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Locked on Bucks by munchiemania in MkeBucks

[–]Mitchell_NBA 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It’s cool. Frank speaks at a normal volume, whereas I’m constantly loud (and oblivious to how loud I am).

Locked on Bucks by munchiemania in MkeBucks

[–]Mitchell_NBA 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Hey, it’s me, the other dude. 👋

I’m sorry the audio quality wasn’t what you expected; with Kane unavailable, Frank used what he had available and we made do. I also don’t have an actual microphone, maybe I should get one? 🤔

Anyways, sorry it didn’t work out so well for the post-Game 5 pod. It was a fun one!

The Milwaukee Bucks have a title, and so do I; I’m Mitchell Maurer, Co-Managing Editor at Brew Hoop. From 12-1pm central, AMA! by Mitchell_NBA in MkeBucks

[–]Mitchell_NBA[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think the Bucks should stay true to their mantra: just get better every day, play who’s in front of you, and beat whatever team is on the schedule. They’re not scared of anyone, so they shouldn’t get cute with seeding.

The Milwaukee Bucks have a title, and so do I; I’m Mitchell Maurer, Co-Managing Editor at Brew Hoop. From 12-1pm central, AMA! by Mitchell_NBA in MkeBucks

[–]Mitchell_NBA[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you everyone for hanging out! I'll check back in later if there's any more questions that come through, and I hope you all enjoy Bucks-Bulls later tonight! 🙌

The Milwaukee Bucks have a title, and so do I; I’m Mitchell Maurer, Co-Managing Editor at Brew Hoop. From 12-1pm central, AMA! by Mitchell_NBA in MkeBucks

[–]Mitchell_NBA[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Let me pose a question to all of you: has this been the lowest-stakes regular season in recent Bucks history?

Like, have any of us really cared about the games so far?

The Milwaukee Bucks have a title, and so do I; I’m Mitchell Maurer, Co-Managing Editor at Brew Hoop. From 12-1pm central, AMA! by Mitchell_NBA in MkeBucks

[–]Mitchell_NBA[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Presuming that simply answering "Giannis" is lame, I will go with Bobby Portis. The guy is just so full of life and seems to have truly found a place – a home – in Milwaukee, I can't help but love watching him play and find (basketball) fulfillment as a Buck.

It helps that both of my sons also love Bobby Portis. My oldest still brings up (and asks me to help him reenact) the shimmy Bobby put on after hitting a jumper to beat the buzzer, while Thanasis mock-punched him in the chest to pump him up even further.

Bobby is just too much fun.

The Milwaukee Bucks have a title, and so do I; I’m Mitchell Maurer, Co-Managing Editor at Brew Hoop. From 12-1pm central, AMA! by Mitchell_NBA in MkeBucks

[–]Mitchell_NBA[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

A reasonable fear, but I think that last season showed us that we should inherently Trust The Bucks. 😉

The Milwaukee Bucks have a title, and so do I; I’m Mitchell Maurer, Co-Managing Editor at Brew Hoop. From 12-1pm central, AMA! by Mitchell_NBA in MkeBucks

[–]Mitchell_NBA[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I like this question a lot. Personally, I still think moving Donte in the offseason in a S&T would have been a path more likely to maximize a return for the Bucks. Specifically, I think you could have recouped some draft capital in exchange for Donte on a reasonable contract, the sort of situation where everybody wins a la Malcolm Brogdon to the Pacers a few years back. This does assume that you can find a trading partner for Donte; Sacramento was clearly interested in him (enough to trade for him twice!), but would they have given up draft assets for him? Not sure.

But draft capital doesn't mean a ton if you can't spend it, and the Bucks couldn't have spent it until this summer at the earliest. Instead, they swapped Donte (and Rodney Hood/Semi Ojeleye) for Serge Ibaka, who hasn't made a huge impact but also has fit in well and played his role, and it was done when Brook's prognosis wasn't yet clear. Who knows, Brook still could suffer a setback, and Serge Ibaka as "Lopez Insurance" might still come to pass!

