OnTheBlack

I feel they'll sign Middleton and go over the cap, especially the way he's played in the postseason. Brogdon and Hill, honestly no idea. Brogdon is restricted but will get sone hefty offers. Tough call on those guys. Divo, Patty C, maybe Brown are nice players but not on Hill or Brogdons level. Loosing Lopez would scare me almost as much as Middleton. People just don't understand how he anchors the defense. Bud does, talks about it all the time. I fear in a shooters league, some team may give him a huge offer. Everyone wants a guy like this at the 5, and now that teams saw how the Bucks used him his value went way up. And with no money to spend in FA, who are they going to get to replace him? Could they restrucure Giannis with a new contract and move some money back a couple years? No idea how that all works, Giannis just seems like a guy who would be open to it if it meant keeping the band together. There's no doubt we're going to be over the luxury tax I don't think. It's about how far into we go. The further we go, the more we're penalized. Picking up Hill's option would likely mean playing over 3 million in penalties for each million we spend, essentially meaning Hill would cost 60 million to sign... And no, we can't restructure Giannis. He's a super max level player all the way and as such, his contract is fixed. He'll be signing a super max deal after winning an MVP(or at least being a runner up) and he'll be the highest paid player in North American sports. He'll be earning 45-50 million if not more per year in Milwaukee. Also, we can't extend Giannis until next off-season. He certainly seems committed to winning IN Milwaukee though. He's been upset when guys have left, most recently Maker.

I don't think Thompson would require more shots, but just a better shooter. So I don't really think there's a problem from that angle. I agree with you that he's unlikely to pick Milwaukee out and say that's where he wants to go given all the options that'll be available to him(I'm also not certain that you CAN make that trade). As for "needing" more PPG, we haven't actually won anything yet. It's not like he's the missing piece, but I don't think the Bucks are diminished by having him. I don't think the differences in the other area's are that big. Klay's a capable defender and can rebound as well. He's just not asked to all that much in Golden State. But all this is a moot point. I can't say with absolute certainty this won't happen...but I really don't see this happening anyway. Plus...Klay is 2 years older and has a lot more miles on him than Middleton. Middleton has a great temperament to play as a #2 behind Giannis. I'd just like to see this core together for a few years. Especially with Golden State breaking up next year most likely.

Exactly. Why not take the free trip to UVA in this spring and have a good time?

I think they could...but given that both are UFA's, and that Klay is going to be coveted by both LA teams and probably every other team that can offer him the max, I don't think it's likely that he'll go from the GSW's to Milwaukee. As much as I like Middleton, I'd definitely take Thompson over him in that scenario. I suppose it's possible that Klay could want to come to Milwaukee and be a bigger part of a winning team and I think he could slide into Middleton's role pretty easily and we'd probably be better on both ends of the court provided he's healthy. But I just don't really see a scenario in which that plays out. Maybe if Durant re-signs in Golden State and he wants a bigger role than he currently has. It's not hard to picture him putting up 25 PPG playing in Milwaukee given what a great shooter he is. Over 40 pct from 3 every year of his career.... Thompson would have to be dead set on coming to Milwaukee and he'd have to find a way to force this to happen. And that's assuming he can sign with another team and then be traded right away and it's allowed by the CBA.

More than I expected from MB after the amount of time he missed. Really nice game and he really got back into the rotation smoothly. They were saying before the broadcast how conservative Bud is with regard to injuries. I'd imagine if Brogdon were on the Celtics and Smart on the Bucks, there's next to no chance we'd have seen Smart in this series and a good chance Brogdon would have played in game 1. They also mentioned how Bud kept Snell out for an extra couple weeks to make sure he was healthy. It's probably helped keep this team healthy and humming along all year with Giannis getting some rest and probably averaging about 15 minutes less per game than he'd like if it were up to him.

He's definitely a glue player, but at what price do you extend him this off-season? At this point in the playoffs, it feels like you'd be paying him at his highest possible value and you still have him for a year. I'm not saying he's Delladova, he's more explosive athlete,(though almost the exact same size) but we paid Delladova for many of the same reasons we'd be paying Connaughton. Because he's been a spark plug and showed up in the post-season. If he will sign on for ~4-5 million per year over a 3-4 year period, that'd be fine. If he wants more than that, if he wants 8-10, I'd let him play out next season and then just see where we are. Kerr was a completely different type of player. If he played in the NBA today, he'd be a better version of Redick, but he had a bad knee injury early in his career that took away a lot of his athletic ability given it was back in the 80's. He shot 45 pct from 3 including a few seasons in which he hit 50 pct. He'd be a great fit on this team, but I don't think he's very similar to Connaughton.

