tmwiese55

Paul's contract is brutal. Bucks really have no way to match up to it now. Probably could've found a way before stretching Leuer but not anymore. Would've had to wait until Sept/Oct to execute something like Bled, Leuer, Ers for CP3. And, I'd want them to kick us one or two 1sts back for taking that contract. Paul's been in a clear decline and is 34 with 3 years left. If he's healthy for the playoffs sure you'd rather have him than Bled right now, but that contract is likely to be a complete albatross. Throw in his attitude problems where it's pretty much known he's a jerk to play with and I don't think it's worth the risk. Like I said, I'd need to be paid to take him on, not the other way around.

One thing that popped into my head scanning through this and kind of unintended consequence of the one deadline is that adding that bench bat (like Grandy last year) isn't really possible in the normal way anymore since roster expansion doesn't happen for a month. so whatever bench bat you get would have to replace one of the bench guys we currently have. Obviously we have room to improve on Salad/PErez but obviously you're limited to SS ability only. It's not so easy just to grab an extra bat for the sake of it anymore.

I'd put my money on out as well. I'd probably call it about a coin flip that could go either way and there's clearly a good chance they make some moves, people improve, etc to make it happen. Then once you're in anything can happen. But if I had to bet on it today I'd pick out.

I guess to me that's kind of the definition of mediocre/ok.

Yea of course other countries will be against you, I mean they should be as they're your opponent. Correct me if wrong, but she started the whole thing too. But still, all this had done is get her name out there more and drum up more support and attention for her and the team. But yes of course there is always the subset that will be negative and twitter gives it a platform. IDK, just seems to me there has been overwhelming support and I think it had it's best ratings. I mean there was the last time around too but seemed more this time. mod edit: I took out the quasi political stuff. You didn't really cross a line, but I worry others may not respond appropriately.

One thing I haven't quite gotten about the spin in last couple days after they won is kind of like they're acting as if everyone was rooting against them or trying to hold them down or something. Guess you have to create that way of thinking in your head at times for motivation but I don't see it. For the point about plenty of players just as good. Of course not true if you eliminate the whole team. But my soccer nerdy friend said before the tournament that if they split the US team into 2 teams that both teams would probably be favorites to make the Final 4. Though neither would be the favorite to win anymore. So, chances are one or two could quit and it wouldn't greatly matter or that the next 15 that didn't make the team could probably be competitive but wouldn't win. But the overall point is of course still wrong.

Soooooo, you're saying it was a team defense and the help guys were there and not a personal shutdown, OK. Haha. Note, I didn't mean to imply it would've worked for Boston. And I said Kawhi is for sure best at this. I meant just as an example of future changes we might see in how he's defended. In the Boston example, instead of them going Horford as initial maybe after seeing what Tor did that in hindsight they'd have tried this route and teams in the future might try it and we'll see how it works. By no means saying anyone will execute as well as Kawhi could as the focal point though. Yea Quinn Cook would've been an interesting bench option. I agree there. And in general I'd have preferred that depth PG (like a Cook or Curry type) to have been attained with the exception used for Robin. But, I also see the bird in the hand argument that you had him for sure and at a very cheap discount deal.

good post madbad. Yea probably the bigger thing to worry about is just how massively corrupt the whole World Cup is as well as the Olympics. People are just stealing money. Don't want to get into the college thing as it's been beat to death. I'm generally on the side of finding a way to get the two main sports kids more money (but then here we go, why does men bball get paid but not womens, etc). But one thing to think of on topic is how much revenue and attendance are those same kids getting when they play in the D league? Name on the front of those jerseys is generating most of it. Take our Nigel as an example, packed arenas and big TV deals that "he's generating". He's done, goes to D league and there is 1500 people at the game and almost no one watching on TV. Just remember that in the equation too.

Am I crazy to think Turang is probably our best trade piece at this point? Hader/Keston are out. Seems like the only position player in the system with actual star potential. Seems like any deal for someone as good as Thor would need him in it. Still doubt we have enough to trump others. Turang, Peralta, their choice of Arcia/Dubon, Brown or Supak is probably about the best we can do and I doubt it gets it done. Plus we can't really eat a bad contract either like an LAD can do. But I'm not nearly as knowledgeable on the farm as many here.

