Matt Breen

Prices are going pretty high for most of the premium FAs and RFAs. - Christian Wood 3 years/$41M. - Joe Harris 4/$75M - Jerimi Grant 3/$60M - Davis Bertans 5/$80M - Malik Beasley 4/$60M - Danilo Gallinari 3/$61.5M - Derek Favors 3/$27M - Mason Plumlee 3/$25M - Goran Dragic 2/$37.4M Wes Matthews is going to the Lakers - 1 year/$3.6M - so he won't be back.

Robin Lopez reportedly is signing with Washington for one year at slightly less than the full mid-level exception of $9.258MM. That's a pretty sweet deal for the guy. https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2020/11/wizards-to-sign-robin-lopez.html

Looks like there's a NBA investigation into the Bogdanovic fiasco. It has been reported that Bogdanovic had been recruited by Giannis, but had been surprised to hear about his 'trade'. After the trade came out, pressure was put on the Bucks, Kings and Bogdanovic to end the whole thing. Bogdanovic feared that if he signed with Milwaukee, and the league voided the contract, he'd end up getting screwed. Thus, it's unlikely the whole thing gets revived.

My wife's organization has heard nothing about vaccines. As you can imagine, everyone is interested - but no word yet.

We could feasibly move Brook Lopez, but that opens a big can of worms.

Journal Sentinel is saying that the Bogdanovic trade is almost unsalvageable at this point. https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/nba/bucks/2020/11/19/bucks-will-reportedly-waive-ilyasova-crushing-hopes-of-salvaging-bogdanovic-sign-and-trade/3775690001/ The issue (if I'm correct) is that a team without cap space must send back salaries equaling at least 75% of the incoming salaries (this might be 80%, but I don't recall for sure). So if Bogdanovic gets $15M next year, we'd have to send Sacramento at least $11.25M in salary. DiVincenzo makes $3.0. Wilson makes $4.5M. That's only $7.5M. Thanasis Antetokounmpo - the only other guy on the roster (outside of our draft picks and our starters), makes $1.7M. That's $9.2M. Not enough for the trade to work. Ersan was set to make $7M if his option was picked up - meaning the him, Donte and Wilson would have been right around $14.5M of salary. Perfectly fine to bring back Bogdanovic and the other scrub. I don't think we could sign anyone using our MLE and then trade him to the Kings. At least not for a few months or something like that. Again, I will say that this is a huge screw up by someone to have leaked the information to the press. The scrutiny from the NBA is what may have caused this to fall apart. That's assuming it was a done deal a few days ago.

FYI, Frank Kaminsky's option was declined, so he is a free agent.

Remember, even if the Bogdanovic deal falls apart, we still have Donte (and Wilson). Plus we'd have the mid-level exception. As the cap stuff is so convoluted, I'm not sure we'd be eligible for the $9.3M MLE or just the $5.7M MLE (it varies depending on how far you are over the cap). Either one should allow us to add a role player. All this is assuming we don't get Bogdanovic or someone else.

No matter what is all going on and what people feel about things, I just want to ask that people truly try and understand how difficult the COVID crisis is on our healthcare givers. It's not a joke. It's not a hoax. It IS a big deal. I listened in on a talking session with some ICU nurses, and it was brutal. The nurses are so tired. 8 days in a row. 16 hour days. COVID patients need a TON of care. Their symptoms shift constantly - such as who much air they need. Sometimes, someone is beside them almost 24/7. One nurse talked about how a patient will be fine one minute, and then 20 minutes later they are gasping for breath. The nurses sit with the patients for days and weeks and even months. The patients are in pain. They are uncomfortable. They can't breath. And they are so lonely. And then they often die. One nurse watched five patients die in a 48 hour period. She talked about going home each day - getting in the shower to wash off the day - and just cry. And these people are watching their friends and colleagues get the virus. You have pregnant nurse going into the ICU - terrified what could happen to them - but still doing it because they don't want to let down their colleagues. Same with nurses and doctors who live with someone who is at high risk. They could not do the job - but they they know how desperately their services are needed. And thus they do it - and put someone they love at a higher risk. Their stress and anxiety gets worse all the time. And let's not forget, this is so horrible for the patients. A nurse with 35 years of experience said in all her life, she has never seen death so miserable. These people can't breath. They are suffering. Some are just asking to die it's so hard. And that's not even touching on the families - who have to watch this as well. To top it all off, these people are so frustrated. They hear it all: It's just a bad flu. It's a hoax. It'll go away after the election. It's God or nature's way of culling the weak. It makes them furious to hear this stuff. And to SEE it. People posting photos of parties or packed bars - all without masks. Or the local chamber of council hosting after business mixers. There are a million other examples. The nurses all said they are worried about the future of healthcare. People are leaving ICU care for a reason. They're like, "Who they hell would do this job after what we've been through?" And you are already seeing mental health issues with healthcare providers. There is so much more I could share. Just brutal stories. Just know it's real. It can be very, very hard on those who get it. And it's very, very hard on the healthcare workers who have to oversee all that is happening. Thanks.

