Kris Johnson Breaks down the Bucks’ Offseason Moves: Did It Shake Up the Eastern Conference?

Kris Johnson Breaks down the Bucks’ Offseason Moves: Did It Shake Up the Eastern Conference?

Busy off season for the Brooks brings a lot of questions. Who’s going to be the breakout player? Where do they sit in the Eastern Conference? And what did all these moves mean? We get the thoughts of Chris Johnson coming up after this on Locked on Bucks. You are Locked on Bucks, your daily Milwaukee Bucks podcast, part of the Locked On Network. Your team every day. Welcome in to Locked on Bucks. I’m Justin Garcia joined as always by Camille Davis. You can hear me on the Bucks Radio Network. You can find Camille on the Locked On NBA show and the Technical File podcast as well. We thank you for making this your first listen of the day each and every day. Today’s episode brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can get $150 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. joined uh on this episode by the co-host of the Here District podcast. You can find on Bucks Plus uh a couple of times now that we’ve had you on here. So, friend of the show, Chris Johnson. We say top KJ. I’m honored. I love being called a friend. Whenever you get friend of the show, right, that’s one of the highest compliments someone can bestow. I appreciate that, my man. Uh we said at the top, a very busy off season so far for this team. We knew there was probably going to be some change and a decent amount of activity, but sure, I didn’t anticipate the volume of what we saw. So, I guess let’s just start there with the big move when uh you saw that the Bucks were signing Miles Turner. What were what was going through your head at that point? I was a little shocked um because he’s he was like the last guy that I would have thought we would had an opportunity to get and then because they had to do what they had to do with Dame it did open up that opportunity but it’s like no one saw the Dame Lillard stretch coming. I mean that was something you got to give you take your hat off and give a lot of kudos to that Bucks front office for you know figuring that out exhausting all the options. I know I I was kind of operating under the impression when the season ended there may be an opportunity for a disabled player exemption, but that quickly went away when I I know several people dispelled that notion because of several factors. So, that’s pretty much all the only thing they could do. And to get Miles Turner to pull him off an Eastern uh NBA Finals squad where he was a huge piece and to be what is he 29, 30, 29 years old and the younger version of my dad always says it, but he says the younger version of Brooke, right? Okay, probably has a little bit more some things does a little bit better than Brooke in my opinion uh from the scoring perspective. But at any rate, you now have somebody to put next to Giannis. The five is solidified. There’s no question marks. Highlevel, dude. I’m excited. I mean, it’s that was a hell of a pickup, man. I What are you What were you guys thinking when you heard the news? A lot of the same. I I my tweet is literally what I said out loud and it was just what and then I saw it again of like Dame is stretch and it was like what what that’s what we’re doing that’s how they getting this done because I mean the question was after losing Broo Lopez who has been a major part of what the Bugs have done since his tenure here seven years of Brook Lopez in Milwaukee he has been a defensive anchor so the question I kept thinking about was well how do you pivot like who is your next center you’re putting next to Yiannis Because we’ve heard Giannis express he prefers to play the fort. He likes having that guy next to him. So what do you do? And they go and get Miles Turner, which to your point, he does a lot of the same things that Brook Lopez does. One of my favorite sites right now is um Shot Creator where you can go and you can type in a player, you can see all the clips based on where they are on the floor and everything like that. That’s one of the first things I did once the Bucks got Miles Turner was to compare where he got his shots on the court to Brook Lopez. A lot of it is the same. A lot of above the breakthroughs is where a high volume of their shots come from. The only differences that I really saw from just the raw numbers of how they get their buckets offensively is just that Miles Turner is a bit of a better mid-range shooter than what Brook Lopez can give you. But Brooke has been more effective in the rim and in the paint than Miles Turner has been as well. So that’s like a little bit of the takeaway, but you can’t really ask for a better fit next to Giannis than what Miles Turner can give you. So after the initial shock of just the what happened here, it was like I’m on board with this, especially after seeing Miles Turner talk about coming to the team and his personality and all of that. And I was like, yeah, I can’t wait to see him in a Bucks jersey. What about you, Justin? Well, I want to get to that last thing you said, too, because that was that’s the other interesting pivot from this off seasonason. But I was stunned and I think Camille and I were on together as it was unfolding or we went live shortly thereafter and we both were kind of assuming like so this is a sign and trade. What are they doing to work out with Indiana? And then it was like 5 minutes later that