Shoot, I honestly meant to clarify on the Skip thing but seems like I forgot, sorry. I meant to point out that yes you're still talking real bball so not the same at all as him. But just the oversimplifying it down to this one on one narrative to create a clear talking point star vs star made me think of it. And then I just thought to point it out to watch if you haven't. For this discussion I really just don't think it's worth as it seems you're ignoring everything I say so we can just move on. For the 12th time, yes Giannis was shut down and yes Kawhi was absolutely instrumental in it. pointing to stats of it do nothing, I know it, everyone knows. I'm not disagreeing. You're trying to chalk it up to one guy, I'm chalking it up to him and the team help scheme around him in unison. That's it. What they were smart on was not initially guarding him with a big (then smaller guys like Kawhi or whoever else come to help) like Bos did and what Tor did first two games. They were smart to have Kawhi become the initial and then have the bigs come to help, it was genius as due to Kawhi being quicker than bigs it didn't give him that initial burst/gap to the hoop and then it was too late to stop him. I have to think others will try this model now, for example in hindsight Bos should've had say Morris guard and then Horford and the next biggest guys as the help. To repeat again, yes Kawhi can do that better than anyone else and deserves big credit, he's the best wing defender since Pippen/MJ. It's just not accurate to call it personal shutdown if as soon as the guy gets the ball two other guys are coming to help. Siakam, Ibaka, Gasol also deserve huge credit. That is all I'm saying. Go back to the long post with the two phrases, I choose the latter. you choose the first, so be it. Moving on, I think I and others mentioned here that what Philly put together seems almost purely to stop Giannis with this strategy. Bucks have to be ready and Giannis absolutely needs to take yet another step and handle it. And of course Bled just has to be better so he can't be left alone. Or if they do instead of shooting 3s he can also attack the rim, which he's good at, to get a shot or to create a wide open 3 for a better shooter.

I agree Collison would be best fit if he makes himself available. Just good to have that depth. Obviously if he'd done FA normal he'd have gotten a good contract. but if he makes himself available mid season he might be willing to take the min to jump on a contender and then get a good contract in the offseason. My guess is he takes the year off though and then who knows. Of the others you listed (thanks), considering we only have league min to work with I'd probably go with Harris of those choices. He's pure end of bench and just for insurance type of guy at this point. But he's a bit taller so can guard wider variety of guys, has always at least been an OK 3 pt shooter. I'd guess they're holding this last spot for Korver as of now and waiting to see what happens there. Beal, I think is a good enough #2 star we need. HE's always stepped up when allowed with Wall's injuries to prove he's legit and can do more. He did it last year too. I agree KM is a bit too ripped on, but Beal is clearly better IMO and if somehow you had both you'd be really dangerous as it moves KM down to #3 where he belongs. Hill, Beal, KM, Giannis, Lopez starting lineup is darn good. Wes, Ers, Lopez, Brown Pat, DDV is a rock solid bench. Yes, I think this was absolutely a mistake not to have this in their pocket if needed. I get the logic of staying under the cap for this year as it could saves 10s of mil in repeater tax down the line. I don't agree with it, but I do get it. But no reason to not have this in your pocket just in case something comes up. side note being in WI. Dekker is a FA and is getting no talk as of now that I've seen. Wonder if he ends up in europe already. Best case is probably a min deal for him at this point

Looks like Bucks will not be getting that trade exception. Seems all they had to do was come up with 700K in space (probably easily could've been done with Hill's contract) and they could've gotten it. So, it could've been done very easily and they didn't do it. Which would seem is because they wouldn't have any plans to use it and pay the tax. IMO that's a bad sign and shows the likely real motivation behind not keeping Brogdon. That said, it's not terrible for them to see the value in staying under now as they know they'll be paying soon. BUt, I still think it was bad not to have this exception in their pocket just in case an injury happens and you decide you need to use it to fill the gap

Good post. I thought of that after I posted yesterday but was just thinking of Olympics as they all play together at the same so tough to know who's generating what, of course Olympics don't pay though. And then I thought of Tennis in that how can they tell during Wimbledon now, unless they truly breakdown ratings event to event which seems way to much imo. While what you post of course would be good for women, and probably the sport overall. couldn't one easily make an argument that the men in that Soccer World Cup scenario would be getting kind of screwed? Since of course they have years and years of data showing they generate more, plus of course the men's professional leagues that obviously blow revenues for women (heck, of any sport) out of the water. IMO, they should probably look at it from a "we're all in it together as soccer players regardless of gender" type of perspective but an argument can easily be made and isn't really out of line. One thing to consider if you were to play them at the same time, the men would dominate the coverage and interest and overshadow the women just out of the public being more interested. So the women would somewhat be pushed to the undercard. Whereas now they get their own spotlight or 'time to shine' so to speak. I'm sure they'd take the money instead, just saying it would be an unintended consequence.