The nitty gritty is as follows: - The Bucks reportedly made an agreement with Sacramento to acquire Bogdanovic via a sign and trade deal. - Bogdanovic supposedly agreed to a contract. Let's stress supposedly. - Bucks and Kings CANNOT have done this. You can't negotiate with FAs like Bogdanovic until Friday, Nov. 20. If the Bucks did that, it's tampering - although it supposedly happens a lot. - The agreement got leaked. This is a big deal due to the potential tampering issues. - Some people (maybe even a lot of people) were angry that the Bucks so blatantly breaking the rules about negotiating with Bogdanovic. - After that happened, Bogdanovic's team said they had agreed to no contract with Milwaukee. So what HAS happened? Here's some options: 1. Bogdanovic and the Bucks and Kings all agreed to the deal, but are backing away because of the fears of punishment from the league. 2. Bogdanovic gave word to the Kings and/or Bucks that he would like to play with Milwaukee - but he never agreed to any parameters of a deal. This would be a massive screw up on someone's part to not hammer out specifics. So, what WILL happen? Here are some options: 1. The deal will go through after Bogdanovic goes through the motions of meeting with other teams (this is assuming an agreement had actually been reached), and determines the contract with Milwaukee is his favored option going forward. 2. The deal goes through after Bogdanovic's reps actually engage with Milwaukee in negotiations (this is assuming no solid agreement had actually been reached) and come to an agreement. 3. Another team steps up and a) tops our offer for Bogdanovic, and b) is a place Bogdanovic wants to play. We have to remember, this is a big 'what if'. Lots of teams would like Bogdanovic, but perhaps they don't have the money/years he likes, or it's a team he doesn't want to play for, or Sacramento doesn't like the package being offered to them. I like Bogdanovic, and the club thinks he'll thrive in our system. I'm guessing Bogdanovic thinks the same thing as well. So lets hope it all comes together and gets figured out. By the way, any deal struck for Bogdanovic may get tweaked by Milwaukee and the Kings - to show that they had not actually struck an improper deal earlier this week. To me, the stunning thing is that someone from Milwaukee or Sacramento or Bogdanovic's camp leaked word of the deal. How stupid do you have to be to do that? Of course people are going to be upset at the blatant tampering. Unbelievably stupid someone let that happen.

Report that Bogdanovic deal is essentially dead. I can't believe a team can screw something like that up.

Elite shooter. Really smart guy (graduated from school in three years). Limited playmaking ability. Big questions about his defense. It's all about his shooting.

I did not know he is a free agent. I have to go apologize to Mrs. Samurai who suggested Frank the Tank yesterday... Edit... after reading some more, he is an UFA next year: https://www.spotrac.com/nba/phoenix-suns/frank-kaminsky-17837/ Phoenix holds an option for 2020-21. I don't think it has been picked up yet. Early speculation was they wouldn't - but not positive.

Really bizarre situation with Bogdanovic. I hope it ultimately goes through. I read the NBA was none-to-happy about the agreement. It flaunts the rules - rules most teams don't follow. Perhaps if they had not been so blatant about it. We shall see.

https://www.wpr.org/make-room-sickest-sick-wausau-hospital-will-send-some-covid-19-patients-home Only four ICU beds in the 8-county Fox Valley region are available. Statewide, 91% of ICU beds are filled. https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/wisconsin/2020/11/18/wisconsin-coronavirus-state-reports-nearly-7-989-cases-52-deaths/3766559001/ It should be noted that - as pointed out in the above quote - the hospitals are doing everything to keep beds free. The most difficult thing right now is keeping personnel.

