Defending the Milwaukee Bucks progress and dissecting the latest trade chatter

Defending the Milwaukee Bucks progress and dissecting the latest trade chatter

Coming up on today’s lockdown bucks we take a look back at the fourth quarter in Utah but really what we’ve seen from the Bucks this weekend it seems like there’s been an interesting reaction from some of us versus Bucks fans in what you’ve seen over the weekend and

Especially that loss to the Jazz we’ll dive into that and a look at the numbers again it’s a very small sample but what we’re starting to see since the coaching change with this defense specifically and lastly one very interesting name surfaced is being linked to the Bucks we’ll dig into the

Latest on the trade rumors as we move closer and closer to this week’s trade deadline all of that coming up on the latest locked on bucks you are locked on bucks your daily Milwaukee Bucks podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome into lock on bucks I’m

Justin Garcia you can hear me on the bucks radio network joined by Camille Davis can hear her on the technical file podcast and the carry the G in MK podcast as well we both thank you for making lock on bucks your first listen every day we’re free and available

Wherever you get your podcasts and viewable on YouTube as well part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day today’s locked on bucks is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more right now new customers get $200 in bonus bets if your best bet of

$5 or more wins visit fanduel.com lockon to get started uh Camille you and Frank handled the postgame in that disappointing loss in the way that that fourth quarter unfolded to the Jazz uh last night but we were talking as we were getting set up for the show of you

Know it seemed like you and I and I would assume Frank as well we’re all kind of aligned of it’s a it’s a bummer and it’s a disappoint appointment to lose a game you’re up by 19 you’re led by double digits going into the fourth quarter but I didn’t feel Doom and Gloom

Coming out of that that you know by and large I liked what I saw and I know people get sick of the excuses and it’s it’s impossible to quantify just how much rest played into it but it was night two of a backtack uh you didn’t

Arrive in Utah until 2 a on game day there’s an altitude change you didn’t have Chris Middleton you didn’t have Brook Lopez that last part especially loomed large in the fourth quarter and you were right there in it in the fourth quarter did you fall apart sure but all

Those misses they were short on them which kind of backs up this was a tire team and I think if you looked at what you saw in the first three quarters and the last three quarters in Dallas the night before I leave the weekend even

With a one in one in one record saying I like where this is headed yeah it makes me think like what is the difference between an excuse and the difference between a reason like that that’s always so interesting to me because you can say like hey here what the Bucks were up

Against coming into this game or here are the reality of what they were facing coming into this game and even if it’s a reason in your mind it might be an excuse to somebody else just depending on how they want to take that information but like you mentioned I

That Utah game it was like I wish we could have got the win if the Bucks would have held on to that win it would have been a pretty impressive win in my opinion because it was second of a backtack you don’t have Brook Lopez who’s been out this weekend with

Personal reasons you didn’t have Chris Middleton in this game and Doc Rivers didn’t really elongate the rotation that much like we saw AJ Green come in but we saw him against the Mavericks he had more minutes of course against Utah but it’s not as if we saw Maran getting a

Lot of tick or Andre Jackson Jr or even Robin Lopez playing more minutes in this particular game which for some is probably a good good thing that he didn’t um based on how he started the game but it was a great effort in three quarters and then in the fourth quarter

They just completely lost the Rope ran out of gas like it just it fell apart in the fourth quarter and it’s disappointing for sure but it’s not something that I’m angry about because as odd as this sounds I feel like the Bucks have looked a lot better uh under

Dock than they have under Adrien Griffin although the record has been worse under dock than it has been uh under Griff which feels like a backwards World which makes me think about when Griff got fired and the question was why do you fire a coach when they are second in the

East with this type of record and I kept saying it has to come down to the fact that the process wasn’t matching the results players still weren’t sure about what their roles were what the schemes were what they should be doing a lot of confusion and it just didn’t Inspire

Much confidence that it was a sustainable way to win but rather what I’m seeing with Doc so far are at the very minimum just scheme where the players seem to understand what they’re doing uh they seem to be talking a lot more it just seems to be better

Connected at the moment although the results aren’t currently what we want them to be and that’s something that doc even warned us about he said hey we’re implementing some new things and like the earlier results might not come but like we’re going to get there as long as

They continue to follow the process so I don’t want to borrow from 76ers fans and say trust the process uh because we’ve seen how that has gone now especially now so I don’t want to say that but it just has looked a little bit better for

