Preseason Preview: Milwaukee Bucks
What’s good y’all and welcome back to another preseason preview video. In today’s video, we’re going over the Milwaukee Bucks. In case this is your first preseason preview video of mine that you’re seeing, basically what I do is go over the off seasonason, give a little recap there, and then look on to the future season coming up and trying to see what we can expect. And the Bucks are coming off of a pretty disappointing season. I would say they ended up being the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference, finishing 48 and 34. Uh when you include some of the context around that though, I mean that record doesn’t seem too bad considering Dame was injured throughout the year. Uh Chris Middleton wasn’t fully healthy and then they went out and traded in for Kyle Kosma at the deadline. There’s a lot going on. So when you look at that record alone, it doesn’t seem too bad. Uh the real tragedy struck in the playoffs though. They were a firstround exit yet again to the Indiana Pacers, this time falling in five. And not only did they just lose in the first round for the third straight year in a row, but Damen Lillard tore his Achilles and that just started the full domino effect of the whole media asking will Giannises ask out? Who’s the best suitor for him? What will the Bucks get back in return? All of this noise around the Bucks future and it primed them for a very interesting offseason. Let’s just say that. And let’s just jump right into the offseason for the Milwaukee Bucks. They had probably the most unexpected move of the entire off season. And that is of course where they waved Damen Lillard and the rest of his contract. He still had two more seasons on that contract about $100 million. And the Bucks said, “You know what? It’s best if we wipe our hands and get rid of him.” Dame has since went on to sign a new deal with the Portland Trailblazers. So, he’s going back to Portland. Uh obviously even if Dame wasn’t bought out, he would have been hurt with his Achilles and out for this entire season, I would assume, for the Bucks. Uh so, you know, they were kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. Do you just eat up all of that salary, hope he comes back better, and you know, run it back with the same team, or do you cut your losses while you’re ahead in a way, uh and you know, wave him and try to just build what you can from the rubble? uh they decided to go with that aspect of it, just wave dame, cut their losses, and then try to move forward. Now, of course, they did use that freed up money for a move that we’ll talk about in a little bit. But when you just talk about the objective loss of talent that the Bucks had, obviously, they did not get back a player of Dame’s caliber in return. Now, with that injury, it kind of merked some stuff up like I mentioned. Uh, but it just is very disappointing to have a prime Giannis Atkuno on your roster uh and just objectively lose talent. That’s that’s never a good thing. The Bucks also lost Brook Lopez to free agency. He signed a new deal with the Los Angeles Clippers. And this was a little bittersweet. Not even bittersweet. It was a little bitter for me and I’m not even a Bucks fan. So, I can imagine how some of you guys feel now that Brook’s gone. The only two that were on the championship roster that are still on the Bucks right now off the top of my head are Giannis and Bobby Portoris. So that definitely sucks. And Brook Lopez isn’t coming off his best season. He’s only getting older in age. I believe he’s up to 37 now at this point. Uh so, you know, it kind of made sense when you think about it, especially when you look at the other guys the Bucks signed, which again we’ll get to in just a second. Um, you know, it does suck to see such a fan favorite and I don’t want to say homegrown guy because he wasn’t drafted there, but he’s been in Milwaukee for a while. There seems to be some mutual love there. Uh, and it does suck to see him go. But all in all, I don’t think the Bucks are too hurt about it. Uh, the Dame injury and loss right there, that’s the real kicker. And of course, the guy that the Bucks were able to sign with their freed up money and the guy that will kind of help mitigate the loss of Brook Lopez, the guy I’ve been alluding to this whole video so far. It was the signing of Miles Turner. He signed a new 4-year, $107 million deal. That last year is a player option. Uh, so he’ll be making about $27 million a year for the next four years. Now, I kind of loop this Miles Turner signing and the waving of Damen Lillard hand in hand together because obviously they waved Dame to free up the money to sign Miles Turner. That those two together are by far the most shocking and unexpected move of free agency in my opinion. not only just waving the all-star, you know, Damen Lillard, but Miles Turner going from the Indiana Pacers, who he got drafted to, was there for 10 plus years, and he goes to the Milwaukee Bucks. Not even an in division rival, not even an inconference rival, but