2024-25 Milwaukee Bucks thread

[patrickgpe]

47 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned here is how the Bucks star players have been injured/not 100% in the post-season the last four years..  And it's been all three - Giannis, Middleton, and now Lillard.  

It's really hard to win in the playoffs when your star players are struggling just to get on the court..

Giannis, for all of his greatness, has missed multiple games in 4 out of the last 5 playoffs. Its one of the big reasons that the bucks only have one banner at Fiserv for this run. 

[CheezWizHed]

50 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned here is how the Bucks star players have been injured/not 100% in the post-season the last four years..  And it's been all three - Giannis, Middleton, and now Lillard.  

It's really hard to win in the playoffs when your star players are struggling just to get on the court..

While true, they weren't winning with Lillard on the court either.  And relying on older players increases this risk, so there is part of this that is part of roster construction.

[Matt Breen]

I honestly don't know what the best approach should be for Milwaukee. I guess the first thing to do is go to Giannis and present him for a vision for the future - one where he is part of it and he is going to win. That'll be hard, but they have to try. 

I mean, is bringing back Portis and Porter enough? Or Trent? What about Lopez or some other replacement? We have some financial flexibility - but not a ton. It seems like it's going to be hard to fashion a team that looks like a contender. And what about beyond next season? Is getting a 37-year old Dame back a game changer? It's not like we have a bunch of great draft picks available to us. 

Like I said, we have to try. 

[sveumrules]

5 minutes ago, Matt Breen said:

I mean, is bringing back Portis and Porter enough? Or Trent? What about Lopez or some other replacement?

Assuming Giannis stays, I think they'll try to retain all of Porter Jr, Trent Jr and Portis (plus Ryan Rollins and Jericho Sims).

If Brook wants to come back at a discount as a regular season floor raiser I'd be fine with that too, but would prefer to give those minutes to someone younger.

Porter Jr. / Rollins
Trent Jr. / Patty C
Green / Jackson Jr. 
Giannis / Kuzma
Bobby / Sims

Deep bench would be Chris Livingstone, Tyler Smith & whoever they take with pick #47.

Try to deal Kuzma for someone more useful &/or see who is out there for the vet min that can fit in around Giannis and knock down some open shots.

[HarryDoyle]

I hope for the Celtics sake the Knicks used lube.

[LouisEly]

It's really hard to win in the playoffs, much less when your star players are injured.

[HarryDoyle]

Expect ESPN to play the 30 for 30 Winning Time episode on a loop this weekend.

[Matt Breen]

I'll throw out this idea - waive and stretch both Pat C. and Kyle Kuzma. Stretch rules - if I am correct - say you can stretch the contract over twice the years remaining on the deal - plus one year. 

Pat C is owed $9.3m next year. So stretch over three years at $3.1m a year. Of course, if you think he can help us - by all means - keep him. But that doesn't seem likely.

Kuzma is owed - roughly $44m over the next two years. So that can be stretched over five years. That's just under $9 per season.

This pushes the pain further down the road, but it would free up about $12m for 2025-26. 

Perhaps just waiving Kuzma is stupid. But he looked awful. And if you keep him, there's going to be pressure to play him. And if you don't, he's just a distraction. Just get rid of him now and use the savings to add a player who can actually help the club.

Also, no one is going to want to trade for either Pat C or Kuzma. Not at those salaries. 

The one option might be taking on a player of similar salary that we think might help us.

 

[jay87shot]

On 5/18/2025 at 11:48 PM, Matt Breen said:

I'll throw out this idea - waive and stretch both Pat C. and Kyle Kuzma. Stretch rules - if I am correct - say you can stretch the contract over twice the years remaining on the deal - plus one year. 

Pat C is owed $9.3m next year. So stretch over three years at $3.1m a year. Of course, if you think he can help us - by all means - keep him. But that doesn't seem likely.

Kuzma is owed - roughly $44m over the next two years. So that can be stretched over five years. That's just under $9 per season.