The bucks in a more sustainable way that can lead to more victories although we haven’t seen them early on yeah and um it it’s I think clearly trending in the right direction and Giannis after the game last night had said when he was asked about where this team is headed

There’s so many things we’re doing right right now that we’re getting better at and the moment everything clicks and our legs and our minds are there and we’re healthy and guys are locked in I think it’s going to go very very well mention that Utah is is a very tough place to

Play obviously we would have loved to have gotten that win there it’s one of the toughest places to play but we did so many good things today the only reason we didn’t win was because wasn’t because we didn’t execute the game plan or didn’t defend hard we just didn’t

Make shots we just have to keep working and that kind of goes to what doc River said too in his post game that you know um we we should have been up more and Giannis should have had more assists he kind of joked that jiannis could have

Had 30 assists he should have at least had 20 but we just weren’t making shots we couldn’t have scripted better shots but everything was missing short as Doc Rivers said in his postgame which without saying it is basically saying look I I like the way the guys played we

Were just tired and I think you saw that in the fourth quarter um and look it’s not as if the Bucks played perfectly and still lost the game fatigue was a big part of it right uh but we mentioned you really missed Brook Lopez in that fourth quarter because the Jazz were just

Attacking the paint they just kept running that same lob play over and over when you saw there’s no Rim protection if we can pull Giannis away from the basket we’re going to have these advantages here and that’s one of the things about Bobby poris getting the

Started and having to play him with no Brook Lopez there is good that Bobby poris brings but he’s not going to bring you Rim protection and that’s all ananis Doc had mentioned too I I probably should have played Robin Lopez more if for no other reason than to get rest for

Some more guys and I thought we played well when he was out there but that was really the big adjustment that you would look at that you know this team they ran out of gas the Jaz found something that the Bucks just didn’t have an answer for

With that lack of size and look when you’re not making shots too that’s the other part is you can’t get set defensively and I I think the Bucks have done a much better job in transition on their defense but it just puts even more stress on you when you’re not making

Shots and you have to scramble back in transition to defend yeah consistently like that that makes it a lot more difficult to playay defense it’s it’s easier when you’re able to get set um they’re taking the ball out the net but when they’re getting the ball off a

Rebound and they’re running like you have to get back as well so I mean the small ball I I did enjoy what we saw but against Utah that’s a team where they have so much size where it’s a little bit harder to get that off well as against Dallas you’re like this works

Because they have a smaller front Court as it is um so you can take advantage of things like going small has his advantages where you can have Giannis at thei if you are looking to trap an offensive player like they were against Dallas where when Luca gets the ball

We’re blitzing we’re trapping and it’s coming from various directions having Y at the five uh provides more flexibility than what Brook Lopez can do in that situation but that’s the thing and we saw that during the championship year with the Bucks where you want to have different punches to throw different

Pitches to throw at opposing offens is with your scheme you want to be versatile and what you’re able to do depending on what you’re up against and we can see the the start of what the small small ball lineup might be able to do for the bucks but you also see the

Need for a big like Brook Lopez on this team uh to provide some more front Court uh defense as well as rebounding and we know Brook’s rebounding numbers tend to be low uh but again he does box out he provides opportunities for his teammates to grab those boards and continue on so

He was missed against Utah in a big way no pun intended but I’m not disappointed with what I’ve seen and it just gives me a little bit more hope about what we might see the Bucks roll out schematically um over the next well rest of the season under

Dock some interesting comments we just gave you those from Giannis but from Doc as well about the defense and what he’s seen from these guys that we heard after that game in Utah we’ll get to those and look you can’t say that this team doesn’t look different and there’s some

Numbers that back it up so we’ll get into that on the other side of this break as well after this unlocked on bucks well today’s lock on bucks is brought to you by quiz and quiz you may be asking what is quiz well it’s the way to test

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Champions we should remind you as well that lockon has launched the first ever National Sports 247 streaming Channel on YouTube locked on sports today it is here for you 247 covering the top stories of the day with the local experts you have come to expect from locked on plus our national shows that

Cover every single league go to locked on sports today on YouTube and subscribe to the first ever National Sports 247 streaming channel uh Camille I mentioned you can’t say this team doesn’t look different and I had um made the mistake I suppose of perusing some national shows about the Bucks and their growth

Or lack thereof in these commentators eyes and I mean it just floes me that you can say I this team is not headed in the right direction I know it’s a very small s Le but it’s pretty clear this team looks differently defensively and and we’ve pointed to a number of times

