Bucks News, Transactions, Trade Ideas -Trade Deadline Thursday 2 pm CT

[Ron Swanson]

Jragon going full David Dunn to the point of crafting slanderous Khris fan-fiction.

Epic.

[emunney]

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/39417736/after-unsettling-trade-damian-lillard-getting-comfortable-milwaukee-bucks

"[Rivers] emphasized like, go more to Dame," Antetokounmpo said Monday night. "When I have the ball, kick the ball ahead to Dame. Set more screens, roll out of the post, dribble handoffs -- he wants that more and we have to do it more. Because at the end of the day, when Dame has the ball in his hands and I'm being a threat as a roller, we can cause some damage."

Per Second Spectrum, the Bucks are averaging 1.18 points per direct pick when Antetokounmpo sets an on-ball screen for Lillard. That's the third-best efficiency among duos in the NBA. It's the volume of those plays that had become a question under Griffin. They are running about 9.9 on-ball screens per game, which ranks outside the top 25 among duos this season.

"It's been effective," Rivers said Monday night, "but it should be dominant, in my opinion."

<loudly clears throat>

At least Doc looks to be finally addressing it.

Having appropriately high standards is a good place to start.

[smauss]

Couldn't be a better fit.

Talk to me emunney! Sell me on Eason.....

Extremely strong pound for pound, long arms, quick feet, powerful straight line driver, and developing as a shooter. Defensively, you can put him on the ball against most guys and expect him to make things difficult. Offensively, you can spot him up above the break or put him high post where he can hit a FT line jumper and get to the rim on one dribble if he has a quickness advantage, which he will against a lot of bigs. Really battles on the glass on both ends. Huge hands. Already a very useful player but has a high ceiling as well.

I honestly haven't seen him play much. Your take sounds about what I figured based on Basketball Ref. stats. Didn't know about his strength, and physicality. Dude does sound like a perfect fit in my book. Thanks!

[emunney]

That 1 extra turnover KM has per 10 possessions doesn't sound like much.

But when you consider the extra 6 assists per 100 possessions, it really doesn't sound like much.

[Ron Swanson]

Talk to me emunney! Sell me on Eason.....

Extremely strong pound for pound, long arms, quick feet, powerful straight line driver, and developing as a shooter. Defensively, you can put him on the ball against most guys and expect him to make things difficult. Offensively, you can spot him up above the break or put him high post where he can hit a FT line jumper and get to the rim on one dribble if he has a quickness advantage, which he will against a lot of bigs. Really battles on the glass on both ends. Huge hands. Already a very useful player but has a high ceiling as well.

Getting smoke for even suggesting Portis/Pat C for Eason/Green/Oladipo on the trade board

Again, it's a weird situation. Every Rockets fan I've seen seems combative and incensed at the idea of trading Eason, but they can't seem to explain then why he keeps popping up in these trade rumors. Could be a Herb Jones situation but Herb is also an everyday starter and 28-30 MPG guy for the Pels and everyone rightfully assumed he wasn't actually getting moved. Whereas Eason, even when he was healthy, was still fighting with Tate and Jeff Green for those backup PF minutes.

[Chad34]

I've been saying we need to free Khris up to get more open looks, or 1v1's. I really think he's our best shooter

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[emunney]

Extremely strong pound for pound, long arms, quick feet, powerful straight line driver, and developing as a shooter. Defensively, you can put him on the ball against most guys and expect him to make things difficult. Offensively, you can spot him up above the break or put him high post where he can hit a FT line jumper and get to the rim on one dribble if he has a quickness advantage, which he will against a lot of bigs. Really battles on the glass on both ends. Huge hands. Already a very useful player but has a high ceiling as well.

