2023-24 Bucks Season Thread

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I don't think this recent stretch is concerning on its own, a bunch of tough road games in a time of upheaval and injury, but it's just hard to feel good about anything that's happened this year. There's time to figure it out but it's hard to shake the vibe that this is just an old team with its superstar teetering on the beginning of the end. There's always that team that's hovering around contention but everyone knows they aren't really good enough. I think that is what we have now and it feels like they're a year or two out from Giannis asking out and a blowup.

[patrickgpe]

12 hours ago, adambr2 said:

This team is just so discombobulated. On paper, we weren't supposed to get worse. 

they were without 2 of their 3 best players. I give them a pass for last night. This last 2 weeks has been a perfect storm of issues. Switching coaches and injuries. I wish Doc didn't have to coach the all star game, and could use that time to figure out how to get out of this mess. 

 

[Joseph Zarr]

57 minutes ago, patrickgpe said:

they were without 2 of their 3 best players. I give them a pass for last night. This last 2 weeks has been a perfect storm of issues. Switching coaches and injuries. I wish Doc didn't have to coach the all star game, and could use that time to figure out how to get out of this mess. 

 

Doc isn't coaching the All Star game. I don't know what he's doing but he's already acknowledged he won't be taking that on. I still imagine he'll want the limelight of the game itself?

 

2 hours ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

I don't think this recent stretch is concerning on its own, a bunch of tough road games in a time of upheaval and injury, but it's just hard to feel good about anything that's happened this year. There's time to figure it out but it's hard to shake the vibe that this is just an old team with its superstar teetering on the beginning of the end. There's always that team that's hovering around contention but everyone knows they aren't really good enough. I think that is what we have now and it feels like they're a year or two out from Giannis asking out and a blowup.

I agree with you entirely on the overall status of this season. I absolutely agree with you the roster is just filled with old vets who are struggling in the daily grind of a young man's game. We've started to see AJ Green get meaningful burn and, lo and behold, he's validating what anyone who watches the Bucks saw this entire season: he's an NBA sniper. He deserves burn. You'd love to see similar strides and PT for AJax and Marjon but it certainly doesn't look like that's coming. It certainly doesn't feel like that's coming for Marjon at least who appears to really struggle with confidence and stacking success into consistent production. He may just be a fringe rostational player who never maximizes his god given physical gifts.

I definitely don't agree with you on your assessment of Giannis (and, maybe I'm misconstruing what you're actually saying here?). He's been otherworldly nearly the entire season - his efficiency is off the charts historic. He is still managing to improve year-to-year. I think we have at least 2-3 more years of his Prime before he starts leveling off. And, who knows, he continues to surprise me so he could just keep on improving! I don't think any of us saw this version of Dame coming - the divorce and his mental are clearly off by a significant margin. It's wild. This is like 50% of the player I watched routinely in PDX - it makes me sad 🫠.

But, overall, yes it certainly just feels like a mulligan season whereby they had a train wreck coaching hire where their talent overcame the inefficiencies and managed a respectable record versus an extremely weak schedule. Now that they are facing actual high caliber NBA music (coupled with injuries), we're seeing what a mess they truly are. I mean they had Crowder and AJ Green scoring 20 + points last night and they still lost by over 20 points with a healthy Giannis! That's insane. 😅 Of course, starting Pat Connaughton as your PG is, ummmm. not favorable. Asking Pat Connaughton to cover the 1 is borderline comical. Oh Patty Ice, how your athleticism is fading.

[patrickgpe]

@Joseph ZarrHe has said he doesn't want to, but as of right now nba.com has Doc as the coach

https://www.nba.com/allstar/2024/roster

[Joseph Zarr]

1 minute ago, patrickgpe said:

@Joseph ZarrHe has said he doesn't want to, but as of right now nba.com has Doc as the coach

https://www.nba.com/allstar/2024/roster

Right. I think that's more a thing of the NBA and NBA.com not registering what the Bucks staff is actually going to do. At least it certainly seemed he was just going to hand it off to Prunty and the original staff? You're right, tho, in that I certainly don't know how it's actually going to go.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I wasn't suggesting Giannis isn't playing well, just that he's at the age where is not likely to get any better and the slide is going to start sooner than later. And he knows this, so there's not a lot of patience left. He is most likely a lot to blame for where they are right now, but it's a player-driven league and he knows that his best chance at a championship is now. So the exit seed is likely in his head. 

