Milwaukee Bucks SIGN Amir Coffey | The Big 3 in 30 NBA
The Locked On Podcast Network presents the NBA Big Three in 30. The three biggest stories in the NBA from our local experts at the Locked On Podcast Network. We bring you the real story, why it matters, what’s next. Who wins the big game, and more, all in 30 minutes. The NBA Big Three and 30 starts now with the biggest story in the NBA. And another roster move. We dig into the details coming up after this on Locked on Bucks. You are Locked on Bucks, your daily Milwaukee Bucks podcast. Bucks have signed a mere coffee. He is a name I think you probably brought him up quite frequently earlier in the offseason in terms of like low-key targets for the Bucks. We were talking earlier uh recording this morning with Tai Euroep and we both pointed out you know the obvious of like well I feel good about the depth that this team has overall but depth on the wing like who’s going to play the three that’s the one spot that you’re really unsure about and enter air coffee. So I say there’s a caveat that is as first reported by Eric Name it’s a camp deal for air coffee. So, it’s it’s not necessarily a contract. That being said, I have a hard time seeing a Bucks roster without air coffee on it. And I think this essentially buys them some time to figure out how do we create that 15th roster spot and at whose expense is it going to be? is with the camp deals, you’re allowed to carry what, like 19 players, something like much more than your 15 throughout training camp. Um, so that’s what this does. It gives the Bucks that ability to, okay, we’re going to stash him and we got him and can kind of bring him along. We’ll see him in the preseason. We’ll see him throughout camp. I just don’t see unless air Coffey’s shot is broken and he has massively regressed since we last saw him. I don’t see any scenario where he is not the 15th man on the roster. Yeah. Honestly, I’m surprised the Bucks even signed him to a camp deal. Like Coffee is somebody who I thought would just get a straight up maybe a bet. Yeah, a standard deal. Maybe a vet man at this point in the offseason, but surprised that he’s a camp body. Um but yeah, like I like the the signing a lot. like he doesn’t necessarily fit into that really young age group of players we’ve been talking about. Nor is he that older vet. 28 years old. Um he’s been a he’s just like a solid player. Like that’s the way I’ll say it. He’s a solid player. 6’7, shot like 40 41% from three last season. So he’s someone who can knock shots down um play a bit of defense. I think some might overvalue his defense a little bit, but he has the tools. He’s not going to be somebody who’s a super weak link on the team on that side of the ball. So, like, yeah, that’s Pickle. Like, like you were naming off free agents a few weeks ago. Someone in the comments mentioned remembering this conversation where Amir Coffee was the only name of the ones you listed where I was like, I could I could get down with that. Like, that’s that’s more the speed I’m looking for. So, I’m happy it’s another wing player, someone with some size 6, seven, like I mentioned before, because a lot of the guys we’ve talked about being in the rotation are the smaller guards, especially when you’re rolling out like the uh Kevin Porter Jr., Gary Trent Jr., uh, AJ Green lineups where you’re a little small. So, having another option for a wing player that has some size is nice if, of course, he does make it off of this camp deal onto a standard deal, which I would think is is pretty likely based on what we’ve seen from him in the past. Yeah, he you mentioned the uh figures from last year and his numbers and really there’s for the most part he’s been a very good two consistent three-point shooter. recent career, 38% three-point shooter. And the two years that were his leanest, he shot 28% and 32%. Those were, for all intents and purposes, the seasons that he played the least. Um, he shot 32% his rookie year when he just played 18 games and took about one three per game. and he shot 28% uh two seasons ago when he played 50 games and took less than one three per game. Otherwise, as you noted, 41% last year, 38% the year prior to that, 38% the year prior to his 28% season, and then 41% in his second year in the league. So, he’s been a consistent three-point shooter. He takes about three per game in limited minutes. He averages 18 minutes a game throughout his career. And ideally, that’s probably the minute total you’d be looking at in a Bucks uniform for a Amir coffee. But it not only the shooting, the biggest part, he’s 6’7 and don’t know what his wingspan is, but that was a big big big discussion that we had not only with Tai, you and I talked about it too. You got depth, but you got a lot of guys that we anticipate to play the three for the Bucks who are 6 foot4. Not that it’s a bad thing. You just love a little more size. Like having the options. Like sometimes you’re going to need a little bit more size. Sometimes you can get away with the smaller lineups. Like we discussed I think last week somewhere in there. Time is a blur with all of the stuff that’s been going on this week with the flooding. But I think that um we talked about the fact that when you’re looking at size and you and Ty talked about it as well before it was Boston like you need to make sure you have the wings to match up with Boston because they had Tatum, they had Brown, they just had options they could throw at you. But when you look around the East and like the size of guys, you don’t