his hands on him.

Yup, need more Green and AJJ, actually concerned the team takes a step back when Mids comes back, we don’t really need a 3rd scorer in the starting lineup. Hopefully Mids comes back in the Vinnie Johnson role… scorer off the bench/spark plug.

[German Athens]

It really hurts the Thunder that Caruso left his talent in Chicago. Both the Thunder and Bulls lost in that trade.

Thats why I hesitate to give up anything for DFS, the quick decline of defensive role players over 30 is real

I think the issue more so with Caruso isn’t that he’s fallen off defensively, but rather gone to a team where his impact will be a marginal gain.

Okc already had Shai, Wallace, Dort who are high end perimeter defenders. Adding Caruso doesn’t give them much more.

Caruso would look better on a team where his strengths are more desperately needed.

Agree with your worry about DFS, though. The difference is that I’ve never actually seen him as an elite defender.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Badgerlander]

Read on Twitter

[Ron Swanson]

Caruso's just a massive offensive liability and it's why I'm also not bullish on Andre when it comes to the playoffs. Any shot attempt the defense can funnel towards those dudes is a winning possession.

[Matches Malone]

Love seeing ESPN get community noted for their BS.

[paulpressey25]

It really hurts the Thunder that Caruso left his talent in Chicago. Both the Thunder and Bulls lost in that trade.

Thats why I hesitate to give up anything for DFS, the quick decline of defensive role players over 30 is real

I need to bookmark your comment above. It's held true with so many players.

Makes me think about Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. The Bucks got his best years out of him, then at 30 he fell off a cliff. Makes me sort of view Ajax in that same light. Bucks will get his best 3-4 years right now.

[Profound23]

Hopefully this carries over and we beat Cleveland on Friday.