Bucks/Pacers Lead-up - Dame Cleared for Practice

[soxperry]

Probably cross off the pels.

So that leaves most likely only Detroit and Brooklyn. Detroit can offer a good team and pretty good money. Brooklyn can offer amazing money. Only thing is...he would merely be a tradeable asset to them. So if they overpay him and something bad happens, they are stick with him.

I feel good about it unless he completely goes off

[Milbucks96]

So if we make it to ecf/finals, maybe he can go?

Lol, I'd bet the house against beating a healthy Cavs or Celtics team in a 7 game series without Dame.

Yea that’s the point I’m trying to make. He’s not coming back because we won’t make it far enough. They’re saying it without saying it

[German Athens]

Probably cross off the pels.

So that leaves most likely only Detroit and Brooklyn. Detroit can offer a good team and pretty good money. Brooklyn can offer amazing money. Only thing is...he would merely be a tradeable asset to them. So if they overpay him and something bad happens, they are stick with him.

I feel good about it unless he completely goes off

Yeah, and I don’t even know how likely Detroit is. Beasley averaged 16ppg for them and was second in the league in 3pm this year. They payed him 6m this year, and he’s absolutely due for a raise.

With their big jump up in the standings, I’m guessing they’ll want to re-sign him and see if their core can continue to progress. Even just a few million dollar raise would make them unable to offer more than us to KPJ.

[ShootingtheJ]

Doc has a pretty damn good record in the playoffs when he's the underdog and he's consistently been able to max role players. Probably still giving Carlisle the edge but so many of you are lost in narrative instead of reality.

Same goes for Dame, some of you lost in your own crazy heads thinking the team is better off without him.

Betting odds and analysts all showing Bucks at around 30% to win the series and that seems fair. Looking forward to seeing who shows up. Bobby/KPJ/GTJ/Prince could all get paid millions more if they have a good series.

Agree with almost everything here, but wanted to address the Dame part. You can contend that the team won't continue to be better without Dame, but it's fact that the team was better without Dame this season.

The team was better with Dame last season when we were still letting Giannis be Giannis, but in an effort to help Dame, we handed him the keys this year, and that didn't maximize our talent or properly leverage Giannis.

If Dame makes it back, it's time for him to swallow his pride, and just fit in off ball.

Dame's usage is down from last year where Giannis' jumped from 33% to 35.2%. Giannis is taking more than 2 shots per-100 more than last year whereas Dame is taking 1 less. Dame's pick & roll usage is down by 4% from last year. He's been more efficient this season (11th best offensive player in the league by EPM) in a lesser role by every metric you wanna use. There is absolutely zero evidence that we "handed the keys to Dame" this year, and it's crazy the amount of un-true junk you just throw out there so confidently lol.

This is an excellent example of exactly what Marques Johnson was talking about on his last broadcast, how people misunderstand the usage stat. Usage only tells us who had the ball at the end, and doesn't tell us who initiated the set or how long they had the ball.

Now, I 100% believe you know this and are just being obstinate.

I also don't believe that you have so little understanding of Xs and Os that you actually think that Giannis role in the offense is the same as it was earlier in the season. You can't tell me that when you watch the game, you don't see the difference, I won't believe you. His role has changed dramatically, and the results are measurably better.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Yeah doesn't seem like a positive report. almost feels like the followup tweet was shams trying to put a positive spin on it after pushback

[Dick Tate]

I miss Woj.

[WeMajor34]

I know I'm a little late to the predictions, but I think this is a coin-flip 7 game series. Giannis needs to go nuclear for us to have a shot. Which is not to say we won't need good performances from our role players, but Giannis dominating is obviously the key. Pacers have little to no answers for him. Everyone else on the team needs to step up.

Big series for KPJ, Trent, Bobby and Kuzma.

Not going to put too much stock into what Green and Rollins provide, even though we'll need them for sure.

Prince could go either way in terms of production.

Brook will struggle but hopefully he carves out a niche in this series. Use him situationally as a post scorer against Indy's backups. Otherwise, I don't want him sagging off Turner on the perimeter and giving up wide open threes.

I'll say Pacers in 7 but I don't feel good about it.

[Ron Swanson]

This is an excellent example of exactly what Marques Johnson was talking about on his last broadcast, how people misunderstand the usage stat. Usage only tells us who had the ball at the end, and doesn't tell us who initiated the set or how long they had the ball.