necessarily necessarily need to have those big wings all the time. But when you do come up in those matches, maybe with some Western Conference teams as well along the way or just certain lineups, being able to have the versatility to throw out a bigger wing is going to be really helpful. And if you want to get super small, I wouldn’t say I put air coffee in the role of a small ball four, but they have guys on the roster who make sense as like a small ball four from trying out the CS thing, which we heard uh last year when he was brought on as someone who might help unlock Giannis at the five lineups, which are another change of pace for the Bucks. So, yeah, I like the coffee pickup if he makes it to the regular roster. Um the question is, again, I think attention turns to Andre Jackson Jr.’s contract and what does this mean for him necessarily because we know they push that extend date back or guarantee date back on that contract and then you pick up somebody like air coffee who last year proved to be a really decent role player who can do a lot of the things the Bucks are looking for a role player to do. So camp is going to be uh interesting. There are going to be some stakes there. Uh Amir Coffee as it has been pointed out in the the comments has a 6’7 6 foot seven and a half wingspan. So, um, similar to a couple of guys that we’ve talked about on this Bucks team, and that’s about the same as we’ve seen for AJ Green, who I think is 67. He’s 6’4 with a 67 wingspan. Gary Tan Jr. actually has a 69 or a 610 wingspan. That’s why you’ve seen the Bucks able to kind of play with he and AJ for the shooting and and that purpose as well. But you do at least get the size from Amir Coffee throughout camp. and then we’ll see where it goes from there. But I think we’re both aligned here. Um I think air coffee is on this team when when the season opens up as we’ll get to with the schedule. The last thing um you mentioned Andre Jackson Jr. Is it just him we should be circling and keeping an eye on or is there potentially somebody else on the roster that you know may be sacrificed for air coffee? I mean, when you think about it, like it wouldn’t be smart to just say like, “Yeah, it’s only Ajax that could be an option because we’ve seen John Horse do some things too along the way where you’re like, “Ah, I didn’t I didn’t foresee this move coming or I didn’t think you could pull this off.” So, who knows exactly what that looks like, but I think I point to Ajax first as the person to look at just because of the contract situation um and the ease it is to get from underneath that contract at the moment. one. I mean, I know we had a conversation too with Frank a few weeks ago about maybe Tyler Smith is that guy in the roster who the Bucks move on for, but I think because the Bucks have seen more from Andre Jackson Jr. that they might have a more definitive opinion um about what he might be and be more willing to part ways with him than a Tyler Smith at this point. But again, this is all just us guessing at the moment. You know, we have to see how things play off when training camp actually starts. Yeah, I I we already talked about it, but I I think I think it’s even for all the valid criticisms and and questions andor concerns you could have, I think it’s too early to move on from Tyler Smith, um if it weren’t for the fact that you literally just signed him, resigned him less than a month ago, I think there’s another interesting name you would look at and say, “Well, realistically, this guy is going to be playing and asked to play the same role. as air coffee and I think we all feel more comfortable with air coffee but just ressigning him and as you alluded to it’s easier to get out of Ajax’s contract for the partial guarantee that I I think that’s kind of where we’re headed but we shall see and that’s going to be one of the more interesting things to monitor throughout training camp now is uh the future of air coffee and a couple of position battles for this Bucks August 26th is officially FanDuel Futures Day, a brand new holiday for football fans who live for bold predictions and preseason hunches. 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It’s a post from Modis Bzelis’s secondary Instagram account and it just says Josh Giddy’s adding Josh Giddy with the pin emoji and paper emoji. Hopefully that means that Josh Giddy is about to sign the damn contract. Now, this this is uh the speculation that’s gone throughout the summer. This has gone a lot longer than most people have expected it to, and that is Josh Giddy signing with the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls who have been playing more hard ball with uh Josh Giddy than initially thought, more than they’ve ever done with P will or anything like that. And it is what it is. It comes with the territory. Um, you know, and this negotiation reportedly has become a little contentious a little bit, even though Casey Johnson fought back on the idea of that. Uh, that was initially, uh, you know, I think said by Jake Fischer. And so now it just sits in this place where we’re waiting and seeing. And at this point, I think we’ve talked about every possible outcome and scenario with the Josh Giddy uh, contract, with the Josh Giddy off season. And that means that the Bulls and and and Josh Giddy’s agency have probably done the same exact thing. It’s time for this to end. And I think most sides understand that and probably would agree with that. It is just time for this to end. And uh and and just everybody to go to their corners, you