I think Middleton is far more important to the Bucks future. I'm pretty confident Giannis is going re-sign, but the only reason he'd have for not re-signing would be if the Bucks lost their 2nd best player. As great as this season is, I'd like to see a longer sustained run and for that I think it goes Middleton, Brogdon, Mirotic, Lopez and Hill. Hill's been great in the post-season, but they're still not likely to spend 60 million on a backup 33 year old PG. We can pretend finances aren't important, but there is a cumulative impact. Giannis will be making 45 million hopefully, so the Bucks already know they're going to be in the tax for years. How far they're willing to go is the only question.

With regard to Lopez, I can't site the source, I don't recall where I saw it, but it was something about how while Lopez has been regarded as a poor rebounder during his career, his team rebounds much better while he's on the court. That was from a few months ago, so I wouldn't even know where to start looking for it, but you can see how active he is.

If it's Toronto I'll go Bucks in 6 again. If it's the Sixers...that could swing more one way or the other. Emid is just so hot and cold. He's clearly not playing in great shape relative to most star players. Not sure what's going on with him that he's been sick twice with a healthy dominant game thrown in there. Another question, does anyone believe that Durant really has a pulled calf? That didn't look like a pulled calf muscle to me. You don't usually pull a calf muscle jogging back. I'd be very surprised if that doesn't end up being the very injury they were speculating during the game. As an NBA fan, I hope he's alright. As a Bucks fan...I hope it's a really badly pulled calf.

I assumed there would be something in that story in which he talks about wanting more playing time or thinking he deserved more playing time. I don't know how a story in which the Head Coach, the MVP and the 2nd all-star all come out and strongly support you would create any issues. I just don't know how this possibly "stirs the pot."

If the Bucks play the 76ers it means the Sixers got there by winning games 6 and 7. That would be impressive and you probably wouldn't want to face the Sixers given what would have to go right for that scenario to play out. I suppose it would involve Embid not crapping himself for two consecutive games...which based on this current series may not be likely. I've been rooting for Philly to win...along with the Rockets. I think that's an easier series for us than the Raptors. They're a deeper team with a much better superstar in my opinion. Leonard is playing great. Of course there were people serenading Embid as the top player in the East time and time again throughout the year.

Remember what an absolute beast he was coming out of college. He put up ridiculous stats, going for almost 2000 yards receiving as a freshmen and over 40 TD's in two years total. I think that was one of TT's biggest issues, to go against his board, to go against his instinct and take Raji over him. At least that's certainly how it was suggested at the time. Not sure the Packers make the run they make without Raji. Or at least it's far more difficult. He was a stud for a few years. As for Crabtree now, I could take him or leave him. I don't really see how he addresses our needs and if we were going to sign a WR'er, I think we'd have been better of just bringing Cobb back at the price he signed for.

I really don't care that he's doing what he's doing. It's his life. I just don't buy the "the analytics say I should be getting paid this" argument. Sorry, that's not how a free market works. The thing is, Baseball isn't a free market. Everyone keeps using this analogy and it's not really applicable. It'd be applicable if these players weren't controlled by their teams for 6-10 years. The MLBPA has to know that deals for the 30+ year old stars are changing, but what's equally problematic with a likely work stoppage coming up in a few years are the deals that Albies and Acuna signed. And both of them were guys who were likely to hit free agency in their prime years. The most reasonable resolution is the one that's the most harmful to a team like the Brewers. To cut back on the years of team control and or to change the compensation for players during those years of team control. I don't know what that's going to look like when the two sides are done fighting, but it does seem possible that this could lead to a work stoppage that could be as disastrous to baseball as the '94 strike.

Do you really think the Marlins would not trade with the Brewers because of that trade? That seems like it'd be foolish. Other than catcher, is there a type of player that takes longer to develop than toolsy, extremely athletic OF'er with his hit tool being the worst for a potential 5 tool player?

A young SS who looks like he's almost certainly going to be a SS in the future and draws a lot of walks is the exact type of kid who could move through the system quickly(for a prep player). That does look like a steal thus far.

Another guy who looks REALLY bad in this series, Brad Stevens. Last year Nate Silver did a poll on who you'd take for the next 5 years between Giannis and Stevens and the results came out 54-46 in favor of Giannis. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/brad-stevens-makes-the-celtics-better-than-they-have-any-right-to-be/ That was almost a year ago to the day. That was still after people had put Giannis among the best players in the league, though not quite the MVP caliber player he's become this year(and what the hell is gonna happen if he keeps hitting 47 pct of his 3's while shooting 4 a game).