probably the biggest rivalry in the Eastern Conference right now. Two years in a row, the Bucks lost to the Indiana Pacers. They got booted from the playoffs. And then also, of course, you have the Giannis storming for his 60-point ball. Uh, and then, you know, like just every time it seems like when these two teams face off against each other, there’s smoke, there’s bad blood, there’s aggression. And for Miles Turner to go from one side to the other of that, just super super shocking to me. Regardless of all of that though, when you look at it on the court, I do really like this move for the Bucks. I do think that in a lot of ways, Brook Lopez and Miles Turner are similar players. They’re not the exact same, but they do a lot of the same things. The most obvious one of those skill sets is, of course, the three-point shooting. Both of these guys are some of the best three-point shooting centers in the NBA. Miles Turner will be able to still spread the floor and and keep that paint somewhat open for Giannis when he’s trying to just get downhill and get to the paint. Uh, you know, he’ll be able to hit those catches, shoot shots. I do think that Miles Turner all around though is a better offensive player than Brook Lopez. uh he doesn’t do it too often or at least he did it in Indiana, but he is a solid guy from the post uh to, you know, kind of create his own shot there. He’s really good at hitting them with the pump fakes and then when centers sell out cuz he’s such a good three-point shooter, uh he can really just do like a one dribble drive to the basket and finish. Super athletic, too, for whether it’s lobs or offensive putbacks or just, you know, powerful dunks in general. Uh he’s usually good for at least one powerful dunk a game. I also do think that Miles Turner, while still being a great rim protector and shot blocker, he can move his feet just a little bit better than the old man Brook Lopez, uh, you know, not that he’s going to be out there switching and, you know, guarding guards on an island or anything, but I do like his foot speed a little bit better than Brook Lopez. And maybe that can make it a little easier to shake up some of the pick and roll coverages that the Bucks throw out there. But everyone always talked about how perfect of a center Brook Lopez was next to Giannis because he still defends and he stretches the floor. Miles Turner is one of the only other centers that fit those categories. And uh you know it’s it’s amazing that the Bucks were able to kind of just swap them out. You know, it would have been really tough if they lost Brook Lopez and weren’t able to bring in a guy like Miles Turner, but I’m pretty confident in Miles to, you know, bring everything that Brooke brought and then maybe even a little extra as well. The Bucks also went out and signed Cole Anthony after he got bought out by the Memphis Grizzlies. He was first traded from Orlando to Memphis in the Desmond Bane trade, then got bought out a few days later. Uh, and then ended up in Milwaukee. And I really like this signing for Milwaukee, too. I feel like I’ve always been a Cole Anthony guy. Maybe it’s cuz he’s from New York. I don’t know. Shout out my New York guys. Uh, but Cole Anthony, I love the energy that he brings and I think that’s one of the biggest things he can bring to the Bucks cuz last year a lot of times when I watch them, uh, they were super sluggish and, you know, they weren’t talking defensively. Sometimes, you know, they just they didn’t look like they wanted to play together as a group. Uh, and I think a a lot of that comes down to energy. Uh, and Cole Anthony, whether that’s in the locker room or on the court, I think can help that out a lot just because whenever he is playing, he’s playing at 110%. Whether it’s driving hard to the basket or, you know, diving for a loose ball, uh, crashing the glass, even though he’s only 6’3, he is a very good rebounder for his size. I love everything that Cole Anthony plays like and plays for. And I think he can bring a lot of good qualities to the Bucks, you know, again, whether that’s strictly in the locker room or coming off their bench and, you know, playing on the court. I almost forgot, but he only signed a vet minimum contract, a one-year, $2.2 million deal. Uh, you can’t really get much better value than that. Obviously, it’s the vet minimum. And then the last new guy the Bucks brought in was Gary Harris. They signed him to a 2-year, $7.4 million deal. Uh, this is a oneplus 1 deal though. That second year is a player option. I don’t know how much PT Gary will get. I don’t think that he will be in the rotation as a solidified guy, but he’s a good depth wing piece as one of your prototypical guys that can shoot the ball, compete defensively, and just kind of fill some shooting guard/ small forward role. Uh, again, I don’t think he’ll be in the rotation, but he’s some good depth to have. A lot of the moves that the Bucks made this off season weren’t bringing in new guys. They actually resigned a lot of their own free agents. So, real