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Sanders and it isn't close if I had to keep one, but I'd agree Ilyasova is our second best player pretty clearly.

DrugBust wrote:
All that said, he's going to keep the Bucks from tanking. If they did decide to blow it up, he and Sanders could keep them out of high lotto territory. Both should have significant value this summer and IF they want to completely start over, I'm fine moving both for projectable assets and '14 picks. I'd struggle to come up with an answer if I were making a decision on which to keep if we did hold on to one.

This is the problem with the Bucks and with the Eastern conference in general. It doesn't take superstar talent to keep you from competing for top picks. In the West, you can have a guy like Love or Durant before his prime and you'll still get a few more top picks for a few years. You can put together a good core, even if you miss on one or two of your top draft picks. In the East, if you draft one all-star, or two borderline all-stars, it's not long before you're already too good to tank. You want to keep players like Ersan and Sanders (or, a few years ago, Bogut) but just that alone makes you too good tank - even if you trade a lot of vets and sit your best players with bogus injuries for the last 2 months. The true tanking teams are doing all those things, but without the quality players like Sanders and Ersan, who give you a 4 or 5 game disadvantage when it comes to competing for draft picks.

I hate to say it, but if the Bucks really want to rebuild they would have to consider trading Sanders and Ersan for good draft picks and get their own good draft picks as well. I know it's counter-intuitive to trade good young players when you're trying to rebuild, but the fact is that it's going to be very hard to compete for good picks with Sanders and Ersan on the team, and it's going to be very hard to build a good team around them because you don't have that much else in the way of highly desirable assets.

I'm usually the first guy to call for a rebuild, but I'd like to keep Ersan and Sanders and see what can be done to get a good team - even if there is no real chance of getting a superstar. If Ellis and Redick play to career norms, rather than playing the way they both did when they first got traded to Milwaukee, and if Jennings is traded for a servicable pro, and if LRMAM gets healthy and they get a coach who helps players play to their strengths, I could still see this being a good team.

LUKE23 wrote:Sanders and it isn't close if I had to keep one, but I'd agree Ilyasova is our second best player pretty clearly.

I probably would too. Bigger impact, we have Henson.

Only thing that would give me pause is

1 - If my goal is to tank for a star player, I want losses and Sanders is probably going to get us more wins.

2 - Sanders isn't locked up long term yet, could get a monster deal, while Ersan is a bargain

3 - Sanders' technical foul issue. He's approaching Sheed territory without all the talent.

Like I said, I'd still probably take Sanders given all that, but my preference would be to move them both.

I'm still not swayed that Ersan is as good as his recent numbers suggest. Primarily defensively. That said, he's now worked his way into being a sweet tradeable asset.

I think you could aim high for assets like Bledsoe in the off-season depending on what happens with the Clips. Looking at the lotto teams, maybe Grunfeld considers giving up the current #10 pick for him which might pull you Oladipo.

But given that he likes it in Milwaukee and is producing very well for his contract I can't see the Bucks dealing him at all.

2 positions down. 3 to go.

paulpressey25 wrote:But given that he likes it in Milwaukee and is producing very well for his contract I can't see the Bucks dealing him at all.

Ersan has been flat out awesome the past 2 seasons when his minutes haven't been in constant flux. He seems to have developed some chemistry with Monta and has even gotten more aggressive in the post and driving to the basket.

We finally signed someone to what looks like at least a fair contract, if not a favorable one, I'd rather not dump him for a prospect unless we are going full on tank

Not sure why so many people are For giving up on Ersan. He's on a good contract and fits well with Larry. He has heart and always plays with great effort. Those are the kinds of players you need on a rebuilding team. You need your signed veterans playing their hardest and showing how it's done. Example A of why NOT to re-sign Brandon Jennings.

Gotta keep Ersan, dude has been on the Bucks forever.

Yeah I understand he is a good asset now but if we deal him, we are going to be spending that money on likely a guy who wont give half the effort or even production we get from Ers. I'm actually pretty happy with an Ersan / Sanders frontcourt especially as Larry grows and matures and they get more comfortable together. This is really their first year full time starting together and they have both been pretty damn good, imagine a year or two together.

Sort out the backcourt and wings first, i'm pretty happy with Larry / Ers frontcourt.

Pretty happy he got back to not being **** house. The production from Ersan and Larry is the only positive for me to take out of the season.

Ersan and Larry drive the bucks. The small dudes get the credit but those two are doing the work.

AussieBuck wrote:Ersan and Larry drive the bucks. The small dudes get the credit but those two are doing the work.

Exactly. I want an Ersan/Larry, Laverne and Shirley ad ffs

How about perfect strangers? I do like really like that the Bucks have an ad though despite my feelings for the twins.

AussieBuck wrote:Ersan and Larry drive the bucks. The small dudes get the credit but those two are doing the work.

Exactly.

Ersan's ability to shoot the three opens up the inside, which will enable Tobias to work in the post.......

I think he was pressing at the beginning of the year to try to justify his contract, and then Skiles made it worse by jerking around his minutes.

I don't think we could get anything like fair value for him in return, and I'm not interested in some Marshon Brooks / Humphries package.