Bucks 'struggled' to extend championship window
Kenny Beecham continues to discuss the relationship between Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks, detailing how Milwaukee has "struggled" to extend the team's championship window.
Video Transcript
Let's say, because we don't know Giannis' healing factor, he is kind of a superhero, so it could be three weeks, it could be seven weeks.
We don't know.
But I'm gonna, I'm gonna look at it from the pessimistic side.
It's not normally what I do, and say, let's say he missed entire 6 weeks, and then he comes back.
Not just reevaluating in six weeks, but he will be back in six weeks' time.
That puts us around March 7th, which is a 15-game sample size.
Which is basically what they have sample-size-wise, playing without him.
Season.
Just looking on, based on the way they played this year, obviously there's so many different factors, right?
We don't really know.
The schedule's actually kind of easy.
If you will, over the next month or so for the Milwaukee Bucks.
But you, you can never really tell.
Hell, Jokic went down with his injury, and I was like, "Nah, that team's about to lose eight in a row."
They're about to be awful.
They're gonna be a play-in team when, when he comes back."
The team has sustained himself.
Obviously, they don't have the talent of Jamal Murray and even Peyton Watson or those dudes.
But you never really know in the NBA, is basically what I'm saying.
There was a game earlier this season where Giannis missed some time, missed a game.
And it was against a healthy Warriors team, and they spanked that ass.
So, you don't know at the end of the day, but I'm just speculating based on the sample size.
That we have, you know, of the first 40 games of the season.
Based on how they performed so far this season, let's assume they win 15 games.
Five or six games, again, just going on what they've done so far.
That would put them at about 24 and 36, leaving about 20 games left for the season.
And based on the way they've played with Giannis, which is a 50% win team, that would make them around a 34-win team this season.
Again, only based on the sample size that we have.
And that's just not good enough.
Even, even in an Eastern Conference that is not Very good.
That puts you, let's see, let me just quickly try to do some.
Right now.
That puts you on the outside looking in.
Because right now in the Eastern Conference, to make the play-in, you're- you basically have to be a .500 team or near .500 team.
And 34 wins is not really that.
I keep seeing these conversations.
By the way, this is a little tangent.
I keep seeing these conversations over the last however many months, about Giannis and the Bucks.
And how the Bucks failed Giannis.
And I, I can't even say this is all of the fan base that's been talking about this.
And maybe my algorithm is just weird, that I'm in the wrong pocket of NBA fandom, because I couldn't disagree more.
Like, it was far from perfect, do not get me wrong.
They traded Donte DiVincenzo, a 24-year-old Donte DiVincenzo, for Serge Ibaka, who was basically on the last year of his career.
You know, it has been misses.
They, they basically have missed on every single draft pick since they drafted Giannis.
It is far, far from perfect, you know?
Also, them missing on every draft pick since They drafted Giannis is the biggest reason we're in this position that we're in now.
Because they've had shots at it.
They- they've been late first rounders, Don't get me wrong, but like, I mean, Thon Maker at 10 is really tough.
'cause I forget who's right after.
Somebody who's right after Thon Maker that is a true impact player in the NBA.
Oh, Sabonis.
Sabonis is one pick after Thon Maker.
That's a real impact player in the NBA.
From the D.J.
Wilsons of the world, the Richaun Vaughns of the world.
The world, it's hard to hit a late first-round pick.
But some teams that are in the position that the Bucks and Giannis are in, when they do hit on that, when you do hit on a Christian Brown, when you do hit on a Peyton Watson, it it just makes the window just bigger.
Now, I said it's far from perfect, 'cause some of the moves that they made were just brilliant.
It did cost two first-round picks to get Jrue Holiday, but Jrue Holiday immediately came to the franchise, and they won a championship.
I don't wanna rem- do I have to remind you on steal in the loss to Giannis in the 2021 Finals, man?
That was huge.
That's Jrue Holiday, baby.
That's Jrue, All-Defensive team.
Khris Middleton was a throw-in to a trade.
He ended up being one of the best players in franchise history.
Even though they threw him to the wayside, as soon as his body started to give up.
Brook Lopez was brought in to Milwaukee on a prove-it deal after leaving LA.
He turned to an all-defensive dude, you know?
Even Bobby Portis came in on a prove-it deal.
$3 million, and eventually ended up being one of the legends in the franchise.
So, it has been far from perfect.
They've made their missteps, and a lot of them ended up being in the last whatever amount of time.
But getting that championship is important.
The one thing I could tip my cap to when it comes to Horst and anybody that's in charge.
Over there in Milwaukee, they've tried, even the times that it hasn't worked out.
The Damian Lillard thing was a shot, and a lot of us, me, like me included, believed that this was a really good trade.
This was gonna be a great match for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Dame is one of the best pick-and-roll players.
Giannis is a force.
Boom, it should be perfect.
He's a 40% three-point shooter.
That's what Damian Lillard is.