Getting smoke for even suggesting Portis/Pat C for Eason/Green/Oladipo on the trade board

Again, it's a weird situation. Every Rockets fan I've seen seems combative and incensed at the idea of trading Eason, but they can't seem to explain then why he keeps popping up in these trade rumors. Could be a Herb Jones situation but Herb is also an everyday starter and 28-30 MPG guy for the Pels and everyone rightfully assumed he wasn't actually getting moved. Whereas Eason, even when he was healthy, was still fighting with Tate and Jeff Green for those backup PF minutes.

What could knit it together is if the Rockets are shopping a consolidation type package of their less-blue chippy kids along with some of their salaries (Tate, Green, Dipo, Landale, etc.) in search of a single core piece. They clearly want to win yet have like six college-age players scrapping for minutes. If they can gain some experience and upgrade the top of the rotation, that would make sense. We can't offer them that. But I don't know if anybody else would either.

Might argue that this would be a great landing spot for Houston-native Jimmy Butler should the Heat decide to soft-reset around Bam.

[ReasonablySober]

For Rivers, the most effective way to facilitate this may be to have them run more two-man game on offense. And what better way than to get them to run the pick-and-roll more consistently? With a wrinkle, either of them could be the pick-setter and either the ball-handler in this scenario.

Lillard has long been one of the most effective high-volume pick users in the league. According to Second Spectrum, last season Lillard used 49.2 picks per 100 possessions, eighth in the league among the 112 players to utilize at least 500 picks on the season. He produced 1.12 points per chance, number one in the league (min 500 picks used). Lillard is still very strong this season, producing 1.09 points per chance, fifth in the league (min 250 picks used).

But a couple of points: 1) Lillard is only using 42.0 picks per 100 possessions this season, more than 17% down from last season. And 2) when Giannis is the one setting the pick for Lillard (happened 416 times so far), Lillard is producing 1.14 points per chance, a mark that would again be the best in the NBA (min 250 picks used). Because, how could it not be? Lillard is on the short list of most dangerous scorers in the league with the ball in his hands, but if the defense gets imbalanced at all trying to get out on him you're talking Giannis with a runway to the rim. Yikes.

Now, reverse it. Giannis is third on the Bucks in picks used as the ball-handler this season. Per Second Spectrum, three teammates have set at least 65 on-ball screens for Giannis this season: two centers (Lopez 160, and Portis 66) and one perimeter shooter (Pat Connaughton, 66).

Unsurprisingly, the best outcome from those three is when Connaughton sets the screen for Giannis; the result is 1.11 points per chance. That mark would also rank top-5 in the NBA. And it works because, how could it be defended? Both the big and the little defender would have to go with a driving Giannis, and he would still be able to beat them to the rim and finish a good percentage of the time. And if they do stop him and he kicks it out, it's a wide-open look for an excellent 3-point shooter in Connaughton. Now, imagine it's Lillard, and not Connaughton, getting those wide-open looks on a regular basis.

A strong argument can be made that Lillard and Giannis running the pick-and-roll/pop should be something that happens almost every possession. If Rivers implements that change, it could be trouble for the rest of the league.

[DingleJerry]

For Rivers, the most effective way to facilitate this may be to have them run more two-man game on offense. And what better way than to get them to run the pick-and-roll more consistently? With a wrinkle, either of them could be the pick-setter and either the ball-handler in this scenario.

Lillard has long been one of the most effective high-volume pick users in the league. According to Second Spectrum, last season Lillard used 49.2 picks per 100 possessions, eighth in the league among the 112 players to utilize at least 500 picks on the season. He produced 1.12 points per chance, number one in the league (min 500 picks used). Lillard is still very strong this season, producing 1.09 points per chance, fifth in the league (min 250 picks used).

But a couple of points: 1) Lillard is only using 42.0 picks per 100 possessions this season, more than 17% down from last season. And 2) when Giannis is the one setting the pick for Lillard (happened 416 times so far), Lillard is producing 1.14 points per chance, a mark that would again be the best in the NBA (min 250 picks used). Because, how could it not be? Lillard is on the short list of most dangerous scorers in the league with the ball in his hands, but if the defense gets imbalanced at all trying to get out on him you're talking Giannis with a runway to the rim. Yikes.

