2024-25 Milwaukee Bucks thread

[Joseph Zarr]

11 hours ago, OldHeidelberg said:

Portis suspended 25 games for violating substance policy. Tramadol, he says it was an accident.

BUT it paved the way for what will be remembered as 'The Jericho Sims Era'. 1-0 baby. 

KPJ for Marjon is an unbelievably good basketball  trade by the Bucks. Hard to fathom swapping Marjon's level of talent for a guy with KPJ's handles; footwork; finishing ability; and outright athleticism. That is a steal. 

[Joseph Zarr]

On 2/7/2025 at 11:22 AM, Joseph Zarr said:

I don't over invest in any of the hoopla around KPJ's off the court issues. I have no idea what happened. It is reported he is still under investigation but there is no resolution and I was not there. So, I won't virtue signal any part of this story whatsoever like many many other fans are doing and have done. Basketball-wise, I think KPJ is extremely talented and continues to have untapped potential. He is a measurably (and I do mean measurably) better basketball player than Marjon. He has length, top-tier athleticism, and an extremely good handle. He could very easily step into a back-up PG role for the second unit - or share those duties should they sign Rollins to an actual contract. As a player for player swap, all outside distractions and concerns aside, this is a massive basketball win for the Bucks

I do believe my scouting report was spot on at the Deadline here.

I mean he is electric to the basket. Of he ever reclaims his one time decent outside stroke this could legit be a heist.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Kuzma is looking like a very good addition for swapping a guy who never played. It is looking a lot like his heart just wasn't there in Washington. He has looked like a superb on-ball defender and is making contested shots at the rim. I don't think the Bucks are a championship team but they are giving me hope for a 1st round win and at least pushing the Cavs a bit.

[sveumrules]

21 hours ago, OldHeidelberg said:

Portis suspended 25 games for violating substance policy. Tramadol, he says it was an accident.

Man, tough year for Bobby.

First his house gets broken into and his ring gets stolen, then I believe I heard his personal absence for those games was to deal with the loss of his grandmother who practically raised him, and now this.

Guess the good news is he should be pretty fresh and ready to rock for the playoffs.

[Outlander]

It is nice to see they got better at the deadline, it is tough to upgrade being in their spot and limited tradeable assets. It is an uphill climb but keep GIannis healthy and see what happens.

[sveumrules]

Good news is that even without Dame, Bobby, Prince and only 19 minutes of hobbled Giannis, plus being on the second game of a home/road back to back against a fully rested team that hadn’t played since before the break…the Bucks are still better than the Wizards.

Right now the 4-5-6 six seeds are bunched up within a couple games at IND (31 W - 23 L), MIL (31 W - 24 L), and DET (30 W - 26 L).

Ideally they end up in that 4/5 seed match up that would allow them to avoid NYK / BOS / CLE until the 2nd round.

[nate82]

What is going to suck after this season is that the Bucks don’t have a draft pick in this upcoming draft.  So the Bucks will have to figure out how to replace Lopez without a pick.  I think they may move Giannis to the 5 and either try and find a cheap 4 in FA or try and trade for someone.  I don’t think they will want Bobby playing the 4 in the starting rotation.

Hunter Dickinson maybe an option as an undrafted FA but I think he gets drafted somewhere in the 2nd round.  May be able to trade into the 2nd or late 1st but I am not sure on who they could trade to do so.

[Joseph Zarr]

2-0 in what will be remembered as 'The Jericho Sims Era' There is PS (Pre-Sims). There is AS (After Sims). Where were you?

I am curious if the Bucks will be able to keep KPJ after he opts out. Like a Bobby prove it deal handshake deal? It is clear he likes his new situation and he has fans in the org. Most importantly, he has a big fan in the GM...errr...I mean Giannis

 

[CheezWizHed]

6 hours ago, nate82 said:

What is going to suck after this season is that the Bucks don’t have a draft pick in this upcoming draft.  So the Bucks will have to figure out how to replace Lopez without a pick.  I think they may move Giannis to the 5 and either try and find a cheap 4 in FA or try and trade for someone.  I don’t think they will want Bobby playing the 4 in the starting rotation.

Hunter Dickinson maybe an option as an undrafted FA but I think he gets drafted somewhere in the 2nd round.  May be able to trade into the 2nd or late 1st but I am not sure on who they could trade to do so.

I think they Bucks have a second round pick as a result of the trades this mid-season.  Plus a couple of years ago, they bought a 2nd round pick with cash. 

[Joseph Zarr]

26 minutes ago, CheezWizHed said:

I think they Bucks have a second round pick as a result of the trades this mid-season.  Plus a couple of years ago, they bought a 2nd round pick with cash. 

They do not own any picks in 2025. As you note, they can very readily buy a 2nd Rd pick if they so chose and another team was willing.

Edit: Wait a minute. Scratch that. None of the draft pick trackers appear to have updated post-trade deadline. The Bucks DID in fact receive two 2nd rd picks. The 2026 Spurs pick most likely never materializes due to caveats like top 55 protections and the fact they have 5 2nd rd picks possible with other hoopla surrounding them. The pick that will translate is indeed a 2nd rd pick for this 2025 draft. It will essentially be the 2nd most favorable pick amongst The Pistons, Suns or Warriors. .So you were indeed correct @CheezWizHed.