the Dame piece dropped. We were like wow okay well I guess that makes sense. And I I suppose too like the cap is obviously a big part of it where we came in with the assumption they have more flexibility than they would have had if they weren’t a second apron team and certainly more than they had a summer ago. But yeah, I mean it’s not like they have their pick of the litter. And there were countless people that I’m sure took victory laps in the comments and everywhere else that would point out Miles Turner. Go get Miles Turner. Replace Brooke with him. and and we would always say like great it yeah it makes sense on the court sure there’s no real avenue to do that so when that happened you know I did wonder too and and knowing that’s the prototypical guy that you need next to Giannis as we saw with Brooke Reer just like should we have been more up on like should we have thought you know what are they going to be working on here because we know what works next to Yiannis and what you have to do and the goal is to keep Giannis so like we’ve been a little more aware of this possibility. It’s just it’s just I think man I thought the same thing Justin but it’s like how can you be aware that they were willing to do stretch Dame and that’s where it all kind of starts and stops. So it’s like you can’t even get to Miles Turner without figuring out that thing with Dame. So to me that was the move of the summer just however that happened, however that came about because of what it led to and the flexibility the Bucks had. Other thing, last thing about Miles Turner from a stylistic perspective, uh, I love him as a screen setter and as a mover offensively, you see the type of stuff actions that Indiana does. They’re really dynamic. I think it’s really going to help the Bucks to have a guy that’s sort of has this frenetic energy offensively. Screen here, screen there, raise his man, lift his guy, you know, duck here, cut here. I mean that I I tell you that’s going to be it’s a sound may sound like a underrated little small thing but I think it’s gonna really pay big dividends for the Bucks offensively next year. I think that’s fair too because that Pacers offense felt like uh who said this? I think it was LeBron who mentioned like I think he characterized their offense as organized chaos. Yeah. Where it’s not much that’s being ran necessarily, but guys are playing off each other reading and reading. Reading. Yep. Exactly. And if the Bucks can get that going too, a little bit more of that offball movement like with Jiannis at point guard, like it opens up a lot of doors for you. Absolutely. Do you So I think there’s really two big talking points that came out of the move here. Um number one, Pacers fans and apparently the Pacers organization very upset that Miles Turner moved on. Uh, I I guess with that, I mean, it’s no surprise that fans are going to be upset that they’re one of their star players moves on to a team that’s become your rival. But one of the like Camille and I talked about it all throughout the summer. Other people have said it, too. Like, yeah, it’s a bummer. Uh, but you could have avoided this. Like Miles Turner’s name was in trade rumors for basically the last seven years. You signed DeAndre Aon to an offer sheet while he was still under contract. you could have re-uped him and locked him up leading into this and instead they took the calculated risk to say, well, there’s two teams with cap space. Let’s see what type of offer you get and we’re pretty confident that that we can match it. And it was one of those scenarios where, like we just said, who could have seen the Bucks waving and stretching Dane? Yeah. And it’s and it’s crazy to kind of I mean, when you think about the Indiana situation and Hallebertton being out, I mean, it’s almost like they I don’t know. I don’t know if they I don’t know if they’re really tripping. I don’t know if they’re really tripping on Miles leaving because of what they faced for next season. Yeah. And I don’t that’s just my opinion. And you know, you heard Kevin Pritchard, the president basketball operations kind of talk about how they wanted to, you know, keep Miles and I don’t want to quote him because I I I don’t have the quote right, but I know the sentiment was, you know, we wanted Miles here, but you know, what you’re saying doesn’t really meet your actions. I mean, six minutes into game seven of the finals, too. Yeah. I mean, come on. debut control now. But uh it is what it is. I’m glad. I mean, but dude, it feels good that you grab the Pacers. I mean, this just stokes the rivalry. I love how this rivalry has just gotten worse and worse and more heated and heated as every day goes by. And I cannot wait till next season to match up with them dudes. How big of a rivalry is it? Because so Mark Bole, the longtime voice of the Pacers, we would talk about it with him before all the Pacers games, and he would always kind of like gently push back and downplay it where like, “Yeah, there’s something there.” But like for it to be a rivalry, you got to play deep into the playoffs. I hear you. I think what I like is just the bad blood when we play them. There’s a palpable energy in the air when we play Bucks and Pacers. You know what time this is. There’s going to be some chippiness. There may be, you know, a couple of things going on here and there. I mean, when they took the game ball, I mean, that’s one of my favorite episodes in NBA