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What is crack lacking fellow Thermo new
r a efforts. I am Champion Valley.

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Hopefully you're hearing me after that.
This is the first time you're hearing

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me that there was not a long
intro recorded to say that this was dated,

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because I'm trying to put out some
of these look aheads before I go

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traveling. And I am very excited
as always to be joined by the one

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and only thy Windish. Follow him
on Twitter, not x which sounds like

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a porn site, but on Twitter
at tie Windish. That's at t I

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W I N d I s c
H. He is the co host of

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the Eurostep podcast and I don't know
founder head honcho of the Eurostep Podcast Network.

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You can follow them on Twitter at
GCPN network on Twitter. I should

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have wrote that one down. I
think it's at ESPN Hub, which also

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sounds like a point side at ESPN
Hub at x dot com is like a

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crazy thing to direct people ESPN hub
at x dot com and definitely punching GESPN

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at x dot com and to your
search toolbar. Yeah, and just see

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what see what comes up. We're
gonna be talking Milwaukee Bucks. I'm very

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excited because I feel like this team
and I caught shit for saying this on

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a podcast, they've flown under the
radar, not where people think they're bad,

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but they've just flown under the radar. Is offseason, I feel like

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because they didn't do mega splashy stuff
aside from pay their own guys and work

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on the margins. But first we
asked the question that I need to know

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the answer to, TI, how
the heck are you doing? I'm doing

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great. I'm excited for these every
year. Oh it's a little nervous someone

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else will emerge on your radar who's
better of which options? There are many,

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but I'm glad I get to do
it again. This is literally one

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of the podcasts I look forward to
throughout the year because your questions are so

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good. I agree with you on
the Bucks flying under the radar. I

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catch it for saying this all the
time, but it's difficult to quantify,

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and it is an entitled kind of
way for your team to find the radar,

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because it's not that they're underrated,
and I don't think they have been

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for years now, but it's this
is like the Bucks coverage every summer.

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I'd say post Drew holiday because that
was like, Isian's gonna sign they made

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a big move. A lot of
people hated it at the time, which

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did not age well for them,
but it was like since that summer,

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it's like, yeah, they're gonna
be really good. They'll probably be like

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one or two in the East.
They have a chance that you know,

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they're probably my favorite team to come
out of the East. Let's go and

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talk about anything else for forty five
minutes. It's like, that's nice to

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hear, Like I would like to
hear the team analyze more on these you

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know what I'm saying, Like these
shows where it's like, Okay, let's

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talk about the Eastern Conference. We
got ten seconds of Milwaukee, they're good,

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Boston thirty minutes the Knicks, two
hours on the Knicks, and really

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this just means we're talking about Joel
Embiid, let's talk about James Harden,

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Let's talk about you know what Darryl
Morey's tweeting. So I'm glad to deep

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dive the bucks here with you.
I will say I must curate my content

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properly because when people complain about national
coverage and I'm like, I never hear

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any of this ship When it's on
the Knicks and it's just too won't being

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like I'm just not subjected to that. I do think people could flate to

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actually bring us to the Bucks.
They conflate under the radar with like underrated

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or they're not good, and it's
no, that's not it's like you said,

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they're just mentioning the Bucks are great
and passing. I would argue that's

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the better alternative too, though.
Hearing like just out of touch analysis for

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two hours on like what your team
should be doing, it's just like,

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yeah, we get the Knicks or
star hunting, but they don't view this

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team as like, oh, we
think they suck and like we're not doing

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anything. So and I'm gonna skip
ahead because this is like deeper in the

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outline, but just kind of segues
into what we're talking about now. It

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does feel like, though, for
a team that flies under the radar.

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Zach Loo said something like this recently
on the podcast. The effect of whatever

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the Bucks lose before the finals basically
or just have an early playoff exit,

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it's always painted as the world is
falling for them, or there's this fatal

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flaw that they can't overcome. And
he said that I'm like, that's accurate.

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Why is that? Like why why
is that a thing? Like what

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is the misconception there or what is
the like what is the sentiment? Like

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what do the Bucks do that make? I would say nationally, fans are

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probably more people in Milwaukee market definitely
more like in tune to the to the

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steady analysis. But it's what about
them is so polarizing that when something goes

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wrong it feels bigger to a lot
of people than in actuality it is.

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I mean, I think in the
modern league, where there's not ten years

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contracts in their trade demands, anytime
a player like Jannie plays in a market

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like Milwaukee, there's going to be
a little bit of like that internal pressure.

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And I think I'm not saying like
this is media bs, like it's

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it's real. Jannie wants to win
and as as small market affectionate as he

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is, like there's other places where
he could go and like go to restaurants

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and you know, not get mobbed, right, Like, there's not it's

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not Milwaukee and then twenty nine big
markets in the NBA or even you know,

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there's other small markets that are very
competitive as well. I think the

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back and forth between fan bases around
Jannis and Luca has always kind of existed

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and will continue to rise up as
and maybe maybe neither of them ever moved

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teams. But I do think there's
like, you know, both sides are

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like, oh, we'd love that
guy, that would be a fun pairing,

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huh. And so that's out there, and I think that's part of

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the reason is you have that player
in Jannis who pre this playoff run from

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Nicola Yokich, it's pretty much been
the consensus top player in the league for

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you know, three four However many
years now you know there was he was

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winning. When he was winning MVPs, it was less consensus post the MVPs.

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I think in pof course championship run, he's kind of been locked in

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there, and now Yokich is getting
the line's share of that discussion, which

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I think makes sense. To be
clear, I'm not like the Salty Bucks

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guy about that. When you watch
a guy do it like that, and

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do by do it, I mean, you know, rampage through the NBA.

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He deserves to have that mantle for
the next season. I think,

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like I was saying Kawhi was the
best after his run with the Raptors,

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because it's like, all right,
if you tear everyone's throats out for four

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rounds like that, like you can
wear that next season, like someone has

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to prove it. Sadly, for
Kauhi, we haven't really gotten that showdown

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that we should have because of all
the injuries. But but so I think

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it's really just comes down to that. You know, it's and they're and

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they're older too, They're not They're
not the Nuggets. They're not the Nuggets

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where you know, even if they
had lost this year, maybe it would

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it would start to get a little
louder just because you're you know, how

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do you not winning when Yoki plays
like that? But Murray and Porter and

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them are so young and their team
is put together, it's I think it's

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more it's more clearly sustainable going forward
for what they have on that roster and

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their assets. Whereas the Bucks it
is kind of like this, it almost

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they have like this careening down the
tracks, feel of like, okay,

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Chris has another injury. We're resounding
Brook but he's he's old now, right,

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He's still playing really well, but
he's old, you know, Drew.

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It's insane. I can't wait for
the Brook Lopez Dock and Robin just

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like shitting on a minute's gonna be
really fun to the back and forest.

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They have. Drew said he would
retire after this contract. We'll see if

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that happens. That was like people
forget that. I hear a lot of

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like, oh it, Drew gonna
resign him. I guess he gonna keep

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playing. I guess we'll see.
So yeah, I think I think it's

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like the pressure of having a honest
in a small market with a little bit

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of an older with an older roster, not just a little bit. I

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think it makes sense, but I
think everyone assumes, you know, they're

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closer to the end than they have
been, certainly, And also they've lost

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in some pretty weird ways. Like
if they had if they went up against

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the Nuggets and lost in seven and
it was like a great series in the

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finals, or let's even say Boston
and like the Semis to not use the

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finals as an example, I think
it would be viewed differently. But the

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last two times they've lost, it
was Boston in the second round and sure

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without Chris. Like I think looking
back now and what Boston has done around

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that series, I think from a
Bucks perspective, probably feel pretty good about

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that one, like you got pretty
close without Chris Middleton. You blew it,

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but you got close. And then
of course almost getting swept in the

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first round by a play in team. The way they have gone out too,

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like that when they lost to Miami
in the Bubble, it was kind

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of similar, all the expectations and
they kind of went out sad. So

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I think it's a lot that goes
into it. I think it makes sense

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the way the way it's looked at
to a certain extent, and I think

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it speaks a lot to the Buck's
culture and what they've built that they haven't

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had like the big blow up really
after any of these losses, like they've

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kept it together. Yeah, I
thought there was an overreaction to how they

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I still think Miami was fantastic.
There's no I missed on them. Whatever

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they they are, hashtag built different
for the playoff like that. It's the

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thing with them, and some of
it's ineffable. I still think if Jannis

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doesn't get injured, that the Bucks
win that series, and that's just Bud

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might still be employed. But looking
at their off season and specifically what they

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did with the encourt personnel, a
lot of it, at least financial.

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He's built around talent retention. But
you get Jay Crowder, get Mollie Beasley.

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Just what did you think about like
the moves and the contracts that they

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gave out this year. Yeah,
I think a lot of Bucks fans were

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underwhelmed. I mean, we did
so much content on who I could get

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for the mini mL and it ends
up not opening because Brooke rightfully went and

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got a contract that demonstrates his value
to the league. He probably still underpaid,

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but as kind of when when got
the extension, sour that he's not

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and he's oh for sure, very
clearly they thought that he was going.

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He was coming definitely. I mean, you know, when Vouchevitch gets twenty

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million, he's a fine player and
Purdle gets around twenty million. You know,

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I do think Brooke is better,
and those guys I think got longer

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term than Brooke did. But he
just finished second. I even sorry to

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interrupt you, but four or five, like if he's thirty one instead of

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thirty five, Like you're probably like, oh, does Brook Lopez get like

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a mask and one forty or something
like making out the mask like something along

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those lines. Because Vouch is the
perfect comparison where it's like Roots a really

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useful player. Brook Lopez is way
better. He's just an NBA years way

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older. Yeah, yeah, exactly. And you know I had the back

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thing, came back from it better
somehow. I mean, ye, the

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dedication he has that last year was
like, oh, like, he didn't

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look like he looked a little stiff
when you get you'd be always like,

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no, you're just gonna finish runner
up for defense. Yeah yeah, And

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I think had a case for I
think a lot of years he probably wins,

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but I think and even I eventually
came to the conclusion like, all

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right, Jaren Jackson season is just
insane defensively and what he's able to do.

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So you know, the minutes played
gap was there, but he was

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a deserving Defensive Player of the Year. Jaren was. I think Brooke had

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a great case too, but they
lose them in the MLI, which which

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sucked. But getting Chris day one
and Brooke day two. I've tried to

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make this point, like any franchise
that could have signed Chris Middleton and Brook

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Lopez to like fifty ish million a
year contracts, they would be celebrating like

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that would be an amazing summer.
You're retaining them, it's easier. But

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this is unrestricted free agency, like
nothing is given. Look at Toronto,

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who certainly would have loved to and
they're my favorite. Like no, Bucks

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are fine, look what look what
it could be. But seriously, like

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they really wanted Fred van Vleet back
and couldn't do it, Like it's it's

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not always easy to retain those guys, even when you are a good team

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with aanas. So I think overall
it was a very good summer. It

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really hurt to lose Javon Carter.
I'm still bullish on his potential as like

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a true point guard in addition to
the floor spacing defender of point guards that

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he's been. Did not have a
great playoff series though he didn't play much

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the last postseason. This year,
his minutes were better, but he just

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wasn't able to produce as much,
which I think probably had an impact there.

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And also like the Bucks are just
trending really huge, which is an

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interesting thing we can talk about,
and Javon didn't fit into that much either.

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But that's the kind of player you
lose when you're a good team.

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With this many good, well paid
rotational players as tough as it is,

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and I thought the additions they made, you know, Crowder and Beasley for

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the price points were really intriguing as
well. And when you can get Malik

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Beasley on Vetman, it really does
make you go Okay, I don't really

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care about the Minimli then. I
mean I would have liked, you know,

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like when players get paid, that's
all great, and it would would

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have made it easier to resign him. But like, that's a Minimli player,

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at least in my estimation, so
that certainly made that loss a lot

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more palatable. Which this is a
whole another can of worms. I still

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00:12:07,919 --> 00:12:13,240
can't believe the Players Union signed that
CPA because these are the players right now

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who are being impacted. I think
maybe not so much. Jake, like

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you have to play, and Jake
Crowder sat out for most of last year.

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Yeah, but like Molik Beasley feels
like he I know, he didn't

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shoot the ball well, wasn't in
the Lakers rotation by the end of the

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playoffs, but like if you if
it was like let's say January, there

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would have been a team that might
have given up a first round pick for

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just Molik Beasley alone because it was
under team patrol. For another, that's

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how well he was shooting the ball, so he gat him at the minimum

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is huge. What was more surprising
to you there, though, that Molik

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Beasley was available to the minimum,
that Jake Crowdler came back. I would

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say Beasley for sure. I thought
Crowder even before it was announced, it

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was possible when when Bud got fired, because I think that is kind of

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that's your bridge right in terms of
the organization of Crowder, because he didn't

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he didn't play as much. He
said he didn't know what his role was

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at the time. It's well,
you didn't play well in the playoffs at

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all, and he didn't. He
had a really bad playoffs. My counter

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to this, though, has been
he had a really good regular season with

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Milwaukee. Like I thought, he
looked like a perfect hand and glow fit.

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He was communicating on defense, he
was hitting shots. I knew that

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wouldn't last through multiple playoff rounds.
But everything else I felt like would just

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didn't didn't come together right in the
playoffs. And I think there's been some

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other quotes too about the relationships between
the coaching staff and the players, and

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I think the old one to be
clear, Mike Brudenholzer and his staff and

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Bobby Portis in particular mentioned losing Darvin
Ham was really impactful to that locker room

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and everything, which as like kind
of like, okay, you know,

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Crowder says something whatever, Sergebaka who
just wasn't good enough to play frankly whatever,

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things start to pile up, multiple
people saying it's like, okay,

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there was something happening there. So
I think that was the bridge. And

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I think, you know, with
the fact that he didn't play well in

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the playoffs in the middle class squeeze, Crowder not having a bunch of better

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options and just going, well,
they need this for and I'm really the

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one guy who fits into at like
come play here. I think that made

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sense easily. For vet Man,
I was like, no shot. I

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mean, I know he got benched
by the Lakers, but I mean the

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way he shot, like as an
offensive player, I mean that year with

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the Timberwolves, he was like a
twenty point per game guy. Like that's

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not the kind of guy you usually
see at this point go for vet Men,

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especially after you know he had the
legal troubles. But seems like kind

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of made it through that and all
of those restrictions and has been a productive

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player for a while since then.
So yeah, I didn't see that coming

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at all. I was very surprised
and excited to see that signing. For

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sure, who do you think winds
up being more important than the rotation for

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them? That's really hard. I
mean, Crowder has a much clearer pathway

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to it because they've they always need
the four next to you, honest at

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the five, and you know Chris
can kind of play there. But how

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much do you want Chris Middleton Because
that's like that's a grimy rule, like

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like PJ. Tucker stuff, like
you gotta rebound, you gotta box out,

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you gotta set screens probably or at
least space the floor. You know

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Pj's thing was offensive rebounding. It
doesn't have to be that scifically, but

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you gotta do kind of like big
guys stuff while being a switchable defender.

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You don't really want Chris doing all
of that. So that role is I

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think necessary for the Bucks to be
at their best. I think they their

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default is, Okay, we're gonna
play with Brooke and you have to push

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us out of it, and if
you can't, we probably win. I

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think it's really hard to beat the
Bucks when Brooke is comfortable, but teams

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do teams get stretchy, Brooke can't
survive. Okay, now we've got X

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four and Giannis and all switchable guys, and that's a whole nother killer mode

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for different reasons. So I think
Crowder's path to being so is right there.