Livingston, yea not a PG at all. More or less a backup wing and IDK about the general fit here as he doesn't shoot 3s. For a league min deal of course I'd take as he's probably better than anything else you can get. He's seemingly still a competent rotation level player and tons of experience. Dragic, I've always loved him as a player and have had my eyes on him for years. He was hurt all last year and wasn't good when he played, but I'd bet he has that crafty old man game in him and will be able to play for a bit yet. That said, he's always been poor on D and I'd guess he's really bad now at his age. Lost in all the ripping of Bledsoe that he was 1st team all D and he was fully deserving of it. Him and Beverly are probably the two best PG defenders in the league. Call me crazy, but I think that was very important in having the #1 D in the NBA. The most obvious way to get Dragic would be Bled straight up. It would make sense for MIA but I'm not sure about MKE as you'd then need a replacement next year but have no cap space to do it. So you'd kinda be locked into resigning Dragic and he's old. I don't see another trade unless you get some 3 team thing going, it probably could've worked with Ersan/Leuer's contracts but why would MIA do that since they're generally trying to win. Generally I think people are overreacting to Bledsoe crapping the bed in the playoffs. Yes, it was terrible and disheartening. But overall you have a top 15ish PG who's top 5 for sure on D locked in at a fair contract for a few years. He's going to continue to help you all year for sure. Like everyone else, I'm going to hate having that lingering in the back of my head as the playoffs start. At this point though, I think all they can do be positive with him and we know the guy is a bulldog of a competitor (heck, that's probably why he's flopped in the playoffs as he gets in his head kind of 'over trying') so hopefully he's working his tail off on shooting all offseason and improves a tick there and then hopefully now having two years of playoffs in him he'll calm down next year. Plus I think the O could diversify and play to his strengths a bit more. All the while, of course have your eyes open on a trade if it comes up, best hypothetical I see is Beal coming available during the season and then playing Hill at PG. I'm struggling to think of other options at PG, I think they did the best they could in their situation by getting Hill back as Bledsoe insurance.

It's really as simple as the last paragraph of the long post. I choose the second phrasing, apparently you guys think the first. I have no idea how someone can think it, but so be it. And again, in no way did I rip Kawhi or not say that he was absolutely critical in shutting down Giannis, I am merely saying to try and phrase at as one on personal shutdown is just false. This discussion reminds me of the Mark Cuban points he made ripping Skip Bayless after the Mavs beat Lebron, check it out on youtube if you haven't seen it yet. Really well said stuff. I agree with Paul as clearly a better fit over Westbrook. However, contracts do matter in that yes they're roughly matching this year but it's the huge commitments going forward that are important. 40 mil per for RW for 4 years. Paul actually still has 3 years left on his for about 41 per and he's already 34 years old. Totally agree if you could trade Bled for Paul straight up just to play one bball game today that of course you'd take Paul, but the logistics on it in reality are very tough to get behind.

I saw something on this topic that the women's teams are paid out 20% of revenue generated by this all. The men's teams are only paid out 7% of the revenue. I don't know the source or accuracy, but if we assume that's true it seems they are already making an effort to pay them as much as they can, it's just that it generates so much less revenue than men's. Or I suppose you could take that stat to argue that the men are being ripped off and someone is stealing all that money somewhere in the process. Or, spitballing here, they're taking money from the men's pot to pay the women as it is, idk. I'm pretty sure that's how it is in the WNBA. Last time I saw info on this, several years ago so take with a grain of salt, the WNBA was a revenue loser being funded out of the real NBA's pocket as it's just good for the game in general. Yet of course we've seen all the complaints how they're not paid enough and all that. And it does seem to me WNBA players aren't paid enough to be worth their efforts and vs what they can get in Europe, but sorry it's just capitalism. If no one goes to the game or watches then there is nothing you can do, they're just not generating money. If what someone just said regarding figure skating is true (that women generate more but men still get paid the same) I think that should go away too and I think it's BS there is a double standard in that regard. Tie it to revenue/capitalism, that simple to me. For example, womens golf US Open generates X amount of money and the women should get the approved cut. If men generates Z money, they should split that pot up to them. It's that simple to me.

I was pleasantly surprised by it. Of course some nitpicks, but going in I didn't expect much since it's a tough show to keep going but I think they did well overall and I was thoroughly entertained the whole time. I'd say clearly better than season 2 and then debatable with the original but I'd still pick original

Totally agree. If he was playing in NY or Bos it would be non stop talk about him like the endless "is LBJ the GOAT" that never stops. Instead he's flying under the radar and non baseball nerds have no idea the best player ever is currently playing.

