Tapping The Keg Podcast Episode 79

Tapping The Keg back again for more fun with Charlie and Mitch. The boys begin talking about the new trend in New York City called 'Exerdating' and why it is the worst thing ever. Tinder gets discussed again somehow. We cover all things free agency ranging to some of the big contracts along with Sam Shields and Green Bay not making moves yet which should be expected.  We move on to March Madness with UW-Milwaukee making the tournament along with other things from Championship Week. Bucks get some discussion including why John Henson needs more time. We finish with how Ryan Braun went full heel and why it's great plus some True Detective talk.

Charlie.

Bucks Buzz: Monday March 10th

Even though it has been a bad year for Milwaukee thus far, Mitch Pratt and Charlie Tritschler will provide you with a bi-weekly update on the Bucks ranging from recaps, links and other neat stuff.  

Hot Recap Takes

Thursday: Pelicans 112 Bucks 104  -  Spirted effort from Milwaukee's professional basketball team. They played the Pellies tough throughout the whole four quarters, but they could not get it done down in the Nola. A trend continued on Friday when Anthony Davis took Bucks' big man to the absolute woodshed with a 29 point, 14 rebound performance along with five assists and a couple blocks. He took full control inside plus they got a great game from Tyreke Evans with 25 points. Milwaukee got another great game from Jeff Adrien whom matched his career-high from the night before by having 20 points and 10 rebounds in a losing effort. Adrien is playing at such a high level right now, which now means he will get overpaid by this franchise. John Henson deserves some love too as he started for Ersan Ilyasova and had 12 points with six rebounds, one of his better performances of late. O.J. Mayo decided he did not need to play this one after shoving former Wisconsin Badger Greg Stiemsma in the throat/face area which got him ejected

Saturday: Wizards 114 Bucks 107 - If Milwaukee would have came to play in the first half, this might have been a different game. They gave up 75 points digging a 22 point hole at the break. Milwaukee came back from half to hold Washington to only 10 points in the third quarter, but could not complete the comeback getting their 50th loss of the season. Trevor Ariza continued his hot stretch of late having 28 points with five threes including seven rebounds. Additionally, Washington got five more threes from Bradley Beal as he dropped 23 points. If John Wall beats you, that's okay, but to have the other players take you down is a little disappointing. As for Milwaukee, their backcourt had a nice game with Brandon Knight filling it up with 25 points on 9/20 shooting with Nasty Nate Wolters adding 10 points of his own along with a positive PER.

Bucks and Fox Sports Wisconsin, how can it be fixed?
As some Bucks fans learned on Saturday night, the game was not on television. This disappointed a lot of people including yours truly as it would have been fun to see Milwaukee take on the Wizards, one of the best young teams in basketball.  I do not understand why they chose home games to get the ax. I could totally get them not wanting to bring their cameras to New Orleans as that matchup does not really drive up the needle, but for whatever reason, they felt Saturday's game was less important than Friday. There needs to be a better plan in place for this sort of things. Look at some of the perceived worst teams, and when Milwaukee visits them, give them the ax. I realize we are not getting 82 games of Bucks basketball because that's how it works with FOX Sports, but let's try to figure out a better balance with these games.  

Links
Journal Sentinel had a nice write up about Henson's struggles in his second year. I met John on Saturday afternoon as we were at the same event. Good dude honesty. Down to earth guy who does not think he is better than anyone else.

Nice look from the people of Bucksetball looking at the Gary Neal trade after about a month later. Ramon Sessions and Adrien have been special.

What to watch
I would look for the Bucks durability. This sort of runs into the schedule, but the Bucks play five games in seven days. Luckily for Milwaukee, everyone is off suspension and healthy.

Upcoming schedule
They play Orlando tonight, a team they have beaten this year and then they travel to Minnesota on Tuesday night. Bucks could get one of two here. Doubt they would take both of them.

Charlie.

Bucks Buzz: March 6 - Tank or No Tank?

Even though it has been a bad year for Milwaukee thus far, Mitch Pratt and Charlie Tritschler will provide you with a bi-weekly update on the Bucks ranging from recaps, links and other neat stuff.  

Quick Recap:

Monday vs. Utah: Bucks 114 Jazz 88 - 

The Bucks looked really good once again on Monday night against the visiting Utah Jazz. I happened to be #blessed enough to be there and it really didn't seem like anything special to me. It was pretty much the opposite of the Bucks' blowout losses: instead of looking up and they were down by 20+, I looked up and they were up by 25. Honestly, I'll attribute that to not really caring about what the score is at all throughout these games. I just watch players and don't care about the score.

Anyway, Homeless Ersan found a shelter for the night as he shot 13-14 from the floor on his way to 31 points and didn't play in the fourth quarter. Zaza Pachulia had another solid game. Giannis made his usual couple of highlight plays but also continues to show youth and inexperience, which is to be expected. The additions of Jeff Adrien and Ramon Sessions have proved to be great as they are role players that PROBABLY weren't promised much in the way of playing time but have earned it. 

Wednesday vs. Sacramento: Kings 116 Bucks 102 -

The tank came back strong Wednesday night against Sacramento. If you listened to our podcast from yesterday (you should), Charlie and I both made it a forgone conclusion that the Bucks were winning two straight for the first time this year. It was up there with death and taxes. But the Bucks' team defense said, "not so fast, my friend."