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Honestly, Beasley has to kind of
get through a pretty good group of

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00:15:33,679 --> 00:15:37,519
wing players. I do think he
has more upside in terms of you know,

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I think he could be a starter, whereas I would be pretty shocked

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if Krowder was. But I think
his path is less clear. He's really

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gonna have to prove it. I
think he certainly could. But I guess,

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to answer the question and not dodge
it, I will say Crowder just

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because I think they need that role. And outside of like Thanasis, I

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mean, Bobby Portis really is not
that kind of player, I don't think,

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although he'll be important too, but
he'll be fascinating the seat. You

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know, I guess how different their
configurations are and how different the pecking order

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is now that we do have a
new coach here in Town. Yeah,

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and just overall, I was a
big fan of their offseason and said as

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much in the pot. The only
thing it in like, it's like you

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had the ability in theory to keep
Javon Carter, and I thought it was

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pretty important. I'd make more of
a stink about that. I don't the

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second Apron stuff. I'm just pay
it, like you're good enough to just

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pay it, and you're limited enough
already on the trade stuff, and they

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get at least for this year.
It's next year when they really kick in,

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it's like, oh, you can't
trade like the future first. If

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he was more of like a ball
handler playmaker type, I would have made

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a bigger stink. It's funny I
agree with you on Beasley Crowder overall that

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Beasley might even have a better chance
to start. On most teams, I

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might say Crowder is actually probably better
suited to play the three because he's just

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not three anymore. But on this
team, I'm like, no, Like

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00:16:51,399 --> 00:16:53,360
Beasley probably just makes more sense for
them with like Middleton, Jannas and brook

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00:16:53,399 --> 00:16:56,600
Lopez there. Yeah, but yeah, I thought they had a great offseason.

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The thing that I wasn't the same
page with and we have not spoken

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in podcast form since the decision was
made. What did you make of,

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00:17:03,839 --> 00:17:07,480
you know, the decision to dismiss
Mike Puttenholzer, And then what do you

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make of the higher of Adrian Griffin? And do you have like any feel

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or insight as to what might change
with this team or what you might expect

286
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him to you know, instill upon
like what we're seeing on the court.

287
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I think you know, it was
tough obviously, you know, two years

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after leading the Bucks to a championship
for Bud to be let go. I

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do think their playoff offenses are just
too habitually prone to shitting the bed,

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so to speak. I mean,
it's just happened too many times. I

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think in the postseason that where you
know, you're just scratching your head both

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at what the players are actually doing
on the court. You know, some

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00:17:44,319 --> 00:17:48,559
of the clearly, like Drue Holiday, has maybe been empowered a little bit

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too much to make decisions. I
think at some points in the postseason.

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I think that that is a pretty
mild way of saying that you certainly feel,

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especially for Bud, more than more
than even you normally would given you

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know, he had a brother pass
away during the playoffs. I think that

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that certainly would be impactful to anyone, and it's of course beyond unfortunate,

299
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and I think everyone who is a
worthwhile human from Bucks Twitter, you know,

300
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sent condolences and didn't want to pile
on the guy or anything like that.

301
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But there were some moments in the
playoffs where you know that the old

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00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:25,359
bad habits as well as some you
know, not not calling the time out

303
00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:27,279
to draw up a play late in
like game four, Game five when they

304
00:18:27,359 --> 00:18:30,000
had a shot to just win the
game right there and they end up going

305
00:18:30,039 --> 00:18:34,519
into overtime and losing. So there
were just some some bad schematic things.

306
00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:40,039
And I think in addition to that, it does seem like the players were

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00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:44,000
looking for something different. And the
fact that you know, Jannis was in

308
00:18:44,079 --> 00:18:48,039
on the coaching interviews. Yannis seems
to be very involved in who he wants

309
00:18:48,119 --> 00:18:51,400
coaching him for this next chapter in
Milwaukee. You know, I'm not saying

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00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:56,000
Yannis said fire Bud, but the
fact that he's involved in this this process,

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00:18:56,039 --> 00:18:57,880
at least that side of the process, they did a good job I

312
00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:02,119
think distancing and saying no, like
the players didn't tell us this, which

313
00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:03,519
you should do as the organization.
You don't want to, you know,

314
00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:08,440
put that on anyone. It did
seem like, I'll say, it seemed

315
00:19:08,440 --> 00:19:11,880
like the players on the team were
ready for a fresh start. This isn't

316
00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:15,160
reporting, This is just from like
what's been out there and consuming every little

317
00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:18,400
scrap about this team. So I
think for all of those reasons, they

318
00:19:18,519 --> 00:19:22,480
kind of had to. And there's
just been so many moments now where it

319
00:19:22,519 --> 00:19:26,160
feels like there's meat on the bone
for the bucks. I think that's a

320
00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:30,440
pretty common takeaway, especially from people
who like grind tape and everything, you

321
00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:33,799
know. I know Nikaias and Steve
on the Dunker Spot love to say,

322
00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:37,519
like you know, they do they
do like one side pick and roll or

323
00:19:37,559 --> 00:19:40,200
something. It's like, oh,
there's some spice finally, and then and

324
00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:42,400
then they don't do anything else.
So I do think it was time to

325
00:19:42,599 --> 00:19:45,880
inject something new into the team.
They feel like they got a little stale

326
00:19:47,039 --> 00:19:49,640
this season. I was less of
a fan of it at the beginning because

327
00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:56,519
I thought it's I thought it it
kind of symbolized this organization believe there needed

328
00:19:56,559 --> 00:20:00,799
to be more of like a wholesale
change to the team, and they clearly

329
00:20:00,839 --> 00:20:02,799
didn't go there. About their off
season that way, and I was just

330
00:20:02,880 --> 00:20:04,480
very much of the mind like you
guys would have been in the conference finals

331
00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:10,200
at least if Jannis doesn't get injured. I understand it more now and if

332
00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:11,759
the fact that you went with Jannis's
pick, and I would be shocked if

333
00:20:11,839 --> 00:20:15,799
Jannis had anything to do with Mike
Budenholzer being dismissed. Yeah, I'm a

334
00:20:15,839 --> 00:20:18,960
little bit more comfortable. I'd never
know how to evaluate rookie had coaches and

335
00:20:18,039 --> 00:20:22,200
I agree that like their offenses lacked
like will crib it from the dunker spot

336
00:20:22,279 --> 00:20:26,559
spice. I'm just like what the
personnel they have, Like, is there

337
00:20:26,559 --> 00:20:30,160
a room a ton of room for
more spice or they need to add elements

338
00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:33,240
in here. And so that's why
I'm very interesting what their offense actually looks

339
00:20:33,279 --> 00:20:37,799
like in the half court, specifically
under Adrian Griffin. And I know it's

340
00:20:37,799 --> 00:20:41,799
been like it was definitely you know
you look at touch and go in the

341
00:20:41,839 --> 00:20:45,200
playoffs. I think this season they
ended up like they were even eighth in

342
00:20:45,279 --> 00:20:48,119
half court efficient thing in the playoffs. It wasn't even just like the worst,

343
00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:52,279
but they were third or fourth in
half court offense. After Middleton came

344
00:20:52,319 --> 00:20:56,720
back in January last year, and
so like, I don't know that there

345
00:20:56,759 --> 00:21:00,079
needs to be a ton of reinvention, like being better adaptable. So I'm

346
00:21:00,119 --> 00:21:04,000
just very curious to see whether that's
if we'll see that into how possible it

347
00:21:04,119 --> 00:21:08,279
is, just given the current state
of the roster as it lays, Yeah,

348
00:21:08,359 --> 00:21:11,720
I think I don't think it's got
to be like, you know,

349
00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:15,720
mind blowing basketball or anything. It
just felt like there's so many possessions,

350
00:21:15,759 --> 00:21:18,319
I think, especially in the playoffs. And I know to a certain extent

351
00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:23,319
this is just how star players work, but so much so much no pass

352
00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:27,279
possessions, and it's just like that's
just not conducive to good offense. And

353
00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:32,079
I you know, I'm an obviously
a huge Giannis fan, and Chris and

354
00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:36,720
Drew Holiday, you know, Jannis
ioing against four set players, it's just

355
00:21:36,839 --> 00:21:40,680
not going to be the path to
playing your best basketball offensively. And I'm

356
00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:42,880
not saying you just has to set
a bunch of screens like Shack, although

357
00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:47,519
that is still their best playoff offense
is Yannas screening for Chris. You know,

358
00:21:47,559 --> 00:21:49,599
it's gonna be hard to beat that, But doing that more and just

359
00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:55,039
you know, being a little more
inventive with instead of a straight ISO,

360
00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:59,559
Grayson Allen or Pat Connadan set a
pick for Youannis and then pops. Those

361
00:21:59,559 --> 00:22:03,039
have been really effective actions when they
do it, because if you if you

362
00:22:03,279 --> 00:22:04,720
that little bit of indecision, the
honest can be at the rim. If

363
00:22:04,759 --> 00:22:07,119
you lose the shooter, it's a
wide open three from a good shooter.

364
00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:10,839
The kind of things that we would
see and then they would kind of go

365
00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:15,279
away. So I think it's going
to be about more consistently playing I guess,

366
00:22:15,839 --> 00:22:18,039
you know, playing to your strengths
offensively, which it sounds like,

367
00:22:18,319 --> 00:22:22,279
you know, like Aj Green,
who was actually on our show and talked

368
00:22:22,279 --> 00:22:26,960
about this at Summer League, said, so far it's been like more side

369
00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:30,000
to side matchup based offensive basketball.
Whatever that means. I'm excited to see

370
00:22:30,079 --> 00:22:33,759
what that means as well. But
I am encouraged that it's not just Adrian

371
00:22:33,839 --> 00:22:37,200
Griffin doing the offense. He's more
of a defensive guy anyway. The fact

372
00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:41,359
that they brought in Terry Stotts and
Joe Prunty to oversee the offensive side or

373
00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:45,000
at least, you know, assist
with that was really comforting to me because

374
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I don't expect Adrian Griffin to be
an outstanding offensive coach right off the bat,

375
00:22:51,839 --> 00:22:55,240
considering he is more of a defensive
focus guy. But I think you

376
00:22:55,319 --> 00:22:57,720
know, stops from his time at
Portland and like being the offensive guy on

377
00:22:57,839 --> 00:23:00,960
the eleven Mavericks. Like having someone
like that and then prompts you. I

378
00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:04,400
think it brings a lot of inventive
play calls as well. I think that's

379
00:23:04,519 --> 00:23:10,400
really exciting from a coaching perspective in
terms of that's probably the best setup you

380
00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:15,839
could do while still getting the personable
kind of coach that Jannest really resonated with,

381
00:23:15,240 --> 00:23:18,720
who it seems like is still focused
on maintaining an elite defense. You

382
00:23:18,799 --> 00:23:22,440
know. Brook Lopez coming or going
was like a huge canary in the coal

383
00:23:22,519 --> 00:23:26,240
mine for me. Like you know, they've talked about wanted to be more

384
00:23:26,319 --> 00:23:29,559
flexible, I think, more adaptive. You know, I think Brooke could

385
00:23:29,559 --> 00:23:32,359
do a zone. You're probably not
switching everything with him. Would they let

386
00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:34,599
him go with the price scare them
away? The fact that they stayed in

387
00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:38,039
it and out Bien to keep him, I thought also was comforting. I

388
00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:41,680
didn't want to see, as you
mentioned, oh you know, we're not

389
00:23:41,799 --> 00:23:45,319
doing brook Lope, We're gonna go
away from Brook like to who you know,

390
00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:48,799
like Thomas Bryant, so a new
starting center, and that was someone

391
00:23:48,839 --> 00:23:49,920
I was like, I'd be a
good backup option. I guess if he

392
00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:53,079
Lo goes, that's way worse.
Dude. Sorry Thomas Bryant, but that's

393
00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:59,720
way worse. Thomas Bryant still had
my favorite recent trade request. I just

394
00:23:59,759 --> 00:24:04,160
like Thomas Bryant the Mains trade last
season to the Nuggets. So, based

395
00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:07,279
off what we know about Griffin,
would you expect Grayson Allen to still be

396
00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:11,400
the fifth starter here or could you
see him going in sort of a different

397
00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:15,240
direction here where I think it's you
know, I don't know why you would

398
00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:18,480
go from Grayson Allen to Millik Beasley
at this point, Like Allen had the

399
00:24:18,519 --> 00:24:21,880
better shooting season, And I got
killed by Bucks fans when I said,

400
00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:23,160
like, I don't know if I
had Grayson Allen and the trade when Mollie

401
00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:26,599
Beasley was on his heater, I
wanted the Bucks to trade from Mollie Beasley.

402
00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:30,160
Allen's better defensively than Beasley. At
this point, I think it kind

403
00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:33,400
of feels like, oh, it's
gonna be Allen or Connaton here. Do

404
00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:34,799
you think of that we should just
Pencil and Allen there. Could you see

405
00:24:34,799 --> 00:24:37,839
Griffin kind of mixing could you see
even mixing it up on like a matchup

406
00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:44,039
basis with that spot. I don't
know, it's kind of It's not a

407
00:24:44,079 --> 00:24:48,240
good answer. I would pencil in
Grayson for now, but certainly Pencil and

408
00:24:48,319 --> 00:24:51,680
not Penn. I think Eric Name, who covers the Bucks for The Athletic,

409
00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:52,920
does a great job shared. I
think it was him, and maybe

410
00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:57,039
it was Frank Madden, someone on
the Bucks Bucks beat of some extent shared

411
00:24:57,359 --> 00:25:00,039
like the numbers with like I think
it was like the Big three and Lowe,

412
00:25:00,279 --> 00:25:03,559
the core four, so to speak, the Big three and Brooke and

413
00:25:04,039 --> 00:25:07,279
Pat Connadan and the numbers have just
always been really good, and I think

414
00:25:07,319 --> 00:25:11,640
Pat is a very good complimentary player
to those four. I think he certainly

415
00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:17,240
has a chance. It did seem
like, for whatever reason, Budd just

416
00:25:17,359 --> 00:25:19,559
liked having him as the bench guy. Maybe something was staggering. He would

417
00:25:19,599 --> 00:25:25,119
be a fill in starter occasionally,
but he never really got extended, like,

418
00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:29,119
Okay, Pat's the fifth starter.
It wouldn't shock me if if that's

419
00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:32,359
what they decided to go with.
I do think his game is a little

420
00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:36,200
more refined than we've gotten to see
offensively, like he's done some intriguing like

421
00:25:36,319 --> 00:25:38,640
short roll stuff when he sets screens, but it'll be like two possession at

422
00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:41,200
a time and then it's gone.
So I think he's got a shot.

423
00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:45,200
And he didn't have a good regular
season, he had another outstanding postseason for

424
00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:48,400
Milwaukee. I think he's got an
opportunity. I think Beasley does too.

425
00:25:48,519 --> 00:25:52,640
I do think to a certain extent, with a whole new staff coming in,

426
00:25:52,240 --> 00:25:56,519
there is going to be more opportunity
for a shake up than really any

427
00:25:56,599 --> 00:26:00,799
season since Bud first got there.
I also think though, like Grayson probably

428
00:26:00,799 --> 00:26:03,599
makes the most sense because he's such
a good shooter, he's young, he

429
00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:06,880
is a better defender than people think. I do think he's just so underrated

430
00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:10,160
as a player because get that horrible
series against Boston, and he looks so

431
00:26:10,319 --> 00:26:14,000
much better at the things he was
bad at this season, Like physically he

432
00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:17,519
looked a lot stronger I think not
a lot, but like functionally he wasn't

433
00:26:17,519 --> 00:26:19,440
getting pushed around as much. He
got in the paint a little bit more.

434
00:26:19,759 --> 00:26:22,359
Of course, then the time expires
on him in the Heat series.

435
00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:27,880
He should have never had the ball
in that situation. Yeah, everything was

436
00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:30,759
just a mess in that series.
So I don't hold that against him,

437
00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:34,519
but I think he's a good point. Kood was gone probably like raising all

438
00:26:34,599 --> 00:26:37,039
can't have the balls, just like
eyes wide open, like oh no,

439
00:26:37,279 --> 00:26:41,119
man, this is bad. So
I think Grayson makes the most sense.