Now, reverse it. Giannis is third on the Bucks in picks used as the ball-handler this season. Per Second Spectrum, three teammates have set at least 65 on-ball screens for Giannis this season: two centers (Lopez 160, and Portis 66) and one perimeter shooter (Pat Connaughton, 66).

Unsurprisingly, the best outcome from those three is when Connaughton sets the screen for Giannis; the result is 1.11 points per chance. That mark would also rank top-5 in the NBA. And it works because, how could it be defended? Both the big and the little defender would have to go with a driving Giannis, and he would still be able to beat them to the rim and finish a good percentage of the time. And if they do stop him and he kicks it out, it's a wide-open look for an excellent 3-point shooter in Connaughton. Now, imagine it's Lillard, and not Connaughton, getting those wide-open looks on a regular basis.

A strong argument can be made that Lillard and Giannis running the pick-and-roll/pop should be something that happens almost every possession. If Rivers implements that change, it could be trouble for the rest of the league.

Huh, who would've thought.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

I've been saying we need to free Khris up to get more open looks, or 1v1's. I really think he's our best shooter

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Not saying it isn't good and useful in spacing and bucket getting, but isn't midds shooting more mid-range at 58% just taking away possions from more efficient Giannis (65%TS) and Dame (60%TS) or even Malik (64.3%TS)? Wonder what his non-catch and shoot 3 TS is.

[Bucksmaniac]

Any interest in bringing back Snelly-cat? If he can still provide solid 3 and D play and he likes our culture I could see it working.

https://sports.yahoo.com/tony-snells-mission-to-return-to-nba-is-bigger-than-just-basketball-142355012.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAL6lWjegpInOQsFBvpANk2xniDtirr1RTAO0g_rARxCuR6ajm9QBN1ZeyiLl3d4kIorV8wp0n_7OySKe4lsRPISVZQ9N4TZsFYUcKSiiAbUhQpoXs7VXutvqThEwMlSymEhtwPuVfkLEPb8gJtTkE-A8CypdMqMmQqS0qYZWxRSF

[Milbucks96]

Dames true shooting is kind of buoyed by his incredible ft shooting. Maybe in a regular season game or during certain possessions you would be mad that Khris is taking those over Dame trying to create but anybody who watches a lot of playoff basketball knows that a guy who can create and make tough mid rangers is really valuable. A good mixture of both is a great thing but obviously more Dame and Giannis handling.

I can see Dame struggling a lot to score efficiently come playoff time. Guys who hunt fouls usually have a hard time getting those in a playoff environment. Trae young, Derozan, Harden, Embiid etc…. A big reason why we see stars look so bad come playoff time.

[raferfenix]

I’m convinced Jon Horst is pulling some godfather-esque Pat Riley moves.

1. Doc Rivers and the Bucks deny he was officially “consulting” but he was around the team enough that people on this board (cough PP25) knew to set up a poll. It makes sense this would be denied too if it’d be a union thing or just reputation management with Doc and the Bucks laying the groundwork for Grief’s ouster way before it was announced.

2. I fully do not believe “Lillard and Goodwin first talked about Milwaukee a few weeks” before the trade (per today’s ESPN feature) or that Giannis was really uninvolved. They talked about playing together in Portland! Lebron called Giannis out for picking him over Jrue at the All-Star break. The Bucks hired Stotts. Dame reportedly had been a Bucks dream target on the DL for years. You can’t convince me there was not an extended courtship full of tampering and Giannis outreach.

3. Rich Paul is directing players to Milwaukee. What a nice friend to have.

Don Horst.

[Ron Swanson]

Getting smoke for even suggesting Portis/Pat C for Eason/Green/Oladipo on the trade board

Again, it's a weird situation. Every Rockets fan I've seen seems combative and incensed at the idea of trading Eason, but they can't seem to explain then why he keeps popping up in these trade rumors. Could be a Herb Jones situation but Herb is also an everyday starter and 28-30 MPG guy for the Pels and everyone rightfully assumed he wasn't actually getting moved. Whereas Eason, even when he was healthy, was still fighting with Tate and Jeff Green for those backup PF minutes.

