Jazzfan1971 and Floppymoose's season preview - The Bucks

[jazzfan1971]

Milwaukee Bucks

Projected Roster
PG – Kendall Marshall, Nate Wolters
SG – Brandon Knight, OJ Mayo, Jerryd Bayless
SF – Giannas Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Carlos Delfino
PF – Jabari Parker, Ersan Ilyasova, Damien Inglis
C – Larry Sanders, John Henson, Zaza Pachulia, Miroslav Raduljica

Position Battle: It's all about the guards. Brandon Knight is a lock to get 30+ mpg but after that it's anybody's guess. I'm not even sure if Knight starts at PG or SG. He's their best option at PG, but, he's also their best option at SG. If Marshall can carry his weight at PG then that help resolve the battle a lot. I won't be surprised to see any of Wolters, Mayo, Bayless or Giannas see some starts in the backcourt.

Trading Block: Ersan Ilyasova is the odd man out here. Odds are he's moved before the season starts if the Bucks can find someone to deal with.

Mystery Man: Giannas Antetokounmpo is the man of mystery for me. We saw him starting at PG in summer league. He's got eye-popping athleticism and some good skills to go with it, but it remains to be seen if he'll take the jump to the next level; especially if Parker comes in and dominates the ball right away.

Floppymusings:
I see Sanders as their best player, and he should be holding down the middle defensively for a Bucks squad that needs it badly. I expect a big jump in wins, but they were so awful last year that a big jump still leaves them with a top 5 slot in the lotto.

JazzfansRamblings:
So, I was watching the Bucks play the Jazz in summer league and I was focused on watching Jabari Parker because he was a guy a lot of us Jazz fans thought we might end up with. Jabari had a couple nice moments, especially in isolation. He seemed to have that Carmello Anthony knack for hitting a tough 20 footer over his opponent. You can see why teams were high on him. But, with about a minute to go in the first half I saw him do something that really had me scratching my head.

He got the ball on a nice pass with his feet set just outside the 3pt line with no defender in sight. Perfect opportunity to plant his feet, square his shoulders, jump straight up and can a three pointer. Instead, he leaps forward, twists his torso, and jacks up a horribly awkward shot that has almost no chance of going in. (it misses)

And I'm thinking, 'what the hell is he doing?'

I had much the same line of thought putting together the depth chart for the Bucks. I really don't know what the hell they are doing. I've never had so much difficulty putting together a depth chart, but, that collection of guards is a mess. I can't tell if Mayo is going to be racking up DNPs or 28mpg a night. No idea why Bayless was brought in. I can't figure a guy that was not worth paying about a mil to start for the Lakers and their situation can be the answer for the Bucks. None of it makes much sense.

And I'm not sure why anyone wanted Jason Kidd after his failed coup d'etat in Brooklyn. I sure wouldn't be on board bringing in that guy to be my subordinate.

So, a lot of mess in Milwaukee and their record will likely reflect that.

Projected record 25/57

[AussieBuck]

Other than the line about Knight being the best option at PG it's a good writeup. But what was the point of asking about Knight on our board if you were just going to outright ignore what was said?

[jazzfan1971]

Oh, I disagreed with your board. Knight isn't an ideal PG by any means, but, he's still the best basketball player suited to the pg slot on your squad IMHO.

(still, I listed him as SG, that was my concession to your board's opinion.)

[AussieBuck]

He's one of the bottom 3 passers on the team that includes two guys who have never deliberately given up the ball in their lives. Assuming Delfino still has one leg left (can't confirm he's hiding somewhere with the money he stole from Herb Kohl ) he's the better PG.

[jazzfan1971]

Yes. and given that he's STILL the best option at PG. Not every PG has to be a passing wizard. Or even a pass first guy. The PG position isn't what it used to be. (Look how little respect that Ricky Rubio gets around here)

Even so, Knight did put up 4.9 ast/gm. That puts him in the neighbor hood of guys like Tony Parker, Damien Lillard, and Jose Calderon. Not a terribly bad group.

[AussieBuck]

He's a terrible passer and doesn't bring something else at PG to make up for it. You're purely boxscore reading.

[jazzfan1971]

And I won't be shocked to see him start at PG next year.

I think if you had a better option as SG he would be starting at PG for sure. As it stands I'm unsure, so I went with the opinion of the Bucks board.

(and yeah, I am boxscore reading, but, boxscores do have something to tell us, why else have them?)

[AussieBuck]

MIddleton can play SG. If Kidd's been paying attention he'd know that both the Pistons and Bucks both ended up moving Knight more off ball to improve the offense. If he's PG we are tanking.