history. Like that image of Giannis being held when he’s being, you know, when he’s being held back looking down the locker room, you know, it’s just like the drama, the pageantry of it all. I I just love it, man. And I love just going I don’t know, man. I love it, man. I That’s all I’m going to say on the matter. I love it. I’m with I’m with you. I love the energy. I love the beef. Like I know that there are Pacers fans out there who be like, “Man, this ain’t no rivalry cuz they can’t beat us. They a And I get it because as a Packers fan, you hear Bears fans saying that stuff all the time. Just finally got a win for the first time in years. I ain’t trying to hear that.” But it didn’t matter leading up to that because every time we play the Bears, it’s going to be that energy. It’s that feeling to it. And that’s what Pacers Bucks feels like now where the Bucks really need to try to get them licks back at this point. But like just because the the wins aren’t even on both sides doesn’t in my opinion make the feelings between the two franchises any less at the moment. Yeah, I disagree with Mark. I mean look I I get that sentiment and his point was like Pacers Knicks in the 90s. We were playing in the semi-finals and conference finals like sure. Uh let’s see if we can get there but in the time being there’s there’s definitely something here. And what a scene it would be too guys if on uh opening night or the first time the Bucks play the Pacers. Imagine that being the home opener for the Bucks, too. Let’s go. Miles Turner strolls out there for the starting lineups and hands Giannis a ball and it’s a game ball from I love that. Let’s get that done, man. Make some call. Uh so it certainly sent shock waves through the NBA and a little bit of a ripple effect in the Eastern Conference. You could really make an argument that Achilles tendons were the ripple effect through the Eastern Conference. We’ll get into that conversation and what the conference looks like coming up after this. This next segment of Lockdown Bucks is brought to you by FanDuel. We got summer sports in full swing. 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Not just the off seasonason and and how much it bled into there, but Miles Turner moving on and the Pacers willingness to go that deep into the tax and give him that type of a contract. the Celtics maybe expediting a little bit of their selloff a little bit earlier or more than they anticipated with the Tatum injury and teams that are on the fringe like the Magic making the move that they did and saying we don’t know who the clear front winner is in the East. We think it’s wide open because we saw three different Achilles tendon injuries in the playoffs. Crazy. Uh, you know, and we had a longtime UCLA trainer, Tony Spino, on our podcast last week. He was actually talking about just the Achilles and the and the differences in shields. And and I left the conversation not really understanding how this happens in 2025. How does that many of the same thing happen in 2025 with the new advancements in technology, physical training, not to mention load management? Like, how? It’s not wear and tear. So, it just a lot of questions. But what it did was it did change complexion and now it made teams have to really the the teams that suffered the injuries. You got to really think about your future and what what next year is going to look like and what moves you’re going to make and where your guy is. And so um you know when you talk about the East, Cleveland, Boston is got a lot worse. Uh, I think obviously the Knicks are going to be pretty good where they’re at. But my team that I’m kind of wor wondering about just seeing what they do next year are the Hawks. I mean, I I like I like the offseason moves for some reason. I don’t know why. Every time I see the Hawks make a move, I was like, “Dang, that’s a solid move.” You know, it’s one of those things where you’re like, “Dang, the Hawks, what are they doing over there?” Um, so the Hawks are a team that I I’m going to look at. And then just depending on, you know, I think Cleveland has a shot, but man, I’m rolling with the Bucks. Let’s Let’s get something clear. Let’s be let’s be clear here. I am I am really high on this lineup. I am really high on this roster. I love the young guy. I mean, look, last the last couple of seasons since, you know, I kind of got back into Bucks basketball real real heavy on the cover tip. I always kind of had this thing with, and I’m not hating on Brooke. I’m not hating on Dame. I’m not hating on the older guys, but it was always a thing where I just didn’t feel like, you know, the potential wasn’t there for championship, NBA championship type of stuff. I I might have been in minority. I hope the guys don’t kill me for saying that, but that’s what I saw and felt, man. I was like, man, this ain’t going to never happen. I don’t care who we got, what scheme we run, we’re not playing, we’re not matching up with the rest of the league with enough young legs and young bodies. You got something, Justin? Well, no. I was just going to say I so I didn’t know how to word it, but for the last two years you would witness that and you’d feel like kind of feels like I mean society what we’re on the cusp of now where you know like technology and AI is definitely something that we should probably get in front of here. I don’t know how or what to do, but like that’s kind of what it felt like where