440
00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:45,200
But I think like someone like Pat
or Beasley or I don't really know who

441
00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:48,880
else would make sense to push him. I mean, does mar John have

442
00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:52,400
an outstanding training camp? I wouldn't
bet on that. Oh well, we

443
00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:56,759
have to talk about mar John and
a couple of questions. I do think

444
00:26:56,799 --> 00:27:00,559
he'll factor in a lot more this
season. Oh that excites me. I

445
00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:03,079
have a follow up question to this
on a scale, I'm only asking it

446
00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:07,240
this way because I listened to the
I was listening to the I think it

447
00:27:07,319 --> 00:27:08,880
was the most recent one you did, or maybe the previous one before that

448
00:27:10,319 --> 00:27:14,240
that talked about Janie's knee, and
he didn't really talk about Janie's knee.

449
00:27:14,599 --> 00:27:15,480
It was just like, so,
on a scale of one to ten,

450
00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:22,279
how concerned through the Bucks need to
be about that Yannis left Nie since it's

451
00:27:22,279 --> 00:27:25,759
preventing him from playing in the World
Cups. That strictly just sort of this

452
00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:30,200
preventive measure he made it sound like
it wasn't and so it's just like any

453
00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:32,640
time an injury crops up, But
this dude's like a top three player and

454
00:27:32,839 --> 00:27:34,200
at worst the top three player in
the league, and so you have to

455
00:27:34,319 --> 00:27:37,319
just in the back of your mind
just wonder or is it just not like

456
00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:40,880
business as usual. He's gonna go
through the offseason. He'll be fine.

457
00:27:41,599 --> 00:27:45,799
I would say three or four.
I'm not super concerned. It sounds like

458
00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:48,160
he'll be fine for training camp.
The fact that you know, he pushed

459
00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:52,759
so hard to even play in the
World Cup still is actually almost a positive.

460
00:27:52,759 --> 00:27:55,920
I mean, obviously would be better
if you could have played. Although

461
00:27:56,599 --> 00:27:59,880
Yannis having a real full offseason,
it's kind of rare at this point.

462
00:28:00,359 --> 00:28:03,680
So Bucks fans were kind of like, you know, sit this one out,

463
00:28:03,799 --> 00:28:04,960
and I think the Bucks fans were
like, yeah, you should.

464
00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:08,400
And I understand. You know,
these guys, especially non Americans, really

465
00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:11,240
want to play for their teams,
and the honest is certainly no exception,

466
00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:15,160
but I think it was probably the
right call for him coming off of that

467
00:28:15,279 --> 00:28:19,720
niscope. Honestly, it's more wild
that he hasn't had that thing cleaned up

468
00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:23,119
previously. I mean, some of
the reporting after the finals, like they

469
00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:26,839
wanted to wear this special brace,
he wouldn't wear it. They like,

470
00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:29,200
I think he said at one point, you know, I was one dad

471
00:28:29,279 --> 00:28:33,039
fall away from like catastrophe, Like
geez, Like he's always got knee soreness

472
00:28:33,079 --> 00:28:37,799
that holds him out here and there. I think just like being that literal

473
00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:42,839
freak of nature is taxing on anyone's
knees. So I think we all were

474
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:45,720
kind of like, yeah, he's
probably gotta have something done at some point,

475
00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:48,119
right, So I think the fact
that he got it done early,

476
00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:52,480
he tried to play a World Cup
but couldn't. No one's too worried.

477
00:28:52,799 --> 00:28:56,920
I don't think from the Bucks side, I think it's just we've all come

478
00:28:56,960 --> 00:28:59,759
to kind of accept that, you
honest's knees are going to be an ongoing

479
00:28:59,799 --> 00:29:03,880
thing the monitor and so far,
you know, knock on all the wood,

480
00:29:03,319 --> 00:29:06,960
he's been able to avoid I didn't
make sure I didn't make my dog

481
00:29:07,039 --> 00:29:10,599
up. She's good. He's been
able to avoid missing a lot of time.

482
00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:12,200
And as long as that's the case. If he misses a week here

483
00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:15,920
whatever, that's just like fine,
that that's a fair trade off for being

484
00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:19,880
able to do what he does at
his size. And wait, I think

485
00:29:21,039 --> 00:29:22,480
some people will interpret this follow up
question the wrong way, and it's really

486
00:29:22,519 --> 00:29:26,240
just because we know so much about
John as we've talked about his counters,

487
00:29:26,559 --> 00:29:27,920
what else he can do on offense, everything he does on defense. Have

488
00:29:29,039 --> 00:29:32,240
you given any thought, just because
he is entering his age twenty nine season,

489
00:29:32,759 --> 00:29:37,160
about what his game will look like
as it ages, maybe any changes

490
00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:41,200
or adaptations that he would make,
how dare Well? Yeah, just because

491
00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:44,920
he's approaching I say, this is
a thirty four year old, and it's

492
00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:48,400
just it's so stupid where it's like
he's just he's getting older and it's like

493
00:29:48,559 --> 00:29:52,279
he's still four years younger than I
am. Yeah, I've thought for a

494
00:29:52,359 --> 00:29:56,720
while now, you know, he's
probably should have his back to the basket

495
00:29:56,759 --> 00:30:00,519
a little more. I think that's
what makes the most sense, you know,

496
00:30:00,720 --> 00:30:07,319
given his level of skill physically and
how carefully he can move. I

497
00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:11,160
think that could be a really logical
transition to you know, maybe even being

498
00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:14,519
a full time five at one point, but at least offensively, you know,

499
00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:18,759
playing that role where even if you
have someone Michael brook Lopez to do

500
00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:22,079
some of the more dirty work,
especially defensively down low all the time,

501
00:30:22,519 --> 00:30:27,279
but being able to create offense for
yourself and others from like the elbow and

502
00:30:27,359 --> 00:30:30,640
the honesty's postgame is it's gotten a
little better over the years. It doesn't

503
00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:33,519
seem like it's been a huge focus
for him. He is kind of known

504
00:30:33,599 --> 00:30:37,839
for doing like one thing per offseason. He really locks in on, you

505
00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:41,440
know, like he got better at
finishing, like just driving to the basket

506
00:30:41,519 --> 00:30:45,960
avoiding contact. I'd say, like
a year or two ago was really big.

507
00:30:45,039 --> 00:30:48,839
He used to always get charges.
He's definitely gotten a lot better at

508
00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:52,519
that. It wouldn't surprise me if
a year or two years, maybe even

509
00:30:52,519 --> 00:30:55,720
a little further down the line,
he comes back and he's like suddenly posting

510
00:30:55,839 --> 00:30:57,640
up like five times a game or
something. And to be clear, like

511
00:30:57,839 --> 00:31:00,279
for people who think, oh he's
you know, he's doing all these like

512
00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:03,799
ISOs right now, I would look
at that as functionally different. Like,

513
00:31:03,880 --> 00:31:07,160
yeah, he attacks the paint all
the time. I'm talking about starting the

514
00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:11,160
possession back to the basket fourteen feet
out and creating from there. That's what

515
00:31:11,279 --> 00:31:15,880
we don't see as much. It
wouldn't surprise me. I don't think he's

516
00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:21,160
gonna leap into it before, like
before he had before he has to stop

517
00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:23,240
relying on you know, everything else
he can do. But that's to me

518
00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:30,000
what makes the most sense. I
would agree, are you panicking uncontrollably knowing

519
00:31:30,079 --> 00:31:33,240
that he probably won't sign an extension
this summer. No, The funny thing

520
00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:38,119
is, you know, super loyal
guy has not been shy to put pressure

521
00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:41,839
on the box. I think that's
always just going to be there, and

522
00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:45,960
it's it's i think, just easier
if you just assume they've got a good

523
00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:49,200
shot at keeping him, if you
continue to do everything you can to compete

524
00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:53,000
for a championship, and the team
is competitive, which obviously means at some

525
00:31:53,039 --> 00:31:56,880
point here there's a lot of pressure
to find new costars, clearly, But

526
00:31:57,039 --> 00:32:00,440
right now I think, you know, they're still favored to be at the

527
00:32:00,480 --> 00:32:01,759
top of the East, and they
have a shot and I think in anyone's

528
00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:05,960
esteem to win a title again,
I think as long as that's the case,

529
00:32:06,039 --> 00:32:08,359
that they're in a pretty good,
pretty good pole position there with Yannis.

530
00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:12,559
But no, I'm not expecting him
to sign the extension early. I

531
00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:15,480
wouldn't surprise me if he dragged it
out a bit again, Janice, as

532
00:32:15,799 --> 00:32:20,960
he's joked about with his ad deals
and everything. You know. Likes to

533
00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:23,000
likes to lock in the money.
So I do think he's gonna tack on

534
00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:27,279
four or five years at some point
when it financially makes sense to do so.

535
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:30,359
I don't think he's going to rush
to do it though. He's one

536
00:32:30,400 --> 00:32:34,279
of those players where clearly, even
if you know something horrible happened, somebody

537
00:32:34,319 --> 00:32:37,240
would sign him for a whole lot
of money. Again, so not really

538
00:32:37,279 --> 00:32:42,559
any risk from his perspective. I
do think he'll stick around for a while,

539
00:32:43,039 --> 00:32:45,640
but he's not usually been one too
at the earliest part. I mean

540
00:32:45,880 --> 00:32:49,799
when he signed the Supermax, it
was like right before the season, like

541
00:32:49,839 --> 00:32:52,359
they were in camp. It was
pretty nervy, to be honest. I

542
00:32:52,400 --> 00:32:55,680
wouldn't be surprised if something like that
happened again, and if it and sorry

543
00:32:55,799 --> 00:33:01,559
quickly, and if it was tied
to like it was last a crucial move

544
00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:04,640
for the future. I mean,
if you remember, it was soon after

545
00:33:04,720 --> 00:33:07,200
they got true holiday, and I
do think it was very much like a

546
00:33:07,799 --> 00:33:09,519
all right, you have to go
do something and if you prove it and

547
00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:13,799
you can do it, then I'll
sign up. It wouldn't be shocked if

548
00:33:13,839 --> 00:33:15,599
it was like the similar situation,
but just with now you know, the

549
00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:20,200
Drew Holiday who's half a decade or
a decade younger than current Drew Holiday.

550
00:33:20,839 --> 00:33:22,720
I would say, I agree that
there's a level of like, don't find

551
00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:25,000
the extension, you have to continue
to put pressure on the organization. But

552
00:33:25,079 --> 00:33:28,720
I also look at it as just
like it makes more sense because he can

553
00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:31,599
tack on more years also, and
like that's the other thing here. So

554
00:33:32,599 --> 00:33:36,000
I can't bring myself to care about
it. I know it's been a talking

555
00:33:36,079 --> 00:33:39,519
point elsewhere. Is there any as
we stick with sort of the injury theme.

556
00:33:39,759 --> 00:33:44,319
Chris Middleton comes back and it was
like January twenty third, I think

557
00:33:44,359 --> 00:33:47,359
it was last year, shoots like
does not look okay on defense for pretty

558
00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:51,839
much the rest of the season,
but his offense like it returned. He

559
00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:54,680
shot like a trillion percent on like
his turnaround fadeaways after you returned the second

560
00:33:54,720 --> 00:33:58,759
time, the Bucks, like I
said, the half core offense ranked in

561
00:33:59,079 --> 00:34:00,720
fourth overall and it was just like
whites out. I think when he was

562
00:34:00,799 --> 00:34:06,880
sharing the floor with all Milwaukee's key
players. Is there any lingering concern about

563
00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:09,880
how that need injury might impact him
this year or is it very much just

564
00:34:10,079 --> 00:34:13,840
like Oh, he gets to go
through a healthy off season like this is

565
00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:15,960
great. I think it's more of
that, and I think if anything,

566
00:34:16,599 --> 00:34:20,679
funny enough given all the news around
this other player, you know, maybe

567
00:34:20,760 --> 00:34:24,159
he just seems to be used in
different roles defensively for so long and he

568
00:34:24,320 --> 00:34:28,960
was so good at this, Like
I'll never forget that the good Heat series

569
00:34:29,039 --> 00:34:32,480
for Milwaukee. You know, he
was flying around with Duncan Robinson and around

570
00:34:32,559 --> 00:34:36,760
screens and he really did that role
to perfection in that series. I think

571
00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:38,760
that's a large reason of why they
were able to win that so well.

572
00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:42,760
A lot a lot of things went
to that, and they've kind of kept

573
00:34:42,840 --> 00:34:45,719
him as more of a primative defender. I almost think that you would hope

574
00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:50,039
certainly he looks a little better just
mobility wise, from the healthy off season

575
00:34:50,159 --> 00:34:52,639
finally, which he clearly needed.
Another guy who had I think an cleaned

576
00:34:52,719 --> 00:34:57,920
up earlier this years moving the way
that Brook Lopez looks like he should move.

577
00:34:58,199 --> 00:35:01,000
Yeah, just doesn't move like he's
like super balletic and like really good

578
00:35:01,039 --> 00:35:04,320
at his low stances were a big
man, which is like, yeah,

579
00:35:05,039 --> 00:35:07,000
he looks so I don't know the
words like so rigid. Yeah, he

580
00:35:07,119 --> 00:35:10,280
did not like, so you certainly
hope he's just going to be a little

581
00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:13,800
more fluid. I mean, Chris
is not ancient. He's in his early

582
00:35:13,960 --> 00:35:17,360
thirties, So that's the hope that
there's more there. But also I think,

583
00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:21,280
like, do you just give him
the hard and treatment defensively and he's

584
00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:23,840
big six to seven, like,
just put him on slower guys and then

585
00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:27,000
say, you know, if you
want to post up Chris, fine or

586
00:35:27,079 --> 00:35:30,760
run at him, like you just
can't use him as that premier defensive player

587
00:35:30,800 --> 00:35:34,280
anymore, which is a little more
palatable when you have Drew Holiday and I

588
00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:37,119
think, good to okay players defensively
coming off the bench, and you know,

589
00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:40,119
is he honest is going to be
more involved defensively and less just off

590
00:35:40,159 --> 00:35:45,519
ball all the time. I think
some of the answers he gave to wanting

591
00:35:45,559 --> 00:35:50,400
to guard Jimmy Butler last last playoffs
makes me believe maybe he'll just be involved

592
00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:54,039
more defensively going forward. That of
course then opens up a lane for Okay,

593
00:35:54,119 --> 00:35:58,400
the guys who honest was guarding it
ignoring maybe Chris can do some of

594
00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:01,400
that more to some extent and taken
the kind of assignments where he has to

595
00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:05,119
be as mobile. Of course,
you can get players into actions. You

596
00:36:05,159 --> 00:36:07,320
know, you can never totally hide
the guy. But I do wonder,

597
00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:12,400
you know, maybe he has to
play some more four ish kind of elements

598
00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:15,760
both on offense and defense going forward. Yeah, that would be That's interesting

599
00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:19,320
on the defensive side because then it
would make a lot of sense too.

600
00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:22,400
And I don't know if they're going
to be more inclined to try like Yannis

601
00:36:22,440 --> 00:36:25,440
as the lone big lineups because Brook
Lopez is getting older. How many minutes

602
00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:29,400
can you handle? But like the
easiest way or the most effective way to

603
00:36:29,440 --> 00:36:31,840
maybe get Middleton there is Okay,
well, if Portis is on the court,

604
00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:35,800
Jannie is off, go with Jay
Crowd or Middleton. I think that

605
00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:38,159
gives you the most flexibility then is
like your three four combo or do that?

606
00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:40,480
Of course, with Jannie on the
floor, you'd have you know,

607
00:36:40,599 --> 00:36:45,519
Brooke without Yannis, Like that might
be the most effective way to get Chris

608
00:36:45,599 --> 00:36:47,320
Middleton to in that No, you
don't want him, as you mentioned already

609
00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:51,559
earlier, you want him to be
sort of your every possession for but that

610
00:36:51,719 --> 00:36:54,480
the option to kind of flux and
fiddle with him in that context. Yeah,

611
00:36:54,559 --> 00:36:59,920
finding those wing players who are not
going to be the most taxing assignment,

612
00:37:00,159 --> 00:37:01,760
will say, especially the ones who
maybe just spend a lot of time

613
00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:06,760
sitting in corners, which ironically some
of the players Jannis has the most defensive

614
00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:09,559
gaffs guarding because he looked to the
ball and kind of creep away and give

615
00:37:09,679 --> 00:37:14,400
up those shots, like some of
those assignments to Chris maybe obviously honest also

616
00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:17,119
will wreck your world defensively if you
don't account for him. But it wouldn't

617
00:37:17,119 --> 00:37:20,960
surprise me if they shifted around things
like that a little bit as well.