What could knit it together is if the Rockets are shopping a consolidation type package of their less-blue chippy kids along with some of their salaries (Tate, Green, Dipo, Landale, etc.) in search of a single core piece. They clearly want to win yet have like six college-age players scrapping for minutes. If they can gain some experience and upgrade the top of the rotation, that would make sense. We can't offer them that. But I don't know if anybody else would either.

Might argue that this would be a great landing spot for Houston-native Jimmy Butler should the Heat decide to soft-reset around Bam.

Well, there you go:

The Houston Rockets have expressed a tremendous amount of interest in trading for Mikal Bridges, sources tell The Athletic. The Rockets have made an offer of multiple first round picks to the Brooklyn Nets for Bridges in recent weeks.

The Nets have zero interest in trading Bridges, who is part of their core moving forward.

Ime Udoka is driving the Rockets' push to improve the roster to make the playoffs this season.

[-Jragon-]

I've been saying we need to free Khris up to get more open looks, or 1v1's. I really think he's our best shooter

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Hurry,
Send this to all the teams as an advertisement!

[mlloyd10]

Middleton, for whatever reason, is really bad in the 2Q - Anyone know why that is? Rotations?

[DingleJerry]

Middleton, for whatever reason, is really bad in the 2Q - Anyone know why that is? Rotations?

Well the first correlation would be that the normal rotation has him out there as the #1 without Dame/Giannis leading a bench squad to start Q2. He's not good enough to do that anymore.

First game with Doc they had Dame go out before end of Q1 so we'll see if there is a tweak coming to the normal so far

[-Jragon-]

Dames true shooting is kind of buoyed by his incredible ft shooting. Maybe in a regular season game or during certain possessions you would be mad that Khris is taking those over Dame trying to create but anybody who watches a lot of playoff basketball knows that a guy who can create and make tough mid rangers is really valuable. A good mixture of both is a great thing but obviously more Dame and Giannis handling.

I can see Dame struggling a lot to score efficiently come playoff time. Guys who hunt fouls usually have a hard time getting those in a playoff environment. Trae young, Derozan, Harden, Embiid etc…. A big reason why we see stars look so bad come playoff time.

KM had a good chance to show how effective some fadeaway 2s are in the playoffs the last 2 years.. how well did it work? It works in the regular season because defenses are playing soft. Post season they allow more bumping and all those fadeaways are short with no foul call and Khris crying all up and down the floor to the refs. What did work? Butler.. Jimmy Butler taking it at people and finding open 3 point shooters for shots that count for THREE points without getting pushed during the shot. That's what Giannis and Dame do.. they attack (drawing fouls/3 point plays), find open 3 shooters or take wide open shots when they have them. Khris only has value on offense in a series if he's drilling threes to the point where dudes have to jump at him and then the wide open 1 dribble mid range is fine... which is what I've been asking for all year. He has the talent to do it but mentally he still is fighting his own mind that he's Magic Johnson and can dribble through the whole league.

[DingleJerry]

LoL, trying to use Jimmy Butler to prove that midrange game in playoff does not work/help or is beneficial to have on the team. Laughable stuff.

[crkone]

I've been saying we need to free Khris up to get more open looks, or 1v1's. I really think he's our best shooter

Read on Twitter

Not saying it isn't good and useful in spacing and bucket getting, but isn't midds shooting more mid-range at 58% just taking away possions from more efficient Giannis (65%TS) and Dame (60%TS) or even Malik (64.3%TS)? Wonder what his non-catch and shoot 3 TS is.

You'd have to use situational stats (shotclock, open/defended, location) to determine what is optimal per possession. 58% on a midranger is pretty insane tho. Against better defending teams that might be a lifesaver.