Speaker 1: What is up, fellowstick goes, I am at Dana Valley,
coming at you solo this time to talk a little
bit about Giannis. Attend to Koupo, who is in the
news again, not because of anything he said, but because
a report from CBS Sports is Bill Ryder about his
future or other people speculating about his future. So yes,
we're going to get into trades. Sorry to ruin anybody's
day who doesn't want to talk trades, just jet. We're
also gonna get into the reality of what Joannis and
Milwaukee Bucks are doing before we do. So though you
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let's start here with the snippets that are making the
rounds from Bill Ryder's report. He quoted I think they're
three different executives, and one says this is a Western
Conference team. Executive teams are circling and hopeful. Another top
executive of a team that could be in the mix said,
I wouldn't be surprised if a trade happened by the
trade deadline. And finally, he cites an Eastern Conference NBA
exec who has already heard that the places believed to
be Gianni's would be preferred destination. Quote, the teams I've
heard are Miami and New York the Nets, not the Knicks.
He can't go to the Knicks. They have nothing to trade,
so that makes sense. I want to know from everybody
in the comments, what team you think would be the
best fit for the honest or what you think would
be the best package, or where you think he ultimately
should go if he's leaving. I do think, however, that
we kind of need to get into. Would the Bucks
even make a move like this in the middle of
the season. I think if Giannis went and asked for out,
they would absolutely move him. I think that's the cachet
he has in the organization, And if you know a
player like that is unhappy, you're going to move them.
He has three years and one hundred and seventy five
point four million dollars left on his contract, the final
of which is a player option in twenty twenty seven
twenty twenty eight, that would be his age thirty three season.
He's making fifty four point one million this year. Teams
will absolutely trade for that and you can make look,
you can make the math work their second Apron team,
they'll take back less money. It's not I won't say
it's easy, but it can be done when you start
to go through whether it would happen in the middle
of the year, though, it's just so complicated because of
the way teams rosters are structured, the lack of cap
flexibility floating around. If you're going to trade Giannis, you're
probably gonna want to get out of the tacks. The
bucks are like twenty five million dollars past that luxury
tax line, not quite that much, but over it, you're
not gonna shed that much money in one trade in
the middle of the year. Again, though, if if Yannis
asked for a trade, they would grant it to him.
And I think a lot of people have since latched
onto and I'll throw it up on screen for Renny
watching it on YouTube. The quote that he gave to
Sam Amick over the summer when he was kind of
joking to a Bucks staffer or reference to a Buck
staffer that I could be traded if we don't win
the championship. So there's that element of this, And there's
also this part of the article that's not receiving as
much run, but Bill Rider basically reported that Doc has
more power within the organization. Now, the exact quote is,
this is from someone familiar with the Bucks' front office.
They tell me it's up to Doc now, that they're
going to wait twenty games and then see what Doc wants.
That would shock me if that were true. And if
that's the case, if Doc has that much power after
coaching the Bucks to a sub mediocre record for what
amounts to basically half a season in total, I want
to know what's going on in Milwaukee? Why what has
he done that shows you he has this much power?
So I don't buy into the Doc rivers of it all,
At least him, He is not going to be the
one that decides whether Yannis gets traded or not. That
to me, will ultimately be up to Yannis. And personally,
while nothing tends to shock me shock me anymore, I
would be fairly surprised if Jannis turned around and said
I want out in the middle of this season. That
just feels like an offseason matter, which still makes this
a big deal if you think that he's going to
shake loose or that after two seasons with Damian Lillard
and seeing the core around him age and brook Lopez
entering free agency, that Giannis isn't gonna feel confident in
the future. And so now we get into well, which
teams make sense to trade for Yannis and for people
that don't like trades, We're gonna get into more of
specific Buck stuff in a little bit. He he apparently
wants Miami in Brooklyn. Miami's tough. They can trade up
to two first round picks right now, and they'll have
some swaps. They do have Jim Hawkez Junior that they
can include. They have Nikola Jovich khalil Ware. They have
a package, but this is I don't know, They're not
going to be at the top of the line. If
you're the Bucks, and I think if you're a Milwaukee
and Yiannis gives you a list, okay, you take it
under advisement, but if you're not going to get the
best package from that team, you don't send Jannis to
that team. If you're moving him with so much time
lift on his deal, you're already going above and beyond
in that regard. You don't owe it to him to
send him to this these one or two teams if
if again one of them doesn't have the best package.