The Bucks allowed the Kings to get whatever they want, especially in the second and third quarters. If the Kings weren't scoring in the half court, they were at least getting to the line constantly. I mean, Ray McCallum was 7-10 last night. He shoots 36.8 percent from the field on the year. 

The Bucks were led, if you will, by Brandon Knight once again. Knight is up to averaging 17 and 5 (assists) on the year, and 20 and 6 in his last ten games. I think it's helping him to be playing off the ball a little more. 

Speaking of Adrien, he has been getting more minutes than John Henson lately, who has seemingly regressed in the past few weeks. This is pretty concerning as Henson hasn't seemed to develop any other scoring method, other than his lefty hook. The hook is effective but if it's all you can do, teams will cut it off. 

Henson's last five games: 6.0 PPG on 42 percent shooting (yikes), 36 percent from the free throw line and just 22.8 minutes per game. Something to monitor.

The concerns of the Bucks losing the tank rank, can go on hold for the next 48 hours. However, if Philly wins more than two games the rest of the way, I'd be catatonic.

Links

Have to start with a hell of a piece from Amos Barshod of Grantland, who absolutely shut it down. It's yet another feature on Bucks' rookie Giannis Antetokounmpo, but it's not just about Giannis. It's also got some tidbits about the Bucks' organizational ineptitude within. It's very in-depth and well done with several quotes that stick out in my mind. Must read.

Save Our Bucks is putting together an event to get a decent amount of Bucks fans to go down to the Arena Task Force meeting that is happening on Tuesday, March 11. Information can be found on the Facebook event page. 

An article from SLAM about Gary Neal being happy to be away from "tanking" Milwaukee. F*** Gary Neal, man. He's the one that signed here in the first place. Granted, the poor guy had no idea what he was getting into but still, be quiet. I'll say this Gary, the tank misses you.

What to watch

I touched on watching John Henson's play over the last six weeks of the season. We need to see what we've got. I hate to use lip service as a reason for Henson to be playing more than Adrien/Pachulia but he should be playing, more no matter what.

I'm conflicted in wanting the Bucks create some momentum heading into next year but I also don't see a point in going on winning streaks right now. After last night's dreadful performance, I don't think we'll be seeing any winning streaks.

What's next?

The Bucks head to the Big Easy for a showdown with Anthony Davis and the Pelicans on Friday night. Then, they return home once again to take on the Washington Wizards. The Wizards are an intriguing, young Eastern Conference team that is on the rise. Should be a loss for Milwaukee.

Bucks Buzz: Monday February 24th

Even though it has been a bad year for Milwaukee thus far, Mitch Pratt and Charlie Tritschler will provide you with a bi-weekly update on the Bucks ranging from recaps, links and other neat stuff.  

Hot Recap Takes

Thursday: Nuggets 101 Bucks 90 -   Pretty much from start to finish, Milwaukee received a beatdown again from Denver. They were outscored in the first quarter and the ball kept rolling downwards from there. Kenneth Faried had his way with Milwaukee defenders going 11/15 from the field and had 26 points taking Ersan Ilyasova's lunch money for the whole game. J.J. Hickson had a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists. Randy Foye had one as well with 12 points and 10 assists. Seven of eight Denver players had a positive PER while Milwaukee had only one player reach a zero PER with John Henson, the rest were in the negatives. Giannis Antetokounmpo filled up the box score nicely with eleven points, four rebounds and assists, three blocks and two steals. A nice game from Henson as well with 12 points and seven rebounds. But overall, a pretty putrid performance from Milwaukee.

Saturday: Pacers 110 Bucks 100 - This is one of those 'atta boy' games for the Bucks. They hung with Indiana for the whole game with an admirable comeback in the end of the game. Basically, their best players beat Milwaukee with Paul George and David West both having 30 plus points with Lance Stephenson adding 24 points. Given their struggles against big men, it was interesting to see Roy Hibbert have a marginal game with only four points going 1/9 from the field. Indiana was just too good for Milwaukee on Y2K night. As for Milwaukee, a game where you get really excited about Brandon Knight. He had 30 points and eight assists with no turnovers. He played great throughout the game and make people wonder just how high his ceiling is with Milwaukee and for his career. Jeff Adrien had a strong debut pulling down eleven rebounds off the bench. Good start to what might be his short career with Milwaukee.

Three Bucks land on Bill Simmons' Worst Contracts List 
This is a yearly column from Simmons and it was not very kind to Milwaukee. O.J. Mayo and Ersan Ilyasova definitely deserves to be there. Mayo is proving to just be a guy that wanted to cash a check and thinks it is a good excuse to be fat. Ersan knows he can mail it in and the owner will not take umbrage with his game. Milwaukee will be better place when he is off the team. Larry Sanders' addition to this is a little harsh. This has just been a bad season for Larry, but he is still worth that contract. Almost every team in the NBA would want Sanders if he was healthy because he is not as much of a problem as people like Simmons and others are making him out to be. Sanders had just started to come on with his season before breaking eye bone. He will be just fine next season. Biggest encouraging thing for Sanders which Simmons missed out on, he became a veteran leader for Giannis. If you want an example on why Mayo belongs on this list, see this Vine from K.L. Chouinard.



Links
Here the stuff on Ersan I referred to the previous paragraph. If this is true, it would be yet another red mark against Herb Kohl as an owner.

If David Kahn becomes involved with the Bucks, they should end the Save Our Bucks movement and start pleading with investors to take this team to Seattle.