618
00:37:21,079 --> 00:37:25,360
For sure. Do you have any
thoughts on their inbound rookies Andre Jackson and

619
00:37:25,559 --> 00:37:30,119
Chris Livingston And also this is kind
of more important questions, like so Javon

620
00:37:30,239 --> 00:37:35,159
Carter leaving and just looking at their
backup playmaker situation, do we just expect

621
00:37:35,840 --> 00:37:40,639
a j Green or maybe even Jackson
to play a potentially real, semi meaningful

622
00:37:40,719 --> 00:37:46,800
role for this team. So I
was pretty high on Andre Jackson junior playing

623
00:37:46,880 --> 00:37:51,559
real minutes, seeing him as a
pros after they drafted him. I didn't

624
00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:53,639
I didn't try to cover the five
hundred players who could go and you know

625
00:37:53,760 --> 00:37:57,920
they only had like pick fifteen eight
going in, so they traded up and

626
00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:00,599
got him, but he looked into
him as a player. I thought this

627
00:38:00,679 --> 00:38:04,320
is exactly what they need. I
mean they were I kind of wrote it

628
00:38:04,360 --> 00:38:07,639
off or blew it off and was
proven wrong. I do think they were

629
00:38:07,719 --> 00:38:10,280
too old last year, and I
think it really showed, like Joe Ingles

630
00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:14,880
and Wes Matthews and the already aging
core around the honest they had just a

631
00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:17,199
lot of old guys in the rotation. I think getting younger is good long

632
00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:21,400
term, even if some of these
guys aren't quite ready to play full roles

633
00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:23,320
right away, Like losing Wes hurt
like they I think they had to.

634
00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:27,760
They just had to get younger.
They had to give other guys that role.

635
00:38:28,239 --> 00:38:30,239
He was still so good at his
role in the playoffs. Man always

636
00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:35,920
root for West Matthews, but I
thought Andrew Jackson could play a role.

637
00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:38,239
Did not have a good Summer League
at all. I do think part of

638
00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:42,519
the reason is they just had horrible
spacing as a team, as many do

639
00:38:42,639 --> 00:38:45,760
in summer League, and just no
flow. And he's a player who would

640
00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:51,239
really benefit from like real spacing because
of his lack of shooting. It was

641
00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:52,719
just a huge problem. Though.
I mean teams darred him to shoot.

642
00:38:52,960 --> 00:38:55,559
I think he made maybe one,
Like the whole Summer League, the shot

643
00:38:55,639 --> 00:38:59,000
looks really bad. I think they
need to rebuild it from the ground up.

644
00:38:59,519 --> 00:39:01,800
And you know, I've gotten some
blowback from saying I don't view him

645
00:39:02,639 --> 00:39:06,880
as a point guard. I do
think he's like a ball moving wing,

646
00:39:07,039 --> 00:39:13,639
more of a like maybe a little
bit Dante, but like a Gary Peyton

647
00:39:14,639 --> 00:39:16,480
GP two, the mitten kind of
player who it's like, you know,

648
00:39:16,639 --> 00:39:21,039
that guy doesn't really initiate the action, like he keeps the action moving.

649
00:39:21,360 --> 00:39:23,000
That's what I view him as.
Long terb Bruce Brown is a better like

650
00:39:23,039 --> 00:39:25,840
that would be pretty aspirational. If
he was anything like Bruce Brown, the

651
00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:30,599
shooting has to go a long way. So I think it really depends like

652
00:39:30,679 --> 00:39:34,280
how he fits. Early on,
I thought Livingston actually impressed me. I

653
00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:36,880
thought he was going to be years
away based on what I heard about him.

654
00:39:37,159 --> 00:39:39,679
I thought he looks like physically like
a real NBA wing already. He

655
00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:45,199
just needs some refining. Wouldn't surprise
me if he made the rotation before Andre

656
00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:49,119
Jackson, at least in spurts,
because I do think he's closer. I

657
00:39:49,159 --> 00:39:52,800
don't think either are particularly close though, especially because there's still just a pretty

658
00:39:52,840 --> 00:39:55,159
deep team overall. You know,
the players that we could go through.

659
00:39:55,519 --> 00:39:59,639
You know, let's say the starting
five as we laid out is Drew Chris

660
00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:02,639
Mason, flip them but whatever,
Jannie Brooke, and then we know Pat

661
00:40:02,679 --> 00:40:07,320
Connad and Bobby Portis are going to
play a lot. Let's assume Jay Crowder

662
00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:09,719
and Malik Beasley play a lot too. That's already nine, I think,

663
00:40:10,239 --> 00:40:14,679
so then Mark, John Bow Champ
aj Green rookies like, they're not all

664
00:40:14,719 --> 00:40:16,320
going to play every night. And
I don't know what Drean Griffin yet.

665
00:40:16,639 --> 00:40:20,639
I don't think he's gonna have a
thirteen man rotation every game. That would

666
00:40:20,639 --> 00:40:23,880
be pretty Boudenholes or ask of him
in the early days. So I don't

667
00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:27,960
think they're gonna play big roles early. I think they'll get chances and we'll

668
00:40:28,039 --> 00:40:30,880
just kind of see. But I
wouldn't expect either of them to play.

669
00:40:30,159 --> 00:40:35,639
Funny enough, John Horst called out
Lyndell Wigginton, they're two way players.

670
00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:38,880
I know you said you caught shit
for what you said about that. I

671
00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:45,639
honestly view Linda winning is like the
only possible not that he would play backup

672
00:40:45,679 --> 00:40:47,079
point guard on the roster. He
don't really technically on the roster. He's

673
00:40:47,119 --> 00:40:50,760
on a two way. Yeah,
I don't know. I know a little

674
00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:52,960
bit about his fat, Like I
don't know really anything about him. I

675
00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:54,519
don't know anything about the rookies that
are coming, like nothing, and I

676
00:40:54,719 --> 00:40:59,880
yeah Green specifically, I just questioned
whether he's going to be enough of the

677
00:41:00,079 --> 00:41:04,719
ball mover to run like these methodical
sets. But yeah, please, because

678
00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:07,800
I was like, yeah, I'm
looking at this like yeah, like they

679
00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:10,840
have to an actual backup point guard. Yeah, And John Horse said,

680
00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:13,880
you know, he thought he could
take some role. I think the more

681
00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:17,239
logical conclusion is, you know,
they'll just operate with one and then you

682
00:41:17,280 --> 00:41:21,320
know, have other guys moved the
ball and incorporate Honest and Chris Moore.

683
00:41:21,840 --> 00:41:23,719
But you know, if Drew miss
his time, which you know, based

684
00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:25,800
on the last few years, probably
here and there, he'll miss some.

685
00:41:27,559 --> 00:41:30,719
I do bet Lindell will get called
up and be asked to move the ball

686
00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:34,119
a bit as a as a bench
player. I do think he's come a

687
00:41:34,199 --> 00:41:36,920
long way. So his thing his
first year with the Herd, he was

688
00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:39,440
like their defensive assignments guy for a
six one guard like he took on a

689
00:41:39,519 --> 00:41:44,280
lot of the top guard defenders,
so he's a good defender like Javan.

690
00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:47,440
He plays a lot of press.
And then year two he wasn't he wasn't

691
00:41:47,519 --> 00:41:52,119
able to hit shots previously. Last
year he shot the ball really well at

692
00:41:52,119 --> 00:41:54,599
the league bubble at forty plus percent, so really has grown as a player.

693
00:41:54,599 --> 00:41:58,400
I do think they'll give him some
some run too. But you know,

694
00:41:58,599 --> 00:42:00,440
didn't have an amazing summarly played.
Okay, didn't get to play a

695
00:42:00,519 --> 00:42:05,199
bunch. It's gonna be fascinating though, because I do think Bucks fans really

696
00:42:05,280 --> 00:42:07,119
want them to skew younger. I
think they all realized, you know,

697
00:42:07,480 --> 00:42:10,079
okay, what's the future of the
team here. You know, I think

698
00:42:10,360 --> 00:42:14,559
we'll probably have to bring in someone
from outside eventually to be a new costar

699
00:42:14,880 --> 00:42:17,760
pending mar John. But you know, you need role players too, and

700
00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:21,079
I have to include that, but
you need role players too, And the

701
00:42:21,119 --> 00:42:22,880
team was really just like, you
know, is it going to be West

702
00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:25,760
and Ingles again next year? How
are they going to look in the playoffs

703
00:42:25,800 --> 00:42:30,079
after a long season. Even Crowder
is not young anymore, so I do

704
00:42:30,239 --> 00:42:35,159
think Bucks fans want to see these
young guys play more, especially mar John

705
00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:37,920
aj Green for sure, who I
think was like a diamond in the rough

706
00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:42,719
fine for them last year and the
rookies to a certain extent, although they

707
00:42:42,719 --> 00:42:46,039
won't all be able to play every
game at all. I also think what

708
00:42:46,119 --> 00:42:49,039
they could try, and we didn't
see a ton of it last year and

709
00:42:49,039 --> 00:42:52,159
we've seen more of in the past, is like when you're staggering your stars,

710
00:42:52,239 --> 00:42:55,559
like when Chris Middleton leads the non
Drew non Jannis minutes, like if

711
00:42:55,599 --> 00:42:59,480
you want to tether or Drew and
jannat together a little bit more. I

712
00:42:59,519 --> 00:43:02,840
think he's like fully capable or just
like you have the like he can be

713
00:43:02,920 --> 00:43:07,000
your backup point card technic. Yeah, he's fully capable. I think he's

714
00:43:07,039 --> 00:43:10,360
that good. So Mar John bo
Champ, let's get to mar John bow

715
00:43:10,400 --> 00:43:14,519
Champs, what type of role do
you have any impressions from his rookie year

716
00:43:14,519 --> 00:43:17,000
You're dying to get off his chest
and what are you one watching most closely

717
00:43:17,119 --> 00:43:21,880
with him entering year two and three? Do you expect them to give him

718
00:43:21,920 --> 00:43:23,519
like a shake it? Like we
said, it feels like they have nine

719
00:43:23,559 --> 00:43:28,239
locks and that spoils the ten man
rotation we build at the end like do

720
00:43:28,320 --> 00:43:30,559
you just sort of pencilman is like
that, Oh, they're gonna him a

721
00:43:30,559 --> 00:43:34,280
fair shake at being that regular ninth
or maybe the tenth guy. I do

722
00:43:34,519 --> 00:43:37,880
think that, so I almost I
look at mar John almost like you hear.

723
00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:43,000
I don't know if you consume any
of this content. Like football analysts,

724
00:43:43,039 --> 00:43:45,599
they always talk about traits. That's
why I look at with mar John

725
00:43:45,039 --> 00:43:49,719
and there were so many bad and
like bad savvy plays year one for him,

726
00:43:50,159 --> 00:43:52,920
but the good stuff it was like, oh wow, Like if if

727
00:43:52,960 --> 00:43:57,280
he can get to what he can
do more consistently, that's a difference making

728
00:43:57,320 --> 00:44:00,719
player for the Bucks. And I
think one is athleticism. This was like

729
00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:02,960
going along with the age thing,
you know, even though like Ingalls and

730
00:44:04,119 --> 00:44:07,280
West Matthews, those kind of guys
still played well even in their peaks,

731
00:44:07,559 --> 00:44:10,199
especially West, you know, post
Achilles of course, you know, not

732
00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:13,719
jumping out of the gym. And
I think the Bucks suffered from that.

733
00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:16,480
Their transition offense was just not very
good last year, I think for most,

734
00:44:16,519 --> 00:44:19,519
if not all, of the season, and there was a lot of

735
00:44:19,559 --> 00:44:22,079
head scratching, like is this random
variance? Like how can a team with

736
00:44:22,119 --> 00:44:24,880
be honest not be good in transition? The answer is, if you put

737
00:44:24,960 --> 00:44:29,320
three guys on Yannis going down the
court, it's all it's just gonna be

738
00:44:29,400 --> 00:44:31,280
threes. Like that's all that's gonna
happen, because if Yannest doesn't get to

739
00:44:31,320 --> 00:44:34,760
the rim, nobody else is running
with him. Like all he can do

740
00:44:34,920 --> 00:44:37,559
is pass out to the perimeter for
a three, which is a good shot.

741
00:44:37,639 --> 00:44:39,599
But you know, they were i
think dominant earlier years when they had

742
00:44:39,639 --> 00:44:44,840
more athleticism around him, and there
were some fast breaks where you would kind

743
00:44:44,880 --> 00:44:47,159
of see, like the defenses it's
funny to watch like kind of glombed towards

744
00:44:47,199 --> 00:44:50,880
Yannis and then he throws it ahead
and it's like, oh, someone's actually

745
00:44:50,920 --> 00:44:52,960
behind us, you know, bow
Champ beat everyone back and he just gets

746
00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:57,039
to dunk it or whatever, and
it's like, oh that we've kind of

747
00:44:57,079 --> 00:44:59,880
not really had that for a long
time. It kind of sneaks up on

748
00:45:00,159 --> 00:45:05,519
how little athleticism was on the roster. He handles the ball he in Summer

749
00:45:05,559 --> 00:45:07,679
League. His big thing this year
was tough finishes, like he had like

750
00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:12,039
six and ones i think in Summer
League, which is pretty outrageous for much

751
00:45:12,039 --> 00:45:15,760
He actually played a lot, like
a lot of finishing through contact or at

752
00:45:15,800 --> 00:45:16,920
least like at least fall, but
I think it was at hand Ones.

753
00:45:17,079 --> 00:45:22,320
It was a ton of finishing through
other wing players around the basket and even

754
00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:25,039
some bigs, and that wasn't really
something we saw yere one. He traveled

755
00:45:25,159 --> 00:45:29,000
all the time, like one per
game at least he would travel. I

756
00:45:29,079 --> 00:45:31,159
don't know if he did any maybe
one in Summer League. So hopefully that's

757
00:45:31,159 --> 00:45:35,559
been a focus for him, because
that's pretty hard to be a sustainable offensive

758
00:45:35,559 --> 00:45:38,679
player when you travel once twice a
game. But you could see the athleticism

759
00:45:38,760 --> 00:45:42,480
the shooting comes and goes with mar
John, that's going to be huge to

760
00:45:42,519 --> 00:45:45,519
iron out. You just kind of
assumed that he'll be able to develop that.

761
00:45:45,239 --> 00:45:49,960
Bucks fans are hoping he does not
work with lethal shooter who Bobby Portis's

762
00:45:49,960 --> 00:45:53,880
shot has been pretty uneven because he's
like shooting through you know, underwater and

763
00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:58,039
at triangles with nails sticking out of
him, and it's like, can we

764
00:45:58,159 --> 00:46:00,840
just work on shooting through a normal
basket. He's Bobby. We're hoping that

765
00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:05,239
he's done more of that this year. But I think Mary John, it's

766
00:46:05,239 --> 00:46:08,280
like the outline is there for him
to be an impactful difference making wing player.