I can't imagine Miami will have the best package for
Johannis if they threw Bam on the table. Maybe, but
I don't know why you're doing that at this point.
There's also Brooklyn that Giannis probably wants to go to.
They have a ton of picks now after trading, you know,
having traded Kevin Durant, having traded mchal Bridges. I would
be curious to see is that a route they would go.
What's interesting about them is if you don't have to
give up your twenty twenty five pick to get him,
Let's say this happened mid season, offseason, whatever, If you
don't have to give up what ends up being a
top five pick to get him, and you decide we're
comfortable going with Yiannis and this top five prop and
then still maybe having some picks left over in the chamber.
That's that is certainly an avenue worth exploring. It's essentially
or especially because you don't control your own pick in
twenty twenty one, twenty seven. Excuse me, but you are
going to run in to another issue, which is Milwaukee's
gonna want back actual players in any deal because they
don't control most of their draft future moving forward. And
so a team like the Nets, Yeah, from a salary perspective,
it's easy, and they might have some players that interest Milwaukee,
They're not going to the Mowa. Bucks are not gonna
view Cam Johnson as a building block. They're not gonna
view Nicholas Claxton as a building block, and Giannie's absence,
and certainly neither of those guys are on an all
star level right now. So that I don't want to
say rules out the Nets. If you're willing to give
up this year's pick and the Bucks know that's a
top five pick, maybe that I mean, it doesn't It
definitely makes their package more attractive. I just don't as
the Bucks, you're going to prioritize probably getting it back. Yes,
you want draft equity and of course blue chain prospects,
but you might want someone who's just more immediately really good,
because do we know if you're gonna trade Dame If
Jannis is being moved as well. I mean, maybe he
asked her out, but are you trying to float open
that window while just re restocking some of your asset cupboard?
The Nets, I would say, I deem more likely than
the Heat, just because if they really went into it,
their tippy top offer can include way more draft equity.
And I don't think if Miami throws him Hawkas as
I would say, is their best blue chip prospect as
of right now, I don't think that he would be
the difference between oh, we got this immediate guy in
a little bit of draft equity versus the Nets overloaded
us with with draft equity, and so after that we've
apparently moved beyond Giannis's preferred destinations list. I understand why
those would be interesting places to live. I don't view
either of those teams as having like a decided the
open ended window. Though a team that would be interesting,
I don't know if they're being mentioned enough in this exercise.
Is the Pelicans. I don't love the spacing with Zion
and Giannis on the floor, but Zion has also made
it work with nonspace fives or you know, he's played
with Jonas Manchunus, but he's he has some stretch. He's
not taken five three pointers per game, and defenses aren't
overreacting to him on the perimeter. He's played with Steven Adams,
so if you were just gonna use those as your
two bigs, it could work. They're interesting because if Milwaukee
wants to regain control of its own draft, their picks
are kind of scattered around right now, and some of
them are provisional. They could go to one team or another,
but the Pelicans essentially control. The Bucks is twenty twenty six,
twenty seven draft picks for now. If you include those
on the table on top of other stuff, maybe some
of your own draft picks moving forward, and you can
go pretty far out. If you're the Pelicans, you give
up some draft equity and the Jehan Dee Murray trade,
but not a ton, and you could also finago packages
around Brandon Ingram if it's happening mid season. If this
is happening over the offseason, you still have other money.
Maybe a Trey Murphy is that someone who would interest
the Bucks, but the appeal of that trade would be
and especially if it's happening mid sea, he's in a
Milwaukee there might be some merit to Okay, we're getting
this all star caliberish guy in Brandon Ingram. We're gonna
have to pay him, but he's not super old, so
we're getting him back. We could still be maybe good
right away, and then we're also getting back control essentially
over our next two draft picks. What gets interesting about that, though,
If you're getting back control over the twenty six and
twenty seven drafts, you have to write off this year. Again,
maybe this trade is happening in the off season. I
would argue it's more likely to happen in the off season.
Do the Bucks want to be good at that point?
Would they go to the net s rout off we
need to be really bad for two years and capitalize
on this window when we have our draft equity, in
which case getting Brandon Ingram back is not as important.
I don't think he's someone who would ruin a rebuilding effort.