you’re like, “Okay, I know what to expect from these guys, but this is not the way that other teams are playing.” And I think we have to adapt to that. And it it took until now for them to lean into that and but how rel how relieved I’m relieved honestly and I’m’ll be honest. I’m like now I feel like we have a shot over 82 games and we can really do something. I think so this summer the the um on the Bucks roster for summer or after all the signings I believe it was like something like 10 11 12 guys that are 26 or younger or double digits. It was something sick. I was like are you serious? I was like let me go through the roster. I had to double check the roster because I was like wow this does not sound like the Bucks that I had gotten used to. Now going all in on the youth I think now Doc is going to have to be forced to trust guys right now. Now you got a play guy. Now you got to throw guys in the fire that you might not have thrown. But you don’t have anybody that in my opinion hold their own weight on the in today’s NBA level. I feel like everybody on that team, everybody on that roster down to Chris Livingston, if he gets thrown in the game, I feel like that they could be a serviceable piece to a system or an engine, right? I feel like I just do. I just feel like I like it. I know everybody doesn’t like the roster, but I like You don’t got to sell any of us on Chris Livingston. not rolling with. Oh man, that’s his fan club. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And you know, we all were kind of think Camille was the first one to say it out loud, too. Like the edict coming into the off season, Giannis has to be the oldest player on the team. Oh. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Got to be. Got to be. Because when you look at just how it’s a few different things to look at it. One, you mentioned like how the bucks of old were just kind of old, right? No pun intended. Bucks of old old whatever. But I understood the logic behind it of like, okay, you’re you’re trying to compete for a championship. You’re trying to surround Giannis with veterans who you can trust in the moment. Go out there and get it. Like, you see what the Clippers are doing this off seasonason where they’re really doubling down on veterans. I’m surprised. I’m surprised. I’m like, we going to see how that work out. But they’re doubling down on like, hey, we only need this to work for a year. If it works for the year, we get a championship, you roll with it. But when you see like the finals and you saw the Pacers and the Thunder, like my husband was watching with me and he looked at me at one point and he said, “These boys are fast.” Like they are playing fast. Like the Bucks would have been smoked trying to keep up with these legs. So to see the Bucks transition where Giannis is one of the oldest players on the team and with him being one of the oldest players, he’s still one of the biggest threats in transition. He’s one of the biggest threats with the ball in his hand. Like you put guys around him that can actually run with him. Like one of my co-hosts on Tech File said like he wished this would have happened years ago when Giannis was even more, you know, agile, running even more, but like they’re finally at this point where they understand this is the way to go. And I think I’m excited for it, too. I’ve been saying I’m really excited for this new version of the Bucks. But I think one piece of it for fans as they watch too with trusting young guys is that there’s going to be some ups and downs that come with it. Yeah. I mean, we saw it at stretches last year, even with AJ Green when he went through a shooting slump. Sure. And you saw some people calling like, “Put him back on the bench, bench him.” And it’s like, you got to let shooters shoot through it. Like, you have to go through those learning pains. And I think we might have times like that in this season, but what gives me encouragement about it is the growth of Giannis as the leader. Like, for years, Giannis has led by action and action alone. But you saw it even last season how often he’s talking to guys, putting his arm around him, coaching them up, and he’s going to have to lean even more into that thing this upcoming season. But again, like the prospects of seeing a fastpaced Bucks team is exciting. And even when you’re not thinking about pace, as in them running up and down the floor in transition, I want to see pace even just getting into half court offense. I want to see the ball up court in three, four seconds. I want you running your sets while it’s 20 seconds left on the shot clock. like let’s get into it. Let’s get the pace up all around and I think they have the personnel to really do that this season. Yeah, I do too. A couple things on that. Uh as far as like I think that surround like you know you wish you would have had this for Giannis a little earlier in his career. I think that Giannis is at a place as a passer where he’s probably at the best he’s been. His vision, his assist, ability to make the pass, you know, he can he can execute pretty much any he you know we’ve seen him do them crazy left-hand passes. So he’s really really impressed me as a passer and so I think that you know this with surrounding him with the with the crew that they have I mean this gives him an opportunity to average a triple double next season. The other thing that I that I man I forgot what I wanted to say but no it was