Phoenix had an option on the 2nd year. Speculation was that they will decline the option. I jumped the gun and assumed that had happened. So, not a FA - but could be.

I'm guessing Kaminsky gets more than league minimum, but you never know. He might be wiling to sacrifice a million or two to play in Milwaukee. Obviously, he would have to feel comfortable with the team's plan for him. But if he thinks he can thrive, he might be intrigued. I think he's dealt with a lot of uncertainty in his career - and losing teams. A winning, more stable club might be a big lure.

DJ Dre Smiley. That's a pretty good name for performer.

I doubt we spend on free agents, but if we do, I'd love him. Can he play 3B? He's only had about 100 games there in his career. The numbers we have show him to be averagish. While he's a very good fielding 2B. Otherwise you could move Hiura to 1B - assuming he could do that. Or DH if that gets adopted.

The one Wisconsin connection no one mentioned is Frank Kaminsky. He's a free agent, and in this market, he might be had for veteran's minimum. I won't pretend to know if he's a good fit for our team. I just bring him up because of his Wisconsin connections, his availability, and our needs. His 3-point shooting is 34.7% for his career. Not great, but not bad. I always felt his outside game would be better - but that just hasn't developed. Perhaps in a stable, winning-environment he would thrive. We don't need these guys for 30 minutes - but 15-20 a game. They will all be flawed - just a matter of finding the one that best fits our needs (and budget).

One thing about Giannis signing the Supermax is that he and the club might have a handshake agreement that basically says they'll trade him if things don't go as he likes. From what I understand, that's sort of the Paul George had with Oklahoma. He signed, and when things didn't work out - he asked for a deal and they gave it to him. The Bucks could do the same thing, and if it happens, and they trade him, they'll be able to get a boatload of picks and/or players. The only thing is that the Bucks can't trade a player who signs a Supermax for one year after signing (I believe that is correct - and not one year after the contract kicks in - but I'm not betting my life on it). No matter, if Giannis signs, and then things go poorly (for whatever reason short of a catastrophic Giannis injury), we could deal Giannis for a ton of assets.

Dekker is playing in Turkey this season. Their 2020-21 season has already starter. Dekker is the 10th leading scorer. https://basketball.realgm.com/international/league/7/Turkish-BSL/stats

I think they can appeal and get some cap relief with regard to Leuer since his injuries forced him to retire. That's exactly it. If a player is forced to retire, you can petition to have that salary removed from your books (he still gets his cash). The issue is that there is some question as to if the Bucks released Leuer before it was determined if he could not play anymore. He actually didn't retire until May 2020. However, he had been released the previous July - the club 'stretching' his 2019-20 salary cap hit over three years - meaning instead of eating $9M in salary last season, we only took a $3M charge. We get charged $3M in 2020-21 and again in 2021-22. This gave the club an extra $6M last season to play with. Nice at the time - but it can come back to haunt you. A lot of the question will come down to did the Bucks cut Leuer because his physically couldn't play anymore back in July 2019? Or was it just a way to clear some cap space? That no one signed him - even for the veteran minimum - indicates he had some serious health issues going on.

Last week, my wife told me her system was expecting things to double by early/mid-December. Let's hope not. The difficult thing is that their modeling for the virus has been pretty accurate since the summer - although it's been underestimating totals a bit of late. Again, let's hope it doesn't happen. I should stress this is the number of hospitalizations.

What 1st round picks do the Bucks still own from now until '27? I thought they'd traded their 1st next year, but another poster said they hadn't(I thought it was part of the George Hill trade). Then they should retain their '22 first and '23 first....as of now, right? 2022 pick goes to Cleveland. It was originally Top 10 protected, but Cleveland removed the protections (in exchange for a future 2nd round pick), ensuring it will be transferred in 2022. So it looks like we have 2021 1st rounder, and 2023 1st rounder. You can't trade 1st rounders in back-to-back years (unless you have acquired a second one). I think I am correct on all of this.