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Giannis Antetokounmpo criticized the Milwaukee Bucks' effort in the second night of a back-to-back as they were defeated at the New York Knicks by a final score of 116-94. The Bucks were coming off a win at home against the Utah Jazz that was preceded by a pair of close losses to the undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers. 

"Did we compete the previous game? Yes. Did we compete the two [games before that]? Yes. Did we compete today? No. ... If you don't compete your ass off, you're not going to win the game," Antetokounmpo said. "[You have to] at least give yourself a chance.

"We came to New York after playing great last night. Then we come here and lose by 30. Are you OK with not competing? I'm not OK with that s---. We've got Boston in two days. We don't compete, we're going to lose by 30."

The Bucks rank 21st on offense and are ranked 28th in defending pick-and-roll ball handlers. 

"At the end of the day, we've got to compete," said Antetokounmpo, who finished with 24 points and 12 boards. "Teams are not just going to give us games. They're not going to feel bad for us.

"We've got to compete every single possession. Every loose ball, we've got to get a body on the floor and put it on the line. But we didn't compete at all."

Via Chris Herring/ESPN

He does a lot of complaining about his own team

WaltFrazier wrote:He does a lot of complaining about his own team

Assuming he signed off on both firing AG/bringing in Doc, and also the Dame trade...I'd say he's not being held accountable. I'd complain too if my team was this bad, but the 2 biggest issues are more than likely directly linked to Giannis' input.

Said it before, will say it again, Marc Lasry made out like a bandit when he sold his MIL stake. He saw the writing on the wall with the aging roster and the championship hangover valuation. No way in hell that the Bucks should've been sold for the 2nd highest valuation ever. Once the Giannis bubble bursts and he's done with them (maybe in 2 years), they'll fall back into small market irrelevancy for who knows how long.

What can they even get for their guys? Lopez maybe returns a lotto protected 1st, maybe not even that much. Middleton given his age and declining production is maybe an opt-in and trade as an expiring in the offseason for...maybe a 1st? But his salary will be hard to match and also give up a 1st. Maybe they can convince him to opt-out and S&T him somewhere for something. But his value is SO low. Dame...he's still valuable to a team that is defensively sound or wants to sell tickets, but the man is 34 and still has 2 more years at $56m AAV...who's got the contracts to move for that and would actually want him? Things look bad for them.

ontnut wrote:

WaltFrazier wrote:He does a lot of complaining about his own team

Assuming he signed off on both firing AG/bringing in Doc, and also the Dame trade...I'd say he's not being held accountable. I'd complain too if my team was this bad, but the 2 biggest issues are more than likely directly linked to Giannis' input.

Said it before, will say it again, Marc Lasry made out like a bandit when he sold his MIL stake. He saw the writing on the wall with the aging roster and the championship hangover valuation. No way in hell that the Bucks should've been sold for the 2nd highest valuation ever. Once the Giannis bubble bursts and he's done with them (maybe in 2 years), they'll fall back into small market irrelevancy for who knows how long.

What can they even get for their guys? Lopez maybe returns a lotto protected 1st, maybe not even that much. Middleton given his age and declining production is maybe an opt-in and trade as an expiring in the offseason for...maybe a 1st? But his salary will be hard to match and also give up a 1st. Maybe they can convince him to opt-out and S&T him somewhere for something. But his value is SO low. Dame...he's still valuable to a team that is defensively sound or wants to sell tickets, but the man is 34 and still has 2 more years at $56m AAV...who's got the contracts to move for that and would actually want him? Things look bad for them.

Take it easy there champ. Season just started. They made mistakes but it's not doom and gloom. They're still contenders. Too early in the season to hit the panic button. Failure for them is not regular games. The panic button is for playoffs. They can't be 1st or second round exits.

t-rexCity wrote:

ontnut wrote:

WaltFrazier wrote:He does a lot of complaining about his own team

Assuming he signed off on both firing AG/bringing in Doc, and also the Dame trade...I'd say he's not being held accountable. I'd complain too if my team was this bad, but the 2 biggest issues are more than likely directly linked to Giannis' input.

Said it before, will say it again, Marc Lasry made out like a bandit when he sold his MIL stake. He saw the writing on the wall with the aging roster and the championship hangover valuation. No way in hell that the Bucks should've been sold for the 2nd highest valuation ever. Once the Giannis bubble bursts and he's done with them (maybe in 2 years), they'll fall back into small market irrelevancy for who knows how long.

What can they even get for their guys? Lopez maybe returns a lotto protected 1st, maybe not even that much. Middleton given his age and declining production is maybe an opt-in and trade as an expiring in the offseason for...maybe a 1st? But his salary will be hard to match and also give up a 1st. Maybe they can convince him to opt-out and S&T him somewhere for something. But his value is SO low. Dame...he's still valuable to a team that is defensively sound or wants to sell tickets, but the man is 34 and still has 2 more years at $56m AAV...who's got the contracts to move for that and would actually want him? Things look bad for them.

Take it easy there champ. Season just started. They made mistakes but it's not doom and gloom. They're still contenders. Too early in the season to hit the panic button. Failure for them is not regular games. The panic button is for playoffs. They can't be 1st or second round exits.

Have to play 700+ ball the rest of the season to get to 6th to avoid Boston and Cleveland in first round. If they some how managed that they have a chance.

The Bucks are a long way from 700+ win percent team

Oncloud9 wrote:

Spoiler:

t-rexCity wrote:

ontnut wrote:Assuming he signed off on both firing AG/bringing in Doc, and also the Dame trade...I'd say he's not being held accountable. I'd complain too if my team was this bad, but the 2 biggest issues are more than likely directly linked to Giannis' input.

Said it before, will say it again, Marc Lasry made out like a bandit when he sold his MIL stake. He saw the writing on the wall with the aging roster and the championship hangover valuation. No way in hell that the Bucks should've been sold for the 2nd highest valuation ever. Once the Giannis bubble bursts and he's done with them (maybe in 2 years), they'll fall back into small market irrelevancy for who knows how long.

What can they even get for their guys? Lopez maybe returns a lotto protected 1st, maybe not even that much. Middleton given his age and declining production is maybe an opt-in and trade as an expiring in the offseason for...maybe a 1st? But his salary will be hard to match and also give up a 1st. Maybe they can convince him to opt-out and S&T him somewhere for something. But his value is SO low. Dame...he's still valuable to a team that is defensively sound or wants to sell tickets, but the man is 34 and still has 2 more years at $56m AAV...who's got the contracts to move for that and would actually want him? Things look bad for them.

Take it easy there champ. Season just started. They made mistakes but it's not doom and gloom. They're still contenders. Too early in the season to hit the panic button. Failure for them is not regular games. The panic button is for playoffs. They can't be 1st or second round exits.

Have to play 700+ ball the rest of the season to get to 6th to avoid Boston and Cleveland in first round. If they some how managed that they have a chance.

The Bucks are a long way from 700+ win percent team

Yep they've already dug a big hole for themselves, with no change in sight. The Bucks are 20-27 since Doc took over. That's almost a bottom 5 record during that span - I don't think they're just about to turn it around anytime soon.

The Bucks are contenders insofar as they have a MVP candidate in Giannis - but the rest of their roster is not contender worthy as it stands, and I simply don't see how they improve it.