Yea Cain falling this badly is probably the biggest thing hurting the offense. As WTP just said, so many other guys are power hit or miss types, he was the counter to that with high contact and high OBP to maintain some consistency. Even a slight reduction from last year, as expected, would've been fine but a complete falloff really hurts. If it is really because of this thumb, maybe that therapy and this time off will let him get back to a semblance of his old self. Combine that with Hiura and then you add in two high contact guys you didn't have the first half. it really should help and we kind of need it as I'm sure Moose and Grandal have a bit of regression coming, heck Yelich too.

Also probably the first time someone 27 years old was 2nd in active WAR. This guy is just crazy.

I also don't think his take in this discussion right now was really bad at all. We're a barely .500 team that has had it's pitching staff get blasted all year. Seems pretty mediocre to me. Doesn't mean they should give up. Cubs have left the door wide open. We have huge areas we could improve, do it and get hot at the right time and anything can happen. Just slightly better mediocrity from the SP and adding two BP arms in trades would make a mountain of difference.

I don't think the runner intended to create a collision and hurt anyone. I mean, why would we think he's some evil jerk trying to hurt people. I think he saw something out of the corner of his eye making him think Lucroy was going to go backwards to chase the ball or something, or maybe he thought Luc would dive backside for the tag and was trying to outsmart him, and then made a horrible split second decision to go inside instead. He made a huge mistake and should face a suspension for it. But I don't think in any point of that play he was trying to hit/hurt anyone. He wasn't running down the line thinking "I'm taking this guy out if I have to" , you know, especially since he knows his run won't even count if he does. He made a terrible split second decision and it ended horribly. Think it's as simple as that, accidents happen.

While I'd like a better fit at PG too who is a better shooter. I don't think the current options do it for me. Paul and RW contracts are so much, then thrown in the other cost of acquiring and I don't think the improvement is enough to be worth it. Bled was their 2nd best regular season player and he's not a terrible shooter overall. Of course he got in his own head in the playoffs but he's still a good player. I'm sure he knows how he killed them so hopefully all he's focused on is shooting this offseason and now with 2 years of playoff experience under his belt that he'll be calmer next year and do better. I think they should find away to incorporate more PnR to play to his strength. That's what I'd be banking on now while of course having my eyes open for trades as they come up. A Beal trade in season would be the dream but I'm sure someone will trump us.