He probably would pick you up a few couple extra
victories if he's not. If you're gonna have him and
Damian Lillard in tandem, okay, it makes sense for the
rest of this half season. You won't control your draft
pick this coming summer, but for the next two summers,
that's when it gets weird. They still would be an
interesting team to watch. Another team that just has to
be mentioned is the Thunder. They can do everything that
Milwaukee wants. They can give them good players, They can
give them someone who is both you can consider a
blue chip prospect, but he's already kind of all star caliber. Now.
I know he hasn't had the cleanest start to the
season so far, but Jaln Williams you could throw in there.
I don't think chet Holmgrin to me, wouldn't be on
the table just because he would be mission critical to
making it work or preserving as much of OKC spacing
as possible around Giannis attend to Kompo. So if you're
going to put Jalen Williams on the table while throwing
just I mean, you got picks on picks on picks
from all these different teams, including all of your own
picks as well. If you're going multiple firsts on top
of Jaln Williams, making the money work gets a little tight.
It gets because they don't they're not They don't have
a ton of these larger contracts that will make the
math work in these situations. But they do have Isaiah Hartenstein.
And so if you're gonna have Chet Holmgren and Giannis,
do you still need Isaiah Hartenstein. That's a very short
term deal. It's it's effectively a two plus one. There's
a team option on year three once his trade restriction
lifts in December. You could use him as the primary anchor.
And so now you're building things around Isaiah Hartenstein Jalen Williams,
and this could be done over the offseason too. I'm
just framing everything out that's possible. You have lou Dort's contract,
which is sixteen and a half million this year, goes
up to seventeen point seven next year. That's a number
you could work with. You're gonna get to a point
like in Aaron Wiggins or in Isaiah Joe is an
interesting salary matching tool. If the Bucks are still trying
to be good after all of this, that's a route
that you can explore. There are so many different permutations
that you can build. I think the primary framework though,
is if you're willing to give up Ja dubb in theory,
okay see has enough draft assets to say, hey, here's
a bunch of draft assets, some good contracts on good players,
and they can keep Jayn Williams, chet Home, Grin, Shake
Gil just Alexander and yet you, honest, I think the
Bucks are going to want someone who has All Star
potential if not, isn't a present day All Star as
part of any deal when they're not getting back a
couple of their own draft picks, you know. Pointing back
to that New Orleans Pelican sceario, I just outlined, I
don't if I'm the Thunder. I honestly don't know if
I would trade Free honest, which is a weird thing
to say. I think he's one of the three best
players in basketball, even with the uneven start to the season,
but his contract, he's gonna be age thirty three at
the end of it. I guess you have to do it.
But adding him to this defense is just insane. By
the way, they might have the best defense of all time.
You probably have to do it. It's just Jalen Williams
first and salary that is a lot, and it's it
would really speak to the Thunder acknowledging we might be
the best or second best team in the league during
the regular season, but we're trying to give us give
ourselves that extra in the playoffs. I just don't know. Yes,
Giannis is a play finisher, and just going downhill in
that spacing can be devastating. Their biggest need really seems
to be okay, high volume, consistent three point shooting, and
someone who can generate their own shots at a high level,
an efficient level. That's not Yannis. And we're certain seeing
you know, some of the ladder in play with Milwaukee
right now. If you're okay, you have to have a
conversation about it. That's not even that part isn't debatable.
If Jannis becomes available, you're going to call. You're going
to be involved in some respect. When you go beyond okase,
it gets more interesting just because there are teams with assets.
The one I would single out is Houston. They have
a bunch of the you know, they could trade their
own draft picks. They're going to have this offseason that
Jayen Green sizeable salary. So if you're Milwaukee saying, all right,
we're not getting our own picks back, but if we're
getting Jayen Green another one or two of Houston's young
players in first round picks for Yannis, that you would
have to think would interest them. And I would be
curious to see though, if you had to single out
which player, if you could have any young player off
of Houston, who would you want? And I'm just having
the open discussion here and I'm viewing this more in
an offseason lens for Houston. Would the Bucks want Alprin
Shangoun if the goals to be as good as possible
are you're just going with who is probably Houston's best player,
should be Houston's best player? Or do you go with
someone who is maybe more plug and play boom or
bust in Jalen Green just because you don't have to
funnel the entire offense through him. Would you value something
like Jalen Green and aman Thompson over getting just Al
prinshang Gun? Is Houston want to give up aman Thompson
if they're getting back Yiannis because they're gonna have spacing
concerns Anyway, That's another team where it gets really interesting
where what the defense would be speaks for herself. It
would be terrifying. I don't care who he used to
gives up quite frankly, but if you're gonna have I
mean two, let alone three of Yannis, aman Thompson, alprinshang
Gun on the same team. I don't know how that
works Offensively. There'd be heavy staggering there. I don't love
necessarily the fit with all three of them on the
court if you're trying to get minutes that way. Again,
the defense with Giannis and Amn Thompson on the court
would be ridiculous. And they still got Tariston there After
all of this, I would assume that one of aman
Thompson or Alprin Shangud would be sent out as part
of the deal. And then you also you have a
Cam Whitmore I mentioned Easton, you have your Bari Smith junior.