For the Y2K night, the Bucks found the 'Light Em Up' video. Tim Thomas lit more up than baskets if you know what I am saying. Also where is the one with Mark Pope. We need that version.

What to watch
Milwaukee plays Philadelphia on Monday night and I feel like that could be social media's finest hour. Will people watch this game just to see how bad the effort will be from both teams? Will one team actually get blown out? Will I become legitimately concerned if the Bucks win?

Upcoming schedule
As I said, they play Philadelphia on Monday and then they play Indiana again on Thursday. Thanks NBA schedulers for two Indiana games in the span of a week, appreciate it.

Charlie.

Bucks at the Break

It is finally the All-Star break, or “Black Super Bowl Weekend” if you choose, and Bucks have stumbled right up to it as expected. For the year, they are 9-41, a truly astonishing number. Our current record has Milwaukee dead last in the league. And Bucks are the worst at a number of things too, for instance:

•  Bucks are the worst rated offensive team with a rating of 99.68, no one is below them.
• Bucks garner the worst attendance rating but Aaron Rodgers attended a Bucks game with my uncle, so that was cool.
• Bucks have six less wins then a Philadelphia 76ers team that was just outscored 66-33 and 69-30 in the first half of consecutive NBA games against Los Angles Clippers and Golden State Warriors. Milwaukee are technically worse then this team somehow, someway.
• Bucks have 24.9% chance of receiving the 1^stpick in the lottery. The highest of all teams. This situation is kind of like having an argument with your girlfriend. You are fighting, she is winning, you finally think of something awesome and totally true to stick her with it, you stick her with it, she flies off the handle, possibly slaps you because your right and women are confusing. But the fact is that what she was bitching about to you could be justified in the first place, and so for awhile it is just weird as you both lick your wounds and don’t want to be around each other, and hate each other (The following has been a metaphor for having to watch the Bucks in case you are wondering), but then after a long tumultuous week of no sex and hating, the make-up sex happens and everyone breaths a fresh of new air (the eventual Draft Lottery). It’s been a sexually frustrating season in Milwaukee.
• Bucks have the worst Adjusted Net Rating. (Net Rating takes into consideration estimated point differential per 100 possessions and then it is adjusted in terms of strength of opponent. I like this stat because there are only two teams in the West that rank lower then 18^th, and only five teams outside of the top fifteen, and it is very apparent the West is far superior to the East. The Bucks hold an adjusted net rating of -10.75. To compare, Oklahoma City Thunder are the best at +8.48, and Atlanta Hawks are middle of the road at +0.68. In other words, Milwaukee loses games and generally, they lose pretty big.

So as you can see, some things have not worked out at all. The belief was to begin the year Milwaukee would not tank the season. Before the year, they brought in NBA veterans like Carlos Delfino, Brandon Knight, Gary Neal, OJ Mayo and Zaza Pachulia, it looked inevitable that paired with a decent frontcourt of John Henson, Ersan Ilyasova and Larry Sanders, this would be a team competing in the Eastern Conference. A team that seemed destined for the eighth seed. True Bucks fans sighed winds of depression thinking about how they were about miss out on the highly touted upcoming draft class.

Instead of competing though, Bucks got injured, losing Delfino, Sanders, Knight, Pachulia, Neal, Butler and Mayo, all at different and overlapping times over the first month and a half of the season, and the next thing you know, it's the end of December and Milwaukee is 7-24 becoming the front-runners in Tanksville.The injuries have been peculiar. Sanders broke his hand in a bar fight and just recently broke the orbital bone in his face. Pachulia broke his foot. Henson sprained his ankle terribly, and Knight popped a hammy two minutes into the season.

None however, make as little sense as OJ Mayo. In late January, Mayo missed some games due to the flu. He returned to play in back to back games on January 24th and 25th and has sense been day-to-day on the injury report with “the flu”.It is now, February 11^th and he still has the same flu. Like Mayo, I too reside in Wisconsin, but I haven’t heard of anyone else getting the three week flu like Mayo. Which leads me to question a few things.I hit up my uncle recently asking him if he had heard anything more about Mayo. He laughed and replied Mayo is fine. So take that, as you will. I’m just waiting to see how fat OJ Mayo gets by April.

Bright Spots

As Milwaukee tumble on through the season, a couple of positives have come to light. One is Brandon Knight. I was pretty skeptic on Knight. In Detroit, he did nothing that was memorable, aside from getting baptized by DeAndre Jordan but that is not exactly a positive thing. For the season, he has led the team in scoring, at 16.5 ppg. He has been a decent distributor (numbers-wise) averaging 4.8 assists per game but has also shown that he is much more of a two guard, that is just a hair small to only play the two.

I hope he can develop a sense to really command a team as a point guard, and not just as a scorer. As Coach Larry Drew has more time with him, I’m hoping this becomes a reality. Especially if they are surrounding him with blossoming players like Henson, and Giannis Antetokounmpo and a future number one or two overall draft pick. The development of Knight could prove crucial to this team in there or four years. 

Another bright spot has been John Henson. Henson is arguably skinnier than Giannis, but he is just as long. He gets pushed around on defense when guarding the stronger players in the league (Guys like Dwight Howard, Joahkim Noah, and Roy Hibbert), but his length is a constant problem for defenses. For the season he has averaged 2.2 blocks per game.On offense, Henson has been Milwaukee's second option, scoring 11.8 points a game on 52% shooting. He legitimately uses a lefty skyhook that makes Kareem smile. When it is on, it’s beautiful.  He has also been a sturdy rebounder at 8.1 per game and leads the team with a 19.5 PER.