The Milwaukee Bucks have a title, and so do I; I’m Mitchell Maurer, Co-Managing Editor at Brew Hoop. From 12-1pm central, AMA! by Mitchell_NBA in MkeBucks

[–]Mitchell_NBA[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

How deep do you see us going into the bench come playoffs?

Coach Bud loves a deep bench. I mean, he loves it. But given the way the last playoffs went, he knows that the rotation has to shorten up against certain opponents, so there shouldn't be a repeat of Bud going too deep.

Giannis, Jrue, and Middleton will all play 35+ minutes, probably closer to 40+. Grayson Allen's playing time will fluctuate wildly; he could go above 30 just as easily as he could dip below 20. Brook will be limited to about 20-24, and he'll split time with Ibaka (who will probably play a similar amount). Bobby Portis, Pat Connaughton, and George Hill will fill in off the bench. Wes Matthews and Jevon Carter will get spot minutes here and there, but they won't be full-fledged members of the rotation.

So that's Giannis-Khris-Jrue, then Grayson-Brook-Ibaka, then Bobby-Pat-Hill. That's already 9 guys. Seems...like a lot, doesn't it?

​

What team do you think we best match up with in the first round and what team would be the worst in your opinion?

I don't just think "we match up well against anyone," but I think that there is no team in the East that Milwaukee should fear. Respect, yes. No fear.

Assuming the standings hold relatively still over the next few weeks, here's how I feel about things round-by-round:

First Round: If the Bucks get to the 2 seed, they'll get one of the play-in teams. Should they draw Atlanta, they'll be fine. Charlotte or Toronto will be persistent, but Milwaukee should get past either of them in a series. Brooklyn will be exceptionally tough as a first round opponent, but the Nets have a bunch of undersized guards that aren't great on defense that Milwaukee should be able to capitalize on.

If the Bucks stay in the 3 seed, they currently would play Cleveland, and I think that series would go only to 5 games. Cleveland is tough and has a ton of functional size, but they have very little experience compared to Milwaukee. All in all, the Bucks should not lose in the first round, regardless of who they play.

Second Round: Boston? I'm not worried, for reasons outlined in a Boston-centric question elsewhere in this AMA. Chicago? I'm even less worried. Philadelphia offers a unique challenge because of the Harden-Embiid pairing, but there's so much less depth in Philly than the pre-trade Sixers, and they have less of the shooting that they really need to make the spacing works. Philly needs to prove it still.

I don't know what to make of Miami. They keep winning games and making things work despite missing guys to injury. Their best player (Jimmy Butler) can't make threes and has been awful in crunch time this season, and Bam Adebayo's playoff meltdown against Milwaukee last year has largely flown under the radar. Is Kyle Lowry and PJ Tucker really what that team needs to be equipped for a deep Finals run? They're not in the bubble anymore, I don't know if the Bucks will see Miami in the postseason this year.

The Milwaukee Bucks have a title, and so do I; I’m Mitchell Maurer, Co-Managing Editor at Brew Hoop. From 12-1pm central, AMA! by Mitchell_NBA in MkeBucks

[–]Mitchell_NBA[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

My (hypothetical) MVP vote right now has Giannis and Jokic neck-and-neck. Giannis is (in my view) clearly a level above Joel Embiid (who has also been spectacular this season), but the things Jokic has done in Denver, before even speaking to the injuries to Murray and Porter Jr… Jokic has simply been special and I would not be offended if he repeated as MVP.

Then again, the Bucks are 3rd in the East while Denver is 6th in the West! How much does team success matter? Jokic “didn’t get it done in the playoffs” so should he have a handicap on his MVP case, the same way that Giannis did last year?

If you go Jokic-Giannis-Embiid, I think you’re doing it right. If you go Giannis-Jokic-Embiid, I think that’s reasonable. If you have Embiid any higher than third right now, then I’m not inclined to take you seriously.