So if the Bucks want players over draft equity that
can help them. Now you've got the ability to satisfy
all those needs. I think they might be able in
theory if the Bucks's goal really is to get a
player who is so good right now that they view
themselves as having a window maybe not to contend, but
to not be terrible, to the point where they're sending
out really primetime draft picks while also restocking their own
draft pick cover. I think Houston has the better trade
package than Okay s even will I go back and
forth just because Okac has more of the I might
prefer j dub over any of the names from Houston
I just mentioned. But when you get into just the
secondary pieces, it gets a little interesting. Because I love
Isaiah Joe, I really like Ludor Cason Wallace and Okac.
It's comparable for sure. I guess okay Se is more
attractive if Jaylen Williams is on the table because I
think he's the single most intriguing player to me, with
all due respect to Alprin schangun off that bunch, But
that's a that's probably a separate debate to have. So Houston, Okay, see,
you feel like teams that could get involved. I think
Golden State will certainly try to enter the running. And
they have Kminga, they have pods they can give up
like a couple first round picks. You're still not going
to have the best offer for Giannis. It would take
a lot of posturing on his part to want to
go to the Warriors. It'd be an interesting discussion where
if Milwaukee said, hey, picks young players Draymond Green, would
you do it? That'd be something that does Golden State
do it? I think part of the appeal is play
Draymond with Giannis, that defense becomes generational. But if that,
if that's just if that's the scenario you're presented with
and you're a Golden State, do you do it? I
feel like you almost have to. And again, it's tough.
It's tough to view Milwaukee wanting or it's tough to
think that Milwaukee would want Draymond Green when looking at
his own timeline. But if they're just married to making
the most of now while they have these draft picks
going out to New Orleans and Poland one, I think
this year's is going to Brooklyn, So could that be feasible?
I would say it's it's feasible. I don't think Golden
State is ever going to have the best package though,
And it'll be funny that this will be the framing
that the front office will probably justify. We didn't make
a move to try and maximize this season because we
wanted to wait out the Honist Attent Tokupo sweepstakes, which
we knew we were going to have like the fourth
or seventh best offer for anyway, after that, I don't
really you can find teams where he might be a
super interesting fit. I don't really know where you go.
I mean, New York would have been interesting before the
Michael Bridges trade. That's just completely off the table now.
I don't think Orlando probably has the assets to get
involved here. I don't see the not that I don't
see the appeal, but if we're talking over the offseason
and you have Franz, Wagner, you have Jail and Suggs
on those new deals, so you could include one of
them and then flesh out with draft equity and young
players from there. I don't know that I love a
core built around either Giannis, Franz and I mean that's
a over front court of is yallow Giannis, Franz and
Paulo or if it's Jayleen Suggs, Giannis and Manco. So
maybe they could talk to themselves into going after Giannis.
They're just not an organization that tends to take these
bigger time risks. San Antonio would be interesting. I think
you say at that point, everybody but Wemby is on
the table, and the primary Okay, there's draft equity you
could give up. You have those Timberwolves picks aren't interesting.
You have a swap with Boston, you have your own first.
You have this year Chicago's first that you can give.
You have the Sacramento Kings swap that you can include.
There's a whole bunch on top of young player. Steph
Castle's there. Jeremy Sohan still as well. But I think
the if you're the Bucks again and you're prioritizing stocking
yourself for the future but also being competitive now, it
kind of begins and ends with Devin Vessel. And so
if the Spurs aren't including Devin Vessel, yeah, they could
probably cobble together the draft equity necessary to go after Ni. Anyway,
if the Bucks are prioritizing only young players in draft equity,
is Devin Vessel flashy enough as a player to get
them over the hump? And just what do you Yeah, Okay,
the defense with Wemby and Victor wemen Yama would be absurd,
But what does the offense look like at that point?