767
00:46:08,760 --> 00:46:12,440
It's just how much of it does
he get and how fast does he

768
00:46:12,519 --> 00:46:15,239
get there. I do think this
year versus like aj Green, those kind

769
00:46:15,239 --> 00:46:20,159
of options at the end of the
bench, I think he'll be in line

770
00:46:20,239 --> 00:46:22,679
for some real role from the start, and then from there it'll probably just

771
00:46:22,760 --> 00:46:28,039
depend on who's healthy, who's playing
well. That sort of thing. Feels

772
00:46:28,119 --> 00:46:32,159
like this oversimplifies it, but the
shooting, like Stantill shooting, will be

773
00:46:32,880 --> 00:46:36,719
a swing skill in terms of Kenny
hanging the rotation, and it felt like

774
00:46:36,840 --> 00:46:39,360
he knew where he needed to be, like when he was running in transition

775
00:46:39,480 --> 00:46:42,760
or like going in the half quarters
the season went on. It felt but

776
00:46:42,840 --> 00:46:45,159
like you said, it is a
little bit when you're looking at his shooting

777
00:46:45,159 --> 00:46:47,480
specifically, like there's still just too
much of a like worse than a coin

778
00:46:47,599 --> 00:46:52,199
toss element to it. Yeah,
and I would love to give a shot

779
00:46:52,199 --> 00:46:54,360
because I like like the physical tools
there and as you said, they have

780
00:46:54,559 --> 00:46:58,519
Yanna, So this is sort of
just it's not massed on the floor,

781
00:46:58,639 --> 00:47:01,760
but it's it's massed in the discussions
that we have the teams. Is not

782
00:47:01,840 --> 00:47:05,800
athletic. Yeah, like overall,
like from top to bottom, like you

783
00:47:05,840 --> 00:47:08,239
have Jannis, so you have that
infusion of athleticism, but to have someone

784
00:47:08,280 --> 00:47:12,159
like Marjehn on the court if you
can, like like you said, if

785
00:47:12,159 --> 00:47:14,360
you think he has like some of
the four game where you can only trust

786
00:47:14,440 --> 00:47:17,559
him to attack open closeouts in the
half court, da goes a long way

787
00:47:17,639 --> 00:47:21,400
to what this team would be able
to do offensively then too. Yeah,

788
00:47:21,400 --> 00:47:23,519
and I think, you know,
looking at their rookies and even like Amari

789
00:47:23,639 --> 00:47:27,880
Moore, they they didn't draft,
but he was like right after the draft

790
00:47:27,920 --> 00:47:30,360
they signed him to a two way
as well. All pretty athletic guys.

791
00:47:30,400 --> 00:47:35,760
And I think even there was a
former buckstaffer who tweeted o X right after

792
00:47:35,840 --> 00:47:38,400
the draft, right after the Andre
Jackson junior pick, like this is just

793
00:47:38,519 --> 00:47:43,440
not a guy they would have considered
in the old regime, Like they had

794
00:47:43,519 --> 00:47:45,760
to shoot, right, you had
to. It was the Sam Merrill kind

795
00:47:45,760 --> 00:47:47,679
of picks. And even Jordan Wara, who you know, not a little

796
00:47:47,719 --> 00:47:51,800
more athletic, but certainly like,
okay, he can light it up shooting

797
00:47:51,840 --> 00:47:53,760
the ball, like that's pretty much
all they did for a long time around

798
00:47:53,800 --> 00:47:58,800
Jannis, and of course shooting is
important. I do think they'll looking back

799
00:47:58,920 --> 00:48:00,280
and you know, it's easy to
buy into this now let's see how they

800
00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:04,039
look this year. But I do
think looking back it is easy to say

801
00:48:04,639 --> 00:48:07,599
maybe they over index on that one
skill and it left them with too many

802
00:48:07,679 --> 00:48:12,119
players who had incomplete games. And
I think that leans into like Miami having

803
00:48:12,159 --> 00:48:15,079
so much success against them, because
if the shots aren't falling in Miami can

804
00:48:15,159 --> 00:48:19,719
test everything. You know, their
whole roster will go at the guy in

805
00:48:19,800 --> 00:48:22,400
front of them and try and like
outphysical them to an extent where the Bucks

806
00:48:22,440 --> 00:48:29,239
I think, weren't as comfortable with
that. What is the either biggest concern

807
00:48:29,559 --> 00:48:36,400
or swing factor potential development curiosity about
this team you'll be monitoring to start next

808
00:48:36,480 --> 00:48:40,679
year. I mean, just what
the offense looks like. It's going to

809
00:48:40,719 --> 00:48:44,199
be a big one. I know
we've talked about it already, but you

810
00:48:44,280 --> 00:48:47,000
know, specifically what they do.
Also, I think one that I was

811
00:48:47,119 --> 00:48:52,280
thinking about more recently that I hadn't
thought of before. It's like I mentioned

812
00:48:52,320 --> 00:48:54,920
this a little bit earlier. What
does the rotation look like in terms of

813
00:48:55,159 --> 00:49:00,800
minutes? You know, we've always
seen such to a degree of saving the

814
00:49:00,880 --> 00:49:06,599
guys right likes so so responsible minute
allocations, and of course Adrian Griffin coming

815
00:49:06,639 --> 00:49:08,639
from Toronto. I mean Nick Nurse
was the one I think making those decisions.

816
00:49:08,719 --> 00:49:13,280
But Toronto is a polar opposite,
right, I mean siakam And and

817
00:49:13,400 --> 00:49:16,159
Anobi and these guys are are leading
the league in minutes, are close to

818
00:49:16,239 --> 00:49:20,159
it. It's like them and the
TIBs guys are like the whole top ten.

819
00:49:21,920 --> 00:49:23,360
So will they play a little more. I don't think they'll go extreme.

820
00:49:23,440 --> 00:49:29,000
I mean I do think organizationally,
they're still focused on the playoffs more

821
00:49:29,079 --> 00:49:30,480
than anything. And I mean they
were the one seed in the East last

822
00:49:30,519 --> 00:49:32,840
year. It's not like you know, they had an issue winning games with

823
00:49:32,920 --> 00:49:37,920
that allocation. But that that I'm
interested to see all of the little things

824
00:49:37,000 --> 00:49:40,360
that are just changed that you don't
really realize when when a new coach comes

825
00:49:40,400 --> 00:49:44,440
in. I mean, this is
a minor one that I do think it's

826
00:49:44,480 --> 00:49:46,360
gonna make Bucks fans lives a little
better day to day through the season,

827
00:49:46,920 --> 00:49:52,239
actually hearing from the head coach what's
going on or real insight to the team,

828
00:49:52,679 --> 00:49:54,480
which I would say, in like
the four times we've heard from Adrian

829
00:49:54,559 --> 00:49:58,920
Griffin, we've gotten more than you
know the last six months of Budenholzer,

830
00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:00,880
which again it's you know, it
doesn't make him a better or worse coach,

831
00:50:01,280 --> 00:50:04,519
but certainly in terms of covering as
a fan, it is kind of

832
00:50:04,599 --> 00:50:07,199
nice to get some actual insight and
hear things where you know the bucks before.

833
00:50:07,320 --> 00:50:12,039
And I think this is another organizational
thing too, but we just got

834
00:50:12,159 --> 00:50:15,840
so little most of the time.
It would be refreshing if there was a

835
00:50:15,880 --> 00:50:20,000
little bit more insight gleaned as well
onto what's going on. But really just

836
00:50:20,079 --> 00:50:22,639
how they approach it on both ends
Schematically, I wonder will they play more

837
00:50:22,760 --> 00:50:28,559
zone? I think that to me
is a sweet spot between switching up the

838
00:50:28,639 --> 00:50:31,880
defense and not going too far away
from Brooks. I think you can still

839
00:50:31,960 --> 00:50:35,639
use brook in a zone as that
middle guy in a zone or the back

840
00:50:35,679 --> 00:50:38,440
line of his zone. And that's
something I wonder, like, could that

841
00:50:38,519 --> 00:50:42,800
be really potent if they had like
a you know, something like a one

842
00:50:43,000 --> 00:50:45,440
three one like put Ghanas at the
top of the zone or in the middle

843
00:50:45,480 --> 00:50:49,639
of it, Brooke in the back, and then just defenders on all sides

844
00:50:49,639 --> 00:50:51,760
who can dig into the nail and
get back out to their guy, Like

845
00:50:52,119 --> 00:50:53,679
is that just a nightmare to work
against? And is that something they've they've

846
00:50:53,800 --> 00:50:58,360
under explored I don't know. I'm
not a schematic genius or anything, but

847
00:50:58,920 --> 00:51:00,639
I'm interested to see that of stuff
too, Like how do they how do

848
00:51:00,719 --> 00:51:04,079
they find other ways to use Brooke
because we know what you know what he

849
00:51:04,159 --> 00:51:07,960
can drop. We know that for
sure. Okay, yeah, I think

850
00:51:07,000 --> 00:51:09,519
he's solid. I think he's so
I think you can manage it if he's

851
00:51:09,559 --> 00:51:13,280
not too old. But that's what
I'm excited about, just seeing all the

852
00:51:13,360 --> 00:51:16,320
new wrinkles and how they work and
all of that stuff. If I set

853
00:51:16,360 --> 00:51:20,599
the over under on Janniss minutes per
game to touch upon your first part of

854
00:51:20,679 --> 00:51:23,639
this answer at thirty three point two, are you taking the over the under?

855
00:51:23,920 --> 00:51:28,840
I still take the under. He
is logged over the past five years

856
00:51:28,920 --> 00:51:30,840
thirty two point three minutes. This
is average, so that will seem to

857
00:51:30,920 --> 00:51:36,400
be the smart calls to take the
the under. I don't know he comes

858
00:51:36,400 --> 00:51:39,000
from Toronto. I might take the
over on that. But then that kind

859
00:51:39,039 --> 00:51:43,000
of part of this is by the
way, like they don't need Johannis to

860
00:51:43,039 --> 00:51:45,760
play thirty five minutes to win fifty
eight games. They just won fifty eight

861
00:51:45,800 --> 00:51:49,800
games with jann Is playing like thirty
two and change. Yeah, I'm missing

862
00:51:49,840 --> 00:51:52,559
a bunch of games too, which
will probably happen again as well. So

863
00:51:52,920 --> 00:51:55,679
yeah, maybe I'm just gonna take
the over just for some variability stake.

864
00:51:55,719 --> 00:51:59,199
But I just look at it,
I'm like, this seems just one fifty

865
00:51:59,199 --> 00:52:00,320
eight game. He said he missed
time, but he didn't have to be

866
00:52:00,320 --> 00:52:02,599
a lot old a ton of minutes. He might need to lock less if

867
00:52:02,639 --> 00:52:06,159
he plays in more games, he
might be a thirty one. Just because

868
00:52:06,440 --> 00:52:09,599
we run away from some of these
themes. Oh yeah, what were you

869
00:52:09,599 --> 00:52:12,519
gonna say something? Sorry, No, I just said that's the hope.

870
00:52:13,440 --> 00:52:19,199
So would it be fair to say
after this offseason that the Bucks feel like

871
00:52:19,239 --> 00:52:22,239
they're deliberately operating within this two or
three year window when you start to look

872
00:52:22,280 --> 00:52:29,400
at when the contracts of sure Lopez, but specifically like Middleton and Holiday and

873
00:52:29,559 --> 00:52:32,639
Jannis contract does it right now?
Even Bobby portis all kind of expiring around

874
00:52:32,679 --> 00:52:37,840
the same one to one year time. Is that kind of where where you

875
00:52:37,920 --> 00:52:43,760
think that they're at. Yeah,
definitely, I think that's just trying one

876
00:52:43,760 --> 00:52:45,599
of miss I'm not saying, oh, they're playing on Yannis leaving in two

877
00:52:45,639 --> 00:52:47,800
to three years. That's not what
I'm refriends. I'm just talking about it

878
00:52:49,039 --> 00:52:52,760
this core specifically. I know you
know that, I just don't. I

879
00:52:52,760 --> 00:52:54,039
don't know. I don't want to
piss off anybody. Yeah, yeah,

880
00:52:54,960 --> 00:52:59,079
I think definitely. I think that's
all you can do given what they have

881
00:52:59,239 --> 00:53:01,960
around here. And you know,
I'll do the worst case first. I

882
00:53:02,039 --> 00:53:06,920
can end with the better one if
you're honest, were to, you know,

883
00:53:07,400 --> 00:53:09,480
with one year left, demand to
trade. That's again, this is

884
00:53:09,599 --> 00:53:15,280
I'm not anticipating this either, please
God. But in that worst case scenario

885
00:53:15,559 --> 00:53:17,320
where hopefully or he just walks,
which that sucks, you don't get anything.

886
00:53:17,360 --> 00:53:20,199
But if if you know it wants
out with the year left, or

887
00:53:20,199 --> 00:53:22,239
gets signed and traded or whatever,
you know, do you want this whole

888
00:53:22,320 --> 00:53:27,440
core on these long contracts for a
long time past, then you know,

889
00:53:27,519 --> 00:53:29,679
maybe you could say, oh you
could trade those guys and get something.

890
00:53:29,800 --> 00:53:31,119
I mean, we'll see how everyone
ages. I certainly think the all age

891
00:53:31,119 --> 00:53:35,239
pretty well. But you know,
if there were if Chris signs for five

892
00:53:35,360 --> 00:53:37,199
years instead of three, or Brook
signs for four or five years, or

893
00:53:37,440 --> 00:53:40,119
you know, Drew extends right now
for a long time, or you know,

894
00:53:40,239 --> 00:53:43,920
you bring back ingles at a big
dollar amount or whatever it is,

895
00:53:44,000 --> 00:53:47,199
like I think I think they have
they have their they're they're out in the

896
00:53:47,280 --> 00:53:51,280
worst case and in the best case. It's also like they have a lot

897
00:53:51,320 --> 00:53:54,000
of flexibility in terms of you know, you don't maybe you're not as interested

898
00:53:54,039 --> 00:53:58,599
in trading for Chris if his money
goes through twenty thirty two or not twenty

899
00:53:58,639 --> 00:54:00,920
thirty two, but you know,
twenty twenty nine or whatever it is versus

900
00:54:01,039 --> 00:54:05,840
where it is now. And same
with Brooke and Drew to a certain extent.

901
00:54:06,239 --> 00:54:09,159
And I do think when you look
at where their pivot could happen,

902
00:54:09,599 --> 00:54:13,239
I mean, this could be another
one year window where they just signed for

903
00:54:13,320 --> 00:54:15,159
longer than that, because you know, you don't want everyone expiring again.

904
00:54:15,280 --> 00:54:20,000
It's just a mess, clearly.
But on draft day twenty four, assuming

905
00:54:20,039 --> 00:54:23,079
they duck under the second apron next
year, which maybe the Javan thing could

906
00:54:23,119 --> 00:54:28,280
affected in this could affected into the
Javan thinking. On draft day, I

907
00:54:28,320 --> 00:54:30,719
think they'll have three total future first
they can trade, they'll have two in

908
00:54:30,840 --> 00:54:35,119
the future, and then one that
they just picked, which is way more

909
00:54:35,159 --> 00:54:37,840
than they've had since the Drew trade. Like this is basically the first time

910
00:54:37,880 --> 00:54:40,199
they've gotten back to that many.
And I do think looking at you know,

911
00:54:40,239 --> 00:54:44,159
the quality of players they have.
They don't just have empty calorie dollars.

912
00:54:44,280 --> 00:54:47,440
Like any player they're trading pending a
change in this next twelve months is

913
00:54:47,480 --> 00:54:51,760
a real player. You're getting at
least good value I think on the contract

914
00:54:52,159 --> 00:54:55,000
plus three first plus some seconds whatever
else they have, you know, mar

915
00:54:55,119 --> 00:54:59,760
John, these rookies, whoever looks
good potentially, I think they could really

916
00:54:59,800 --> 00:55:02,480
get in the mix for trading for
next disgruntled star who wants to play there.

917
00:55:02,519 --> 00:55:07,320
And I think we'll see. I
think they'll always be better offers.

918
00:55:07,400 --> 00:55:09,400
You know, one's competing with Okac, right, but I think they'll be

919
00:55:09,519 --> 00:55:14,039
they'll be in the mix. And
that's what interests me is, you know,

920
00:55:14,199 --> 00:55:16,960
can they can they find that move
next year? And then then you

921
00:55:17,039 --> 00:55:20,360
make the case to be honest,
we've got your next guy. You know,

922
00:55:20,519 --> 00:55:23,280
he's he's in his late twenties two
or mid to late twenties or you

923
00:55:23,360 --> 00:55:27,679
know, just close at that point, early thirties compared to mid thirties like

924
00:55:27,800 --> 00:55:30,320
Chris and Drew will be basically by
then. You know, I think that's

925
00:55:30,400 --> 00:55:34,119
what they have to look for.
They have to have a pivot, because

926
00:55:34,199 --> 00:55:37,400
clearly, be honest is not going
to be wanting thirty five, thirty six,

927
00:55:37,480 --> 00:55:40,840
thirty seven year old Chris Milton as
the second best player his whole rest

928
00:55:40,880 --> 00:55:45,760
of his career as much as he
likes Chris, so I would say three

929
00:55:45,800 --> 00:55:49,119
windows would even maybe be long for
this core. I think before that point

930
00:55:49,400 --> 00:55:52,920
they'll be looking to find someone to
come in. And I mean they sniffed

931
00:55:52,920 --> 00:55:55,360
around Bradley Beale, which I thought
and that was reported multiple times, like

932
00:55:55,400 --> 00:55:59,880
they really looked into that. Probably
would have taken Drew holiday get that done

933
00:56:00,000 --> 00:56:02,679
salary because the money for sure,
and I mean they were they were right

934
00:56:02,719 --> 00:56:05,800
there. I think they were trying
to do it and win him over.