[nate82]

That 2nd round pick will probably be in the middle of the 2nd round and that will be their only pick in the '25 draft.  So adding more young talent to the team doesn't look all that possible without a major trade of either Dame or Giannis or both.  It better be a center because the Bucks have no one next year at center other than moving Giannis there. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Career High 25 last night for the Capital City Go Go for AJ Johnson. A rare highly efficient 8-for-17 and 5-for-11 from deep 3-for-3 from the charity stripe. 2 boards and 6 dimes. It's pretty clear the Whiz were targeting Johnson all along - I certainly don't blame them - given where Midds is in his career. As I said previously, trading him when we did when he was just starting to get it (given his immense on ball tools) was the real basketball asset loss at the Deadline. Obviously, losing Midds was sad and the nostalgia there is very real but given his ongoing health concerns and age it makes sense. Losing AJ as a 'throw in' was painful. Still is from a basketball POV in an org consistently lacking youth with big upside.

 

[Joseph Zarr]

3-0 in 'The Jericho Sims Era'

 

Where were you when the culture shifted?

[CheezWizHed]

On 2/22/2025 at 11:04 PM, Joseph Zarr said:

So you were indeed correct @CheezWizHed.

You mean that there was a doubt?? 😉

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I feel pretty confident in saying that Kuzma has made the team better. They're getting a different version of the player that was in Washington.

He didn't even shoot well last night and stayed +19 because he has been such a positive defensively, which I don't think anybody saw coming.

[sveumrules]

18 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

I feel pretty confident in saying that Kuzma has made the team better. They're getting a different version of the player that was in Washington.

He didn't even shoot well last night and stayed +19 because he has been such a positive defensively, which I don't think anybody saw coming.

When the Bucks had their extended run of good play in the first half (24 W - 10 L from 11/12 through 01/27) their 109.4 dRTG was 5th in the league for that stretch.

Obviously a lot smaller sample, but during this 5 W - 1 L run they are currently on their 104.3 dRTG is 2nd in the league. 

Still think second round in the realistic ceiling, but their chances of pulling off an upset or two are definitely better in my eyes now than they were before the deadline, assuming health from Giannis/Dame of course.

[homer]

I've resigned myself to the fact that they won't win another title with Giannis. I wish they had drafted for floor instead of ceiling the last 5 years. They might have been able to get another one.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Their biggest flaw was not winning more titles with teams that were good enough to do it. 

They could have won in the bubble. 

If they get past Toronto, they win it. And they were up 2-0.

They arguably repeat, at least win the East, if they get by Boston in Game 7 - a huge series to win without Middleton.

I don't think the Bucks failures are organizational. We're simply living in what happens to every team, what is necessary to have a championship window. I have said this before, but the title they did win just happened to be closer to the end of that window than the beginning. Their failures are of on-court execution. Not poor planning, IMO. After 2022, it was going to be a longshot for them to get another one. They had a real chance to grab a few from 2018-2022. That was a 5-year window.

[sveumrules]

Definitely feels like we are in somewhat of a transitional phase as it relates to teams winning multiple NBA Championships with no repeats in the last six years.

Kawhi in 2019, LeBron in 2020, Bucks in 2021, Curry in 2022, Jokic in 2023 and Celtics last year,

50/50 split of the old guard getting one last ring (for now), and the new guys getting their first.

If CLE or OKC can ride out their #1 seeds that would make it seven in a row with different winners after LeBron/GSW won seven straight from 2012-18.

I just want one Giannis Bucks vs Jokic Nuggets Finals before time runs out. Can't imagine too many other "Best Players in the World" went seven seasons without ever meeting in the Finals. Maybe Kareem / Dr. J in the 1970's because of the ABA split?

[nate82]

1 hour ago, sveumrules said:

I just want one Giannis Bucks vs Jokic Nuggets Finals before time runs out. Can't imagine too many other "Best Players in the World" went seven seasons without ever meeting in the Finals. Maybe Kareem / Dr. J in the 1970's because of the ABA split?

Jordan and Olajuwon though they may have faced each other if Jordan didn't retire and try baseball. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

2 minutes ago, nate82 said:

Jordan and Olajuwon though they may have faced each other if Jordan didn't retire and try baseball. 

That 1994 Finals with HOU and NYK was one of my all-time favorites. It really got me into the NBA. Seeing the Bulls took the Knicks to 7 games without Jordan, I'd say it's more than a maybe. Probably more likely the Rockets never win a championship if he doesn't play baseball.

[Joseph Zarr]

I still remain pleasantly confounded by the Bucks turning Marjon Beauchamp and Delon Wright into KPJ and Jericho Sims. Two absolutely perfect roster fits and all it took was exchanging two absolutely net negative values on a 2025 NBA basketball court. This Bucks team is suddenly fun to watch again. That's also two consecutive efficient, low volume and controlled games from Kuzma. The 3-thru-6 races in the East suddenly got very very interesting this past month. Bucks are suddenly only 4.0 GB the Knickerbocker while neck and neck with Indy and Detroit (who is 9-1 over their last 10). Bucks currently hold a tiebreaker and 0.5 G lead over Indy in the 4th seed.

 

[sveumrules]

Will be interesting to see how the Bucks handle the seven game mini gauntlet they have coming up with CLE, atIND, LAL, IND, OKC, atGSW, atLAL between March 9th and 20th.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I am hoping the Bucks turn into the teams that have knocked them off early in the playoffs previously. I think they can get out of the first round, but I am not totally sold on the Cavs and I would welcome that 2nd round matchup. I don't think there's any way they beat Boston, but I don't think Cleveland will beat Boston either. Holding out hope we are hitting another gear in the playoffs and not overly concerned about regular season games.

[Joseph Zarr]

2 hours ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

I am hoping the Bucks turn into the teams that have knocked them off early in the playoffs previously. I think they can get out of the first round, but I am not totally sold on the Cavs and I would welcome that 2nd round matchup. I don't think there's any way they beat Boston, but I don't think Cleveland will beat Boston either. Holding out hope we are hitting another gear in the playoffs and not overly concerned about regular season games.

Well, not many teams are going to beat Boston when Derrick White and Pritchard go off like they did last night. Unbelievable shooting performances.