it was about the the um the youth you were talking about your husband’s comment about the speed. I thought the same thing. Oh no I wanted to bring this back. I was watching something on the internet and they somebody was watching this new, you know, how the NBA game is with five out. And so they were discussing all of the rotations that players have to make in the NBA on on a single possession, close out, recover, dig, and they were alluding to the fact that that type of pace over however many possessions in an NBA game that they played currently may contribute to some of these I I was going to ask like when we look back at, you know, the game in the 90s and 2000s and it was much more of a half court and the bigs were staying closer to the basket and now your bigs have to defend on the perimeter and then get back in the paint that it’s it’s no longer that game and it just we had you know Camille you can attest to this too. We would have the same conversations around football of like human body isn’t made for this. Yeah. I don’t know if the human body is made for those types of rotations. No. Yeah. Oh, just one real quick thing to think about like the injuries and uptick in that. I think another part of that too is just that how many miles that guys are having when they enter into the league. Like the AAU circuit and everything around with youth basketball is so much different now than it was 20, 30 years ago where you had so many more two, three sport athletes and basketball is what they did primarily, but they’re playing baseball, they’re playing football, they’re using their muscles in different ways, but now you have so many players. How many sports did you play in high school? Yeah, I played well in high school probably up to 10th grade I played three. So I was baseball, basketball, football. But to your point, Camille, the So when you took time to go play baseball, you’re working different muscle groups and you’re giving those other muscle groups a little bit of a rest. And so that is why I think the lack of multi-port athletes that you see uh now does contribute the AAOU thing. I have my younger sister, 15 years old, uh Shiloh Johnson. She’s uh going to be a sophomore, but she she hurt her ankle this summer. And so we we just pulled her from all the AAOU stuff. And just to give you an idea about her AA schedule, she literally was scheduled between like July 7th and July 21st to like, you know, play like, you know, 10 event, five events in like across four states. Y so you’re traveling, you gota questionable nutrition because obviously I had a AAOU team. So we’re trying to find things quick. We got to feed 10 12 people. So, you know, it’s the healthy organic stuff. I don’t know. We might hit Chick-fil-A. Uh, so your diet, your nutrition, your rest, and then you play so many dog on games. By the time you get to college, you’re going to have to do a bunch of other stuff. Then by the time a guy get to the NBA, you got a lot of wear and tear on them puppies. And so that’s something that needs to be looked at. I don’t know how we went back to this tangent, but it’s definitely something that needs to be looked at. Um, we mentioned a couple of the names and the way that the Bucks have now changed their style. we think at least and and the calling for, hey, get more athletic, get younger, get play at a faster pace. On paper, it looks like that’s what they’re going to do. So, that leaves a couple of candidates to have some breakouts and Doc River shared some thoughts on that. I’m curious what you guys think about the other names. We’ll get to that discussion coming up next. So, it was one of the the first games of summer league um where Doc was in his usual spot as one of the guests on the broadcast and man, he shouted out a handful of guys and this was right after everything came into the fold, but really talked up the youth on this team and guys that were going to take a massive step forward. And I I mean he didn’t really give a clear answer on who he thought was the biggest, but I think the implication was was it KPJ or or AJ Green? Yeah, KPJ was really talking up. AJ Green, Gary Trent, too. Um I mean, even some guys that we haven’t mentioned, when you look at how much their role is going to change, I I hesitate to even say the name. Kyle Kosma is certainly in line for a bounce forward too. Absolutely. Absolutely. But who do you view on this roster and just say, you know what, I’m really excited for them in their new role next season. I’m putting my chips on Ryan Rollins to have the breakout season for the Milwaukee Bucks next year. I think he’s going to get a lot more opportunity uh to play to contribute meaningful minutes. Um, I just look if we’re going point Giannis and you got KPJ there, I and now we have Cole Anthony, so that’s some nice insurance, but I just don’t see a world where, you know, KPJ is going to be on the ball as much as maybe Doc is sounding like in summer league. I just don’t see a world where that might happen. I think KPJ has a lot of upside as a catch and shoot guy and a guy that can attack close outs close outs off the catch and you know dribble couple two dribble step backs two dribble but when guys are moving defensively and trying to cover him. So I think Rollins is going to get a ton of time. I love his physical attributes and I love the I love his metrics and just in his small you know amount of I mean golly it’s like give this if anybody on