quick, I’m going to read off some of their new contracts there. And funny enough, all of these contracts actually end in a player option. So, when I say x amount of years plus one, that just means that last year is that player option. Starting off with Bobby Portoris, he signed a 2 plus one deal worth $44 million. Uh, Kevin Porter Jr. signed a oneplus 1 deal worth $11 million. Torium Prince, a OnePlus 1 worth $7.1 million. Gary Trent, a oneplus 1 worth $7.5 million. Jericho Sims, a OnePlus 1 worth 5.2. And then last but not least, Ryan Rollins, who signed a 2 + 1 worth $12 million. Hopefully that wasn’t too confusing. I’ll put something up on the screen so you can follow along while I read. Uh but yeah, the Bucks wrote a lot of checks. And now that we recap their off seasonason, let’s take a look at a potential rotation we could be seeing from the Bucks. In their starting lineup, we have Kevin Porter Jr., Gary Trent Jr., Torian Prince, Giannis Anttompo, and Miles Turner. And then off the bench, they have Cole Anthony, AJ Green, Kyle Kosma, Bobby Portoris, and Jericho Sims. This rotation for the Bucks was probably one of the hardest I’ve made so far just because I feel like a lot of the Bucks players are either similar in play style or similar in talent level or both. Uh so that leads it uh to be pretty difficult to try to figure out who should start, who should come off the bench. Uh so, you know, I could see a lot of different variations. Uh but, you know, regardless, this is what I went to. And the main thing that jumps off the page for me is Giannis is going to have to carry this team so much. Like we could be in for a I forget which year that was, but when when Joic went MVP because his stats were just insane. The Nuggets were super hurt. They were only like the fifth or six seed, but he won MVP off of that carry job. We might be seeing that type of carry job from Giannis this season. Uh, when I just look at this roster and take Giannis out of the equation, the self-creation is almost non-existent. It’s one of the main reasons why I have Kyle Koosma coming off the bench because he at least can create his own shot. You know, to what quality? That’s up to debate. Uh, but he can do it. Uh, so I put that off the bench just to try to separate some of that self-creation. Obviously, you have your guards like Kevin Porter Jr., Cole Anthony, maybe Ryan Rollins, too, even though he didn’t make my rotation right there. Uh Bobby Portoris can create his own shot from the center position too. There’s not much after that though. Like it really concerns me, especially when Giannis is going to be on the bench. Who’s going to be their main source of offense? You know, when Giannis is on the court, I think it’ll be pretty okay, pretty solid. Uh you know, obviously we all know what he can do. He’s coming off one of his best offensive seasons if you ask me. uh when you just get downhill and he either is going to kick it out, finish through, over around people, whatever it is, uh you know, I definitely have confidence in that, especially when you look at the shooters this team has. They were able to bring back Gary Trent, bring back Torian Prince, AJ Green as well. They have the shooters, uh you know, not to mention Miles Turner, who they just signed as well. They have the shooters to spread the floor and make it easier for Giannis. It’s just when he’s not on the floor, man, like it could get really rough. The good thing about that though is I do think that the Bucks should have at least an average to above average maybe you know towards the bottom of that top 10 defense. When you look through their roster they have a lot of at least average to above average defenders. Obviously you have Giannis who is a defensive player of the year. Miles Turner holding down that paint. I really like Jericho Sims off their bench too. Former Knicks. Shout out my Knicks. Gary Trent Jr. Torian Prince. AJ Green. All these guys compete defensively. Cole Anthony really puts a lot of effort on that side of the ball. I really do think that their defense will be their strong suit. It’s just will their defense plus Giannis be enough to make up for the rest of their lackluster offense. I do want to point out some notable reserves though before we move on. Uh the first one of course is Ryan Rollins who I mentioned a little bit. I really wanted him to be in the rotation for this team and he very much might be. I could definitely see a world where him and Cole Anthony are competing for that backup point guard spot or maybe Doc Rivers just trust him enough and gives it to Ryan Rollins straight out. He’s just coming off of such a great year last year where it was his first real consistent role that he’s had since becoming an NBA player. Uh and he showed a lot of promise shooting the ball, being a ball handler. Uh even defensively, he’s shown some flashes as well, which I really like. And of course, I believe he’s still only like 21ish, maybe 22. Uh, so he’s still on the younger side. Uh, I definitely think that he deserves