I’m really high on Henson. I think he will be a playmaker in this league for a while. My only real complaint is he seems very laid back, and nothing seems to bother him. Not even losses. I don’t want to question his drive, but I don’t want him to become like Corey Maggette and become so used to losing that it doesn’t phase him. But that is me really knit-picking. Realistically I have nothing but love for Henson.

The Rookie Class

I may be biased when I say this, but I think it’s safe to crown Milwaukee kings of the 2013 Draft. Milwaukee nailed three players. Bucks obviously drafted Giannis Antetokounmpo, whom is an Internet sensation, and a player on the rise. While he is still raw and learning at the tender age of 19, he managed to score 7.1 ppg and 4.6 rpg. Those numbers are modest, but I can assure they are the most exciting seven and four in the league. Every time Antetokounmpo grabs a rebound and starts to run up court on a one-man-fast break, the city of Milwaukee wins. He alone has made a 9-41 season delightful. There is not another rookie that can say that.

While most NBA heads have heard of Giannis by now, another solid move was drafting Nate Wolters in the second round. Milwaukee threw Wolters into the fire forcing to play a lot early on due to injuries and proved that he does in fact belong in the NBA. He does not turn the ball over often and has shown a knack for filling up the stat sheet. While his minutes haven’t been consistent, in games he has played for longer stretches, it pretty common to see a stat line consisting of seven points, nine assists and seven rebounds or 7/10/4, or 11/3/4, just a little bit of everything. A 6’ 4” and 190 pounds he is a big powerful point guard that defends and makes plays. Before the season, I compared him to Goran Dragic. Dragic has since exploded this season averaging over 20 points and six assists per game, and while I don’t know if Wolters will ever average that, I think he will be a very, very reliable point guard in this league for years. I mean, could not you see Wolters being the pivotal bench player as a member of a contending San Antonio Spurs team? I sure can.

Our draft doesn’t stop at two players however; Milwaukee also drafted a brute named Miroslav Radjulica. The man is a mountain. He is like Nikola Pekovic but a little swifter. He sports a tremendous arm sleeve tattoo and can drink over a gallon of vodka in 2 hours[1]. While he does not average many minutes, he has been ultra efficient, with a PER of 16.7. Radjulica honestly has great ball skills and soft hands. He is pretty good pluus he just looks so strong that I cannot say anything bad about him in fear that if he were to meet me and know I said bad things about him, he might strangle me. And quite frankly, I don’t want to go out being strangled by a guy named Miroslav. I have always envisioned my death way different then that.

A Mid-Season Outlook

We know this season is done. It would be beneficial to lose every single game from here on out, but we as Bucks fans will probably settle on winning like four or five more games; a modest and fair amount.

Hopefully this season can be the turning point to more glory days in Milwaukee Bucks basketball. Although it is often forgotten, even by Milwaukee's own fans, Bucks were an original NBA franchise and have a very rich history in the league, despite only winning one championship.

If they are lucky Bucks will land the coveted first pick that becomes a franchise cornerstone. If Milwaukee is really lucky, the draft pick, Giannis and Henson will stay in town for awhile. And if the Bucks are really really, really lucky, they will an NBA championship in the next five years.

But for now, let’s just cheer for Giannis as he represents for Milwaukee during All-Star weekend.

~Andrew

---

[1]Okay, I made up the vodka part.

Bucks Buzz: Monday February 10th

Even though it has been a bad year for Milwaukee thus far, Mitch Pratt and Charlie Tritschler will provide you with a bi-weekly update on the Bucks ranging from recaps, links and other neat stuff.  

Hot Recap Takes

Saturday: Rockets 101 Bucks 95 -  A rather competitive effort from Milwaukee's professional basketball team. A bad second quarter plagued Milwaukee, and that's a microcosm of the season where Milwaukee has one bad quarter screwing up everything else. Houston received a big game from Dwight Howard with 27 points and 13 rebounds continuing the trend of big men having huge games against Milwaukee. Jeremy Lin had a great game with 18 points on 8/15 shooting with a +9 PER. As for Milwaukee, they had double-doubles from John Henson in his second game back from an injury, and Zaza Pachulia had 12 and 10 off the bench. Quite possibly the most encouraging performance came from Nate Wolters. He started again with a career high 19 points with 9/15 shooting with seven rebounds and only two turnovers. Granted, Houston's perimeter defense cannot guard a gargoyle, but still maybe this will jumpstart Wolters' confidence to be more of a shooter. Even though the Bucks lost, I am happy they put up a decent effort at home for the fans on Saturday night.

Cool thing Bucks did on Saturday was put their MVP season ticket holders on the center line. I like that move a ton.

As part of @BucksMVP Appreciation Night, MVP season ticket holder names were placed on center line at tonight's game pic.twitter.com/zIyFyKtuOb
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) February 9, 2014

Revisiting the Bucks trade block 
We are about a week and half away from the trading deadline. Gary Neal did nothing for his trade prospects, but I have to believe he gets move at some point. Ersan Ilyasova bothered by a bad back, but still there is a chance he might get moved with two years and 15 million dollars left on his contract. Caron Butler is beloved by some people in Milwaukee, but he is another piece that could be on the move. I doubt Milwaukee moves Larry Sanders or Zaza. Additionally, I think no one wants the albatross contract of O.J. Mayo although I am sure no Bucks fans would be sad to see him go elsewhere. Ilyasova would probably gain back the most stuff for Milwaukee, but I doubt any of their pieces will gain them an extra first-round draft pick.