[nate82]

18 hours ago, patrickgpe said:

It doesn’t really matter if he does. I doubt his 4th option gets picked up. He is looking like a bust. Not sure what anyone thought the bucks would get for him 

Wasn't expecting anything in return was just expecting him to be in some kind of a trade.  But if he is not going to play then why is he on the team?  He is also a far better player than others that are on the bench.  I prefer Beauchamp over Connaughton. 

[HarryDoyle]

You can make all the excuses you want but the fact of the matter is something has been off all season long and there is no sign that it will be fixed anytime soon. I think the loss of Jrue is playing a massive part in this whole situation. To me, the Lillard trade is looking more and more like a curse in disguise.

[nate82]

14 minutes ago, HarryDoyle said:

You can make all the excuses you want but the fact of the matter is something has been off all season long and there is no sign that it will be fixed anytime soon. I think the loss of Jrue is playing a massive part in this whole situation. To me, the Lillard trade is looking more and more like a curse in disguise.

I think the Bucks made the wrong trade.  Beal would have been a better pickup but I don't think the Wizards would have wanted Middleton or Jrue.  So the offensive problems wouldn't have been fixed by keeping Jrue.  I think it would be the same team just with a different problem. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Well, it was an injury depleted Hornets squad. BUT, it sure looks as tho Pat Bev could have a PJ Tucker like impact on this sleepy squad. His energy. His loudness. His brashness. His desire to WIN are exactly what this team needed. Couple that with cracking a Miller Lite at his first post-game presser? It's clear he knows how to play to the crowd. Let's hope the good times keep coming!

[Joseph Zarr]

Just a Bucks sidebar:

The Herd have won 6 straight. Bolden (lotta double doubles of late), Gabriel, Livingston, Elijah Hughes and TyTy all really playing well. Marquese Chriss recently signed and making a consistent impact. After weeks of being mired in the thick of irrelevance, the Herd are suddenly 12-8 in the second half and a mere 1/2 GB of first place Delaware. Pretty cool.

[sveumrules]

Bucks hold the Nuggets to 95 points for their second straight win holding a team under 100.

Last time that they held opponents under 100 in back to back games was November 2021.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

On 2/9/2024 at 4:41 PM, HarryDoyle said:

You can make all the excuses you want but the fact of the matter is something has been off all season long and there is no sign that it will be fixed anytime soon. I think the loss of Jrue is playing a massive part in this whole situation. To me, the Lillard trade is looking more and more like a curse in disguise.

They weren't going to win a championship with Jrue Holiday. The fact is that they needed someone like Lillard to get a bucket when teams clog the paint with good defenders in the playoffs. We've seen what happens when the only path is Giannis barreling in on every possession. Middleton can no longer be counted on and Pat Connaughton/Bobby Portis isn't that guy. 

Jrue Holiday wasn't the problem (although his too frequent 6-of-22 nights were), but he is the only asset they had that would have brought something like Lillard back. I think every Bucks fan knew they were going to miss Holiday and everyone would have preferred sending Middleton off for that kind of ROI, but it was never going to happen.

It was either run it back and know they aren't going to win, or change course with another superstar offensive player and see if it helps. I think the jury is still out. I think it's likely they flame out, but being the NBA I would still wait and see what happens when everyone turns on another gear in the playoffs. We haven't gotten what he needed to get out of Dame, but I think the trade had to happen. There had to be a shift, whether it works or not isn't relevant to me because I know they weren't going to do it with Holiday.

 

[patrickgpe]

1 hour ago, sveumrules said:

Bucks hold the Nuggets to 95 points for their second straight win holding a team under 100.

Last time that they held opponents under 100 in back to back games was November 2021.

it really was unfair of those criticizing the hire of Doc because there wasn't improvement out of the gate also on a long west coast road trip. Last night was impressive, but I don't want to get too excited over a small sample size of 2 games. 

[sveumrules]

46 minutes ago, patrickgpe said:

it really was unfair of those criticizing the hire of Doc because there wasn't improvement out of the gate also on a long west coast road trip. Last night was impressive, but I don't want to get too excited over a small sample size of 2 games. 

