2024-25 Milwaukee Bucks thread

[LouisEly]

I think that Bobby Portis is more important to this team than most think. 

Record without Portis: 16-15

Record with Portis: 31-19

Debate what a "3rd scorer" is, but if they can get Lillard back a top 5 of Giannis - Lillard - Portis - Porter Jr - Kuzma/Lopez can run with just about anyone.

[nate82]

Well Budenholzer didn’t last all that long in Phoenix.  He was just fired or reportedly fired after one season with the Suns.

[sveumrules]

9 minutes ago, nate82 said:

Well Budenholzer didn’t last all that long in Phoenix.  He was just fired or reportedly fired after one season with the Suns.

People love to complain about Doc (and he's certainly no savant) but at least he is on the sideline coaching his team to the playoffs.

Bud got $50M from the Suns to get fired after one year, Monty got $78.5M in free money from the Pistons, Kings gave Mike Brown a $30M extension and fired him 31 games later.

[Brian]

On 4/14/2025 at 3:38 PM, sveumrules said:

People love to complain about Doc (and he's certainly no savant) but at least he is on the sideline coaching his team to the playoffs.

Bud got $50M from the Suns to get fired after one year, Monty got $78.5M in free money from the Pistons, Kings gave Mike Brown a $30M extension and fired him 31 games later.

That is a lot of free money, I would just move to Antigua, get a private chef, housekeeper, gardener and call it a day. 

[Samurai Bucky]

7 hours ago, Brian said:

That is a lot of free money, I would just move to Antigua, get a private chef, housekeeper, gardener and call it a day. 

[young guns]

Dame has been cleared for basketball activities.  Don't know what his status will be for game 1 though.  At least gives me some hope if he can be near 100%.

[CheezWizHed]

4 hours ago, young guns said:

Dame has been cleared for basketball activities.  Don't know what his status will be for game 1 though.  At least gives me some hope if he can be near 100%.

He is missing "the start of the playoffs"... so at least game one.  There is little info on what basketball activities mean.. Shooting? Contact?  

I'd be happy if he can play against Indiana even just a little. 

[adambr2]

On 4/14/2025 at 3:38 PM, sveumrules said:

People love to complain about Doc (and he's certainly no savant) but at least he is on the sideline coaching his team to the playoffs.

Bud got $50M from the Suns to get fired after one year, Monty got $78.5M in free money from the Pistons, Kings gave Mike Brown a $30M extension and fired him 31 games later.

It would be interesting to debate sometime how much an above average or below average HC/manager makes a difference in your win/loss total over a season in the NFL/NBA/MLB.

Maybe there’s too many variables to quantify, since the fit and situation matter, too. I mean Bud won 60 games with the Bucks in a season and only 36 with a pretty talented Suns team with 2 superstars.

[BrewerFan]

On 4/13/2025 at 9:56 PM, LouisEly said:

I think that Bobby Portis is more important to this team than most think. 

Record without Portis: 16-15

Record with Portis: 31-19

Debate what a "3rd scorer" is, but if they can get Lillard back a top 5 of Giannis - Lillard - Portis - Porter Jr - Kuzma/Lopez can run with just about anyone.

They can score with just about anyone. 

I'd like to see that lineup staggered. 

I'd LIKE to see Andre Jackson Jr in there at times in place of Portis or Lopez. 

But sure, they have the fire power there. Hollins is another guy who will see his minutes go down, but who I think we're just better when he gets 15-19 minutes. 
 

On 4/14/2025 at 3:38 PM, sveumrules said:

People love to complain about Doc (and he's certainly no savant) but at least he is on the sideline coaching his team to the playoffs.

Yeah...isn't that because the Bucks would then be paying like...30M for Head Coaches not currently coaching?

Billy Donovan was the guy I was really hoping we'd hire a few years ago. 

It seems like Doc builds his lineups more like how we would for Fantasy Basketball. 

Unless a team with a 25 year old superstar off to a historically great start to his career is shopped and traded to the Bucks, we've likely already hit our peak, but I could see a run to the ECFs vs Boston(where they'd hopefully dust off the aforementioned Jackson Jr) and...who knows. 

 

Crazier things have happened. Lets hope Dame can get on one of those runs he did in the post-season with Portland and we play more than 5-6 games this year. We'll see. It'll be fun...until it's not. 

[Joseph Zarr]

Obviously, I'm hoping for the best. BUT, only 'The Doctor' would watch the last three months from the HC's chair and think:

"Gotta keep Kooz and Prince in that starting line-up to maintain our continuity. Gotta do it!"

I was legitimately in pain (for three seconds) when they announced today's starting five. Anywho, is what it is. Series underway.

 

[adambr2]

3 minutes for Portis in the 1st is criminal. 
 

Is Doc aware that this is a playoff game and not the last regular season game?

[adambr2]

On 4/13/2025 at 9:56 PM, LouisEly said:

I think that Bobby Portis is more important to this team than most think. 

Record without Portis: 16-15

Record with Portis: 31-19

Debate what a "3rd scorer" is, but if they can get Lillard back a top 5 of Giannis - Lillard - Portis - Porter Jr - Kuzma/Lopez can run with just about anyone.

Or Doc will just keep Portis and Porter on the bench anyway. 

[wOOgiE22]

Well that 1st half was a nightmare. 