This pushes the pain further down the road, but it would free up about $12m for 2025-26. 

Perhaps just waiving Kuzma is stupid. But he looked awful. And if you keep him, there's going to be pressure to play him. And if you don't, he's just a distraction. Just get rid of him now and use the savings to add a player who can actually help the club.

Also, no one is going to want to trade for either Pat C or Kuzma. Not at those salaries. 

The one option might be taking on a player of similar salary that we think might help us.

 

I am pretty sure you can only stretch 1 contract. To add to that Pat and Kuz are probably our only salary matching contracts. They likely won't bring in much in the way of a star player but could be used to bring in a good player on with a bad contract. I wouldn't be against using the stretch on Pat C., however Kuzma has a pretty big contract and I don't know if paying 8 or 9 million a year for 5 years is a good idea when we could just trade him.

On 5/15/2025 at 4:24 PM, sveumrules said:

Assuming Giannis stays, I think they'll try to retain all of Porter Jr, Trent Jr and Portis (plus Ryan Rollins and Jericho Sims).

If Brook wants to come back at a discount as a regular season floor raiser I'd be fine with that too, but would prefer to give those minutes to someone younger.

Porter Jr. / Rollins
Trent Jr. / Patty C
Green / Jackson Jr. 
Giannis / Kuzma
Bobby / Sims

Deep bench would be Chris Livingstone, Tyler Smith & whoever they take with pick #47.

Try to deal Kuzma for someone more useful &/or see who is out there for the vet min that can fit in around Giannis and knock down some open shots.

I don't think that team is even a little successful and would really entice Giannis to come back. Defensively we would get destroyed on the wings I feel like we need some big moves/names to get him to stay. It does sound like getting Bobby Portis to stay would go a long way towards keeping him around. I really think we need to try and make a play at a bad contract like Bradley Beal, DeAndre Ayton, Jeremi Grant, maybe even Joel Embiid and hope Giannis can impart some effort or good health. Then on top of that sign a player with a big name, I like Russell Westbrook, who could further keep Giannis around.

[GAME05]

We're well beyond any believable "we can compete" excuse. Be the Greatest Buck with at least a two-year rebuild or move on to win a heck of a lot more games but bounce around the last half of your career. Bucks' brass are supposedly going to meet with Giannis in the coming few days.

[Matt Breen]

2 hours ago, jay87shot said:

I am pretty sure you can only stretch 1 contract. 

 

Thank you for the clarification. 

[BrewerFan]

On 5/14/2025 at 12:42 PM, CheezWizHed said:

While true, they weren't winning with Lillard on the court either.  And relying on older players increases this risk, so there is part of this that is part of roster construction.

I'm not sure about that. 

If they'd have just kept Middleton and then stayed healthy, the way things have worked out, I think it's entirely possible they could have won the East. 

The Pacers are no juggernauts and the Knicks are good, but...again...

But Middleton was consistently hurt and we weren't healthy(part of roster construction as you pointed out). 

Look at Boston though. They looked like they had a 3-4 year run on their hands and now they lose in 6 and next year is a lost year as well. They may win 50 games, but...Jrue is old, Horford older, Porzingas injury prone.

White and Brown. Two good players and closing in on 500M in roster costs. 

[CheezWizHed]

10 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

I'm not sure about that. 

If they'd have just kept Middleton and then stayed healthy, the way things have worked out, I think it's entirely possible they could have won the East. 

The Pacers are no juggernauts and the Knicks are good, but...again...

But Middleton was consistently hurt and we weren't healthy(part of roster construction as you pointed out). 

Look at Boston though. They looked like they had a 3-4 year run on their hands and now they lose in 6 and next year is a lost year as well. They may win 50 games, but...Jrue is old, Horford older, Porzingas injury prone.

White and Brown. Two good players and closing in on 500M in roster costs. 