Links
There were multiple Giannis Antetokounmpo articles out there this week. Scoop Jackson wrote one for ESPN about how much he truly enjoys the game of basketball.

The other Giannis article I speak of is a Q and A with a Greek reporter. The biggest thing discovered in here is Milwaukee needs a Souvlaki spot.

What to watch
Milwaukee started a lineup of Wolters, Brandon Knight, Khris Middleton, Henson and Sanders. That seems like a dream lineup for Milwaukee fans, and if Sanders is fully recovered from his blurred vision as he got an elbow to the eye early in the game. It would be interesting to see it play out for a full game versus the first four minutes of the game.

Upcoming schedule
Before the All-Star Break, Milwaukee has two home games this week against Boston tonight and New Orleans on Wednesday night. Maybe they could grab one to get to double-digits before the break.

Charlie. 

Bucks Buzz: Monday January 20th

Even though it has been a bad year for Milwaukee thus far, Mitch Pratt and Charlie Tritschler will provide you with a bi-weekly update on the Bucks ranging from recaps, links and other neat stuff.  

Hot Recap Takes
Saturday: Rockets 114 Bucks 104 - I probably sound like a broken record here, but I keep talking about how big men tear up the Bucks despite all their size. Bucks hoped things might change with Larry Sanders back in the fold. It has not. Terrence Jones had 36 points and 11 rebounds. Not Dwight Howard, but Jones had a breakout game in his second year with a monster first half where he had 25 points. Houston also had 20 plus effort from Dwight Howard and James Harden which was all they really needed to win this game. Bucks had cut the lead to six in the third quarter, but Rockets dashed their dreams going on run combined with some Bucks turnovers giving Houston a 16-point lead putting Milwaukee to bed. The defensive effort was not all there, but John Henson had a big game with 20 points and 15 rebounds. Brandon Knight played in control with 26 points on only 16 shots. Khris Middleton did not have a great day going three of nine missing all four of his threes only resulting in eight points.

Sunday: Spurs 110 Bucks 82 - Milwaukee did not stand a chance in this one. They were completely beaten down in this one. It was one of those games where you say 'Hey maybe San Antonio is napping in this one and the Bucks can steal this one.' NOPE. Milwaukee trailed 29-16 at the end of the first quarter, and it was all downhill from there.  San Antonio had seven players in double figures with Patty Mills of all people leading the charge with 20 points. Mills has only 20- point efforts in three games in the last two years so there is that. Milwaukee gave Gary Neal a chance after Luke Rindour went out with a wrist injury and he failed to step up to the occasion going 1/8 in a horrendous effort. Speaking of bad effort, O.J. Mayo did not even register a point in 19 minutes of play. The only Buck player whom did decently on Sunday night was Larry Sanders with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Links
This is a fun fan fiction of Giannis Anteokounmpo meaning that we are at 15 straight Buck Buzz's with at least one Giannis mention. Gotta keep the streak alive.

Not a link, but Gary Neal cried all over Instagram on Friday



What to watch
I want to know if someone gets on the move this week. Caron Butler and  Neal seem like they are having a bad time regarding both their negative comments in public in the last couple of weeks. Milwaukee is waiting for some team to get desperate but I just feel like the longer these guys are on the team the worst they are making things.

Upcoming schedule
Couple days off for Milwaukee after a week featuring four games in seven days. They take on Detroit at home Wednesday night.

Charlie.

A Revisionist Look on Milwaukee Bucks Draft Lottery History

By: Andrew Kasmarek, edited by Charlie Tritschler 

Even though, there is a half of an NBA season left, it is probably time to look at what might happen to the Milwaukee Bucks. People think for some reason Milwaukee had some bad drafts which is true of any team, but what Andrew will tell you here is Milwaukee has mild to above average success on delivering a good draft pick. 

In the NBA, it is no secret you either want to be first or last. Being eighth which has become a habit for Milwaukee Bucks is pointless. A team can flounder for an eternity if the right superstar is never captured. With small market teams, superstars are basically only acquired through the draft, and it is becoming even more rare to be able to hold on to the small market stars after  their rookie contracts expire.

With the trend of forming “Big Threes”, large market teams thrived in luring big-time free agents with the variety of opportunities they offer. Especially considering that NBA players are highly marketable[1], and financial gain looms large in these cities. As a Caucasian from the middle of bum-fuck-no-where Wisconsin[2], I have noticed African-Americans are generally cooler than Caucasians. Hip-hop music sets a lot of the trends for what “kids” like these days, and NBA goes hand-in-hand with a lot of the rap music culture. Trendsetters gravitate towards Big Cities. NBA players are often times trendsetters. I remember playing against a group of suburban Caucasians in high school that wore $35 arm sleeves like they were fucking A.I. Iverson and players alike cashed in on that stuff. Unfortunately for Iverson, he just spent all of it too[3].