the team deserves to get 30 minutes or a long extended period to see how he does it’s Ryan Rollins. So, for me, it’s it’s uh it’s Ryan Rollins. I think he’s going to be the guy with the breakout season next year. I think that’s fair cuz uh Eric Name of the Athletic did like a two-part interview with John Horse. And then the second part, one piece that stood up to me and when me and Justin did the pot on it afterwards, I was like, “Dang, I forgot to mention this live on the air, but John Horse actually said that he thinks that a player comp for Ryan Rollins is actually George Hill.” I see a lot of George Hill and Ryan Rollins game. And me and Justin were talking about that too of like if you can get if you can get a George Hill type of player there like you have hit the lottery. So I love that. And Chris, I listen to the here district every week. So I be checking y’all out. Okay. And you also mentioned like you’re kind of high on Gary Harris, too. And that’s a name in the rotation that I know when I’m thinking about it, I always put him kind of towards the end of the rotation just prioritizing some of the youth on the team. But what do you see in Gary Harris’s game that you think could be a real fit for the Bucks this season? Well, I just think that he’s he’s a he’s a veteran guy. He’s got that size at the at the wing position where he can guard and he’s strong enough to guard like a a bigger three because of his strength. Uh I had his his numbers in Orlando in limited minutes, but he was really good. Um like it was def was it def points per possession defensively? I believe he did he was really solid. So that kind of just for me it was like, hey, you know, you got a guy that that can get live offensively. We know that, you know, he’s it’s the NBA. He can make shots. He can do some things if he gets high, but defensively now you have a Conniey’s gone. Gary Harris is here. So now you have a guy that replaces that. I think he’s going to somewhat try to fill fill the void on those minutes, but he’s a better defender in my opinion. And I think the numbers do say that in his limited minutes in Orlando. Yeah, and I mean that depth is really to me one of the other big pieces from this summer when we just look at guys that kind of fit and we can say well do they really have enough wings like they’re loaded at the two spot and in the front court you feel great about what you got. Your one weakness would probably be like yeah do we have threes but they got a lot of depth everywhere else or point guards too like you got a lot of combo guards but you also have Giannis on the roster. Um, and to me that was one of the bigger stories from last season in the playoffs is we’ve almost had to like flip the conversation where for the longest time it was so what? You can only play five guys and you really need seven in the playoffs. A lot of that is still true, but I think what we saw is depth is becoming more and more important that you need to have different ways to play and different guys to throw out there. And the other big piece, which I do think they if not completely solved, solved a lot of, you just can’t have one weakness that teams can pick at because it’s it’s almost impossible to overcome that in this era of the For sure. For sure. Yeah, for sure. The weak link era is a real thing. A real thing. Yeah. No, you can’t do that no more. So now you putting out guy there is no weak link. And so you can’t help, you can’t do this, you can’t do that. And so now these one-on ones and these isolations become that much more important. But um the other thing I was going to say I I I Gary Trent like when you talked about the shooting slump we were talking about a player earlier AJ and we remember Gary shooter slump to start the season like one for one for 30 but then but we found out later he had some type of nagging little injury kind of messed him up and then saw what he did later in the season and and so that was my point about that and I love the fact that Gary’s back. I love Gary as a player, but I also like the energy and the dog that he brings uh to the team. Like, I love his whole thing. He look like a crazy dude. I know he’s the nicest guy ever, but he be out there, you know, the way he plays, man. I’m I’m totally into it. Um and then Jericho Sims. Uh I’m excited about Jericho. I love his athleticism. I love that, you know, he’s he’s shooting left-handed threes during his summer to kind of work on his game. I think he’s been doing that since he’s been at Texas or whatever. But I you know him and Y I was thinking telling my dad like think about him and Giannis kind of Jericho the dunker. Giannis working out top and the lob opportunities. I mean once you throw one two lobs, right? One, two lob, two three lobs, guys got to sink. It’s going to open up the perimeter. When you don’t have that threat, you live a completely different lifestyle from a shot making perspective because you have defenders in your face because there is no lock threat. So, no one has to care about Jericho down low. But I think there’s going to be some, you know, deliberate stuff where Giannis and Jericho just on the mis mismatch tip and then um somebody else that um that’s coming. I I don’t know why I always forget to talk about Bobby Portoris. Like every time I talk about all the signings, Bobby Portoris is like probably one of the most key signings of the off season. The firepower, the continuity. Um obviously the