The Consiglieri wrote:AFM wrote:Imagine trading this kid for Kyle F'n Kuzma
In fairness to Milwaukee, they only really had two choices:
Door #1: Roll the dice on veterans, try for a miracle, Giannis on God mode etc, maybe you steal a trip to the Conference or NBA Finals totally against the odds.
Door #2: Admit the Giannis era is over, 11 years after it started, he's leaving either after '26-'27, or '27-'28 if he doesn't think he can make as much money by declining his player options, and focus instead on rebuilding the next iteration of the Bucks, whatever it be, by starting their own tank job for the '26 draft or whatever.
To choose Door #2 would take some balls, it would require admitting there was largely no hope for contention during the 3 years of the extension, just playoff births and ousting's before the conference finals. The fans would get to watch Giannis play for them for a few more years, but the glory of '20-'21 would be a thing of the past, like us as Redskins fans watching the Theismann/Riggo era fade out circa '84-'85.
Choosing AJ was basically trying to avoid both doors: Continue winning 45-50, no chance at contention, add a prospect who wouldn't hit his ceiling until Giannis was ready to leave and AJ's contract was close to up.
Eventually they used AJ as a tool to ramp up their chances of contention in '25-'27, but it was a fools errand, we all know, they aren't winning squat and they are bottoming out just in time for a pick swap with us (or is two? I can't recall).
After watching sports for 45 years, I'm a bit nutty, I will not tolerate the middle kingdom of 35-48 win seasons, its pointless to me. In the Bucks Position, once I had secured the Giannis extension, I'd be hunting a team with the most valuable pot of pick swaps and future picks of teams likely to suck in the future or the coming drafts, and I would have traded him, and the rest of the pieces over a 6-18 months stretch to provide a pile of picks for the '25, '26, and '27 drafts.
Thats what I would do. The fans would roast the ---- out of me, but the smart ones would know zero titles would be won in '24-'25-'26-'27, and by doing and epic trade out, I'd be sowing the soil with an endless array of heirloom seeds that could grow the most tasty of fruits and vegetables over the coming 3+ seasons.
Doing what they did instead is what all foolish teams do, play out the string, slowly erode, and fall to nothing, selling off the assets 1-3 years after the most value they could have returned. I will note, our very own Caps, have managed the impossible, while I was screaming for tear down trades in '18-'23, the team simply would not do it, and then afer beginning to bottom out in '20-'21, with players aging out, and a bottom ranked farm system, they began to turn things around, 3 consecutive better and better and better drafts, a litany of great trades and signings, and suddenly, a farm system ranked 30th in '20 or '21, climbed to 9th this spring, the team is now loaded with players in their prime, a few aging stars like Ovy and Carlson, and a pile of up and coming young prospects.
That is the narrow path, and I must underline, I have not seen anything of the sort our very own Caps have done in eons. Flipping a farm system on the fly in just a couple of drafts? Hitting on every trade, and signing just as your team is beginning to run out the aging out collapse? Could the Bucks try that? Yeah, but I find it next to impossible to believe the Bucks could do it. The Caps road is one I can't really recall a team achieving w/o the benefits of a Lakers like rabbit foot up their ---, and ability to sign every prime FA, and acquire superstars via idiotic trades from teams like Dallas etc.
So suffice it to say (not really suffice I admit), we can laugh at the Bucks, but they had no real choices here that could make their fans happy: They could continue to contend, and make stupid trades failing to acknowledge their time for contention was over, or infuriate their fans by chopping the franchise out from its legs, and starting the rebuild with the blood of the core stars they sacrificed. No choice at all really.
So here they are, having knee capped their future, and compromised their present.
I thought it was a great pick. Teams should be taking the player they feel will develop into the best player in 3-4 years and have the best career for the following 8-10 seasons. Things are so fluid in the NBA that drafting based on perceived needs or timelines is a recipe for disaster. Had the Bucks kept AJ and played him like we are and given him the opportunity to learn on the job, the help he could have provided as the starting PG going forward is as much as any addition they might have finagled by the cost-cutting trade imho. The fact that this F.O. acquired him even though they just drafted Bub is a great sign. Keep adding talent and let the cream rise to the top. I think Bub and AJ are both starting caliber PGs. If they both prove to be then there's now trade fodder to help need areas going forward.