Anyway, with potential formations of “Big Threes” in huge markets like Chicago and New York and warm-weather-but-equally-big-destinations like Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Miami and Atlanta[4], small market teams can go into flounder mode rather easily. Teams like Memphis, Milwaukee, Sacramento and Minnesota really don’t have a chance. Unless of course, those same teams managed to hit on successive lottery picks, which is not guaranteed, because it’s the NBA Lottery.

In the old NBA, teams had the option of regionalizing a player before the draft with a “territorial pick”. The territorial pick allowed them to obtain the rights to of a player from their region. (This occurred by happenstance with both Derrick Rose and LeBron James years later.) This rule was abolished by the year 1965, but if this rule was still around, I am pretty sure I would be down for it, because imagining the competition to get on the Bulls for kids coming out of Chicago would be unreal. The same could be said for New York, or the competitive basketball in Ohio and Indiana. There is no arguing it would up the ante of high school basketball everywhere as kids would be playing hard to get noticed by their regions team. Also a stipulation could be made that if you go away from your “home region” to play college ball, you can be eligible to drafted by the team in that region too. I think that this rule could shake things up a bit. And potentially be better for the rivalries and competition of the sport.

Another thing that I have been thinking about is, why not give small market teams “tax returns” or something similar. For an example of what I’m thinking, why not give teams like Cleveland an advantage when losing LeBron James? Why not give them the option to offer him a max-deal plus an extra-allotted amount that no other team was capable of giving (that wouldn’t count against the cap) and give LeBron extra incentive to stay in the small market where he was drafted, rather then go elsewhere. It would force players to make more ethical decisions, show their true values and ultimately give the smaller markets a punchers chance to keep their superstars through money and guilt. My buddy Carter and I thought it up on New Year’s and I am pretty sure this could work. Then again I don’t know though, because we were drunk and it was New Year's[5].

With the highly touted draft class that looms in 2014, the league has more teams tanking then it would probably deem acceptable. And the Bucks accidentally[6] wound up at the forefront of the tanking.

The class is loaded. With sure to be stars like Jabari Parker, Andrew Wiggins, Aaron Gordon, Julius Randle, Marcus Smart and Joel Embiid. As well as foreign players like Dante Exum. Bucks really do not appear like they will be able to mess up this year, but stranger things have definitely happened, and I however stay nervous for a variety of reasons. The first being that in NBA lottery-land nothing is given. Everything is taken. Since the inflation to 1,000 Ping-Pong balls in 1994, the worst team has only won the first pick once: that team being Orlando in 2004.

And of course the fact remains; the NBA Draft is effing hard to predict. Even if you get a top pick, there are no guarantees. For every class like 2003 or 2008 or 1996 there are similarly weak classes, like 2002, 2005 and 2010.  Not to mention, the strong classes normally end up with three to four superstars at best. So even when you get to lottery, it’s hard to just absolutely smash three or four consecutive drafts to form a “Big Three”.

But back to Orlando a.k.a. another reason why I am nervous for the Bucks.  Magic currently hold a record of 10-29, good for second worst in the league. Orlando also happens to have a strong history in the draft lottery. Two years before the expansion to 1,000 Ping-Pong balls, in the year 1992, (It was 1994 when the lottery switched from 66 pong balls to 1,000) Magic won the first overall pick (and rights to Shaquille O’Neal) after finishing with the second-worst record in the league. They had a good shot at the number one pick that season and at 15%, they held the second highest odds to the first pick. The next year however, despite having the least amount of odds to win the first pick(1-in-66 or 1.5%), they won it again and drafted Chris Weber, whom they later traded for Penny Hardaway. An instance like this has only happened once, and it was for Orlando.

In 2004 they then won the first pick and drafted Dwight Howard, and didn’t go back to the lottery again until last year, when the received the second pick and look to have hit with their pick of Victor Oladipo When Orlando have been eligible for the lottery they have had repetitive success in getting the pick they deserved or higher, and furthermore have made strong draft day decisions. Leaving more bust opportunities on the table for other teams.

Milwaukee learned the hard way about the lottery. Which can be noticed by the volume of their lottery picks alone. Milwaukee’s lottery success, from a glace, would tell you that they have done “alright”. They have got the first pick twice (’94,’05), drafted a few all-stars and for the most part, had the Ping-Pong balls treat them well. The placement of their picks rarely has screwed them.

For the sake of the post however, we are diving deeper, to notice the trends of their placement and success correlates with the pick. Because as Bucks fans we all need the mental solitude of knowing that Milwaukee cannot mess up this years draft lottery no matter what.

Milwaukee Bucks and the city, the state needs this draft bad.

Let’s kick it back to ’93 folks:

1993 Draft: 

The 1993 was a fun one. Not a ton of pong balls yet, but things were happening. Bucks had the sixth worst record that season, but ended up with the eighth pick. It did not end up too bad though because Milwaukee got a solid player and his name was Vin Baker. Baker played like a force down low, and came into the league ready to rebound and score. For his career, he averaged 15 points per game and 7.5 rebounds per game. He only played four seasons in Milwaukee, but they were some of his more productive ones. In 1995-96 he averaged 21.1/9.9 and the following season he averaged 21/10.3.

I also figure that Milwaukee is where he picked up his bitchin’ drinking habit (Because we booze hard here up in Wisco), and it was a problem that plagued him throughout his career. Life choices aside, I think it is safe to say that our first appearance in the weighted Ping-Pong ball lottery system went well.