know, deal with what the outcome and fallout of the deal is. I’m not here to say that I agree with the rumored deal, the rumored thing that has been handled, but at this point, just it’s not going to change. I think both sides have now it’s been it’s been roughly 60 days. Keep in mind, Josh Kitty could have signed a contract before the official start of free agency. that memoratoran period before there. So, this has been going on for the close to 60 days. Let’s get it done. Let’s get it done. Let’s get it over with and let’s keep it pushing and then everybody can plan what their future’s going to be. The Bulls can plan with their future. Josh Giddy can feel the way he’s going to feel about this contract and and go out and just focus on playing basketball. The next contract’s going to take care of itself and just let let the chips fall where they may. That’s the most important thing here. And I think Modis Buzzel is and and even this post here hints at maybe the the the the the uh Bulls players also feel the same way. Let’s just get this done so that we can focus on what we need to do to be the team that we can be. And I I don’t think anybody would be mad at that. It’s just focusing on being the team that you can be and letting everything else go the way that it’s going to go. That’s the most important thing that that’s that’s what you’re trying to handle here. And so, you know, overall, I know people are going to feel away about Josh Giddy. Joskitty stands feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel feel away about it. Bulls fans are going to feel away about it like some Bulls fans and Josh Gkiddy haters at the end of the at the end of the day the day going to end, right? And Josh Giddy at this point is going to be a Chicago Bull. It’s really not any money left out there unless I mean there’s always a surprise deal that could happen. But it seems like this is going to going to conclude with Josh Giddy not getting the money that he feels he that he wants or feels he’s deserve. the Bulls are using their leverage to get him on a on a way more favorable deal. I still don’t know why y’all didn’t do that with Patrick Williams, but you know, it is what it is when it comes down to it. That’s just that’s just the way that the cookie crumbled in this free agency. And unfortunately, Josh Giddy was up to be a free agent at a time period where there wasn’t a lot of money that was going around. And that’s what it is. Ma seems like he’s a little bit of a of a No, I don’t think this is starting at all. I think I think this is leadership. I think this is Josh Giddy understanding that the not only the place that he holds in this franchise, but the fact that you know people are going to keep in mind this was on his secondary Instagram account. This is where he posts kind of more personal things. He does follow all his teammates on that Instagram account which you know the fact that now we live in a world where what do they call it? Finstas and I I know I’m old uh are such a a thing that just everybody has a a secondary Instagram account. I got too much social media to manage just doing podcasts. I ain’t got time to have secondary versions of ones that I already have. That’s stupid. But, you know, nonetheless, that’s the era that we live in and they’re going to have to deal with it the way that they deal with it, man. Um, I haven’t been uh this more annoyed since Zack Lavine is contemplating on signing with the Sacramento Kings. That wasn’t But see that that process was even quicker. Keep in mind like when the the Zack Lavine when he s when he was a restricted free agent, I think it was like a week a week where the Bulls were like go out and find your deal. He went out and signed the offer sheet with the Sacramento Kings. I think the Bulls matched the offer sheet within the first 24 hours and we knew what was going to happen. So even that was a lot quicker than this situation. This is just this is this is stupid. I want to use a different R word, but it’s not it’s not PC anymore. But y’all know y’all can read between the lines. It’s stupid. It’s really stupid how far this has gone, especially when you have over the same offseason, you have the Bulls saying things like, “Oh, we see Josh Giddy as a foundational piece. Uh we see him and Kobe as a foundation. They’re going to be our back court going forward. We want nothing more than them to be our back court for for a while going forward. It’s like, okay. All right. I see I hear what you’re saying. I hear what you’re saying. The actions ain’t necessarily following up, but I see what you’re saying. I definitely see what you’re saying. I just I got the scoop. Just texted Giddy. Uh he sent back uh that’s funny. Wait, is is is that something that that modest post or you saying you texted Josh Giddy? If you’re saying you texted Josh Giddy, Von, I highly doubt you from freaking uh Toledo, Ohio got any connections to Josh Giddy while he’s over in Detroit. Your texting plan don’t even cover that. It don’t even cover that. I I know that like there’s too many potholes in to you need to be putting that money to put some fix some of those potholes in Toledo. Uh but no, all jokes aside though, so you know, hopefully this thing comes to a resolution and this is really the Josh Giddy contract is really the last order of business for the Chicago Bulls this off seasonason. Once they resign Josh Giddy, we’re back to having basically uh the full roster all on guaranteed deals. And at that point, we can just go for it. Now, that doesn’t mean the Bulls