[E-Balla]

Middleton will start over Giannis and Wolters needs to play over Knight (he won't). If any team is going to surprise its these guys. If Jabari is a fringe all star (possible), Sanders is good again (possible), and Ersan can hit a shot (making him moveable) these guys could make the playoffs in the weak east.

[BrewCityBBQ]

Pretty good write up from an outsider.
I'm really hoping the lineup is as follows:

Wolters/Marshall/Bayless
Giannis/Knight/Mayo
Middleton/Inglis/Delfino
Parker/O'Bryant/Ilyasova
Sanders/Henson/Raduljica/Pachulia

The Bayless signing was stupid as he doesn't really make a whole lot of sense for this team, I thought maybe his signing indicated a trade was coming. Previous years signings of Delfino and Pachulia also don't make sense for this team going forward. As far as I'm concerned I want to see the young guys play and develop together and us get another top pick in the draft next year. Guys like Ilyasova, Delfino, Pachulia should all be traded. Mayo's a bit of a question mark, as last year he was clearly not trying.

The Jason Kidd signing in my opinion was a good pickup for this team. The Bucks are a young team that will benefit from a guy like him, someone they can look up to as they've all idolized him growing up.
Kidd seems committed to this team long term and wants to grow with the team.

Bucks fans are expecting another losing season. And we'll be happy if guys like Delfino, Pachulia, and Bayless don't see the court. Couple that with our young guys growing together and the future looks bright in Milwaukee.

[Ill-yasova]

Oh, I disagreed with your board. Knight isn't an ideal PG by any means, but, he's still the best basketball player suited to the pg slot on your squad IMHO.

(still, I listed him as SG, that was my concession to your board's opinion.)

I suppose you would know better than a bunch of guys who actually watched every Bucks game last year.

Other than the Knight thing though it was a good breakdown.

Sent From My Rotary Phone

[jazzfan1971]

It's not just me. Espn, CBSsports, Realgm, rotoworld, etc... They all have Knight as your starting PG. I DID listen to your board, that's the reason I listed him at SG unlike every other source I looked at.

[NBA Fan 1234]

Gonna be an interesting team to watch. Big fan of Giannis and think he's got AK 2.0 potential, I like Jabari's offensive arsenal, Ersan is a nice role player (nice defensive rotations), Sanders is a freak defender (when his mind is right / he's healthy), and I'm really intrigued by Inglis (I wanted the Knicks to get him )

The team has a bunch of multi-positional players, so I'm curious to see where everyone ends up (Knight is an undersized SG, Parker is a combo forward, Middleton is a G/F, etc). I think there will be a bunch of lineup changes this year before Kidd figures everything out. Bottoming out and getting a top pick may not be a bad thing...but they appear to be on the right path (although, I'm not a fan of Kidd...).

[NCHeels2008]

i just came here to point out you're giving them 10 more wins than the Lakers

[jazzfan1971]

Floppy has updated his predictions.

Philly - 17/65
LAL 21/61
UTA 24/58
SAC 25/57
Mil 25/57

[AussieBuck]

It's not just me. Espn, CBSsports, Realgm, rotoworld, etc... They all have Knight as your starting PG. I DID listen to your board, that's the reason I listed him at SG unlike every other source I looked at.

Most sites listed Ersan as a SF for years despite him playing less than 1% of his minutes there. Fantasy ball lists him as a SF so everyone follows suit. If you've ever wondered why a small team like the Bucks has a massive Realgm following it's because we are just about the only interested or informed source of Bucks news.

Edit: The guys at Brewhoop also fly the Bucks flag, shouldn't have forgot about them.

[floppymoose]

i just came here to point out you're giving them 10 more wins than the Lakers

I've already said the win totals are preliminary. Don't fixate.

[Hans Embiid]

Floppy has updated his predictions.

Philly - 17/65
LAL 21/61
UTA 24/58
SAC 25/57
Mil 25/57

I think LAL will win 25 games and Utah should be worse.

Philly 15/67
UTA 20/62
MIL 23/59
LAL 25/57
SAC 30/52

[GHOSTofSIKMA]

good writeup.... and that's especially on knight and the rest of the guards. we got a hot mess in the backcourt and hes the ONLY constant. wtf guy are giving you a hard time for stating the obvious I have no idea.

[AussieCeltic]

I don't get the Jabari Parker reference? He makes one bad play in a summer league game and this is an issue? As an Australian and big fan of Dante Exum fan, I saw him make waaaaaaaaay more bad plays in summer league than Parker.