935
00:56:05,960 --> 00:56:08,639
Like I think they're clearly focused on
finding that next co star, that perimeter

936
00:56:08,760 --> 00:56:14,440
player, and I would surprise me
if they didn't figure out something before like

937
00:56:14,519 --> 00:56:16,599
two or three years from now there. I guess what gets difficult for them

938
00:56:16,719 --> 00:56:20,840
is because of how punitive you are
going to be if you're in the luxury

939
00:56:20,960 --> 00:56:22,159
tax and this is not going to
be cheap because you have to be like

940
00:56:23,199 --> 00:56:25,960
on the money basically with dollar for
dollar going out, and you have to

941
00:56:27,000 --> 00:56:29,559
make sure that you're not in a
position to wear any of your first round

942
00:56:29,599 --> 00:56:34,079
picks are off the market, like
the seven years out one And that's why

943
00:56:34,639 --> 00:56:37,840
I think what's interesting, and this
was kind of my question, is how

944
00:56:37,920 --> 00:56:40,480
committed are they to this core if
the opportunity arises to that, say this

945
00:56:40,599 --> 00:56:45,039
season or even next season, by
the twenty twenty five trade deadline, trade

946
00:56:45,320 --> 00:56:47,199
a first round pick or technically two
depending on how many open up, Like

947
00:56:47,239 --> 00:56:52,920
what timeline we're talking about, versus
waiting the two or three years so that

948
00:56:52,960 --> 00:56:55,599
you can open up more to trade
for maybe a higher end player. But

949
00:56:55,679 --> 00:57:00,159
do you think that they're committed enough
to this core to where if they I

950
00:57:00,440 --> 00:57:01,280
don't want to use it as more
of an odds and end, but if

951
00:57:01,280 --> 00:57:05,679
it's if it's more of a finishing
touch, then it is someone who sets

952
00:57:05,719 --> 00:57:10,239
themselves up for the post Drew Middleton
phase of the Jannis era. Are they

953
00:57:10,320 --> 00:57:15,360
committed enough through this window to make
that call, which they could have to,

954
00:57:15,480 --> 00:57:19,599
like that's an opportunity that could rise
tomorrow. Yeah, yeah, but

955
00:57:19,679 --> 00:57:22,840
it's probably an issue closure to the
trade deadline. But are they committed enough

956
00:57:22,880 --> 00:57:27,199
to make that decision? Now?
I would be a little surprised. I

957
00:57:27,280 --> 00:57:29,840
think it would have to be someone
they felt was just a perfect fit.

958
00:57:29,880 --> 00:57:32,800
I think the last time they traded
at first was PJ and clearly that worked

959
00:57:32,840 --> 00:57:37,119
out, so I don't I wouldn't
rule it out, but I think their

960
00:57:37,679 --> 00:57:42,360
preferred line will be the Crowder thing
again, where it's like we've cobbled together

961
00:57:42,519 --> 00:57:45,519
five second round picks, we will
spend those. We don't want to part

962
00:57:45,599 --> 00:57:47,679
with the first round pick, and
I think they don't have as many right

963
00:57:47,719 --> 00:57:51,239
now, but it wouldn't surprise me. Like, you know, is there

964
00:57:51,280 --> 00:57:54,159
someone on the roster who ends up
getting flipped open up space later who you

965
00:57:54,199 --> 00:57:57,679
know, maybe wants to play more. We've seen that happen every year or

966
00:57:57,719 --> 00:58:01,519
two. It feels like we'll be
on that. But I would guess they'll

967
00:58:01,599 --> 00:58:06,000
try to save the first because I
do think you trade your future first this

968
00:58:06,159 --> 00:58:07,400
year, then it's like, okay, you have a kid, you probably

969
00:58:07,480 --> 00:58:10,800
drafted it, like in the twenties, will say and one future first.

970
00:58:12,440 --> 00:58:15,239
It just gets a lot harder to
make that move, especially you know,

971
00:58:15,320 --> 00:58:17,119
the second apron thing. They're pretty
close to ducking it now. We actually

972
00:58:17,119 --> 00:58:22,519
thought they'd be under, but the
unlikely bonuses put them over. But if

973
00:58:22,559 --> 00:58:24,239
you're an unlikely bonus range, you're
not that far from it. So like

974
00:58:24,239 --> 00:58:27,800
I think they could get under it
next year. I've under it without the

975
00:58:27,920 --> 00:58:30,320
unlikely bonuses or yeah, so I
think they're like post anasis. I think

976
00:58:30,360 --> 00:58:32,880
they're like just over because they did
fill the fifteenth spot, which I think

977
00:58:34,320 --> 00:58:37,840
I got about Tia, so I
can't forget to speaking of you know,

978
00:58:37,960 --> 00:58:40,119
no one having a Could Tia have
a real role this year? I think

979
00:58:40,599 --> 00:58:45,000
ye that year? Yeah, And
I think the response is the same is

980
00:58:45,039 --> 00:58:47,719
his pop. Look, there was
another interest in Ta apparently, which is

981
00:58:47,760 --> 00:58:51,440
really funny. If people still think
like, oh, we're gonna put ourselves

982
00:58:51,440 --> 00:58:53,280
in the Yanna sweep stays, but
like we want Tia on the roster for

983
00:58:53,400 --> 00:58:57,280
it. Do you think do you
think that's what it was? It had

984
00:58:57,320 --> 00:58:59,639
to be right. The fact that
the Knicks were interested in him is a

985
00:58:59,679 --> 00:59:01,320
one descent. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, okay, And I was like,

986
00:59:01,480 --> 00:59:05,239
I'd look up, did he did
he like attend one day of classes

987
00:59:05,280 --> 00:59:08,320
at Villanova? No? I don't
think so that's why else that's all they

988
00:59:08,400 --> 00:59:12,199
all they go off of lately.
But now I would be I think they'll

989
00:59:12,239 --> 00:59:15,119
try to hold the first, but
I mean they're there. I would say

990
00:59:15,199 --> 00:59:20,920
they are a bird in the hand
versus the bush. Organization knowing, Okay,

991
00:59:21,159 --> 00:59:23,079
this is prime honest we're talking about. I mean, if there was

992
00:59:23,159 --> 00:59:28,119
like a plus role player, especially
one who fit age wise, I wouldn't

993
00:59:28,119 --> 00:59:30,360
be stunned if they did it,
for sure. I don't think they'd do

994
00:59:30,440 --> 00:59:35,519
it for like Bojan Bogdanovitch, right, So would we be in agreement that

995
00:59:35,559 --> 00:59:38,440
it seems like their biggest need is
like another shot creator type, not even

996
00:59:38,519 --> 00:59:42,599
just strictly a backup point guard,
but like another shot creator type for this

997
00:59:42,800 --> 00:59:45,199
roster. And would you expect them
to, regardless of what ascids they're want

998
00:59:45,199 --> 00:59:49,320
to put on the table, make
some sort of a move, whether it's

999
00:59:49,639 --> 00:59:53,639
the buyout market trying to cobble together
enough ancillary assets to add that player.

1000
00:59:54,039 --> 00:59:57,159
I know a lot of that's depending
on what what do they look like during

1001
00:59:57,159 --> 01:00:00,199
the regular season, but we've also
seen how they've struggled in past years during

1002
01:00:00,239 --> 01:00:01,679
the playoffs, and you are sort
of at a I would say, a

1003
01:00:01,800 --> 01:00:07,239
secondary deficit in that deport you're going
outside the starting lineup. Would you expect

1004
01:00:07,320 --> 01:00:09,719
them to at least do something like
that, even if it's not the bigger

1005
01:00:09,719 --> 01:00:13,079
swing. I know, Bucks fans, you told me we're obsessed with Jordan

1006
01:00:13,159 --> 01:00:19,719
Clarkson. Yeah, yeah, you
know, it's funny. I think they

1007
01:00:19,920 --> 01:00:22,880
probably will. I don't think it's
for sure, And I think one of

1008
01:00:22,920 --> 01:00:30,079
my takeaways from this last postseason run
was like Ingles was actually a very good

1009
01:00:30,119 --> 01:00:31,760
offensive backup point guard for them,
like move the ball really well. I

1010
01:00:31,800 --> 01:00:36,159
had a great pick and roll with
pick and roll with Brook Lopez. But

1011
01:00:36,239 --> 01:00:39,159
you get to the playoffs and you
have the Honest, and you have Drew

1012
01:00:39,199 --> 01:00:44,559
Holliday and you have Chris Middleton.
He didn't touch the ball much like when

1013
01:00:44,599 --> 01:00:46,960
he played like he was kind of
just a floor spacer, and it was

1014
01:00:47,039 --> 01:00:51,320
frustrating. But also I was kind
of like, I mean, how much

1015
01:00:51,440 --> 01:00:53,599
can you really tell those three guys
like you're just gonna be off ball when

1016
01:00:53,639 --> 01:00:58,800
you're on the court for X number
of playoff minutes because we have Joe Ingles,

1017
01:00:58,880 --> 01:01:02,079
and I do wonder I think that's
the hard part with adding another perimeter

1018
01:01:02,239 --> 01:01:05,920
player regular season. Yeah, sure, you can't get enough. I think

1019
01:01:05,920 --> 01:01:08,159
they'll miss it and maybe that's where
we'll see someone like even Lindell get some

1020
01:01:08,320 --> 01:01:14,800
run. But it's hard to slot
in a role player ball handler on a

1021
01:01:14,880 --> 01:01:17,360
team that really has three to some
extent ball handlers. I mean, Drew

1022
01:01:17,400 --> 01:01:22,000
Holiday is their point guard for as
much as you know, the decision making

1023
01:01:22,039 --> 01:01:23,719
and everything, like he's got to
handle the ball. He's had Tennisis games

1024
01:01:23,760 --> 01:01:28,280
in the playoffs. Chris is their
best pick and roll initiator. You know,

1025
01:01:28,400 --> 01:01:30,039
you try telling Jannis that the Koompo
he's not going to handle the ball

1026
01:01:30,079 --> 01:01:34,119
at all either. There is only
so much other and I think it's hard

1027
01:01:34,199 --> 01:01:37,079
for a guy to come in and
just like be proved that he deserves to

1028
01:01:37,119 --> 01:01:38,800
be on the ball unless you're,
like, you know, could you find

1029
01:01:38,880 --> 01:01:43,440
a He's obviously gone and too expensive, But you know, if Chris Paul

1030
01:01:43,559 --> 01:01:47,400
comes in, that's a different story. If you find like that would be

1031
01:01:49,039 --> 01:01:51,960
Bucks fans have been flirting with that
one since pre Drew. I mean,

1032
01:01:52,039 --> 01:01:54,000
that was that was the only thing
we thought we could do before No one

1033
01:01:54,039 --> 01:01:58,480
thought Drew Holiday was going to be
on the way there and probably would have

1034
01:01:58,519 --> 01:02:00,880
worked out well for a couple of
years there. But I would be down

1035
01:02:00,960 --> 01:02:04,400
for that as well if he wants
to show up, But I think it

1036
01:02:04,440 --> 01:02:07,440
would have to be someone like that
who's more of an established point guard versus

1037
01:02:07,559 --> 01:02:10,800
just like, you know, a
good initiator. I just want I would

1038
01:02:10,840 --> 01:02:14,679
worry they would just lose their role
in the playoffs again, which I think

1039
01:02:14,760 --> 01:02:16,480
makes some sense. But then it's
like, well, what was the acquisition

1040
01:02:16,639 --> 01:02:20,360
for? Are we really doing this
for the regular season? Is it worth

1041
01:02:20,400 --> 01:02:22,239
it? Or you know, do
we just get the rookies in Lyndall Wingington

1042
01:02:22,320 --> 01:02:25,000
the ball more Marjohn you're a point
guard today? Figure it out? We

1043
01:02:25,079 --> 01:02:30,039
don't. We don't care. You
know, we're playing who can Who's really

1044
01:02:30,119 --> 01:02:31,920
not We're playing Washington, Like,
we don't care at all. It's like,

1045
01:02:32,039 --> 01:02:35,519
go, we're gonna win anyway.
Probably go see what you can do.

1046
01:02:36,079 --> 01:02:37,639
Maybe not an in season tournament game. That's a different story, but

1047
01:02:39,320 --> 01:02:42,480
yeah, I don't know. So
that's what I grapple with, right,

1048
01:02:42,639 --> 01:02:45,199
is like, if you're not bringing
in a let's say, like not even

1049
01:02:45,400 --> 01:02:51,360
starter, but like a top rotational
guy like where Bobby Portis is at but

1050
01:02:51,440 --> 01:02:53,440
as a point guard, if it's
not that level of player, I do

1051
01:02:53,639 --> 01:02:57,760
wonder like, is it is it
worthwhile? Do you really need it for

1052
01:02:57,840 --> 01:02:59,960
the playoffs or not? What do
you think about? I want your take

1053
01:03:00,079 --> 01:03:02,760
on this because it's a weird.
It's a weird idea. I think you

1054
01:03:04,239 --> 01:03:06,800
stole my vibe a little bit and
steal it. We're just on the same

1055
01:03:06,840 --> 01:03:09,559
wavelength here is if you're not.
And that's what makes the conversation about would

1056
01:03:09,559 --> 01:03:12,519
they give up the first round pick? And what I was gonna get into,

1057
01:03:13,000 --> 01:03:15,559
I would say they're at a similar
point. I mean, other teams

1058
01:03:15,599 --> 01:03:19,880
are here, but a good analog
is the Knicks. Right now. The

1059
01:03:19,960 --> 01:03:22,360
Bucks are way better than the Knicks. Want to make that clear, but

1060
01:03:22,440 --> 01:03:23,440
everyone's talking about like, oh,
the Knicks could do this, they could

1061
01:03:23,440 --> 01:03:28,480
do that. It's like any move
you make at this point needs to be

1062
01:03:29,000 --> 01:03:31,199
someone that it can be added to
your closing lineup or I think you would

1063
01:03:31,199 --> 01:03:34,280
the great way of family. I
was gonna say, your sixth best player

1064
01:03:34,360 --> 01:03:36,840
is can it be on the level
of Bobby Portis, where okay, he's

1065
01:03:36,880 --> 01:03:38,800
not in your most important closing units, but like you know, he's gonna

1066
01:03:38,840 --> 01:03:43,599
play enough minutes to matter. And
the Bucks are in that same situation where

1067
01:03:43,599 --> 01:03:45,280
they might they have kind of a
oh well, like we have that fifth

1068
01:03:45,320 --> 01:03:50,960
spot on the perimeter open in the
closing lineup, Like okay, you need

1069
01:03:51,079 --> 01:03:53,159
to be better than whoever you have. It's not just a matter of well,

1070
01:03:53,239 --> 01:03:57,360
let's go get this player who maybe
they're even better than Grayson al or

1071
01:03:57,400 --> 01:04:00,199
Pat Connaughton, but you can't play
them defend Lee in crunch time or they're

1072
01:04:00,199 --> 01:04:03,039
two on the ball, like I
would argue, like could you play Let's

1073
01:04:03,039 --> 01:04:08,760
say you were able to get Jordan
Clarkson, could you play him and you're

1074
01:04:08,760 --> 01:04:12,840
closing you did? I guess in
theory, sure, you probably a lot