may not make some mid-season moves and trades or something like that. That that’s definitely is a possibility. But I think overall like it’s just it’s just g like we just go for it. We can plan for training camp and and let that be it. Man, I’m just you know what it is? I’m over stupid stuff. And this been it’s been a lot of stupid stuff this offseason with the Chicago Bulls. Like you’re playing hard hard ball with Josh Giddy. Patrick Williams is sitting there with a $19 million deal. Javon Carter, the bald-headed demon himself, he’s still on the roster and you know he he got a fully guaranteed deal. I don’t know what none of this means, man. This is all stupid. This is all very, very stupid. And I’m ready for it to be over because I’m ready to just talk about some basketball. That’s what it is. This has been one of those all, you know, it’s been so much to talk about with the Bulls off season and nothing happened. Think about just think about it. We talked about Nicolus trades. We talked about P. Will trades. We talked about Josh Giddy signing trades. We talked about Josh Giddy signing with other teams. We talked about the Bulls making a draft day trade. We talked about the Bulls have done nothing. This has been the most straightforward off seasonason that we may have ever seen for the Chicago Bulls. They traded Lonzo, which we all kind of expected. They resigned Trey Jones after trading Lonzo, which we all kind of expected. They drafted Noah SN, which that means they just kept their draft picking. They made no moves in the draft. And they’re signing back Josh Kitty. There’s been so much talk and speculation for nothing to happen. For nothing to happen. It’s like dry even. Like what what are we doing, bro? the offseason uh trade teases is is is it’s ridiculous. It I’m just it’s it’s frustrating. Not not because of the state of the team. I understand with how many contracts that the Bulls have up at the end of the season that are unrestricted free agents why you don’t do a lot in this free agency. That’s not the that’s not the problem. The problem is is that it’s just it’s everybody’s been so zeroed in on so many possibilities that the Chicago Bulls could do. Ain’t nothing happened. It’s been a everything’s been all bored. It’s been the same thing. We we understood everything that the Chicago Bulls are going to happen. I once said on this show that this was probably going to be a straightforward offseason where the Bulls were going to draft their draft pick. They were going to resign Josh Giddy and things were going to stay the same. I didn’t think that it was going to be this much of the same. I didn’t think it was going to be this much speculation when stuff stays the same. We all knew for the most part that the Bulls weren’t going to do nothing. Why has there been 50,000 trade rumors with the Chicago Bulls? Why? That’s the question that we all have here. It is what it is, man. It is what it is. We’ve all been there, logging on early and waiting forever for concert tickets to go on sale, only to lose your spot for a show you’ve been dying to see. Live music should be about making memories, not dealing with the stress of ticket shopping. That’s where Game Time comes in. Game Time makes getting concert tickets faster and easier than ever. 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You are locked on Lakers, your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast. over the last I don’t know 10 years or so uh the strength and conditioning coach the uh trainer like the this section of the Lakers basketball architecture has been a little bit uh like the the the defense against the dark arts teacher in Harry Potter like there’s a new one every year like they can’t seem to hold on to the the good people something seems to happen um there’s been tremend tremendous turnover in this part of of of the basketball building for the Lakers. But finally, Andy, the Lakers not only hope they’ve found somebody that can lead them boldly into the future, they’ve found the guy that Luca would like for them to lead them boldly into the future. Yeah, his name, excuse me, is Jeremy Hallppel. I apologize if we are mispronouncing his last name. We’re actually going to have Jeff St, a very well-known and respected sports medicine expert on our show for Thursday. And that is among other things something we can clarify with Jeff St. How do you actually say Jeremy, but I could be wrong. I I think it is, but I’m not 100% sure. What I do know is he was a former strength and conditioning coach with the Mavericks. In 2021, he was recognized as the NBA’s top strength and conditioning coach. He was with the Mavericks during the run that they had to the Western Conference Finals with Luca and the run to the finals with Luca. He was fired shortly after that run to the finals in 2024 which coincided with se or either coincided with or was sort of in the same uh time period of others within the organization that in particular Luca had very good relationships with getting dismissed. It has been a well doumented source of tension um between the Mavericks and team Luca that I think was among many things that from the Mavericks side eventually led to the trade to the Lakers. But this has been thus far treated by a lot of people who follow this stuff very closely as a very very good get for the Lakers. beyond just the relationship between Luca and Hawappa, which to be clear matters as well. Yeah. I mean, look, your your star players are always going to have their own guys. They’re going to have their own