adambr2

I've been hard on big Dan, but all things considered, he's been one of the best bats in our lineup this year. Good to see his swing coming around the last few weeks.

Villar had a .261/.315/.377 slash line for us in '18. Not great but I would take if over half the guys in our lineup today.

Jace Peterson, Tim Lopes and Daniel Robertson batting back to back to back in an actual MLB lineup is unthinkable. We have got to do a much better job filling out the bottom of the roster.

Yelich has been getting on base really well lately. It's something, in June he's been trending in the right direction. But yeah when we got a runner on 3rd and no one out he needs to start being the guy we want up there again.

That's right Jace. Bases loaded, two out and two strikes, just stare at one right down the middle. Great job.

In the regular season it really doesn't matter. Talent wins out most of the time and a random BF.net poster could coach this Bucks roster to 50 wins in an 82 game season. In the last few rounds of the playoffs, the margin of difference in talent between rosters is much thinner and things like team chemistry and schemes start to matter much more.

I still wish they had found a way to get Bradley Beal instead of Jrue, but it is what it is. I agree what they got is what they got. There's no more building a team around Giannis. It's been built. They can play around with the bench but not much else. They'll fire Budd, maybe it'll help, maybe not. I still think there's a better than 50% chance that Giannis gets traded in the next 2 seasons.

That is an above average starting lineup. Definitely seems a lot better than the perception, although Taylor looks kind of cherry picked to inflate the numbers, we all know he isn't in the regular lineup when everyone is healthy.

Logically, we all know he's not going to change. Optimistically, as a fan, I choose to at least hope that individual players (Giannis, Jrue), will, in the heat of the moment, not take 22.5 seconds off the clock and then take an off balance contested jumper without making a single pass during an entire offensive set with the game on the line. Logically, I know that's what's going to happen, and it's practically by design, but optimistically, I hope that's not what happens. I know that the Bucks have the ability to make that not happen, and as a fan, I have to hope it does, but we'll see, I guess. I guess something is bound to change at some point with either the Bucks or someone and hopefully all the disappointment that we've suffered along the way will make it all the more rewarding.

But you're wrong, on both counts. If this was 2005 I'd agree with you. But with the constants escalation of player salaries, if a team is going to view a 11 million dollar AAV as limiting to their payroll in 2021, they probably have no intention of competing in the first place. Secondly, even if all the options in Bradley's contract it would run through 2023. Bradley and the Brewers have already agreed that 6.5 of his 9.5 player option for 2022 will be deferred until January of 2024, and the 8.5 million dollar buy out of the mutual option for 2023 is deferred until January of 2024 and beyond. In reality the Brewers set themselves up to be able to walk away from JBJ without it being a crippling blow as they spread out the payments of his 3 year contract in small chunks over 5 years time even after his contract ends. Assuming arguendo, they dropped him today, they'd be out whatever is left on his 6.5 million guarantee this year, and the 3 million they didn't already defer on his 2022 player option. They cut bait on Neftali Feliz, Lindblom so there is some history there of eating a bad contract. However, with JBJ I don't think they're going to believe they have 5 healthy outfielders who are better players. I never said it would be a crippling blow. You're making strawman arguments. I just said the struggles of players on meager salaries like Shaw and Hiura have to be viewed from a different perspective than struggling players from more expensive players like JBJ. Just because some of the money spent on JBJ is deferred and the rest of money spent on JBJ isn't going to be franchise altering doesn't mean it doesn't matter at all. 3M here, 6.5M here, 3M here, it all matters. If sums like that didn't matter, Corey Knebel would still be here.

I admire the optimism that Budd is going to figure out how to make adjustments in the next 2 games after not figuring it out in the playoffs for several years now or that the Bucks aren't going to let us down like Wisconsin sports teams have been doing for 10+ years and counting. Hope springs eternal.

JBJ is also more than 10 times as expensive as both Shaw and Hiura combined. Can we really move into 2021 and get past calling players with 10-12 million dollar AAVs expensive? In 2021, a team looking to fill starting roles on their roster by signing free agents for less than 10 million dollars a year is really going to be sifting through the bargain bin. No doubt, Bradley has sucked at the plate this year, but the potential for him to struggle with the bat must've been known because it is likely why he's on a short term contract with Milwaukee to begin with. That being said, almost all of his contract is deferred, with 13 million deferred until after January 1, 2024. Therefore, if the Brewers did have 5 outfielders they believed superior to Bradley they certainly could dump him because they have already agreed to pay over half the total money on his contract after said contract has already ended. Their total commitment to JBJ with the option is 22M, that is not a small sum for a team with payroll limitations. Also wasn't really my point, the comparison was to point out that struggling players aren't created equal, salary matters, and struggling players with miniscule salaries like Hiura and Shaw are much easier to trade or walk away from than a guy like JBJ is.

JBJ is also more than 10 times as expensive as both Shaw and Hiura combined.

This is the first time I realized he was hurt and not just demoted.

I didn’t want to lose this discussion with a game thread ending. Are we at a point in the season of no return? I mean, we at mid-June with no signs of life here. He has to be mentally fried with his season and lack of success. Can we cut bait? Is that even an option? Not really. He has a player option next year which is certain at this point to be exercised. There isn't much they can do other than hope he comes around. They can banish him to the bench when Cain and Taylor are healthy but one way or another they are going to be paying him next year too.

Jackie Bradley Jr. has the worst batting average, OBP, and OPS of any qualified player in all of baseball.

Charles refers to the Bucks as the dumbest team in the NBA. https://clutchpoints.com/bucks-news-charles-barkley-brutal-assessment-of-milwaukee-will-make-giannis-antetokounmpo-happy-and-sad-at-the-same-time/

For my part I don't necessarily predict or not predict anything specific happening in Game 7 if there is one. I would predict gamewise that it is either a blowout in favor of the Nets or close, and if it close I expect to make less plays than the Nets down the stretch and find a way to lose. There are a lot of ways for that to happen without Durant scoring 50 or Green going 7 for 8 from 3. The Nets are just a better and frankly more cohesive unit than us which is kind of shocking given that our core has been together for years and theirs has been together for about 5 minutes. We've actually been lucky, significant chunks of time missed by Harden and Irving is the only reason this series is still going and we still haven't been able to take advantage.

Really can't believe Tim Lopes gets that AB.

JBJ is freaking awful. What a disaster of a contract.

Either way, they had to/have to win one in Jersey. Durant isn't coming out and scoring 50 again in game 7 (if it gets there) I mean, he might, but Jeff Green isn't going to shoot 7 of 8 from three again. I think they might win Game 6 and I honestly don't really care because they'll find a way to lose Game 7.

Giannis is a lot of great things but when it comes to big players in big moments he can't hold Durant's jock.

That's a wrap on this series, fellas. This was our road game to steal and we predictably choked it away.

Boxberger has already given the game away and they haven't even put a ball in play.

Budd is a really bad coach.