The context of my post was that this year with Lillard (i.e. fully healthy), they weren't winning. There really isn't room for opinion there... They won one game, got clobbered in two games and losing the third badly when he went down. 

I said nothing about Middleton or previous years.

[BrewerFan]

50 minutes ago, CheezWizHed said:

The context of my post was that this year with Lillard (i.e. fully healthy), they weren't winning. There really isn't room for opinion there...

Oh...I'm sorry. See, now I thought there WAS room for an opinion in discussing a hypothetical. My mistake.

50 minutes ago, CheezWizHed said:

They won one game, got clobbered in two games and losing the third badly when he went down. 

Yeah, they were losing by 3 points in the 1st quarter and had the ball in the game he went down. Not exactly "Losing badly," they were down by 2 points with 2:30 to go in the first game of the series he played....not exactly "getting clobbered." 

But hey, if it's your OPINION that being Down by 2 with 2:30 in Game 2(the 1st game of the series Dame played) and down by 3 when Dame got hurt is "losing badly," who am I to deprive you of your opinions.

He was injured to START the series, so I kinda thought the whole "if healthy" thing was...obviously based on opinions(which there are no room for here I guess)...

They also lost another game with him when they were up 7 with ~40 seconds left. So if I'm counting right, that's 3 games that were close, two with a STILL injured but playing Dame.

So that's 3 games.

50 minutes ago, CheezWizHed said:

I said nothing about Middleton

Yes, I'm aware. But I did.

11 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

If they'd have just kept Middleton and then stayed healthy, the way things have worked out, I think it's entirely possible they could have won the East. 

But Middleton was consistently hurt and we weren't healthy(part of roster construction as you pointed out). 

See... was my opinion....which I couched by also agreeing with you that when you build an older roster, that's  an inherent risk.

 

But being as Lillard didn't play the first game and they were decidedly NOT "getting clobbered" when he went down and then given what happened to the Celtics, it seems like a moot point, but...kinda my apologies on thinking there...was "room for opinion."

 

[CheezWizHed]

On 5/22/2025 at 8:44 AM, BrewerFan said:

Oh...I'm sorry. See, now I thought there WAS room for an opinion in discussing a hypothetical. My mistake.

Yeah, they were losing by 3 points in the 1st quarter and had the ball in the game he went down. Not exactly "Losing badly," they were down by 2 points with 2:30 to go in the first game of the series he played....not exactly "getting clobbered." 

But hey, if it's your OPINION that being Down by 2 with 2:30 in Game 2(the 1st game of the series Dame played) and down by 3 when Dame got hurt is "losing badly," who am I to deprive you of your opinions.

He was injured to START the series, so I kinda thought the whole "if healthy" thing was...obviously based on opinions(which there are no room for here I guess)...

They also lost another game with him when they were up 7 with ~40 seconds left. So if I'm counting right, that's 3 games that were close, two with a STILL injured but playing Dame.

So that's 3 games.

Yes, I'm aware. But I did.

See... was my opinion....which I couched by also agreeing with you that when you build an older roster, that's  an inherent risk.

 

But being as Lillard didn't play the first game and they were decidedly NOT "getting clobbered" when he went down and then given what happened to the Celtics, it seems like a moot point, but...kinda my apologies on thinking there...was "room for opinion."

 

Sorry, I was talking about this year and you were going on about Middleton and previous year's injuries... I had no idea why. It honestly sounded like a drunk post. 

If you think a healthy LIllard would've made sense this year, great. You are entitled to that opinion. 

I thought they looked bad... all year.  Giannis and Lillard don't belong together; they look like two good players doing their own thing out there. Doesn't matter if Dame was healthy or not... they weren't beating the Pacers.  

I guess I take some solace on how well the Pacers continue to play...

[BrewerFan]

17 minutes ago, CheezWizHed said:

Sorry, I was talking about this year and you were going on about Middleton and previous year's injuries... I had no idea why. It honestly sounded like a drunk post. 