guy loves the city. I mean, it’s a vibe right now in Milwaukee. Everybody been talking about the Bucks. Let’s keep it real. It’s like the Milwaukee Bucks is like one of the most searchable things of the summer. Has been on every single uh big time network dominating conversations on every podcast, sports podcast. The Bucks are coming up. I think that this is all energy and vibe that’s going to lead to another chip. And you know what? to that point about Bobby Portoris who hails himself as the underdog, the underdog. We got a lot of guys on this team who like to play with chips on their shoulder and the way that the Bucks have been talked about a lot this summer, but a lot of the conversations is doubting what this team is building because a lot of the names are the same from last year, but people aren’t acknowledging how differently they plan to play with said names and then the additions that come along with it. So, when you add that fuel to the fire, you have less expectations this season. You got guys with chips on their shoulder. Like that’s a perfect formula for a team with some dogs on it with a team with some guys who like to prove people wrong. It’s a great formula to have. Oh, I love it. I’m excited. Shoot. It’s Yeah. And like look, are they is this roster the Thunder? No. Like are there still questions surrounding this team? Absolutely. But like the the point we’ve made all summer too was they can at least play different ways and attack different ways now. and you have the best player in the conference. We got arguably the best in the league that if things fall into place, you at least put yourself in that conversation. Like, are they in the inner circle now? No. But if we see, wow, this is we see the vision behind John Hor. And even he said, was the sample size big enough to truly believe in this? No. But I believe in it. And that what we saw those last eight games, the playoffs, that’s how this group can play. and that’s what we believe we’re going to get. And if that’s the case, then you put yourself in position to be eventually in that inner circle during the season here. And the other thing with that that I I keep thinking about, like we talk about offense a lot, but it’s just the defensive they’re going to be able to sustain certain levels of defense over longer periods of time than they have been. So, the stops will become more frequent. They will become more consistent. You’ll you won’t see guys giving up, you know, you know, let’s let’s be real. last I mean gosh if I had hair I’d pull my hair out on some of the baskets that we would give up the offensive rebounds those second chance you know you guys remember I mean it was like dang why why can’t we get that like we gonna start getting some of that and some of these possessions are are going to be secured and it’s going to change the destiny of the squad look I I I’m not one just to like pump stuff up my whole life right I’m never really one to you know oh yeah I’m rolling because this and that like I feel it I go off on my feeling and I feel like these Bucks are gonna morph into something truly special come February. And you and we’re gonna get back on this pod and then I’m gonna be like, “Huh?” You gonna pull it up. I’m be like, “Put run that clip, Justin.” Hey, play that like Joe Rogan. Hey, play that clip. Justin, hey, we gonna run the clip. Chris said it. I don’t want no props. Just be like, “Okay, Chris. All right, Chris.” Tip of the hat. All right, Chris. That’s all I want. Um, last thing I have for you. So, we’ve talked quite a bit about this, too. Um, I’m assuming I know the answer given what you said earlier, but who do you think starts at point guard and who do you think starts at small forward? So, I think at no my answer is a little different. So, I don’t think Rollins will start the season. I think KPJ will have the ball in his hands to start. I think the small forward Gosh, this is going to be tough. So where I mean you go TP I mean I I’m not going Cuz I think I I just do not feel like Koozma his the best use of Koozma’s to me is not starting him at the small forward in my opinion. I go I don’t think any of us disagree with you. I go to Prince. Okay. So I go Tory Prince. That’s who you would start. Who do you think will start? So who do I think will start? So, if Doc is is going to be committed to this situation, we see what happens last year. But then again, it has to it’s like what type of shape is CS going to come into training camp? And because if CS comes in elite world class shape, which he wasn’t in last year, which is why he would get tired on some of those defensive assignments and he wasn’t like locking people down like we had hoped. Guess what? He’s a different guy. He’s Lakers Cous now. He’s back into his championship pedigree, championship medal with the contributions that makes sense for a title contender. So I have to see what happens there. But let’s just say let’s just say safe bet I’m going TP started out Gary Trent Jr. KPJ god this see but it’s like why would you go away from the lineup last year that was killer who was a KP AJ and Gary like why would you go away from that killer and I think that Doc is no longer going to operate like oh I’m not gonna use my sample size of a good lineup and I think it’s gonna carry over. So, I think it’s those three start. Giannis and Miles. See, that’s that’s that’s where I was going to where it’s like if if y’all are talking about