Milwaukee: 1

NBA Draft Lottery System: 0

1994 Draft:

Milwaukee returned to the lottery the following year, but they won the first pick. Bucks were projected to get fourth overall pick, but with Milwaukee’s 16% chance snuck the first pick, and ended up with “Big Dog” Glen Robinson. I am not going to say the Bucks messed up, because he was part of the best Milwaukee team in recent memory (2000-01), but they did pass up on Jason Kidd and Grant Hill, the two guys who went on to share co-Rookie of the Year honors. I will reiterate, Milwaukee went with Big Dog and I am happy with it. The past is the past and, and he was on the all-rookie first team, and made an All-Star game. But they probably could have done even better.

I mean switch Big Dog with Jason Kidd, then you can figure then Milwaukee buys a small forward at the time instead of using the money on Sam Cassell and then you are rolling with Kidd, Allen and “forward X” all in their primes and that could have been fun plus George Karl coaching on the sidelines.

Bucks were close. Very close.

(Sigh)…. Oh well, and for the record I am still counting ’94 as a positive draft. So if you are scoring at home

Milwaukee: 2

NBA Draft Lottery System: 0

1996 Draft: 

As I went back and searched through different classes, 1996 stood out as one of the best of my generation. Probably slotted behind 2003 and I am waiting to see how 2008 plays out, but that was a solid class as well. Either way, Milwaukee’s run of Lottery Picks continued as they received the fifth pick in the draft. Bucks had a 20% chance of first pick, so the fifth slot was somewhat disappointing. Luckily,  it was a deep class, and Milwaukee hit on Ray Allen. Forming a nice but brief nucleus of Robinson, Allen and Baker.

The 4 players drafted before Allen, were Allen Iverson, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Marcus Camby and Stephon Marbury. Following Ray, was Antoine Walker, big Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Derek Fisher and of course Kobe Bean Bryant.

So now if we are keeping track, Milwaukee could have had Kobe and Jason Kidd running around in Milwaukee if only for a few years.

Even still…

Milwaukee: 3

NBA Draft Lottery System: 0

1998 Draft: 

Bucks were an improving team at this point, and owned just a two percent chance at receiving the first pick in this draft.  They ended up with the ninth pick, which was projected, and drafted Dirk Nowitzki, whom we of course traded for Robert “Tractor” Taylor.

This move is still dumbfounding on all accounts. Let’s talk more about this one…

If you were to make up a dream player for the Milwaukee Bucks, it literally would be a seven-foot tall German guy who loved to drink beer, shoot threes and win games. We drafted exactly the guy Wisconsin basketball fans like to see. We are home to La Crosse, Wisconsin, which throws one wild Oktoberfest celebration.  I believe it is the third biggest nationwide.

We love beer like Dirk. We eat bratwursts like bananas. We are fat people who like 3-pointers. Go to any YMCA around Wisconsin, you will find a fat guy shooting a three. Maybe even on one leg like Dirk. We love beer some more, and we would have loved Dirk. But we were stripped of that chance. And it still haunts me.  (Ed. Note: Maybe this will help Kazz, but Milwaukee never planned to take Dirk. This deal was in place before it got going, but still it hurts, I wrote about thiswhat if too a couple years ago –CT)

This draft not only counts as a loss, but also as a negative one. In a dream world, Milwaukee is about to step into years of Jason Kidd, Kobe and Dirk, but in reality, Bucks should have at least had Ray Allen, Sam Cassell, Big Dog AND Dirk. Dirk was supposed to be Milwaukee’s.

If you are counting at home: 

Milwaukee: 2 (after deducting 1 for trading Dirk)

NBA Draft Lottery System: 0

Milwaukee Terrible Decisions: 1

2005 Draft:

Coming into the ’05 draft, the Bucks only had a six percent chance to win the first pick which they did leading them to draft Andrew Bogut. Bogut had a tumultuous  time in Milwaukee. Oft injured, he wore out his welcome. But when healthy Bogut, he was a good player. An All-Star.

He did cool things for the team too. He did not like how quiet the Bradley Center was, so he bought out a section and paid fans to come to the games and show their pride. For receiving the tickets, a fan had to dress up and scream their ass off. There were tryouts and everything. “Squad 6” as he called it, brought life to the Bradley Center, and in the seasons the Bucks were competitive, it made their home court a tougher place to play. 

Of course, in retrospect you would absolutely take Chris Paul first overall, or maybe even Deron Williams. But at least Milwaukee did not take Andrew Bynum, whom also was drafted this year. Passing on Bynum is great, because I cannot imagine how big of a slob he would have been if he had been drafted by Milwaukee.

So even though Bogut did not win much, I am counting it a success, but because the draft was pretty weak, I am only giving a half point.

Milwaukee: 2.5

NBA Draft Lottery System: 0

Milwaukee Terrible Decisions: 1

2007 Draft: 

This was a bad draft for Milwaukee as they had a 15% chance for the first pick, as the previous season did not go well and Bucks finished with the third-worst record. Milwaukee had only a four percent chance to land a pick outside the top five and then they ended up with the sixth pick leading to draft Yi Jianlian which sucks really, really bad.

If Bucks had landed in the top five of this draft, they could have ended up with Kevin Durant, maybe Al Horford or Mike Conley. Hell even Jeff Green, basically anyone other than Yi. We could have also had Joakim Noah. While most of Milwaukee’s problems came just from not receiving the pick they were supposed to, Bucks compounded it by drafting a stiff. 