[HarryDoyle]

Looks like Indiana will bend over the Bucks and have their way with them for the second year in a row. And you can't use not having Giannis as an excuse this time.

[adambr2]

Yeah, the Bucks aren’t going to be hanging around long enough with Indiana to worry about Lillard making a significant impact in this series. They’ll be lucky to win 2 games, let alone 4.

Not an ideal time of year to have the worst head coach in the NBA.

[CheezWizHed]

Didn't realize this was an early game, but looks like I'm glad I missed it... 😬

[nate82]

My biggest fear in the off season is that the Bucks trade Dame plus for Herro and then give Herro a super max contract.  Then Giannis requesting a trade after next season.  Giannis may request a trade after this season.  

[adambr2]

I couldn’t blame Giannis for a second if he wants out. The organization had the hard part done for them, they had their franchise player. All they needed to do was assemble a good supporting cast around him, and they failed.

They opted for veterans every time they had a chance to build with youth and now they painted themselves into a corner with no way out.

Giannis isn’t stupid. He knows they’ve already used up every piece of ammo that they could possibly use to build around him. He’ll by staring down retirement by the time they can build a young nucleus again. 

[HarryDoyle]

11 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

I couldn’t blame Giannis for a second if he wants out. The organization had the hard part done for them, they had their franchise player. All they needed to do was assemble a good supporting cast around him, and they failed.

They opted for veterans every time they had a chance to build with youth and now they painted themselves into a corner with no way out.

Giannis isn’t stupid. He knows they’ve already used up every piece of ammo that they could possibly use to build around him. He’ll by staring down retirement by the time they can build a young nucleus again. 

The Lillard trade will go down as one of the biggest mistakes in franchise history. It totally destroyed the chemistry of that championship team of 2021. Their window would still be open today if not for that. Maybe not for much longer as they would still be an old team for the most part, but still open. If/when Giannis is gone, you wonder how long it will be before they even become a respectable team again.

[adambr2]

2 hours ago, HarryDoyle said:

The Lillard trade will go down as one of the biggest mistakes in franchise history. It totally destroyed the chemistry of that championship team of 2021. Their window would still be open today if not for that. Maybe not for much longer as they would still be an old team for the most part, but still open. If/when Giannis is gone, you wonder how long it will be before they even become a respectable team again.

Well, they don’t control their own 1st again until 2031. 

So probably 5 years out from that is where they COULD start building something again IF they hit lottery gold at least once or twice in the 2030s.

[sveumrules]

7 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

Well, they don’t control their own 1st again until 2031. 

So probably 5 years out from that is where they COULD start building something again IF they hit lottery gold at least once or twice in the 2030s.

Presumably any trade involving Lillard or Giannis would bring back a bunch of first round picks / young players.

[sveumrules]

2 hours ago, HarryDoyle said:

The Lillard trade will go down as one of the biggest mistakes in franchise history. It totally destroyed the chemistry of that championship team of 2021. Their window would still be open today if not for that. Maybe not for much longer as they would still be an old team for the most part, but still open. If/when Giannis is gone, you wonder how long it will be before they even become a respectable team again.

Disagree that their window would still be open today with an increasingly injured Middleton and Holiday who is nowhere close to being a legit #2 option on offense.

Bringing in Dame (or anyone who could help Giannis carry the load on offense) was a necessity with Middleton's body breaking down.

The actual big mistake that offseason was letting Giannis hire Griffin instead of going with the front office's rumored preference for Kenny Atkinson.

[adambr2]

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/nba/article/kyle-kuzma-plays-one-of-the-worst-games-in-playoff-history-records-zero-counting-stats-in-bucks-loss-to-pacers-204611678.html
 

This is the guy who is going to give us a real shot?

[Joseph Zarr]

You can't overcome the coaching of Doc Rivers in the playoffs. He is easily, and I mean easily, the worst coach in the post-season. Not a single intelligent basketball mind, leading an NBA playoff team, would willingly start Prince and Kuzma in game one on the road. He uses a 10-man rotation? Then, post-game, 'The Doctor' doubles down with a prognosis the Bucks need to get one of the most inefficient starter in the League more touches? This isn't surprising. The man is in well over his head.

Historicity of Doc-led teams would quite easily predict the following likely scenario:

Dame comes back. Doc makes no adjustments. Bucks fall down 2-0 (maybe the game is closer. maybe they lose a heartbreaker). Bucks happen to squeak out Game 3 at Home. Doc still struggles to see the obvious. Indiana feels they have this series. Doc finally begins making line-up adjustments. The momentum has swung and it is too late. 

Obviously, as a life long Bucks fan I hope this is inaccurate. BUT, this is Glenn 'Doc' Rivers we are discussing. The man is about as thick-headed to understand the trends in modern basketball as he is to understand in-game or in-series adjustments. I remain utterly amazed the Bucks not only targeted this man to lead this team but they paid him the money they did to lure him out of retirement. The Bucks remain the Bucks. 

I remain forever grateful for Giannis and the Championship run. It remains incredibly difficult to take this organization seriously. They repeatedly demonstrate they are not a competently led organization.

 

[sveumrules]

30 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

It remains incredibly difficult to take this organization seriously. They repeatedly demonstrate they are not a competently led organization.

So you’re saying Doc promoted to POBO after the season wouldn’t surprise you then?