1075
01:04:12,920 --> 01:04:15,559
of Middleton because Drew Holliday is already
handling all he can and it's like that's

1076
01:04:15,599 --> 01:04:19,159
just gonna trickle down onto your three
effect. And that's where their bucks are

1077
01:04:19,199 --> 01:04:23,679
at. Which makes it so difficult
is that any move they don't have necessarily

1078
01:04:23,679 --> 01:04:26,519
the assets right now to do it, but they need to make if they're

1079
01:04:26,559 --> 01:04:30,400
going to make a move a meaningful
move, it has to be more higher

1080
01:04:30,519 --> 01:04:32,960
end than mid end. And that's
where I think people are compare in the

1081
01:04:33,039 --> 01:04:36,800
Knicks because when people were talking about
their off season and some people were underwhelmed

1082
01:04:36,800 --> 01:04:42,920
by them getting Dante DiVincenzo, you
needed to get someone your biggest need is

1083
01:04:43,000 --> 01:04:45,159
shooting that for the Knicks that cracks
your closing lineup, and for the Bucks

1084
01:04:45,280 --> 01:04:48,679
it's that fifth guy who can mean
our closing lineup. The bar for that

1085
01:04:48,880 --> 01:04:53,360
because you're already so good, it
is incredibly high. And when you know

1086
01:04:54,039 --> 01:04:57,000
Brooke, Jannis, Drew and Middleton
are just gonna play a crap ton of

1087
01:04:57,039 --> 01:05:00,960
minutes in the playoffs anyway, the
Barber comes even higher for that. And

1088
01:05:00,039 --> 01:05:03,599
so I think, yeah, the
issue given their you know, a team

1089
01:05:03,639 --> 01:05:05,760
like the Knicks, they have more
assets to give up and go out and

1090
01:05:05,840 --> 01:05:10,679
get. And also their baseline of
talent is lower as the collective. But

1091
01:05:11,079 --> 01:05:14,480
when you don't have these assets,
you almost need to You mentioned this,

1092
01:05:14,960 --> 01:05:16,840
wait, and that's more of these
first round picks open up that you can

1093
01:05:16,920 --> 01:05:21,119
trade. That makes it easier to
get what you need. As ass backwards

1094
01:05:21,199 --> 01:05:26,159
as that might sound, or knowing
the immediacy that you need to approach the

1095
01:05:26,239 --> 01:05:30,519
Janis window. But it's yeah,
but it is a funny like paradox because

1096
01:05:30,599 --> 01:05:32,800
like it's a good problem to have. I would put it like they have

1097
01:05:32,920 --> 01:05:35,880
a depth chart hole, but they
don't have a roster hole. If you

1098
01:05:35,960 --> 01:05:40,280
just stack up and look at like
these are our nine most talented players,

1099
01:05:40,599 --> 01:05:43,760
I don't think anyone will look at
that group a skill set aside and go,

1100
01:05:44,159 --> 01:05:46,000
oh, they need to add to
that. Like I think the top

1101
01:05:46,119 --> 01:05:49,360
nine is really good. So it's
it's difficult, Like I don't think you

1102
01:05:49,360 --> 01:05:54,000
should go get a let's say,
de lan Right, a fine, a

1103
01:05:54,119 --> 01:05:56,800
fine backup point guard. Right.
I don't think you should go get at

1104
01:05:56,840 --> 01:05:59,400
Delan Right and then go, well, you know, Pat, you're not

1105
01:05:59,519 --> 01:06:00,840
playing as much tonight because we went
and got to lan Right. I'm not

1106
01:06:01,039 --> 01:06:04,320
I'm not specifically saying Delan Right is
way worse than Pat Contadon or whatever,

1107
01:06:04,599 --> 01:06:08,960
but just to make the point of
like you shouldn't push better players down in

1108
01:06:09,000 --> 01:06:13,320
the rotation just to fill that hole, which skill set wise may not matter

1109
01:06:13,440 --> 01:06:15,079
that much anyway, given what some
other players on the roster can do.

1110
01:06:15,599 --> 01:06:18,960
And that's why it is like everyone
wants to trade Grayson on Bucks Twitter.

1111
01:06:19,079 --> 01:06:23,440
Now. I think it's really hard
to trade Grayson and get better, Like

1112
01:06:23,480 --> 01:06:26,920
I don't see the one to one
trade for a team. It's just like,

1113
01:06:27,360 --> 01:06:30,440
yeah, we're gonna give you another
player in their late twenties who's just

1114
01:06:30,519 --> 01:06:31,920
better for some reason, and you
don't have to give us up much and

1115
01:06:31,960 --> 01:06:35,079
they make the same amount somehow,
which Grayson makes like nine million dollars,

1116
01:06:35,119 --> 01:06:38,760
which is not a lot. You
know, everyone wanted Colin Sexton. It's

1117
01:06:38,800 --> 01:06:44,360
like, okay, even putting aside
the whole, the whole Colin Sexton as

1118
01:06:44,400 --> 01:06:47,000
a player thing, you gotta give
up two rotational players and probably pick because

1119
01:06:47,000 --> 01:06:51,360
it's Danny Age. Is that its
face even worth it? Like seriously,

1120
01:06:51,599 --> 01:06:54,880
that's that. I mean, you're
not getting them for two players. The

1121
01:06:54,960 --> 01:06:58,679
Jazz are not doing that unless it's
the honest and Chris or something. And

1122
01:06:58,800 --> 01:07:03,119
that's the thing too, is just
like they're only built to like you're gonna

1123
01:07:03,159 --> 01:07:06,159
trade for salary matching purposes, Like
you're gonna end up trading one of your

1124
01:07:06,159 --> 01:07:10,360
top seven or eight players. Hay, spoiler alert, it's not gonna be

1125
01:07:10,400 --> 01:07:14,519
one of your top three. Middleton, it's not gonna be one of your

1126
01:07:14,599 --> 01:07:16,800
top four. And so like it
needs and if you're gonna give up two

1127
01:07:16,840 --> 01:07:18,840
of them, and so it's like
I've got into this when I was like,

1128
01:07:19,159 --> 01:07:23,400
yo would make a lot of sense
for this roster Tias Jones. Then

1129
01:07:23,440 --> 01:07:27,039
you get into the conversation of Thias
Jones can't close for you, I don't.

1130
01:07:27,039 --> 01:07:29,800
I mean, like maybe he could
like Tias and Drew and Middleton and

1131
01:07:29,840 --> 01:07:33,840
Jannis and Brooks, right, it'd
be matchup dependent. And then okay,

1132
01:07:33,960 --> 01:07:36,880
fine, like that's fine. You
can fall back on Connaton or Grayson in

1133
01:07:36,960 --> 01:07:40,199
that respect. It's like, well, no, you're gonna have to trade

1134
01:07:40,199 --> 01:07:43,360
maybe one or both those guys that
get Tia Jones. Yeah, and that's

1135
01:07:43,719 --> 01:07:46,000
that's just the it's it's a good
problem to have, but I think people

1136
01:07:46,480 --> 01:07:49,840
lose the plot of the bar for
the Bucks to make a trade is just

1137
01:07:50,039 --> 01:07:54,840
so high for someone who's going to
be again, they're sixth best player,

1138
01:07:55,280 --> 01:07:58,599
and it has to be not just
it has to be our sixth best player,

1139
01:07:58,719 --> 01:08:00,920
not because we traded our sixth best
player to get him, but because

1140
01:08:00,920 --> 01:08:03,599
they were going to be better than
that sixth best player to begin with,

1141
01:08:03,639 --> 01:08:08,119
where it's like if you're going to
trade Bobby Portis or Pat Hanaton whatever,

1142
01:08:08,280 --> 01:08:11,880
like okay, it's not just this
person's kind of a better fit, Like

1143
01:08:11,920 --> 01:08:14,519
no, this person needs to be
better than those guys too. Yeah,

1144
01:08:14,599 --> 01:08:17,039
I mean because you are. You
are always needing to contend that year in

1145
01:08:17,119 --> 01:08:19,920
addition to the looking forward stuff,
and it's like, you know, there

1146
01:08:19,960 --> 01:08:24,319
were some teams like it felt like
Detroit got Monty Morris super easily, and

1147
01:08:24,399 --> 01:08:27,039
there were Bucks fans like, oh
we could haven't. I mean, they

1148
01:08:27,119 --> 01:08:30,000
did what they did. I didn't
like was like did they only get that

1149
01:08:30,199 --> 01:08:32,520
second Monte Morris? But please?
But but like the Bucks again, like

1150
01:08:32,640 --> 01:08:35,479
maybe that's still a worthwhile deal to
do. Like I'm not legislating that,

1151
01:08:35,600 --> 01:08:39,079
but the Pistons didn't have to think
I don't even remember who they sent.

1152
01:08:39,239 --> 01:08:42,920
It was salary, Like they just
they had salary that they could send the

1153
01:08:43,000 --> 01:08:45,960
Bucks to send salary. It was
just they just took him. Yeah,

1154
01:08:45,960 --> 01:08:47,239
they just took him. So that
that's even more. But like some of

1155
01:08:47,279 --> 01:08:51,560
these trades were John Collins that the
Bucks reportedly sift around John Collins. Of

1156
01:08:51,640 --> 01:08:56,239
course they did. As you say, infinitely scalable player would have been a

1157
01:08:56,359 --> 01:08:59,560
great fit on the Bucks. But
guess what the jazz I think? Did

1158
01:08:59,600 --> 01:09:04,119
send something for him? If I
remember, maybe they had Yeah, the

1159
01:09:04,199 --> 01:09:08,000
Bucks don't have that equivalent of like, here's seven million dollars that we just

1160
01:09:08,119 --> 01:09:10,720
like, you know, no offense
to regae. That just doesn't We're not

1161
01:09:10,800 --> 01:09:13,920
worried about losing that player, Like, they don't have the equivalent even if

1162
01:09:13,960 --> 01:09:16,439
you did. Let's let's think you
had this this thing, you had a

1163
01:09:16,479 --> 01:09:20,279
throwaway player on a seven million dollars
contract. We're not making seven million dollars

1164
01:09:21,119 --> 01:09:27,000
like Ruyay is making six million dollars, Like, so that's sort of their

1165
01:09:27,079 --> 01:09:30,039
issue. We talked about this already, but to get it in pencil,

1166
01:09:30,960 --> 01:09:35,119
their top ten rotation and nine of
the spots are just it's so easy to

1167
01:09:35,159 --> 01:09:40,479
do with the team in flock,
There's Drew Grayson, Chris Janis Brooke as

1168
01:09:40,520 --> 01:09:43,920
a starting five. Will say,
right now, the body cortis Pat Connaton,

1169
01:09:44,239 --> 01:09:45,800
and I think both Jake Crowder and
Molik Beasley you're gonna fator into the

1170
01:09:45,840 --> 01:09:49,520
rotation. I would argue, well, Weik Beasley might have the ability to

1171
01:09:49,560 --> 01:09:54,119
be more important than Jay Crowder,
he also has is more likely to just

1172
01:09:54,159 --> 01:09:56,720
fall out of the rotation completely,
Like there's less of an in between,

1173
01:09:56,800 --> 01:09:59,840
there's less of a medium with him. Yeah, who would we pencil in

1174
01:09:59,880 --> 01:10:01,079
for? Is it Marjohn? Right
now? Is an AJ Green is like

1175
01:10:01,119 --> 01:10:04,520
who would you give that ten spot
at the moment, I'm gonna say Marjohn?

1176
01:10:04,680 --> 01:10:08,319
For now, I do think like, and this is gonna sound crazy

1177
01:10:08,359 --> 01:10:12,560
to people like just I'm not making
a comparison between these two players. If

1178
01:10:12,640 --> 01:10:15,680
Beasley did fall out, I do
think that's where an Aj Green could really

1179
01:10:15,800 --> 01:10:17,640
rise. Because of course the shooting
is the main skill set for both.

1180
01:10:17,920 --> 01:10:21,760
I think Mollique has a much more
refined offensive game. Of course, he

1181
01:10:23,000 --> 01:10:25,560
for whatever it's worth, it seems
like he's been in Milwaukee a ton,

1182
01:10:25,680 --> 01:10:29,159
like he's always posting workouts, either
with his team or in the Buck's facility.

1183
01:10:29,520 --> 01:10:32,159
Clearly a player who is, like
you know, Bruce Brown esque,

1184
01:10:32,279 --> 01:10:36,079
really really incentivized to play well this
year and then hit free agency and get

1185
01:10:36,119 --> 01:10:40,479
a real contract. Bucks probably will
have a hard time holding on to him.

1186
01:10:40,479 --> 01:10:43,239
If he does have a good year. Oh well, it's worth it

1187
01:10:43,319 --> 01:10:45,840
getting him for a year anyway.
I would pencil in mar John first,

1188
01:10:45,960 --> 01:10:49,039
AJ Green right there. I think
it's a little bit of a gap between

1189
01:10:49,119 --> 01:10:54,520
them and the two rookies and you
know, Fanasis and Robin Lopez, depending

1190
01:10:54,560 --> 01:10:58,000
on if one of those rookies is
like tearing it up in camp. Sure,

1191
01:10:58,119 --> 01:11:00,560
I mean there's you know, they
could climb it, but I think

1192
01:11:00,680 --> 01:11:03,000
right now that's the you know,
Mark John and I really Agent Green played

1193
01:11:03,039 --> 01:11:05,079
better, I would say last year, but I think Mark John will get

1194
01:11:05,119 --> 01:11:09,600
first crack. If I had to
guess. The most Galaxy brain thing I

1195
01:11:09,680 --> 01:11:12,720
thought about the Bucks this year was
when they brought back Rollo and I understand

1196
01:11:12,760 --> 01:11:14,680
they're not the same player. I
was like, are they just going to

1197
01:11:14,720 --> 01:11:16,319
be more open to trade Bobby Porters
at the trade Deado, like they had

1198
01:11:16,359 --> 01:11:19,079
just have another backup big there and
give Janni's at the five as well.

1199
01:11:19,119 --> 01:11:23,640
In addition, I was just like, he is the player. I think

1200
01:11:23,640 --> 01:11:26,800
it makes the most sense if they
did have to trade a court player who

1201
01:11:26,800 --> 01:11:29,560
makes a lot. I think he
is the one that makes sense. But

1202
01:11:29,640 --> 01:11:32,439
also like everyone loves him. He's
so locked in. I think quietly has

1203
01:11:32,439 --> 01:11:35,640
actually improved offensively quite a bit.
He's not a great fund better. I

1204
01:11:35,680 --> 01:11:39,640
feel like over the past two or
three years as a feels like, yeah,

1205
01:11:39,800 --> 01:11:42,319
he can't drop. That's I hope
they never have n't dropped. He

1206
01:11:42,720 --> 01:11:44,920
just gets lost and it's it's hard
to do. It's a lot of space.

1207
01:11:45,159 --> 01:11:49,439
But because you watch Brook Lopez do
it and then you go it's more

1208
01:11:49,720 --> 01:11:53,479
trust me, trust me. It's
every time they I'm like, oh no,

1209
01:11:53,760 --> 01:11:56,920
oh no, he's not going in
the right direction at all. He's

1210
01:11:56,960 --> 01:11:59,760
also weird. And I don't mean
to make another Knicks analogue, but like

1211
01:11:59,800 --> 01:12:02,399
how Julius Randall's more important than Nicks
than any other team could value him.