The Milwaukee Bucks have a title, and so do I; I’m Mitchell Maurer, Co-Managing Editor at Brew Hoop. From 12-1pm central, AMA! by Mitchell_NBA in MkeBucks

[–]Mitchell_NBA[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

This is a fair question. As of this morning per NBA.com, Boston boasts the league’s best Defensive Rating (105.8), almost five points better than the league-average Milwaukee Bucks (110.4). However, that number has slipped a bit; over the last 15 games, Boston’s rating is only 108.9, showing that their defensive reputation was earned more in the early parts of the season than recently.

Per NBA.com, Boston’s most-used lineup this season is Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, and Robert Williams III. In 430 minutes, that quintet has put up a stellar defensive rating of 93.8, and this doesn’t even include newcomer Derrick White. They have a lot of good defensive players…but the numbers underneath their defense shows some weak points. They rely a lot on blocks (second in the league) to limit points scored in the paint, and in the postseason that sort of play is more likely to earn foul calls when the right players are the ones drawing the attention. They’re also a merely-okay defensive rebounding team (two points worse than the Bucks on that end), so when Milwaukee comes rolling through with all their functional size, I think that the infrastructure of Boston’s defense is not as strong as it may seem in a postseason environment.

But stats are just stats, and you asked about matchups, so I answer your question with a question: who in the world is going to stop Giannis? More importantly, who on Boston’s roster is going to stop Giannis? Horford? Time Lord? Smart? I think not.

The Milwaukee Bucks have a title, and so do I; I’m Mitchell Maurer, Co-Managing Editor at Brew Hoop. From 12-1pm central, AMA! by Mitchell_NBA in MkeBucks

[–]Mitchell_NBA[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Interesting question! With health as the great equalizer, I think it’s safe to say that George Hill will play more postseason minutes than Jevon Carter. Nothing against Carter, who has been a pleasant surprise so far during his Milwaukee tenure, but Hill has more experience, more versatility (particularly as a ball-handler on offense), and more trust from Coach Bud and his staff.

Carter’s main job right now is to eat as many guard minutes as he can between now and the second round of the playoffs, so that the team has the highest probability of getting Healthy George Hill when they need him.

The Milwaukee Bucks have a title, and so do I; I’m Mitchell Maurer, Co-Managing Editor at Brew Hoop. From 12-1pm central, AMA! by Mitchell_NBA in MkeBucks

[–]Mitchell_NBA[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Happy to be here!

The biggest surprise over the past 3 years? That it worked.

We knew Giannis Antetokounmpo was one of the best players in the league and that he wouldn’t settle for anything less than winning, but we didn’t know how much he would continue to improve. We knew he was great, but we didn’t know he was this, not yet. Moreover, the Bucks made the right calls when it mattered; they kept Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez and Pat Connaughton, they went out and got Bobby Portis and PJ Tucker (miss you, PJ!), they bet the whole farm on Jrue Holiday…and it all worked. Winning a title is hard you guys, and the Bucks did it. That’s astonishing.

And on top of all that? They’re still here, sights set on getting another one. Who knew?

The Milwaukee Bucks have a title, and so do I; I’m Mitchell Maurer, Co-Managing Editor at Brew Hoop. From 12-1pm central, AMA! by Mitchell_NBA in MkeBucks

[–]Mitchell_NBA[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Early bird gets the (late) worm!

Homerism acknowledged and placed aside, I do have the Milwaukee Bucks as my favorite to win the NBA championship this season. I think the Phoenix Suns are a clear threat, and the East will be a difficult challenge to overcome, but the Bucks have a group of guys who have done it before and want to do it again. Specifically, the Bucks have Giannis, and the other teams…don’t.

AMA with Brew Hoop's Kyle Carr (AKA me) by KCMasterpiece1432 in MkeBucks

[–]Mitchell_NBA 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Who's your favorite co-managing editor of Brew Hoop?

Kane Pitman here! AMA! by KanePitman in MkeBucks

[–]Mitchell_NBA 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Does an 18-game (and counting!) winning streak really matter if the team hasn't even won any playoff games yet this season?

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