Bucks News, Trade Ideas, Transactions

[ShootingtheJ]

So if it's really not worth Giannis adjusting his game to make it work better with Dame...

...does prioritizing a PF like Tari Eason as the primary return make sense?

Giannis becoming more of a center ala KG absolutely makes sense in theory.

But if he's not going to commit to setting hard screens / defense / rebounding somewhat at the expense of being the primary ball handler and scorer -- than would we need someone bigger than 6'8 who can do those things (including blocking shots) as the long term Brook replacement in the starting lineup?

Eason has a standing reach similar to some centers.

[Brewhoopfan]

So if it's really not worth Giannis adjusting his game to make it work better with Dame...

...does prioritizing a PF like Tari Eason as the primary return make sense?

Giannis becoming more of a center ala KG absolutely makes sense in theory.

But if he's not going to commit to setting hard screens / defense / rebounding somewhat at the expense of being the primary ball handler and scorer -- than would we need someone bigger than 6'8 who can do those things (including blocking shots) as the long term Brook replacement in the starting lineup?

Brook's impact on rebounding (but he's good at boxing out!) is completely overblown. At some point, rebounding has to mean grabbing the damn ball. The Bucks are dead last in offensive rebounding % so that's not getting any worse. Putting a 4 next to Giannis with some athleticism and motor to go get the ball would help make up for Giannis's lack of fundamentals on the glass. I'll also gladly swap the added defensive versatility & switchability for Brook's shot blocking.

Brook just had a nice game, and I think he still has some trade value to a contender, but that clock is ticking fast. Sell high now.

[Ron Swanson]

Willingly trading for Jordan Poole might honestly make me quit watching this team. He's shooting the 2nd worst 2PT% of his career, still sucks as a playmaker (4/3 assist/TO ratio and highest turnovers per-36 of his career), bottom 5th percentile in defensive EPM, and the Wizards are a downright hilarious -17.5 net-rating with him on the court. Don't know how anyone is getting fooled by the outlier 3Pt shooting and box score steals. It couldn't be any more obvious that he's still one of the worst players in basketball given the amount of usage and minutes he plays.

[BigO]

I want nothing to do with Jordan Poole. I think I'd give up a draft choice not to have him on the team.

[ReasonablySober]

So if it's really not worth Giannis adjusting his game to make it work better with Dame...

...does prioritizing a PF like Tari Eason as the primary return make sense?

Giannis becoming more of a center ala KG absolutely makes sense in theory.

But if he's not going to commit to setting hard screens / defense / rebounding somewhat at the expense of being the primary ball handler and scorer -- than would we need someone bigger than 6'8 who can do those things (including blocking shots) as the long term Brook replacement in the starting lineup?

Brook's impact on rebounding (but he's good at boxing out!) is completely overblown. At some point, rebounding has to mean grabbing the damn ball. The Bucks are dead last in offensive rebounding % so that's not getting any worse. Putting a 4 next to Giannis with some athleticism and motor to go get the ball would help make up for Giannis's lack of fundamentals on the glass. I'll also gladly swap the added defensive versatility & switchability for Brook's shot blocking.

Brook just had a nice game, and I think he still has some trade value to a contender, but that clock is ticking fast. Sell high now.

They also stick Brook 30 feet from the basket on offense to stay out of Giannis's way. Might have something to do with that offensive rebounding percentage ranking.

[German Athens]

Brook’s best bet would be tap outs over the back of the defender, because I don’t think he could reliably get inside position, but I think that would cost more than benefit us.

The cost would be our early shot clock defense would absolutely die if both Giannis and Brook were stuck under the offensive basket, and I think that’s a bigger deal.

I would like to see the player stuck at the top of the arc crash the boards when Giannis attempts a layup over two or three dudes, because there should be a wide open lane to the hoop, but that player has to be fast enough to recover.

[ShootingtheJ]

Willingly trading for Jordan Poole might honestly make me quit watching this team. He's shooting the 2nd worst 2PT% of his career.

Poole has a higher TS% than Dame, and his TS% as a 22 year old was higher than Dame presently has. At 25, Poole is progressing, while Dame continues to regress. Poole numbers are despite not playing with a single gravity player, while Dame plays with the highest gravity player in this era.

[-Jragon-]

Willingly trading for Jordan Poole might honestly make me quit watching this team. He's shooting the 2nd worst 2PT% of his career.

Poole has a higher TS% than Dame, and his TS% as a 22 year old was higher than Dame presently has. At 25, Poole is progressing, while Dame continues to regress. Poole numbers are despite not playing with a single gravity player, while Dame plays with the highest gravity player in this era.

Since you say KM is basically prime Jordan and Rodman combined, just sub him in instead of Dame in all your trade ideas and make teams give us an additional 1st for that courtesy.

[Bernman]

Anyone have the net rating of Giannis/Dame no Middleton vs. w/ him last yr?