Looks like Miami will be without Butler, Rozier & Richardson tonight and Bucks starters all only played between 23-30 minutes with the easy win last night, so hopefully should be able to take care of business on the B2B.

Then last game before the break is at Memphis, who are currently on a nine game losing streak and will be playing the second game of their own B2B.

Good opportunity to go into the ASB with some nice positive momentum if they can capitalize on it.

[nate82]

19 hours ago, sveumrules said:

Looks like Miami will be without Butler, Rozier & Richardson tonight and Bucks starters all only played between 23-30 minutes with the easy win last night, so hopefully should be able to take care of business on the B2B.

Well that was just a pathetic showing by the Bucks against Miami.

[Joseph Zarr]

3 hours ago, nate82 said:

Well that was just a pathetic showing by the Bucks against Miami.

What's new? They are Bucks kryptonite. Incredibly annoying. Doesn't matter who is suiting up. Kevin Love hitting 5-6 3's is almost a certainty.

[nate82]

Gallinari signs with the Bucks

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/39534003/danilo-gallinari-agrees-sign-bucks-rest-season-agent-says

[adambr2]

On 2/13/2024 at 9:54 AM, patrickgpe said:

it really was unfair of those criticizing the hire of Doc because there wasn't improvement out of the gate also on a long west coast road trip. Last night was impressive, but I don't want to get too excited over a small sample size of 2 games. 

That's good, because they've sucked since then. 

[Joseph Zarr]

U.G.L.Y. 'ugly'. The Bucks don't have no alibi. They ugly.

[nate82]

9 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

U.G.L.Y. 'ugly'. The Bucks don't have no alibi. They ugly.

It is basically what Giannis said after the game. 

https://theathletic.com/5280208/2024/02/16/giannis-bucks-loss-grizzlies/

From the article:

Quote

“There’s so many things that we have to do in order for us to be better,” Antetokounmpo said. “And it starts with, we have to want it. We have to want it. We have to want it. Like, what can I — what else should I say? Do we want it? Do we really want to win? Do we want to win?”

“We have to want it, man,” Antetokounmpo said. “Like enough with the talking. Enough with the, ‘our s— don’t-stink’ mentality. Do we really want it? Are we putting in the work? Are we going to put in the effort? Are we going to fight for what we think that we deserve or what our goals are trying to accomplish? That is the most important thing.

“Guys are tired, that’s an excuse. New coach, excuse. New system, excuse. New defense, excuse. All of it, it’s excuse. At the end of the day, you’re going to go out there and try to play basketball, try to compete and they competed harder than us today. They competed harder than us two days ago. We are not on track of what we are trying to do and I feel like the team feels it. The team feels it. I feel it.”

 

 

[Joseph Zarr]

Well Giannis has been historic. By every metric and by the eye test.

His teammates? They've consistently stunk. Slow. Inefficient. Etc.

It doesn't look good. I don't know what switch can be turned on that helps 35 year old vets gain 5-7 years of youth. Every time I think they've turned a corner, they regress to that plodding geriatric look with a sub 30% fg percentage. 🤭

[sveumrules]

As Dame goes, the Bucks go...

20-2 when he shoots 45% from the field, 15-14 when he doesn't.

24-3 when he scores 25 points, 11-13 when he doesn't.

0-5 when he hasn't played.

I'll give him a first half pass between getting divorced and going from being thee guy to having to be more of a 1B, but increased consistency from him down the stretch and into the playoffs would be the most impactful change.

[Joseph Zarr]

I have to say, this was one of the more hilarious/entertaining Bucks All Star breaks in quite some time. Doc certainly doesn't espouse the role of a HC who stays out of the news cycle. Pat Bev stirring the JJ Redick pot. 😅 Good times.

[Joseph Zarr]

The ongoing 'Who are these Bucks, really?' continued with an extremely impressive win at Minnesota this past Thursday. Can they string together back-to-back impressive victories? They head to Philadelphia today. They've certainly shown wildly inconsistent habits all season long. They've had some really poor performances against teams you'd think they'd cakewalk over. BUT, one thing is also certain: they can hang with the best teams any night if they're motivated and playing remotely close to their potential. In other words, still very much a serious contender. Still very much a candidate to get bounced in the first or second round. 😂