Now, I 100% believe you know this and are just being obstinate.

I also don't believe that you have so little understanding of Xs and Os that you actually think that Giannis role in the offense is the same as it was earlier in the season. You can't tell me that when you watch the game, you don't see the difference, I won't believe you. His role has changed dramatically, and the results are measurably better.

This basically comes down to how much we're putting into this 14-game stretch since the Dame injury where we've gone 10-4 overall with only the 11th best net-rating (#4 offense and #20 defense), and 2-4 against teams that weren't actively tanking or missing half and/or all of their starting lineup. I'm sure it's entirely shocking to everyone here that you're just hand-waving and ignoring the defensive metrics seeing as that was your whole thing ("watch the defense get better by replacing Dame with Rollins/KPJ"), so naturally the goal posts get shifted again and it's now "Dame stymied the offense" despite the exact same on/off numbers you love to throw out once again proving that false (117.1 ON, 115.5 OFF), even with this stretch against mostly trash teams/defenses inflating that number and closing the gap on the overall season data.

But sure, I understand I'm arguing against a brick wall here and no amount of pointing out how much you cherry-pick small samples and on/off data is gonna change your deeply entrenched perception of Dame. Good thing we'll get to see both A) how far this team can go with heliocentric Giannis, and then hopefully B) Giannis/Dame and a re-signed KPJ with a new coaching staff leading up to next year's trade deadline, despite how much I know that will probably infuriate you to see him on the roster next season.

*FYI, you're a good poster dude, but the Dame stuff is just comical at this point. No one here wants to see you self-banish like David Dunn if Dame were to come back this postseason and go prime Steph while him and Giannis lead us to a miraculous championship run*

[tydett]

I'm old enough to remember when an injured Bucks star was out for the beginning of a playoff series but the organization was hopeful he'd be back sooner than later.

[engelmartin]

I think we’ll be fine with our guard rotation sans Lillard. The problem has always been that we don’t have any small forwards.

[Frank Nova]

So if we make it to ecf/finals, maybe he can go?

Lol, I'd bet the house against beating a healthy Cavs or Celtics team in a 7 game series without Dame.

Jaylen Brown and Donovan Mitchell both aren’t healthy. I agree with your point but a hurt ankle for Mitchell and a bum knee that’s been hampering Brown for weeks now leads me to believe there’s a chance they don’t hold up over a playoff grind. I’m here for the Giannis run.

[Ron Swanson]

I didn't see the Mitchell stuff but I did see that Brown had to get injections in his knee just a week ago for "pain management". It would be at least some sort of karmic justice for us to get a 2024 Celtics easy-mode path to the Finals with injuries decimating everyone.

[Frank Nova]

I didn't see the Mitchell stuff but I did see that Brown had to get injections in his knee just a week ago for "pain management". It would be at least some sort of karmic justice for us to get a 2024 Celtics easy-mode path to the Finals with injuries decimating everyone.

Mitchell sprained his ankle April 6th. Definitely something worth monitoring heading into the post season grind.

[MickeyDavis]

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[Profound23]

So if we make it to ecf/finals, maybe he can go?

Lol, I'd bet the house against beating a healthy Cavs or Celtics team in a 7 game series without Dame.

I doubt Dame will be available at all.

But if we are good enough to make it to the ECF without him, at that point do you even want him back? The only way we get that far is with Giannis going God mode and KPJ continuing to grow. Bringing Dame back after winning two series would stunt everything.

[soxperry]

Sims might actually be useful against Indiana.

[soxperry]

So if we make it to ecf/finals, maybe he can go?

Lol, I'd bet the house against beating a healthy Cavs or Celtics team in a 7 game series without Dame.

I doubt Dame will be available at all.

But if we are good enough to make it to the ECF without him, at that point do you even want him back? The only way we get that far is with Giannis going God mode and KPJ continuing to grow. Bringing Dame back after winning two series would stunt everything.

Yeah, any time you can avoid adding a 25/7 guy who is a proven playoff riser, you gotta do it

[emunney]

I too am doing skeleton stuff (having a skeleton etc etc)

[Frank Nova]

Dame will be back during round 2 to take down Cleveland. Bucks in 6, **** Indiana! Urkelburton will have all the time in the world to pick out matching pajamas with his dog for instagram while Giannis continues his mission for goatness. Book it.

[SupremeHustle]

That Sims news is great.