I thought I saw the former were barely above 0 (3?) while the latter was elite (17.5). All I can find is Lillard-Giannis was 10.2 last season, not factoring in Midds' inclusion. This year, w/out Middleton, they're -2.8.

My theory is Middleton is a vital fuse piece to keep us away from the Giannis/Dame 2-man game, in addition to just being a good player. And we should be able to win w/ 2 stars. That was part of the pt of bringing in Dame, in case another gets hurt.

If Dame-Giannis doesn't work by itself, we should trade Dame, even outside the consideration of extending the Giannis contending yrs & then setting us up for life after.

[ReasonablySober]

Interesting note on the Le Batard show this morning. In the local hour Dan wanted to talk about the Maxey and Embiid situation. Amin gave an anecdote about how certain players are able to talk to the stars and others can't. His example? Giannis and Thanasis. He said for years Thanasis wasn't around as some kind of favor, it was because Thanasis was the only one who could tell Giannis **** and have Giannis listen.

[Ron Swanson]

FYI, any Lakers trades are basically DOA unless you get a 3rd team involved to dump salary due to both of us being under apron restrictions.

[JayMKE]

Interesting note on the Le Batard show this morning. In the local hour Dan wanted to talk about the Maxey and Embiid situation. Amin gave an anecdote about how certain players are able to talk to the stars and others can't. His example? Giannis and Thanasis. He said for years Thanasis wasn't around as some kind of favor, it was because Thanasis was the only one who could tell Giannis **** and have Giannis listen.

This team is missing Thanasis

[German Athens]

I think Khris works in part because he’s a more unselfish player than both Giannis and Dame. That’s not meant as some rebuke of the latter two, but I think those guys are rhythm players whose every instinct is to get themselves going, and can get away with more because of their outlier abilities.

We need those two to do that, but Khris is much more likely to make the simple pass to a teammate, he has great chemistry with Giannis and I think is keenly aware of when Giannis needs the ball, and he can calmly drain his buckets within the flow of the offense.

He’s an awesome glue guy.

[BUCKnation]

Interesting note on the Le Batard show this morning. In the local hour Dan wanted to talk about the Maxey and Embiid situation. Amin gave an anecdote about how certain players are able to talk to the stars and others can't. His example? Giannis and Thanasis. He said for years Thanasis wasn't around as some kind of favor, it was because Thanasis was the only one who could tell Giannis **** and have Giannis listen.

This team is missing Thanasis

He was at the last game, but I dont really understand why we can't just bring him in as an assistant on the bench while he rehabs.

[ReasonablySober]

Interesting note on the Le Batard show this morning. In the local hour Dan wanted to talk about the Maxey and Embiid situation. Amin gave an anecdote about how certain players are able to talk to the stars and others can't. His example? Giannis and Thanasis. He said for years Thanasis wasn't around as some kind of favor, it was because Thanasis was the only one who could tell Giannis **** and have Giannis listen.

This team is missing Thanasis

He was at the last game, but I dont really understand why we can't just bring him in as an assistant on the bench while he rehabs.

Unless he retires my guess is that would be some sort of CBA violation.

[-Jragon-]

I think Khris works in part because he’s a more unselfish player than both Giannis and Dame. That’s not meant as some rebuke of the latter two, but I think those guys are rhythm players whose every instinct is to get themselves going, and can get away with more because of their outlier abilities.

We need those two to do that, but Khris is much more likely to make the simple pass to a teammate, he has great chemistry with Giannis and I think is keenly aware of when Giannis needs the ball, and he can calmly drain his buckets within the flow of the offense.

He’s an awesome glue guy.

it would be awesome if he used some of that glue to glue his body back together

[-Jragon-]

I don't see it... to me Dame is superior to KM in every facet of the game of basketball.. like everything KM can do with a basketball, Dame can do better, faster and from further back. In an offense containing those 2 men, KM should always be the catch and shoot dude or at max screen and pop

[Dick Tate]

Was not expecting to see a conversation about Jordan Poole.

[ShootingtheJ]

Willingly trading for Jordan Poole might honestly make me quit watching this team. He's shooting the 2nd worst 2PT% of his career.

Poole has a higher TS% than Dame, and his TS% as a 22 year old was higher than Dame presently has. At 25, Poole is progressing, while Dame continues to regress. Poole numbers are despite not playing with a single gravity player, while Dame plays with the highest gravity player in this era.

Since you say KM is basically prime Jordan and Rodman combined, just sub him in instead of Dame in all your trade ideas and make teams give us an additional 1st for that courtesy.

We can't fit nearly as many contracts in to Mids salary slot.

[German Athens]

Khris is better than Dame at making passes over the top of the defense, and better at making shots in a crowd. Both of those are largely due to his significant size advantage.

Dame is better at shooting over the top of the defense, and from farther out, and he’s better at getting by his man, but Khris can also get off shots that Dame would struggle to get off within the half court.

This doesn’t need to be an either-or situation, though; it’s good to have both.