a shot. I just really couldn’t find a way to to fit him completely into this rotation. Andre Jackson Jr. is another notable reserve I wanted to point out. Uh, starting off last year, he was one of the Bucks key parts of the rotation. He started a bunch of games for them. Uh, and then as the year went on, he just kind of got less minutes, less minutes, less minutes until he was just getting coaches DMPS. He’s more of a defensive first oriented wing and the Bucks have a few other guys that can fill that defensive mindset while also giving them a lot more offensively. So unless we see an offensive jump from Ajax, I don’t know if we’ll really be seeing him in the rotation. And now it is time to talk about the ceiling floor and my expectations for the Milwaukee Bucks coming into this season. Starting off with their ceiling, I could see them being as high as the fourth seed out east. Uh, and I gotta be honest, a lot of this again is on the back of Giannis Antto Kmpo. Uh, if they are able to have homecourt advantage in this year’s first round of the playoffs, I will be shocked to be honest with you. I will be shocked. I don’t think they will be a top four seed, but I do think just off Giannis’s strength alone, they could do it. And then when you look at the playoffs, uh, again, almost solely off the strength of Giannis alone, I do think that they could win a playoff matchup, especially depending on who they’re going up against. Uh, we’ve seen Giannis will his team to victories in the playoffs when it mattered the most. So, I think he could do it again. I just think that when you look at that second round, there’s going to be a lot of heavy hitters. They would presumably have to go through either the Cavs or the Knicks. Uh, and just looking at this Bucks roster, I don’t know if they would be able to beat either of those teams. So, at their ceiling, I think that they are a second round exit. When you look at their floor, I could see the Bucks being as low as the seventh seed. I got to be honest, the Bucks are really benefiting from uh the lack of Jason Tatum, the lack of Tyresese Hallebertton in this Eastern Conference. Uh because if you add in the Boston Celtics or the Indiana Pacers, this floor could be even lower for them. And you know, to see Giannis on a seven seed, I feel like that just doesn’t really compute in my mind correctly. But if they do end up being the seven seed, I definitely have confidence in Giannis to will his team to at least one of the two playin tournament games to make the playoffs. Once you make that playoffs though, again, you kind of run into that same issue I was just talking about where presumably if at the seventh seed or eighth seed, they would have to be matched up against the Cavs or the Knicks. I don’t see them beating either of those teams. So, at their floor, they are a first round exit. And lastly, my expectations from the Bucks this year, I expect them to be around that fifth seed. Uh maybe that six seed depending on how these younger teams in the East really work out. Uh those younger teams I’m talking about are the Detroit Pistons or the Orlando Magic. Depending on how their season shakes out, the bucket could be maybe a lower, maybe a little bit higher. But around that fifth seed, I think is their sweet spot right now. I mean, you look at their playoffs, uh, my expectations, even though it pains me to say it, I expect them to be a very tough first round exit. Uh, and I really am saddened that we’re not going to be able to see Giannis make these long playoff pushes cuz he’s either been hurt or the team has just been not good enough to move on. Unfortunately, this year, I just look at this roster and I don’t expect great big grand things. A lot of it is going to be on the shoulder of Giannis and I hope he proves me wrong. Uh but yeah, this year I’m not expecting too much from the Milwaukee Bucks. What about you guys though? Let me know in the comments below what you expect for the Bucks in the playoffs and then also where you think they will finish off this year in the standings. Uh, real quick though, I do also want to say for you Bucks fans, if you want a little bit more Bucks talk or maybe even just a little bit more Jacob Blocks talk, I’m going to be making an appearance on the Castle Cast hosted by Aean Castles. Make sure you guys check out in the description. Subscribe to his channel later on this week. The episode that I will be guest appearing on should be up. So, make sure you guys check that out. We’re going over the Bucks. We’re going over the Spurs. Just a lot of great basketball talk. Hope you guys enjoyed this video, though. If you did, make sure you leave it a like, subscribe so you don’t miss the next one. 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During my Preseason Preview series I will be covering all 30 NBA teams, recapping their offseason, assessing their roster, and predicting what to expect from them in this coming season. In this video, I cover the Milwaukee Bucks.
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