Ok, first of all, I don't think this was a very heated debate or anything. Just a difference of opinion. Second, it's debatable because I believe you are wrong. I KNOW you're wrong when you say that Kawhi didn't guard him one on one, Kawhi did in fact start to defend Giannis more and more after game 2. You're saying that someone else started out on Kawhi and then Kawhi came over and helped out. No, not what I'm talking about at all. They put Kawhi on Giannis at times throughout the series. Again, as I said, not the whole seires, but for large stretches. I'm also saying when Kawhi defended him in the half court, he pretty much locked him up on his own. I realize that's a BIG statement, but he stripped Giannis a couple times, he blocked a shot, forced a jump ball and made Giannis tentative because he couldn't get around him and Kawhi was just as long. And no, I do not think Giannis would have put up "gaudy" stats vs Kawhi this past year when he was the only defender on him because he didn't in the limited time he was the only defender on him. There is empirical evidence of this beyond just anecdotal evidence and the eye test. I posted some, but don't really care to dig a whole lot deeper and go back and re-read other articles that were more in depth. So...sorry, but I just don't agree with you. I think Kawhi shut him down. He did NOT get shut down when Siakam was the primary defender and then the help came. So what you're saying about how you could have been the primary defender and then Kawhi and whoever could have come, that's entirely different than what I'm talking about. I'm saying playing man defense, somehow Kawhi was able to lock up Giannis. Not how the Raptors slowed Giannis down with the Wall, or how Gasol and Ibaka were allowed to be more physical with Giannis because he's Giannis and he was less effective there. I'm straight up talking about half court sets, Giannis getting the ball at the elbow or top of the key, Kawhi defending him and Giannis not being able to do much. Certainly not put up gaudy stats. Something he was able to do vs Siakam. And the 3 for 30 stat for example, that's not Kawhi starting out on Giannis and then Gasol coming over and blocking the shot. That's when Giannis' shooting during the regular season when Kawhi defended him. If you're owing this all to help defense, why wouldn't it be the same or similar when Siakam was on him? Siakam is a very good defender. But Giannis was actually better than he normally was against Siakam. I don't really think this is worthy of much debate because you don't agree and you think it's crazy I disagree(that's fine, I take no offense) and Luke doesn't agree either. So we have different opinions. What I'm surprised if that YOU'RE that surprised that I have a different one from you. It's the conclusion a whole lot of people outside of that just about every "expert" or former player outside of Milwaukee also came to and the statistics back it up. I'm also for the record not bothered by it because it really kinda exposed that while Giannis has come so far, he's still got SOOO much room to improve his game. His touch around the basket, his jumper, being forced to go to another move(which I have no doubt will force him to help further develop a counter and then a counter to their counter). So honestly I was just mostly impressed that Kawhi was able to do what he did on Giannis and I'm also not worried about it because I think Giannis is going to get better. But it's absolutely nothing like you starting out defending Giannis and then AD and someone else coming over and contesting the shot. It's Kawhi guarding Giannis, not allowing penetration and then him contesting the shot, deflecting a pass(or just forcing a pass) or blocking his shot/forcing a jump ball situation. You can both acknowledge Giannis is the greatest young player the NBA has seen since LeBron and how much better he could get and also concede that Kawhi really just flat out dominated him(and Middleton) this series. I honestly didn't think that opinion would get much pushback from people who were watching every possession like I know the people on here were. But I'm not gonna argue about it any longer because....well, I don't want to and it's not a fun topic. I don't want to post video's of what I'm talking about and then have to watch those video's that aren't fun. So look at the stats and good Kawhi's defense on Giannis or something about how they changed their defensive matchup's after game 2 or don't. It's frankly a depressing topic. First, you're fundamentally misunderstanding the "primary defender" stat and how it's done. You're interpreting as it saying he's the only defender and that's just not true. Again, if Kawhi initially guards and then when Giannis drives and is walled off by Gasol/Kawhi tandem then Kawhi is the primary defender on that stat. Which is fine, he still did a great job and it worked, but the narrative that "Kawhi shut him down" is just not accurate. And I really have no idea how you watched that series and thought Kawhi guarded him one on one, shocked actually. The D was Kawhi on him to start, and as soon as Giannis begins to go the other two big guys immediately crash to help and create a wall. It was that simple and it was not one on one. Second, no I wasn't saying Kawhi was the help defender. I wrote that as an example to show the flaw in the stat, which you missed I guess. I know after game 2 he became the initial defender. At some point in there I think you pointed out media outlets or other areas agreeing with your take here that it was a one on one personal shutdown. That's essentially my point, talking head dumb media outlets have to simplify everything down and create narratives and they try to make this all star vs star rather than understanding how this is a team game and talking about real basketball. A couple years from now it'll be pumped into everyone's heads that Kawhi personally shut him down and it'll be remembered that way when it is just not accurate. Just like how ESPN has jammed it in everyone's head that MJ never missed a clutch shot, never passed at crunch time, or never lost a playoff game. That said, I fully acknowledge Kawhi proved he was better. In nothing I wrote did I rip on Kawhi in any way. I also didn't owe it "all" to help D and I acknowledged repeatedly that Kawhi deserves credit and did a better job at it than anyone else could've. The areas of improvement you point out in Giannis I pretty much fully agree. Kawhi kicked his butt, no doubt about it but that doesn't mean things need to be exaggerated to create a talking head BS narrative. Think of it this simply, which of these phrases is most accurate: "Kawhi personally shut down Giannis" or "Kawhi was the leader of a team D utilizing tons of help from the 'bigs' as soon as Giannis began to drive in order to shut down Giannis". I, of course, say the latter is more accurate and I have no idea how anyone would disagree.

Guys, all I said was that KAwhi didn't guard him one on one therefore he did not personally shut him down. I frankly don't know how that's debatable. The primary stat isn't at all what I'm talking about, technically you could have me guard him first and then if Kawhi and AD came to help me and shut him down then I'd be the primary defender who shut him. Obviously I know that's not accurate here, I'm just using it to point out the flaw in the stat. Kawhi is the best perimeter defender in the league, he was a huge factor in slowing/stopping Giannis and he deserves immense credit, especially since he had the O burden too. If they go one on one or don't give help though, Giannis would've put up gawdy stats. And I'd grant Kawhi could probably do best one on one than anyone else in the league. I'm merely stating it was a team D, not some personal shut down like the narrative is trying to become. This isn't what LBJ did to Rose in the 4th Q of playoff games and other examples. This Clips D though, holy cow it could be ridiculous if they stay healthy.