the sample size of what worked, it’s Kevin Porter Jr., it’s Gary Trent Jr., it’s AJ Green, it’s Giannis, and then probably Miles Turner out there now that you got him. So, like got to roll with Let’s see. I think that’s who it is. Um, I think before everything else fell into place, I thought Ryan Rollins was going to start that they would bring him back and he would be your starting two guard because I think he pairs very nicely with Giannis as an off-ball guy and a guy that’s good at catch and shoot. Um, but now when you look at the bench, and that’s the other thing is, man, this bench potentially is something that the Bucks haven’t really had in quite some time where it was always either like one guy could score or it was just guys that were out there to defend where your starters would give you a lead and just say, “Don’t screw this up for us.” And now like Bobby Poris can score. We don’t think he’s going to come off the bench, but if he were, Kevin Porter Jr. can fill it up for you. Cole Anthony can fill it up that they have so many of those options, too, where it’s not always a good thing to be one of the top scoring benches in the league, but I think they’re at least going to be in the top third. Firepower. I mean, to me, have some firepower. Who are you bringing in? What are the reinforcements looking like? And they can they get buckets? Oklahoma City, like they bringing in Isaiah Joe and all these other kind of dudes like, you know what I’m saying? Like, guys are getting buckets. And Kase Wallace, like guys are out here getting buckets and that’s the name of the game. In today’s NBA, you got to go out there and get buckets. Obviously, you got to get stops. But if you don’t have if you have a squad of guys that cannot get buckets coming off the bench and you’re hoping that their value is going to be realized as facilitators or defense, that’s not going to work in today’s NBA. You got to get a value offensively for guys, right? You just do. I mean, cuz the rules and the spacing and the pace, it’s like, yeah, you know, you sure there’s going to be your your your guys that can lock up, but like you better score. And so the Bucks have that that is filled with guys that can do that. The question is how quickly can Doc get this thing together. Um I man I know Quinn Qu um I know Greg Buckner is excited about the defensive side of things and just just the options he’s going to have as far as a scheme standpoint because now he has guys that can get to the places where he need guys to go. I don’t think he might have had that last season. Yeah, that’s fair. Yeah, I mean you you uh you don’t have very many Andre Robersonsons in the league anymore for um and shouts to Buck, too. I I haven’t gone up to him yet, but uh I’ve just discovered we’re at the same gym and I’ve seen him a handful of times. The first time I saw him was when the news broke that Brooke Lopez was leaving. I’m like, well, this is definitely not the time to go up to him and say, “Hey, Brooke, how’s it going?” Um, but yeah, uh, Chris, it’s always a blast to have you on here. Uh, appreciate the insights. Yes, sir. Be careful around the crew that you have, especially Monus. I know that can get out of hand really. I try quickly. Yeah, he’s he’s an interesting one that Monus Camille you’ve never experienced. And um, I don’t know how to sum the Monus experience. It’s actually you actually leave there with a smile on your face. Just put it like that. You’ll be smiling, Camil. Just put it like that. Uh, and then of course every week, Tuesdays, people can hear the Here District as well. You’ve already called out a lot of the bigname interviews that you guys have had here through the duration, but especially recently and some more coming as well. We had Ice Cube on the other day. I don’t know if you guys got a little bit of that, but yeah, we had Cube and some other We’re kind of branching out a little bit, so it’s exciting. Uh, well, always great to catch up with you, Chris, and appreciate the insights. We’ll do it again during the season and hopefully we can run back that clip and say, “Hey, told you so. Let’s play the clip.” Thank you both. I appreciate you for having me on. Well, that’ll do it for today’s show for Camille and Chris Johnson. I’m Justin. We’ll talk once again tomorrow on Locked on Bucks.

Bucks shock NBA with Myles Turner signing. Is Milwaukee now the team to beat in the East?

The Milwaukee Bucks’ unexpected acquisition of Myles Turner sends shockwaves through the league. Justin Garcia, Camille Davis, and Kris Johnson break down this game-changing move, analyzing how Turner’s skills complement Giannis Antetokounmpo and reshape the Bucks’ strategy. The trio explores the intensifying Bucks-Pacers rivalry, dissects Milwaukee’s youth movement, and predicts potential starting lineups featuring new additions like Kevin Porter Jr. and Gary Trent Jr.

Will the Bucks’ revamped roster and newfound flexibility propel them to the top of the Eastern Conference? Tune in for expert insights on Milwaukee’s championship aspirations and how they stack up against their rivals.

0:00 Intro: Busy off-season for the Bucks
5:44 Myles Turner signing shocks and excites
11:35 Eastern Conference shaken by Achilles injuries
17:54 Bucks transition to younger, faster team
24:41 Potential breakout players for upcoming season
31:55 Bucks’ new roster brings versatility and depth

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