If you think a healthy LIllard would've made sense this year, great. You are entitled to that opinion. 

I thought they looked bad... all year.  Giannis and Lillard don't belong together; they look like two good players doing their own thing out there. Doesn't matter if Dame was healthy or not... they weren't beating the Pacers.  

I guess I take some solace on how well the Pacers continue to play...

 

On 5/21/2025 at 9:24 PM, BrewerFan said:

If they'd have just kept Middleton and then stayed healthy, the way things have worked out, I think it's entirely possible they could have won the East. 

But Middleton was consistently hurt and we weren't healthy(part of roster construction as you pointed out). 

 

Really? You had "no idea" why I'd talked about Middleton and that statement sounded...."drunk?"

And I was "going on" about Middleton's past injuries? This is it. The extent of what I said about his injuries.

They were +16 with Giannis+Dame+Middleton+Lopez on the floor.

 

[Samurai Bucky]

15 hours ago, BrewerFan said:

They were +16 with Giannis+Dame+Middleton+Lopez on the floor.

They were on the floor for a total of 79 minutes together.  Middleton was not reliable this year because of his health.

However, when they were on the floor, they were the most effective:

 

[CheezWizHed]

On 5/23/2025 at 5:50 PM, BrewerFan said:

 

 

Really? You had "no idea" why I'd talked about Middleton and that statement sounded...."drunk?"

And I was "going on" about Middleton's past injuries? This is it. The extent of what I said about his injuries.

They were +16 with Giannis+Dame+Middleton+Lopez on the floor.

 

Last I checked, Middleton wasn't on this year's playoff team, so I assumed you were suddenly going to previous years.  If you meant pre-trade, it wasn't clear... nor really pertinent to the playoff discussion.  

So yes, the inclusion of Middleton into the discussion of whether we were winning this year's playoff series with Indiana was confusing.  

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I can't believe there's a soul suggesting the Bucks could have won the East this year or anyone still clammering about Middleton "if he was healthy." About the same as wishing they had Kareem "if he was 25." 

They lost to Indiana 4-1. Why are pockets of the fan base under the impression the series went 7 or something? 

The Bucks are washed. Their ceiling is the 2nd round of the playoffs if they get a lucky matchup. Their only path out of this is a slam dunk fluke with this year's 2nd round pick. 

[HarryDoyle]

Using this as a playoff thread but I just wanted to say that if there ever was a team of destiny, the Pacers are it.

[Samurai Bucky]

On 6/6/2025 at 9:14 AM, HarryDoyle said:

Using this as a playoff thread but I just wanted to say that if there ever was a team of destiny, the Pacers are it.

No doubt.  Although Haliburton is a... um... easy person to dislike, he is clutch at the end of games.

[HarryDoyle]

2 hours ago, Samurai Bucky said:

No doubt.  Although Haliburton is a... um... easy person to dislike, he is clutch at the end of games.

I really don't have a problem with him even though Bucks/Pacers is a budding rivalry. Maybe it's because the NBA is the league out of the big four I watch the least. I'm more entertained by the Stanley Cup playoffs, and by a significant margin.

[Joseph Zarr]

Absolute Legend. My favorite Wisconsin professional athlete ever and it just isn't all that close for me:

To do what he is doing in this day and Age for the state of Wisconsin and the city of Milwaukee is unprecedented. He is the realest of the Real Ones. I just love this young man unlike any other athlete. He just oozes authenticity and genuine humanity. He is a Treasure.

[nate82]

Durant to the Rockets. 
 

If the Bucks were to trade Giannis I think this would be a close comparison of what they would receive.

[patrickgpe]

34 minutes ago, nate82 said:

Durant to the Rockets. 
 

If the Bucks were to trade Giannis I think this would be a close comparison of what they would receive.

The cost would be much more. One first and a few 2nds is not enough draft capital. Brooks and Green are nice players but Giannis in his prime is worth way more than that.  the grizzlies got more for bane than this.