He also said, "I'm that great of a shooter." He's not totally wrong, he is a great shooter, but to your point, a guy like him, the leader of a deep and talented team, you just see it, when he's not hitting shots, and he's going through the worst slump of his career right now, that team falls apart. Obviously part of the equation is the Bucks D, just like Steph's shooting for Golden State. Houston is forcing him to miss some like we're forcing Irving, but he's also pretty damn good at hitting contested shots. When he starts missing shots like that, it seems like it just takes the rest of the Celtics out of it. You can almost see them getting dejected. He's more worried about getting himself going than getting the rest of the guys going. Also, how badly is Heyward playing? They're just built badly. The Bucks have the perfect balance with little ego. The Celtics....man, the Bucks really haven't even played that great in this series and yet they're just stomping the Celts. I thought the Bucks would have to earn it a bit more, that there would be a couple games that would go down to the wire and the Bucks would have to get some stops. But damn this feels good. I'll even take the obnoxious comments from CHL.

He also said, "I'm that great of a shooter." He's not totally wrong, he is a great shooter, but to your point, a guy like him, the leader of a deep and talented team, you just see it, when he's not hitting shots, and he's going through the worst slump of his career right now, that team falls apart. Obviously part of the equation is the Bucks D, just like Steph's shooting for Golden State. Houston is forcing him to miss some like we're forcing Irving, but he's also pretty damn good at hitting contested shots. When he starts missing shots like that, it seems like it just takes the rest of the Celtics out of it. You can almost see them getting dejected. He's more worried about getting himself going than getting the rest of the guys going. Also, how badly is Heyward playing? They're just built badly. The Bucks have the perfect balance with little ego. The Celtics....man, the Bucks really haven't even played that great in this series and yet they're just stomping the Celts. I thought the Bucks would have to earn it a bit more, that there would be a couple games that would go down to the wire and the Bucks would have to get some stops. But damn this feels good. I'll even take the obnoxious comments from CHL.

He won one with Cleveland. Meh. That is all Lebron. I'll admit I overestimated Kyrie, but they definitely don't win that Championship without him hitting one of the biggest shots in NBA history.

I think people forget Thompson was a LB'er for 10 years in the NFL. That, being in his 60's. I don't pretend to be able to diagnose people from my perch, but at the very least, Thompson was not as involved as he had been previously. There was talk about how much less he was involved the past couple years. Dorsey getting fired by KC was pretty shocking. How does a guy who puts together that team get fired before all the crap hits the fan? He put together a team that was a few inches away from the SB(Dee Ford lining up off-side but not impacting the play on the negated INT). He moves up to get Pat Mahomes, the guy everyone said had a ton of talent, but was so raw it'd take a few years for him to play coming from that run and gun style offense. And now just looking at all the talent he put together in Cleveland. Still need to see if they can win and he certainly had a helluva lot to start with in terms of assets and whatnot, but he took Mayfield 1st, a huge risk that people tend to overlook now. He was hailed by many as the next Johnny Manziel. Instead he looks like he's the best possible version. As for the moves the Packers could/should still make, Suh's about as unrealistic as you could get, though it'd be fun. Berry isn't really a need, but again, in a fantasy world, it'd be fun. Brown looks like a guy they just missed on. He was available and had for real cheap given how productive a player he is and how ridiculously thin we are at MLB'er. It's the easiest position to find, but it's still important. And I still think if they can have Morris Claiborne for ~4-5 million, something that looks very realistic at this point with very little guaranteed if in the event that one of the young DB's we had that I forgot about looks good, that'd be a good move.

At first glance that sounds absolutely ridiculous, but if you're playing with someone who you just despise...that'd make it pretty hard to play basketball together I'd think.

That used to be called a Grey Shirt. It was a way of delaying enrollment, especially in football for potential preferred walk on's hoping to get a scholarship as someone will inevitably lose one. So I'm not convinced he loses that year. Not yet anyway. I'm also not even sure a Grey Shirt is still a thing. I do know the Badgers were still using it about 6-7 years ago.

