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bucksfansince88 wrote:Bender had the softest dunk ive ever seen last night lol

He and Ersan are in a softest dunker league all their own.

old skool wrote:Antetokounmpo was 0-6 from outside of the paint and shot 60% from the FT line. No sign of improvement.

and it's already the second preseason game! Did he even pick up a basketball this offseason!?!!?!?

GBPackers47 wrote:

old skool wrote:Antetokounmpo was 0-6 from outside of the paint and shot 60% from the FT line. No sign of improvement.

and it's already the second preseason game! Did he even pick up a basketball this offseason!?!!?!?

Not in the way we would’ve liked. They were only off for 4 months. Half of that was spent doing publicity for his signature line and the other half was spent being misused by the Greek national team. I wouldn’t expect much improvement. I’ll just be happy if he can get out of his own head on the FT line.

Thanasis wouldn't be on the roster if he wasn't an Antetokounmpo. He seemed to be completely lost at times on the court. But, I love his hustle, especially on the boards.

humanrefutation wrote:Thanasis wouldn't be on the roster if he wasn't an Antetokounmpo. He seemed to be completely lost at times on the court. But, I love his hustle, especially on the boards.

No way. It’s not like the Bucks signed a guy who was a FA not on an NBA roster the last several years just to appease an unnamed player who may or may not be offered a Super Max contract at the end of the season. Hmmm...

Ron Swanson wrote:

leroyjw10 wrote:

jute2003 wrote:He looks like a bigger DeAndre Liggins to me. Maybe a little smoother athlete.

I hope he never sees the floor.

I get how Thanasis plays isn't the most aesthetically pleasing, but he's still averaging 9/7.5/2 on 63% shooting in just 18 minutes. He's at least kind of effective in a chaotic sort of way.

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather Frank Mason have roster spot No. 15.

There it is. He's Playoff Thon, aka "Kind of Effective Chaos". I've come around a bit on Thanasis now that I can kinda look past the whole nepotism thing. There are much worse guys to have at the end of your bench.

I think a positive in Than's case is he has at least 80% control over his own limbs, as opposed to 30% with Thon.

drone3 wrote:Haven't watched any games so far, how does Bender compare to DJ?

equal in terms of coordination or lack thereof, both are finesse bigs id say they are equal in terms of potential. Bender is probably the better shooter, DJ is the more mobile defender

Bender's not at Jokic's level as a passer of course but if you give him space at the top of the floor, for instance, he has good touch and placement and he can pick you apart. I had really hoped for a bigger difference in him physically. There are a lot of ifs in his development but I like his size and sense. He'll stick in the league if he can just be more decisive. He'll be a good player if, on top of that, he can improve his overall skill level. And if in addition to those two things he can improve his fitness and get quicker, he could be a starter or better, depending on the extent to which all of these things happen. I would expect that if he's going to get to that point, though, it'll probably be on his next team. Right now he looks like a guy who might not kill you if you have to play him, but obviously we have lots of better options.

humanrefutation wrote:Thanasis wouldn't be on the roster if he wasn't an Antetokounmpo. He seemed to be completely lost at times on the court. But, I love his hustle, especially on the boards.

All he has to do is learn to amend being lost out there. Only 27 & getting his first experience with a good NBA coaching system.

Imagine what all of the hustle will do, once he's more aware & has greater NBA experience.

theFireBlanket wrote:

humanrefutation wrote:Thanasis wouldn't be on the roster if he wasn't an Antetokounmpo. He seemed to be completely lost at times on the court. But, I love his hustle, especially on the boards.

All he has to do is learn to amend being lost out there. Only 27 & getting his first experience with a good NBA coaching system.

Imagine what all of the hustle will do, once he's more aware & has greater NBA experience.

I don't think you can teach basketball instinct.

Personally, I wouldn't say that he's lacking instinct.

Just one random thought, Robin had to direct Pat where to be on the last play of the 3rd. Do t know if it’s great IQ from Robin or bad awareness by pat who’s had a year under the system. I think it’s a little both to be honest

Fresh_Prince12 wrote:Just one random thought, Robin had to direct Pat where to be on the last play of the 3rd. Do t know if it’s great IQ from Robin or bad awareness by pat who’s had a year under the system. I think it’s a little both to be honest

Pat makes up for a lot of fundamental mistakes with his athleticism. Some people here praise his blocks on the perimeter, but more times than not he’s flying by the shooter.

Ron Swanson wrote:Korver's gonna be fun over those 10-15 minutes a game he gets where the offense just needs a flamethrower out there for 3PT spacing, but he's basically one of those stationary cannons that you see in old Revolutionary War paintings. Dude just can't move at all on defense.

Not laughing at the take, the imagery of a Revolutionary War cannon is beautiful.

emunney wrote:Bender's not at Jokic's level as a passer of course but if you give him space at the top of the floor, for instance, he has good touch and placement and he can pick you apart. I had really hoped for a bigger difference in him physically. There are a lot of ifs in his development but I like his size and sense. He'll stick in the league if he can just be more decisive. He'll be a good player if, on top of that, he can improve his overall skill level. And if in addition to those two things he can improve his fitness and get quicker, he could be a starter or better, depending on the extent to which all of these things happen. I would expect that if he's going to get to that point, though, it'll probably be on his next team. Right now he looks like a guy who might not kill you if you have to play him, but obviously we have lots of better options.

Let's reframe that: Assume Bender is a junior in college. Where would you project him in the draft? I can't see a guy like that falling out of the first round. Now we obviously only have 2 years of team control on him instead of the typical 4 and he's an UFA instead of a RFA after his contract expires (so the upside is a bit limited) but we're in a position where guys like Bender choose the Bucks to resurrect their career. I'm not even that particularly hopeful about Bender (mostly because like you said it will take longer for him to figure out how to contribute than his contract runs) but in general it's exciting that we have access to talent even without commiting assets.

It would be nice if we had a rookie sharp shooter for Korver to mentor, Heurter would have been perfect

humanrefutation wrote:Thanasis wouldn't be on the roster if he wasn't an Antetokounmpo. He seemed to be completely lost at times on the court. But, I love his hustle, especially on the boards.

Thon Replacement.

Just occurred to me: what if DJ improved as much as he did between years 1 and 2?

theFireBlanket wrote:

humanrefutation wrote:Thanasis wouldn't be on the roster if he wasn't an Antetokounmpo. He seemed to be completely lost at times on the court. But, I love his hustle, especially on the boards.

All he has to do is learn to amend being lost out there. Only 27 & getting his first experience with a good NBA coaching system.

Imagine what all of the hustle will do, once he's more aware & has greater NBA experience.

You can be right but there are still probably 50-75 players out there that probably deserved a shot before giving him guaranteed money.