strength and conditioning team. They’re going to have But, you know, you want to be able to have people integrated into the organization. And um you certainly want the you know the the the in-house team so to speak to be somebody that your your best players are comfortable working with. And you know I I see you know one of the comments we’ll get to here in a second you know um gets to maybe why Dallas let him go. Um there there was the idea, excuse me, that the Mavs believed that, you know, Holopel and you know, the rest of that sort of team that was around Luca kind of enabled him. As dad of three points out, Luca got fat on this guy’s watch. Why are the Lakers hiring him? Not totally sure that’s a fair and accurate assessment of Luca, but um you know, it is reasonable to say like these questions about fitness aren’t new. And this was a guy who was with and around Luca for a lot of that time. Um I I think you know okay I I don’t know if a different trainer would have made a difference there or not. I mean, they let him go and like last year was the last part of in Dallas and it really didn’t work and people weren’t happy with his conditioning and there was a lot of belief that the Mavs um and Luca’s team were um at odds as to how fast he should come back from that calf injury. Um, as we have seen with again another source of tension between team Luca and the Mavericks and this was very specific under the new slashcurren ownership and during Eco Harrison era like this growing tension between the people that Luca is comfortable with and the people that the Mavericks were uncomfortable with. And you know, it’s it’s one of those things too where like especially now you look at the the Hallebertton injury and you know and and uh Dame Lillard and all these other guys um who are you know have hurt themselves torn you know suffered Achilles injuries after um strained calves like you you got to take this stuff seriously and um pushing a player back from that is going to um it’s going to create some some some tension. I I think it’s there, but like I am I am willing to take the word of people who know better than me. Again, we’re going to talk tomorrow and get a little more background on what this means, on what Lucas fitness regime means, like all of these things. And and um and and and and that with Jeff St. But I will take the word of people who talk about this as winning on the margins and the importance of the Lakers doing stuff like this, hiring the best, you know, infrastructure, getting the best infrastructure around their basketball department, the best trainers, the best nutrition guys, the best like these are things that should be common place for a team like the Lakers. And I think if you’re looking for where they’re going to improve in the Mark Walter era, it’s in this sort of space. Like I’m not saying this is a Mark Walter hire. This is a classic Lakers hire of let’s go get the team that makes our star player comfortable. Let’s show that good faith to the guy who just inked on the first day that he was able that we’re going to get him um you know put back in place the support system inside the organization um that he likes and that he appreciates. And these are things that the Lakers in the past did with Kobe. They’ve done this with LeBron. Like as you mentioned before, these are things that happen around the league. like it is something that the Lakers are doing for Luca and that’s great, but it’s not like it’s not a team, for lack of a better way of putting it, kissing a superstar’s ass in a way that other teams wouldn’t do. Um, but and you like so I agree with you, but like I I I want to see the Lakers do more of this, build out their nutrition, build out their, you know, sleep specialists. Like all of these things, these little things that you can do if you’re a team with money that you can spend in places that can’t be spent on players because there is a limit. It is a capp league. You can only do so much. But there is no limit to the nutritional infrastructure, the the the the fitness and um you know strength and conditioning, the analytics department, the the basketball ops department, the guys who you know they should have the the best you know person who helps new players find uh you know an apartment or a house. Like to be fair I they’ve always been good at that. I was going to say that’s one of the things that I believe Linda Rambus among other things does and by all accounts very good at it just in the interest of fairness because Lord knows the Rami have taken a lot of shots over the years. So like but like all of these things these these sort of architectural things um that’s what they should excel at and to some degree I see this as as a reflection of that push. They they have nothing else. They got to stop the turnover in in the uh strength and conditioning department. They just have to. Where have you gone? Gunnar Peterson. Gez. I mean, I remember that was that by the way, and I’m not saying that Gunnar Peterson was just like some superstar influencer or something like that. Like I mean he had credentials and whatever, but when they brought in Gunner Peterson aka trainer to the Kardashians, trainer to the stars, even with his credentials that everybody agreed upon, that was the most lakery the jokes write themselves. Oh my god.
The Milwaukee Bucks signed Amir Coffey. The Chicago Bulls could be extending Josh Giddey soon. Plus, the LA Lakers hired a new strength & conditioning coach to help Luka Donic.
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