Because the offense is no great shakes right now, and
Giannis isn't gonna help your spacing. He's only I won't
say he'll hurt it, but your spacing is going to
be hurt if you're sending out Devin Vessel, who I
know is you have to play this season and then
bringing back Giannis. You probably still have to do it
just because Gannison Webby would be mind melting. Another team
that I think stands out Utah. They just have all
these picks, and it's you have Larry Marketing and Giannis.
It's tough to build a better front court compliment to
Jiannis and Larry market In. At this point, you're not
playing either one of them at the five, so maybe
that's of a concern. If Teler Hendricks never gets injured,
he would be one an interesting trade piece in this discussion.
Or two, do you just play him and say, Okay,
we don't have necessarily a center, but Hendrix and Giannis
and even Marketing can all pitch in on that front.
But the Jazz have interesting young players Cody Williams, Keante
George and then just they have salary matching tools. You
look at Colin Sexton, that would help the Bucks remain competitive,
and you could throw John Collins. Even then you could
throw in a ton of draft equity and overload the
Bucks with picks. They're another team, though kind of similar
in the vein of San Antonio or even Miami. When
you're looking at the immediate players, the actual players, rather
than the draft picks that are going out. Do they
have enough to satisfy what the Bucks would want? And
I honestly just I don't know, And there are other
teams that would probably be like, could Detroit really enter
the running here? Would Charlotte like to get reckless? Would
you include Brendon Miller for Giannis if you're Charlotte with
the way LaMelo balls playing, and then flush flush out
the package with draft equity from there? That's kind of tough.
I mean, Boston has the contracts to get involved if
they wanted to. That's a joke. I don't think Atlanta
had they have some immediate players they could send out
that would make it interesting, especially Jalen Johnson if he
rebounds off his poor start and you want to include
him and Reese Shay and pick that's an offseason trade,
of course. I don't know if they have enough picks
to go out the Milwaukee though to make that work.
Could Chicago do something reckless here? I just don't think
they have the draft equity. And it's with the challenge
trade at that point, be okay, we're gonna give you
Levine any will give you modest Buzellis any player that
you want, and then picks what we have with Zach Lavine.
I guess, like, is that appealing to a Milwaukee team
that's gonna want to be competitive Dame and Zach Levine
on the same roster. Probably? Probably not. Dallas does not
have the juice to get in here. They just don't
have the picks. Even if you think that the Bucks
would view they're not gonna view Kyrie Irving as the
the and you're not trading Luca. Even if you think
the Bucks would view like Derek Lively in that vein
which I just don't think he's great. I just don't
think they would count him as, Oh, we're getting kind
of a current or future All Star in here. And
even if he's an All Star, he's probably not the
type of one that you build out your entire team around.
That being said Eric Lively with Dame. But Brook Lopez
is still milwauking this situation. Are we're just assuming he's gone.
Dallas is too complicated. I don't think no Denver can't
get in there. But I'm just saying, put all your
young players you have, you'll be like, you have no
draft picks to trade at the moment. They would have
to The Bucks would have to love Jamal Murray and
or Michael Porter junior and or Aaron Gordon for some reason.
So that's a no from them. I really think the
teams that I would monitor here, and I'm sure the
Clippers and the Lakers will get mentioned. I just those
these are not teams that have the the assets us
to get them. I don't think even if the Lakers
they have more draft equity available, but Austin Reevees and
Dalton connect and all your picks and then we're flushing
that out with Ruby Haachimura other salary that's not doing it.
Would Memphis trade Jaron Jackson Junior? And would that do it?
For the Bucks? They would probably, I mean they would
probably consider trading Desmond Bayne or Jaron Jackson Junior for Giannis.
Maybe they're a sleeper here. How do you feel about
tying your window to Giannis and John Morant? Those guys
feel like they're athletic primes. Could be a little bit.
Jannest's athletic prime has been pretty long as it is,
but Brants battled availability issues and is how available is
he gonna be moving forward? How much longer is he
going to be this athletic? The same question for Yiannis.
