coolhandluke121 wrote:LUKE23 wrote:coolhandluke121 wrote:
I misspoke. I meant to say "I generally like quality over quantity, but it's not like Bogdan and Jrue are premium players." That second clause doesn't even make sense as a follow-up to the first clause until you realize I just had quantity and quality backwards. I meant to acknowledge that quality is better than quantity in general, but I'm questioning whether Jrue is enough of a quality upgrade to justify the haul. That's the type of haul you give up for a perennial all-NBA candidate IMO. And like you said, you need 7-8 reliable guys in the playoffs and this just leaves 5 decent players. I'm optimistic they'll get some ring-chasers but until that happens and Giannis re-signs, I'm not going to be able to begin to digest all those picks they gave up. And even when it does happen, I'm still going to be a Bucks fan when those picks come due and I think it's going to be a bad situation.
I stand by what I said about lacking team speed on defense though. They should be better suited for the playoffs if they get some good ring-chasers, but I see this as a major vulnerability that will be pretty easy to exploit.
The issue is that I don't think all 1sts are created equal, so I have an issue with comparing it to a superstar trade. This was done assuming Giannis will re-sign, which immediately turns the 1sts into borderline second rounders. So the quantity of picks given up is not really an issue through the 26 draft, when Giannis will be here, outside of the potential 2025 unprotected, which would require a Giannis injury to truly turn into a massive piece. The 2027 unprotected pick as of this time could be a huge giveaway, time will tell on that.
I feel that their D will just as good as last year, if not better. I've watched a ton of Holiday clips in the last day, and he gets after ball handlers even more than Bled, and has the quickness and strength to stay with most 1's and 2's. That versatility of being able to guard wings will help us a lot. I think he will be a better overall defender than Bledsoe was.
Now, will Bogdan be as good as Wes on D? No, but we were the top defensive team in the league last year and got better at PG while maintaining elite rim defense with Giannis and Lopez. To me the playoff D is more scheme related than personnel related.
I think we have the best starting five in the NBA with these moves. We have arguably the best player, and now legit #2, #3, and #4 scorers for a contender. We have just as good of floor spacing if not better than last year. We basically need to find two good bench players to complete this, using a portion of the MLE, vet minimum, and two seconds.
I think the gamble is well worth it. This team will be much harder to scheme against in the playoffs.
I agree with basically everything except the issue of the picks, provided they get quality ring-chasers and Giannis extends. I think you're downplaying how disastrous those traded picks could be. There are also pick swaps in '24 and '26. That is a lot of chances for Giannis to get hurt or, worse yet, for the supporting cast around him to age and deteriorate, causing him to force his way out. If they don't get a title out of this, they could lose multiple very good picks.
I'm not really hating on the defense but I think it will be something top teams exploit in the playoffs, and if they don't get a title out of this, I think it's a major disappointment.
Yep, if this goes south, we become the Nets-like spoiler, gunking up offseasons by throwing unreasonable contracts at marginal young players. Frankly for the type of fan I am, this would be very interesting and not entirely bad, and we would have a lot of fun and laughter here as we junked our way through multiple 35 win seasons on the back of Old Man Middleton and like Max Contract Mojave King (who is a real player, and not a Nevada car wash).
