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BadgersBucks wrote:These position terms are outdated and really not needed at this point, beyond the casual fan at least. But if we're using them, the definition of PG is the person who most often brings up the ball and initiates the offense. I think we all hope that's Giannis. If we're sticking with these labels, was Magic Johnson not a PG because he usually didn't guard PGs?

BadgersBucks wrote:These position terms are outdated and really not needed at this point, beyond the casual fan at least. But if we're using them, the definition of PG is the person who most often brings up the ball and initiates the offense. I think we all hope that's Giannis. If we're sticking with these labels, was Magic Johnson not a PG because he usually didn't guard PGs?

breakchains wrote:Has he signed yet? Let's get this started already.

Dwade03 wrote:

breakchains wrote:Has he signed yet? Let's get this started already.

I know they aren't matching but have the Cavs officially said anything about not matching? Might have to wait the 3 days maybe? Not sure how that works.

Matthew Dellavedova is listed as a point guard. At 6-4, he looks like a point guard, too. And often when he’s on the court, he’s playing in the point guard spot.

But Dellavedova doesn’t really function as a point guard in the way the position is typically defined. He’s doesn’t initiate the offense most of the time he’s on the floor, he doesn’t set up other players for flashy assists aside from throwing lobs to Tristan Thompson and LeBron James, and he doesn’t really need the ball in his hands to make an impact on the game.

At least in how he has been used, Delly is more of a shooting guard than a point guard. On his best days, he can be a combo guard, but his ability to lead an offense is a bit shaky at this point. On offense, he is at his best cutting off ball and spotting up for 3-pointers and generally saving his energy for defense. It’s what made him so useful next to LeBron James in Cleveland and what made him the ideal backup guard on a team with Kyrie Irving handling the ball most of the time.

It’s those skills that also make him an ideal fit on the Milwaukee Bucks, who signed Delly to a four-year offer sheet worth $38 million that the Cavs reportedly won’t match. Late in the season, the Bucks committed to playing 6-11 Giannis Antetokounmpo at point guard and letting him run the offense. Giannis is not LeBron — no one is — but he, like Ben Simmons, fits the “freak athlete point forward prototype” that LeBron reinvigorated when he entered the NBA in 2003.

Giannis is raw, but he’s shown flashes of being able to make #PointGiannis a real thing. For starters, he uses his combination of size and speed to get past defenders and open up passing lanes that are only open to people his size. And despite only leading an offense for parts of last season, he’s already good at sneaking passes inside at the last moment after defenses have collapsed on him. He can get down the floor in three steps on the break, and if defenses can’t stop him he’s either getting a layup or drawing so much attention that a shooter is going to be open on the wing.

The possibilities for #PointGiannis are almost endless. As a result, the Bucks can get creative with what they need out of their point guard.

This is where Dellavedova comes in. For starters, he’s an upgrade over Michael Carter-Williams at point guard simply because he can shoot — Delly shot 41 percent from the perimeter last year, whereas Carter-Williams shot a career-best 27.3 percent — and the Bucks desperately need floor spacing. For all of his promise, Giannis hasn’t figured out his jump shot yet (although his form looks a bit smoother as he he suits up for the Greek National Team), and Jabari Parker hasn’t found his 3-point range yet either. With Jerryd Bayless gone and O.J. Mayo suspended for two years, the only shooter on Milwaukee’s roster aside from Delly is Khris Middleton. That’s just not enough in this NBA, and the Bucks’ spacing was far too cramped too often last season.

Delly can’t solve the Bucks’ spacing issues all by himself, but teams will have to account for him off ball when Giannis drives or the Bucks run a pick-and-roll. Last season, he made 46.3 percent of his catch-and-shoot 3s (a shot that accounted for 31.7 percent of his shot attempts). With the Bucks, he should be able to get take a lot of these shots as Giannis, Middleton and Parker handle the creating duties. Sub in Carter-Williams into this role and teams are just going to clog the lane and hound Giannis in the paint. His length and athleticism are physically imposing in a fashion Delly isn’t, but a lot is negated by the fact that he kills spacing from the guard spot.

On defense, Delly’s transition should be seamless. He doesn’t fit in with Milwaukee’s switch everything, long armed defense that they were kind of building but he can guard the opposing point guard night in and night out without issue. This is guy who came in and went at Kyrie Irving when he was a rookie and Kyrie was a third-year player, and basically went so hard at him that the two almost fought every day. He’s not particularly long or athletic, but he’s going to go at guys possession after possession whether it’s Irving or Stephen Curry or someone on a 10-day contract. Once or twice a game, that’s probably going to force an opposing guard into a dumb pass that Giannis or someone else takes to the other basket for two.

Ideally, you’d like to have someone a bit more equipped to run an offense next to Giannis. He’s only 21 and is going to make mistakes, which is fine for right now. Even if the Bucks don’t intend to compete next season, there will be a time for Milwaukee to take that step. When it comes, the mistakes Giannis will make this season will pay off. Delly’s presence allows for those mistakes to happen organically in the flow of designed sets and it should also help Parker grow as a secondary ball handler and/or as a lead option when Giannis isn’t on the floor.

And yes, there are fair questions about how Delly will play now that he doesn’t have LeBron setting up him all the time because there is no team in the league that will sway their defense towards Giannis as much as they will LeBron. The clean looks Dellavedova often had in Cleveland simply won’t be as open in Milwaukee — nearly 60 percent of his shot attempts last season were either open or wide open, which is equivalent to Harrison Barnes in Golden State. Smarter teams will and should dare him to shoot in hopes of slowing Giannis and Parker’s drives, but Dellavedova can be good enough to make them reconsider. If the Bucks can find another shooter or two via a trade or scrap bin, that’s even better.

But Delly is serviceable enough as secondary creator — he makes the simple reads just fine and only turned the ball over 2.2 times per 36 minutes last season — and he’s not going to make any dumb mistakes. All he needs to do is what he did in Cleveland, only more often and maybe as a starter. If he can do more that’s just an added bonus.

Dave McMenamin ‏@mcten 1m1 minute ago
The Cavs will acquire Dunleavy with the traded player exception created by the Dellavedova swap with Milwaukee, sources tell ESPN

JayMKE wrote:what the ****

we traded the rights to albert miralles!?!?!?!

JayMKE wrote:what the ****

we traded the rights to albert miralles!?!?!?!

ReasonablySober wrote:[tweet]https://twitter.com/ChrisBHaynes/status/751155468798603264[/tweet]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/EricPincus/status/751156576354865152[/tweet]

Huh.

mcfromage wrote:

ReasonablySober wrote:[tweet]https://twitter.com/ChrisBHaynes/status/751155468798603264[/tweet]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/EricPincus/status/751156576354865152[/tweet]

Huh.

Why did we do a S & T? Paging GAD.