That'd be a hell of a league. Pass standem though
they're the teams that I kind of yeah, you have
to mention Brooklyn to Miami again because Jannis wants to
go there. I would just keep my eye on Oklahoma
City by default, Houston almost by default, and I really
do think New Orleans could get involved here. An interesting
challenge trade would be like Embiid for Rannest at this
point as Philly, just like, oh, we're kind of done
with the load managing. Do the Bucks want to roll
the dice on this? I don't think Paul George. That'd
be funny Paul George gets flipped in and a Yiannis
trade over the offseason or in December, you have Tyrese Maxi.
But when the Bucks have Dame, so you do have
if you wanted Giannis, you have picks, and you have
the you could trade player X one of your big
three with picks to get Yannis. I just I'm not
giving up Maxi, just because the idea of him is
too important now and later. I don't know, like I
don't know why the Bucks would want If Philly offered
all their picks and Paul George for Giannis, would the
Bucks do that if Jannis wants I don't know. And
even if it's Embiid, how many picks need to be
included in that. I think some people would argue that
Philly would have to do like if you include the
Clippers pick an Embiid for Giannis, that would be the
other moving parts. I'm not looking at salaries right now.
That'd be so weird. I honestly think I just disgusted
myself even mentioning that. But the primary teams for me
would be Houston, Okay, see, and I really I would
throw New Orleans in there. They don't care about shooting
threes or spacing anyway, clearly, So I think those would
be the three teams to keep an eye on now.
To kind of satisfy the more responsible part of this discussion.
I don't think that the Bucks should just go into
this and say this is doomed. I don't trust reports.
Not that I don't trust. I'm not going to read
too much into reports that are just coming from national
reporters who won don't seem to report this type of
stuff all that often. And then two like, it's not
coming from a Buck source, it's coming from teams that
want Giannis go. Figure that they're gonna think that he
wants out. That kind of just like sets the fire
or tries to set the fire of the rumor mill.
But I don't know what leverage you're necessarily trying to gain.
I really think it comes down to does Giannis want out?
And if he wants out, the Bucks will move him.
We just haven't seen or heard enough to believe that
he's going to want out, or that's he's even that
close to wanting out. The state of things in milwalking
on great Giannis has been part of it a little bit.
I haven't loved the way he's played so far. That
the numbers are gaga, they're always gaga, but more of
his baskets are going unassisted. You look at just the
number of dribbles he's using on average for his shot attempts,
they have gone up. I don't know how much of
that is his isolation frequency is through the roof compared
to last season. I don't know how much of that
is Doc Rivers related. I don't know how much of
that is by design. I don't know how much of
that has to do with Chris Middleton's apposts, and so
you're in theory down a creator, but like I don't
want to see him doing as much creation on the
I don't want, I don't need him to be just
a playfin as Shore. I want to make that clear.
But his role on offense is far more complicated than
it needs to be or should be right now. I
don't and I don't know who to blame it on.
Is it him, is it the Bucks themselves? And I don't.
Is he been a problem of their transition? Defense is
pretty bad again. They're off Their rebounding has been all
over the place too. Teams are just grabbing offensive rebounds
off of a miss corner threes against them like Candy
at this point as well. He's part of that a
little bit. I haven't had a huge problem with his defense.
He's had a couple of just like, not great moments
as he tired from all he's doing on offense. Giannis
is still one of the three best players in the league.
But I think that you have to if you're a
team interested, you have to have a real conversation. Okay,
This dude is in going into his thirties. This contract
right now takes him through age thirty three. His next
deal that he's gonna want in a couple of years
that's going to take him into his mid and late thirties.
You have the real conversation about what you're wanting to
give up for him. It's not that I've seen I'm
not spot regression to where I think that Giannis is
worth less today than he was before the start of
the season. But that's something to consider in all this
as well, is that what is Janice's level of blame
in where the Bucks are heading into their Thursday night
matchup against the Boston Celtics, and he deserves some of
the blame. Again, I can't imagine he's g honist at
at the Koupa. I can't imagine that he doesn't have
a huge say over the offense. My biggest takeaway from
this is that the league is at least where people
around in the league are trying to put pressure on
Milwaukee and they're attempting to read the teav he's of.
This situation really is in a level of turmoil. It
might be how they feel about even Damian Lillard. Where
if things don't go and he's been fine this season,
if things don't go according to plant Milwaukee, how much
longer is he going to want to be there? And
so they're kind of trying to project four or five
moves ahead here. I say all this fully believing that
I don't think Giannis is going to be moved this season.