1212
01:12:02,399 --> 01:12:04,760
Bobby Porters feels that way a little
bit to Milwaukee, where it's like he

1213
01:12:04,840 --> 01:12:09,840
might be more important to them than
any other team that could like feasibly like

1214
01:12:10,000 --> 01:12:15,119
want him. It's funny Marcus Johnson, who's tremendous as the Buck's color commentator

1215
01:12:15,439 --> 01:12:16,479
last year, it was kind of
mixing him as like a core piece,

1216
01:12:16,520 --> 01:12:19,039
and you kind of look at it
and it's like the things he can do,

1217
01:12:19,359 --> 01:12:23,319
his size, he's locked into contract, he's very young. He's like

1218
01:12:23,359 --> 01:12:26,840
twenty seven twenty eight for the Bucks. That's very young. It kind of

1219
01:12:26,880 --> 01:12:29,239
makes sense. But like his shooting
in the playoffs hasn't been as good,

1220
01:12:29,239 --> 01:12:30,880
and that's been you know, he
called out someone for saying he wasn't good

1221
01:12:30,920 --> 01:12:35,399
defensively after the Celtics playoff loss postseason, and he was right, like he

1222
01:12:35,439 --> 01:12:38,920
actually did. I think it was
Chris Harring, which made it hilarious because

1223
01:12:38,920 --> 01:12:40,600
I was like, no, one
like Chris Harring's great, like, come

1224
01:12:40,640 --> 01:12:43,359
on, Bobby, right, but
he wasn't correcting like Bobby was. Did

1225
01:12:43,399 --> 01:12:46,119
not have a bad defensive postseason.
He couldn't make shots and that's why he

1226
01:12:46,239 --> 01:12:49,479
lost the role. So it is
like if he could just make shots consistently

1227
01:12:49,680 --> 01:12:54,840
threes offensively, like he could be
someone who as as as I just said,

1228
01:12:54,880 --> 01:12:57,720
he's most likely role played to get
traded, could also go into being

1229
01:12:57,760 --> 01:13:00,720
like an indispensable piece this year,
like if they're playing and lean shot is

1230
01:13:00,760 --> 01:13:03,119
more consistent. I think there is
more up in the air than usual for

1231
01:13:03,199 --> 01:13:06,880
the Bucks, which is still like
very little for most other NBA teams.

1232
01:13:06,960 --> 01:13:11,159
Like we know the core four,
like we know vaguely who will play.

1233
01:13:11,560 --> 01:13:14,640
You know, there's no no one
is saying that you know, they don't

1234
01:13:14,760 --> 01:13:19,560
John Horace is a lie or whatever
else. So thankfully what is this will

1235
01:13:19,600 --> 01:13:25,079
be matchup dependent to some extent,
But what will be their most preferred closing

1236
01:13:25,119 --> 01:13:27,560
lineup? Is it just the starting
five or do you think there's wiggle room

1237
01:13:27,560 --> 01:13:30,159
in that fifth spot? Again,
we're talking about four locks are yeah,

1238
01:13:30,199 --> 01:13:34,319
Yeah, I think Condadon is more
locked in or what will be. He's

1239
01:13:34,359 --> 01:13:36,760
gonna have to prove it again,
but I think he's been the better playoff

1240
01:13:36,840 --> 01:13:41,399
player to Grayson. I think they
trust him more latent games, or at

1241
01:13:41,439 --> 01:13:44,600
least they have. He is a
bit older. Again, this could change,

1242
01:13:44,680 --> 01:13:46,920
but based on everything we've seen from
the last x number of years,

1243
01:13:47,039 --> 01:13:50,279
I guess three, probably with great
No. Two with Grayson. I would

1244
01:13:50,279 --> 01:13:55,079
say Pat and the big the core
four, and then if they have to

1245
01:13:55,159 --> 01:13:57,960
go smaller, that's when, like, you know, maybe it is Grayson,

1246
01:13:58,079 --> 01:14:01,239
maybe it's Crowder for the defensive eyes. I really it's hard to say

1247
01:14:01,359 --> 01:14:03,760
right now, but I would say, you know, the small ball,

1248
01:14:03,800 --> 01:14:08,039
it would be then one of Grayson
or Crowder for Brooke if he's not able

1249
01:14:08,079 --> 01:14:12,560
to stay on the floor. They're
a weird on lineup, but you really

1250
01:14:12,600 --> 01:14:15,960
want to see them try this year. I really want them to get another

1251
01:14:16,039 --> 01:14:18,760
point guard and let Drew play off
the ball. They don't just don't have

1252
01:14:18,880 --> 01:14:21,960
it right now really, but I
was looking it up in like that series

1253
01:14:23,000 --> 01:14:28,079
everyone talks about against the Pelican when
he was a Pelican against the Blazers,

1254
01:14:28,279 --> 01:14:30,720
where it's like, good to have
a guy who did that Damian Lillard once

1255
01:14:30,760 --> 01:14:33,279
on the team. I guess just
in case, ray Jon Rondo was the

1256
01:14:33,319 --> 01:14:36,760
point guard when he had that great
offensive series and that great defensive series,

1257
01:14:36,800 --> 01:14:39,840
and I was like, oh,
it's right, Rondo. I'd like tennis

1258
01:14:39,920 --> 01:14:42,239
is per game that it would be
nice to have something. I really want

1259
01:14:42,239 --> 01:14:44,960
a John vault before he like,
you know, we saw him play a

1260
01:14:45,000 --> 01:14:50,319
lot, but I would like to
see Drew, mar John, Chris Pat

1261
01:14:50,520 --> 01:14:54,600
Jannis. I think it's going to
be really fun and really leaning into like

1262
01:14:55,039 --> 01:14:58,039
the strengths of mar John, which
is having a wide open floor and a

1263
01:14:58,119 --> 01:15:00,359
bunch of opportunity and a bunch of
good as there's a bunch of shooting around

1264
01:15:00,439 --> 01:15:03,880
him. His shooting ultimately will determine
if that's going to be a viable lineup.

1265
01:15:04,119 --> 01:15:06,840
But I really like that idea and
I really hope we see some of

1266
01:15:06,920 --> 01:15:13,000
that this season. I would love
to see a big man list lineup from

1267
01:15:13,159 --> 01:15:15,159
oh yeah, just to see like
what ends up happening, and it's I

1268
01:15:15,159 --> 01:15:17,600
don't want to technally want to see
any lineup that doesn't have Janas on the

1269
01:15:17,640 --> 01:15:20,359
floor. But if he just like, you're gonna give him and Brook this

1270
01:15:20,439 --> 01:15:25,720
bell together, give me Drew Chris
Middleton. I think Pat Connaughton needs to

1271
01:15:25,720 --> 01:15:28,680
be a part of it. Let's
throw Malik Beasley or a J. Greed

1272
01:15:28,720 --> 01:15:30,000
in there. Who's ever better shooting
at that point than Jay Crowder And like

1273
01:15:30,039 --> 01:15:32,479
that's your day factor five And he's
like, what does it look like?

1274
01:15:32,720 --> 01:15:35,560
It'd just be a curiosity, like
maybe you soup up the offense and it

1275
01:15:35,640 --> 01:15:38,720
comes at the expense of the defense. But at the same time, you're

1276
01:15:38,760 --> 01:15:43,640
looking at three to four above average
defender offenders in general in that lineup.

1277
01:15:43,840 --> 01:15:45,680
I don't think they would ever try
to try they actually they did. Then

1278
01:15:46,680 --> 01:15:50,439
they did a little bit of Chriss
at center last year and like very very

1279
01:15:50,520 --> 01:15:54,960
limited, and it's actually it kind
of worked in the very small I was

1280
01:15:55,000 --> 01:15:56,520
like, oh, it's kind of
interesting. I mean, I don't I

1281
01:15:56,520 --> 01:15:59,640
wouldn't say he was like playing center, but he was their biggest player on

1282
01:15:59,680 --> 01:16:01,640
the It's like, wow, it's
you never never would have thought I'd see

1283
01:16:01,640 --> 01:16:04,319
the day and it kind of works. You might be honest something though.

1284
01:16:05,720 --> 01:16:09,560
They're over under said at fifty three
point five, which is the same as

1285
01:16:09,600 --> 01:16:13,000
it was when we recorded last year. Are you taking the over the under

1286
01:16:13,119 --> 01:16:15,840
on that? And where do you
think they stack up in the larger context

1287
01:16:15,920 --> 01:16:17,880
of the East I'm having in the
over again, I mean, I think

1288
01:16:17,920 --> 01:16:23,079
it's I think it's more of a
lock. Do you miss nineteen games?

1289
01:16:23,319 --> 01:16:25,960
Well, look at Chris. I
mean, Chris was good for like a

1290
01:16:26,039 --> 01:16:30,119
dozen games. I mean, and
I think they're they're at least functionally as

1291
01:16:30,239 --> 01:16:33,039
deep. Maybe deeper, maybe less
deep, but it's it's close. I

1292
01:16:33,119 --> 01:16:36,600
mean they're not They're not really shallow
coming in. Yeah, I think over

1293
01:16:36,760 --> 01:16:41,239
I have them first in the East, both in playoff equity and for regular

1294
01:16:41,279 --> 01:16:45,319
season wins, even experimenting with new
stuff. I just think like we know

1295
01:16:45,520 --> 01:16:47,399
what they can do to a certain
extent, and they're just they're really good.

1296
01:16:47,640 --> 01:16:50,520
And I think, you know,
we talked a little bit about either

1297
01:16:50,640 --> 01:16:55,000
before early on the pod, like
the rest of the East, I was

1298
01:16:55,039 --> 01:16:56,760
kind of like the Calves, who
are like, you know, on the

1299
01:16:56,800 --> 01:16:59,880
way up, they look good.
It's credit to the Calves pretty much everyone

1300
01:16:59,880 --> 01:17:03,000
else is like influx or like maybe
staying the same. Like weird to say

1301
01:17:03,039 --> 01:17:06,359
that when you're looking at good Eastern
Conference teams, the ones that we have

1302
01:17:06,439 --> 01:17:12,119
the most information about are the Knicks
and the Calves at this point, because

1303
01:17:12,159 --> 01:17:15,359
of the moves that Boston made,
Miami losing some guys, not knowing what's

1304
01:17:15,359 --> 01:17:17,199
going on with Dame, the old
James Hard situation in Philly. I think

1305
01:17:17,239 --> 01:17:20,520
it kind of Michael Bridges would break
out eclipse this like the Nets weren't good,

1306
01:17:21,359 --> 01:17:25,479
like Michael Bridges was their best player. Toronto is just going through an

1307
01:17:25,479 --> 01:17:29,439
existential crisis or whatever it is.
So and then like the Bulls or the

1308
01:17:29,479 --> 01:17:31,079
Bulls or the Bulls, well the
Magic or the Pacers make a leap,

1309
01:17:31,159 --> 01:17:35,640
maybe the building Washington's gonna be annoyed
if they win more than twelve games.

1310
01:17:35,720 --> 01:17:41,039
Probably it's just like it's weird to
say the Bucks we know the most about.

1311
01:17:41,079 --> 01:17:44,199
So yeah, top of the East
for sure. This might be we

1312
01:17:44,319 --> 01:17:47,079
haven't done our over underpod like Grant
and not yet for the like two conferences.

1313
01:17:47,840 --> 01:17:50,840
If they if this holds, we're
gonna have they're gonna want to be

1314
01:17:50,880 --> 01:17:55,119
one of my best. They just
won fifty eight, and I would argue

1315
01:17:55,159 --> 01:17:59,960
the East is even less like open
now, like the Topics just closed off.

1316
01:18:00,000 --> 01:18:03,840
If there's more separation between the Bucks
and literally everyone else like there are,

1317
01:18:03,920 --> 01:18:08,359
I think there are two teams that
could realistically sniff them, maybe Miami

1318
01:18:08,399 --> 01:18:12,520
if they get name, but it's
it's Cleveland and it's whatever the theory is

1319
01:18:12,560 --> 01:18:15,159
in Boston, right, No,
I agree, I think Philly, you

1320
01:18:15,239 --> 01:18:17,600
know, maybe they'll get through it
again. I feel like they just asked

1321
01:18:17,720 --> 01:18:20,960
and bid to shoulders so much this
and the Simon season. I don't know

1322
01:18:21,000 --> 01:18:24,600
if there's going to be as much
enthusiasm, and I think, you know,

1323
01:18:24,680 --> 01:18:27,680
the Buck's weirdly like kind of played
horrible in some big games, just

1324
01:18:27,720 --> 01:18:30,680
got absolutely shit kicked last season,
And I kind of wonder, like,

1325
01:18:30,000 --> 01:18:33,359
will the rejuvenation of doing stuff new
maybe even put a little pep in their

1326
01:18:33,359 --> 01:18:36,720
step. We'll see, We'll see. Usually Vegas is on. But yeah,

1327
01:18:36,760 --> 01:18:40,000
I agree, I think this is
like, well, they out of

1328
01:18:40,000 --> 01:18:42,680
the water last year. They were
four and a half wins over, which

1329
01:18:42,720 --> 01:18:45,960
is pretty like big discrepancy for Vegas. Anything else or anyone else that we

1330
01:18:46,079 --> 01:18:48,880
have not touched upon. I didn't
ask you about over the last eighty minutes

1331
01:18:48,920 --> 01:18:53,239
that you think needs to be discussed. We've done such a good thorough job.

1332
01:18:53,319 --> 01:18:56,439
I would say we just didn't for
you know, he wasn't didn't signed,

1333
01:18:56,479 --> 01:18:59,399
and isn't the guy we didn't talk
a bunch of Drew. And I

1334
01:18:59,479 --> 01:19:01,479
do think, like you know,
if he can just be put in better

1335
01:19:01,600 --> 01:19:06,960
positions offensively, maybe a little more
structure, how much can that change for

1336
01:19:08,000 --> 01:19:11,399
them in itself? That's that's a
big question. That's like a you know,

1337
01:19:11,439 --> 01:19:14,319
there are Bucks people who are really
like out on Drew after just had

1338
01:19:14,359 --> 01:19:16,439
a really bad playoffs against Miami,
you know, can we just get him

1339
01:19:16,840 --> 01:19:23,479
a little more, a little more
direction, a little more infrastructure around him

1340
01:19:23,560 --> 01:19:27,039
and his decision making so he's not
you know, I think the bud let

1341
01:19:27,119 --> 01:19:29,800
it fly thing probably went too far. And it's like, yeah, Jack

1342
01:19:29,880 --> 01:19:32,319
up at three at eighteen seconds,
who cares? He hits those back threes

1343
01:19:32,359 --> 01:19:36,239
and the regular season apparently that qualifier
matters a lot, though, Dan,

1344
01:19:36,399 --> 01:19:40,239
that's a really important qualifier. It
has not held up at all in the

1345
01:19:40,319 --> 01:19:42,960
playoffs, so that's going to be
the thing. It's just like, you

1346
01:19:43,000 --> 01:19:46,479
know, if he's really set in
like a better space offensively, you know,

1347
01:19:46,640 --> 01:19:49,239
do they just actually kind of like
blow through the East? Maybe they

1348
01:19:49,319 --> 01:19:51,840
do. I don't know. I
never like to be too optimistic, but

1349
01:19:53,000 --> 01:19:55,560
I do think Drew is a big
swing and if he just plays better in

1350
01:19:55,600 --> 01:19:58,880
this playoffs, which Bucks vans have
been saying for three years now, you

1351
01:19:58,960 --> 01:20:01,720
know, they could be a much
more a threatening team going forward. Ty,

1352
01:20:01,880 --> 01:20:04,199
this was great as always. Thank
you for giving me so much of

1353
01:20:04,199 --> 01:20:06,520
your time. Were you able to
tell our listeners where they can find you

1354
01:20:06,640 --> 01:20:11,840
and all the great work that you
do. I am so we cover GESPN,

1355
01:20:12,000 --> 01:20:14,840
We cover the Bucks, of course, with two podcasts We also cover

1356
01:20:14,920 --> 01:20:17,079
the brewers and Packers if you're into
those Wisconsin sports. We also cover film.

1357
01:20:17,479 --> 01:20:19,479
I don't I don't watch enough movies, but we have guys to do

1358
01:20:19,560 --> 01:20:24,000
that. GESPN dot info you can
find all of our links, so please

1359
01:20:24,119 --> 01:20:28,279
check us out, and of course
subscribe to this podcast everywhere on the internet

1360
01:20:28,359 --> 01:20:31,600
if you're not already, because it
is truly fantastic. Thank you so much

1361
01:20:31,600 --> 01:20:33,880
for the cord words and again for
all your time. As always, I,

1362
01:20:33,960 --> 01:20:36,279
as you know by now, I'll
be fast for you again at some

1363
01:20:36,359 --> 01:20:36,680
point. It