It didn't work out, but you can't be mad at the shot, and they continued to try to take chances.
Hell, they traded one of their franchise goats, Khris Middleton.
And tried to get marginally better by bringing in Kyle Kuzma.
And Kuzma's not a good basketball player, but it, you know, It's not that they failed, I just think that they've struggled as of recent.
And I've said it before, when you have one of the best players in the world, I think it is your duty as a franchise to do everything in your power to maximize the window.
With that player.
I think that's what the Denver Nuggets have been doing recently with Nikola Jokic, after them trading a, a 2031 first-round pick to acquire Cam Johnson, and that's exactly what the Milwaukee Bucks did.
But one of the reasons why the window for the Denver Nuggets has been wider, is because of them hitting on those late- the few first-round picks they can retain.
And those late guys.
And the Bucks just haven't been able to do that.
They have been able to draft.
I mean, one of the, like, it's been, it's been rough in Bucks fandom over the last couple months.
We can agree on that, right?
Another nasty thing happened over the last week, where our boy Keisean George was on Old Man and the three with Tommy Altshuler, Balakou Libali, and Alex Saar.
And he just basically aired out dirty laundry that said the Bucks gave him a promise.
But passed on him for A.J.
Johnson!
Can you imagine if the Bucks had Keyonte George right now?
We're not gonna act like Keesean George is an all-timer, right?
He looks really good, a 15-point-per-game scorer already in his career.
And I think his ceiling is higher than that as a two-way guy.
But Keesean George comes to the Bucks, he's the second-best player on the team.
And they, they, they passed on that to go with A.J.
Johnson, who was basically at, like, 16 years old when he got drafted.
And when he got drafted, we did the live draft show, and, and I wasn't a draft expert at this time, but I even recognized.
Like, that dude was projected to go in the second, man.
And you drafted him right now?
And Keesean George is on the board.
And boom, he's- he goes to Washington, and he, again, is a building block Wizards.
So it just feels like it keeps piling up on.
On, on the team.
Before we get into why it makes sense for both sides to, to make a trade.
Can I give you the last-ditch effort I would give Bucks, to Giannis, if I want to keep Giannis around?
Right now, the Milwaukee Bucks own the rights to the worst swap between them.
That Pelicans pick obviously got traded for Derrick Rose on draft night.
But it basically means that since the Pelicans are trash, And God knows they are one of the worst teams in the league.
That they get to retain their own pick, basically.
'Cause they're too good to end up being better odds than the Pelicans.
So there's a world, a pretty decent world, depending on the way these next six weeks go.
Without Giannis, that the Bucks have a top 10 pick.
Right now, their odds are at eight, and I think it could get up to six.
Low-key, if they are trash enough.
So they could have the eighth pick in the draft this season, and that doesn't even account for a world where they jump up into the draft.
And then obviously it's a worse swap, so they would still have to be beneath the Pelicans pick.
But regardless, there, there, there could be a world where the Bucks have the fourth pick in this year's draft.
We won't go that far, 'cause it's like a one-point-something percent chance.
'Cause you need you to jump up, you need the Pelicans to fall a little bit.
But there's a world where you have a top 10 pick, almost a guarantee.
If, as long as the Bucks don't turn it up and look great without Giannis.
So you sit down with Giannis and his team and say, "Hey, Hey, Giannis... 'Cause I don't think he's getting traded this trade deadline.
Spoiler.
It could happen, obviously, but I just I, I wouldn't bet on it.
I think if it will happen, It will happen in the off-season.
But before that happens, you sit down with Giannis and the team and say, "Yo, Giannis," Right now, we have the eighth pick in the draft.
I promise you, I guarantee you that we will use this pick to get you some.
Talent."
I can't tell you right now who that potential guy will be.
But between them having a top 10 pick this season and two tradable first-round picks, not including the swaps, we can sit down with Giannis and say, A top 10 pick in this year's draft is a pretty valuable asset.
So-and-so team just flamed out in the postseason, and from my understanding, they're trying to blow it up."
Forget about the rumors for the mid-tier guys, the Zach LaVines of the world, the Jeremy Grants of the world.
A top 10 pick, plus two other picks in the future, could be very valuable on the market.
So Giannis, just give us to.
Before you officially request a trade.
Give us two weeks to try to tell you what the plan is.
We're gonna use this pick.
We already got a deal set up to acquire this.
Guy.
We're gonna use this pick.
We already got a deal set up to acquire this guy.
And just like that, Giannis, we can't promise that we're back into contention.
But damn it, we're a lot closer now than we were six months ago when you got injured with that calf injury.
That is the pitch.
Is, is it a pitch that Giannis will believe in?
I'm not completely sure.
I don't know.
But I think it's a pretty damn decent pitch.
Only thing, it- the biggest factor is trying to figure out what that player would be on what team.
Who is the next potential All-Star caliber player that might request a trade or might be available because their team is trying to blow it up?
I don't know the answer to that right now.
I have some speculations, but I won't go-