It wouldn't shock me if he's moved before the end
of this contract. More So, my bigger, larger point here
is the Bucks are not I don't view them as
doomed right now. They're old. They need to be more
athletic outside of Joannis Tentha Cumbo. It'd be nice to
see better moments from Bobby Portis this year. Brook Lopez
will start dropping threes more frequently. I'm confident in that,
let's see what they look like when Chris Middleton is
ready to rock. They could still be a really good team.
I don't know if I see it necessarily. Defensively is
where the concern might lie. I still believe that their
core lineups, you know, their two or three most used lineups,
should be able to have enough of the Brook Lopez,
Giannis Tenthan Cumbo, even Gary Trent junior personnel in it
to be better than they have been defensively, and we're
seeing a lot of the same issues from last year,
at least I think early on. Where the things that
might stand out are transitioned inconsistent would be the the
kindest word to put it. They're still just not defense.
They're getting behind them too easily after Milwaukee misses a shot,
and then ball containment in general at the top, which
also played them last year. I don't know that they
definitely have the talent to fix the first one because
a lot of that is I'm not going to go
the effort route, but a lot of that is just
playing smartly and making sure that you're getting back, you know,
after you're taking these shots. And look, we see teams
I don't want to say we see teams all the
time do this. But if you want to be committed
to hitting the offensive glass and getting back in transition,
those things don't have to be mutually exclusive. But the
Bucks aren't committed to hitting the offensive class, which is
their twenty ninth in offensive rebounding rate, which is why
it's inexcusable to me that their transition defense is still
as porous as it is, at least in terms of
the frequency with which they let opponents get behind them.
I don't know how much of their most damning issues
are solvable, but I do think this is a way
better team than we've seen, and this really does feel
like a lot of early season noise more than anything.
And I would reiterate that, even though we went through
the exercise, I think it's Newsworthy of the teams that
could trade for him. I really would just reiterate that
until this comes from someone who's more one, until something
comes from Giannis himself, or until the rumblings start coming
out of the you know, Sham Sharania department, or even
the athletics department where you're starting to hear those reporters
say so, or if Jake Fisher winds up reporting something
on it, that's when you know that there might be
a five alarm fire here. If and when that happens,
I really don't think it's gonna be the middle of
the year, and I think it's going to be Yiannest
will have to be the one to terminate their relationship.
I guess kind of similar. You know, the Portland Damian
Lillard waiting game was just painful, and the writing was
on the wall. The Bucks aren't there in part because
they're not gonna have this high lottery pick since they
don't control their own draft pick. But I also just
think that the bigger thing here is they're going to
give it to me. I mean again, it wouldn't shock me.
I guess again, I'm never too shocked. It would surprise
me if they made a yansin Tentakoople trade the season
orphy x for out this season the offseason that's the
other year goes, and then maybe anything can go. But
I still have higher hope for the Bucks than they
have showed right now, Like this is a you know,
we are four or five games into the season. This
is a team that still has plenty of time to
write the ship. If shit continues to go sideways, then yeah,
that's when we need to dig more into Janisten Tookoopo's future.
But as of now, I think it's good to know
like kind of the lay of the land in which
teams could be interested, all while acknowledging that, hey, the
Bucks can still be better than this, even if you
don't view them as the inner circle of contenders, which
right and now looks like it's Dallas, Cleveland, and Boston
and then kind of like everybody else below them. Hope
you enjoyed this, if you bonus content, if you've not already,
we're out here pumping it. We're pumping out content. It's
the middle of the season. I'm still recovering from the flu,
so I apologize if my voice or sniffles got in
the way of this little bonus episode at all. Until
next time, please remember to rate, review, subscribe wherever you
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spread the word, tell people about us if you've not already,
and again hit the comments and let me know your
thoughts in the Yanna situation, or which team you believe
has the best, y honest trade package, or what you
think Milwaukee's biggest issue is and can they fix it
this season? And I will respond as I can, and
finally join our discord, I will respond there. I'm popping
it out in and there usually a couple of times
a day. They lit that's the podcast. The description, Thanks
everyone for the support. As always, we and that rude
Grant love you all around these parts, and I leave
you with the shout out to the one, the only
indelible Frank here here