A stiff that I remember said that he did not even want to play in Milwaukee and was not going to sign. This makes me so sad that Milwaukee even reached out to him to let him continue his basketball playing dreams.

I wish 2007 never happened.

Milwaukee: 2.5

NBA Draft Lottery System: 1

Milwaukee Terrible Decision: 2

2008 Draft:

The next season got even worse however. The Bucks landed the eighth pick, which was basically their projected place. But this draft was loaded, which was encouraging. The top seven picks were Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley, OJ Mayo, Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Danilo Galinari, and Eric Gordon. Then came the Bucks with the eighth pick, and they chose…wait for it… Joe Alexander…Wait, who?? Yes, Joe Alexander. He was a 6’ 7” power forward with no mid-range, and limited footwork. And the Bucks took him with the eighth pick. Does anyone remember the last time a 6’ 7” power forward did anything in this league? Anyone? Anyone at all? I did not think so. Alexander’s shelf life was two years.  He has not  made a squad past the year 2010. 

What makes matters worse is that by choosing Alexander, Bucks decided to leave this list of players on the board: Brook Lopez, DJ Augustine, Jerryd Bayless, Roy Hibbert, Javale McGee, JJ Hickson, Ryan Anderson, Serge Ibaka, Nicholas Batum, Nikola Pekovic, DeAndre Jordan, Omer Asik, Goran Dragic and Mario Chalmers. 

Honestly, the 2008 draft had about 25 solid NBA players in it, and they chose Joe Alexander. I was pissed about it then, and five years later it still frustrates me. Bucks lost this one big time. 

I should probably deduct another point, but I will not.

Milwaukee: 2.5

NBA Draft Lottery System: 1

Milwaukee Terrible Decision: 3

2009 Draft: 

We received the 10^th pick (deserving) and drafted Brandon Jennings. While Jennings’ run in Milwaukee ended sourly, he was good for the franchise. Jennings’ rookie year, he excited with a 55-point outburst, a surprise playoff run and a little (for lack of a better word) “swag” for the organization.

While they could have drafted Ty Lawson, whom has turned out to be a little bit after of a player then Jennings has,  Milwaukee really could not do much better. It was nice to have a successful draft pick after the debacles of ’07 and ’08. 

A win indeed.

Milwaukee: 3.5

NBA Draft Lottery System: 1

Milwaukee Terrible Decision: 3

2012 Draft: 

Milwaukee got John Henson. They had the 12^th pick, and it looks like the Bucks did well with it. Henson, whom is long and lanky, and has a quirky offensive game that, includes hook shots and lots of arms. His length is disruptive, especially considering the other players the organization is fielding around him. The length of Larry Sanders, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Henson is quite a sight for opposing players heading towards the rim. 

I’m considering this draft a win. 

Milwaukee: 4.5

NBA Draft Lottery System: 1

Milwaukee Terrible Decision: 3

2013 Draft:

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO. Milwaukee really, really hit on this one. Giannis has done nothing but turn heads and win the Internet since arriving in Milwaukee. While I am worried he really hates the weather and that it will eventually push him out of town, I’m going to enjoy this kid while he is around.

THE KID IS SICK.

Final Score:

Milwaukee: 5.5

NBA Draft Lottery System: 1

Milwaukee Terrible Decision: 3

While every team in the league has messed up a pick or two, it pleased me to discover Milwaukee has been pretty consist on making good on their top picks. ’07 and ’08 aside, Bucks have showed strong trends of being competent come draft day.  That makes me feel pretty comfortable moving forward.

There is always the possibility that things go south. But if the Bucks get one of the three or four really influential players that could come out of this draft, then Milwaukee will really have something special.

Contrary to what the 7-31 record says, Milwaukee really does have something going for them. This offseason will speak volumes as to where Milwaukee will go in the years to come, and if you do not want to cheer with me, I understand but don’t say I didn’t try to tell you. Now it’s all about having the Ping-Pong balls bounce Milwaukee's way.

I’m all in Milwaukee. And I’d love for you to join me at the Bradley Center.

Keep your socks dry, folks. It is still cold out there.

~Andrew

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[1] The tallest, most athletic dudes on Earth and they do not wear helmets or hats or much of anything really. We know exactly what they look like. Making them an easy sell.

[2] I’m from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. A college town with like 65,000 people. Not very diverse but a growing minority population.

[3] The good news for A.I  is that he had a clause in his Reebok contract that had stashed away a 30-million dollar trust fund that he could not touch until he was 50 years old. Which is huge. Whoever set that one up for him…Good lookin’ out man. That is awesome. Because a broke A.I. is crushing to everyone. I hope he hangs on alright for the next 12 years.

[4] I’m starting to think that no one really wants to live in Atlanta, but rather just go and party there. Because why the fuck do not they attract or even go after big stars? That place is huge. The fucking highway going through the middle of downtown is hell if you are stoned and trying to get through rush hour traffic on your way to PCB. It is just a fact. I thought big warm places attracted NBA stars. I do not know.

[5] Unrelated side note, 2014 has been great for me so far, but I have not gotten laid yet, which is too bad. Working on it though. So I need your support. (Ed. Note: Me too, same –ct)

[6] This offseason, with the addition of veterans like OJ Mayo, Gary Neal, Caron Butler Carlos Delfino, Luke Ridnour and ZaZa Pachulia, it can be argued that the Bucks were trying to stay in flounder mode.