There are too many variables. I've long been a huge fan of Greinke, well before we traded for him and after. But what does that deal include? How much is AZ gonna eat? Because if they're not taking back salary, we might as well sign Kimbrel and Kuechel instead. If they're going to pay 60 pct of his salary to get prospects back, who are those prospects? He's certainly not the Greinke that pitched in Milwaukee as he's lost his FB velo, but he would be a great addition. The question is too vague to answer directly, who knows what the Giants want from one of the most successful players in franchise history in terms of team success? I'd assume sentimental value is going to be included in that price. I don't know how good Stroman really is, same with Sanchez. Ultimately the Brewers are going to probably do both. They're going go keep throwing their guys out there and it's tough to envision them not getting better. In another 2 months, who knows who could be ready. Sanchez, Rasmussen, Zack and Daniel Brown could be playing roles in our rotation. At the same time, Stearns is also likely searching for good arms on the trade market. Not trying to be difficult, but they'll almost certainly do both. At this point last year, Burnes, Woodruff, Peralta and others did not look like they'd play significant roles in a post-season push. A year later we expected them to be key contributors and they've struggled. The only thing I'd commit to is saying I do not want to give Kimbrel or Kuechel multiple years. Give them a little more this year, but there is a loaded FA class next year, so the Brewers could either get some bargains, or with the money that's coming off the books this year, they could try and sign and impact pitcher. But nobody is a fan of 15+ million for multiple years of a reliever and I'll just speak for myself, but I am not a fan of multiple years at 15-18 million for a soft tossing, left hander who's not an ace and who I think could really dip if he loses 2 MPH over the next 2+ years on his fastball.

I really hope they don't view him as a long term reliever. I think this is because he's best suited to be a better reliever, but we need starters. Unless we're gonna spend 6/180 on Gerritt Cole this off-season(which I wouldn't be totally against to be honest) we have to develop our own ace at SOME point...don't we? Burnes has the stuff. He's shown flashes of a really nice change at times and he obviously has the fastball and breaking ball. I think his fastball location has been the biggest problem. He was so good last year at hitting his spots with that high fastball. This year he has not. That's been the biggest issue he's had IMO.

I also love Brown! Can’t believe he was undrafted out of Alabama considering the athlete he is. Think after that first game where he was flagged two or three times, he really turned it around! I don’t think Savage will be a Nickel for long if he is at all. More so if he isn’t 100% ready to start day 1 at free, he needs to get on field some way. I just think With Amos, Jones, & Tramon, there is a lot of flexibility. Amos can play FS & SS, Tramon FS/CB, and Jones SS/MLB. Savage FS/Nickel. Jackson just makes most sense for nickel safety. Maybe despite speed, he can still excel outside but just see him as a Hyde. King is strictly outside. Both Alexander & Brown can play outside or slot. Very quick & best in man to man coverage. Alexander is just good anywhere. Kid is a star in the making Pettine's defense is supposed to not really have a FS and SS. He apparently likes his safeties to be pretty interchangeable, so hopefully the worst case is Amos is used more in the traditional FS role early on until Savage gets more comfortable. SS would be the easier position to learn as you don't have the pre-snap reads and you have fewer responsibility. But we NEED Savage to impact this defense immediately one way or another. We can't afford too much of a grace period. You may be right that he needs to play the nickel early on, but I would think having a smart vet like Amos in the secondary would help him as would focusing on just one role. If this was 3 years ago, he'd probably have been drafted to play CB. Alexander absolutely looks like a future star after one year. Passing on Davenport and moving back in the 1st last year proved to be a very good decision. And he stayed healthy all year. King is equally talented and if he is FINALLY healthy, we'll be just fine at CB. But there's the old cliche about the most important ability being availability. My concern with King is he's just so thin and he plays the run so physically, he won't hold up. I always used to wonder how in the hell Charles Woodson could stay on the field the way he played the game. Of course the only reason we got him was that he didn't in the few years prior to signing with the Packers when everyone thought he was washed up. Now he's likely to be the next Packer in the HOF, having played his prime years in GB. So maybe King can get his career back on track. It's sure be a boost to be able to line up with King/Jaire/ and then whoever else earns that job early on or whoever they may acquire. I'd still like to see them pick up a Corner if one is available, though players like Marcus Peter's seldom go on the market and when they do, it's for a reason, though again, he's acted like a clown with his own staff in KC...seems to be a theme with Dorsey picks. He doesn't seem to put the same priority on character and takes players others don't have on their board. That comes back to bite you when you're all skill player breaks his kids arm(allegedly). -Clearly I missed a couple players on my original list, specifically at CB. All told though, this has to be one of the more talented rosters the Packers have fielded in a while now, albeit with quite a few young players who need to make big jumps in their second year in the league and or their second year in this defensive system.