10 20 somewhere around there is the sample size you really strive for unfortunately we don’t have that yet but what we do have is enough to see I like where this is headed what we talked about in Utah and certainly what we talked about in Dallas when I know there

Was no Kyrie Irving a couple of starters down for the Mavs but you still held Dallas to 73 points over the final three quarters of that game and Doc Rivers after the game last night too said we are playing hard defensively now you can see that visually but you can also see

The guys are getting fatigued it is taking some out of us I might need to add one more guy to the rotation for the time being because they’re not used to doing it yet but our goal is to build up that intensity with a short rotation because that’s what the playoffs are

We’re not quite there yet so I don’t know if that was a jab at the previous coaching staff of you know look they didn’t push themselves that hard defensively but we’re doing it now but you know to Doc’s point I think that’s the biggest takeaway is there’s some

Numbers we’ll get to in a moment that do back up that this team looks different but you can see it too in watching these games of I’m not going to question the effort or the intensity but it just looks like a better product on that end

Of the floor it does and the the men piece is so interesting to me because under Griffin I was like oh wait hey guys are playing some some heavier minutes than what they’re used to like Brook Lopez was one guy in particular where I was looking at his minute load

Under Griffin and I’m like wow like I know he was Iron Man under bud in the sense that he played like every game outside of when he was injured but he’s putting a lot of minutes on his body right now at an at an older age than

He’s ever been because that’s how time works but um with this particular team and doing here him saying like I’m here to try to get playoff rotations down and to get guys ready and accustomed to what that men low is going to look like while

Expecting for them to keep up a level of defensive intensity um that they haven’t been accustomed to so far this season and it made me just think back before Griff just to how Bud wanted to coach this team and he was somebody who prided um on getting guys through the regular

Season healthy he’s trying to find ways to have guys play um as few minutes as they can while you know being conditioned and so on and so forth which heading into the playoffs we always like hey how quickly are guys going to be able to ramp up uh to this minute load

Here and doc has a different perspective uh it’s more alignment with uh what we saw with Griff but with a different emphasis here and expecting guys to be exerting a lot more energy on the defensive end um than what we saw them do with Griff so that’s going to be a

Learning experience for the team and with him looking to expand the lineup a little bit more until guys get ready I do wonder how that fits in one I mean we have a trade deadline coming up this week so the team I think will look different uh come Friday morning but

Until then doc has mentioned the part part of the uh the challenge of coming into a team with young guys that you’re not familiar with you know at least with the bets I’ve played against them I know them I know what to expect from them but the younger guys I know nothing about

What they can contribute or what they can do because I’m coming in in in the middle of the season so I’m learning this on the fly so we’ve seen AJ Green get some minutes and I have wondered if there’s a chance for Maran or Andre Jackson Jr to be able to crack the

Rotation a bit more as doc becomes more familiar at least during this regular season run here while guys are still grounding into what playoff shape will look like for this team but something interesting to keep an eye on and AJ Green to that point and Doc had said at

His introductory press conference one of these guys is gonna play they’re gonna have to play and I believe it was after the Mavs game too or or before the Jazz game he he had added to you know I said one it might be two like we might need

Two of these guys to play and and we may see something in two of them and I do wonder if the play we’ve seen from AJ Green recently is prompted doc to say well maybe this guy is one of those guys and then there’s a spot between marjon

And Andre Jackson Jr but I thought you know you’re obviously not expecting AJ Green to be a defensive stopper I thought he looked adequate defensively over the weekend and the rebounding ability that he showed too was what jumped off the page most in that game

Against the Jazz so if he’s going to do those things it all of a sudden becomes a conversation of is this guy one of those pieces with his shooting ability and especially when you have Giannis and Dame on the floor the looks that he’s going to get uh that’s one of the

Interesting pieces to monitor moving forward for this team and as you alluded to as well especially given Thursday is the trade deadline and who knows what that’s going to bring as as we both anticipate there’s going to be some type of change on this roster but you don’t

Have a whole lot of pieces to move there’s the obvious names that people are going to get to um but it’s probably going to cost you draft capital and young players too and the Bucks obviously don’t have a whole lot of draft Capital so that opens the conversation to guys like Andre Jackson

Jr and marshan Bo champ which in turn could create even more playing time for uh for AJ Green moving forward those numbers that I referenced um too so again this is just seven games and it’s it’s not anything to have a a concrete base for but it does match the eye test

And it does leave you feeling like okay this this is lining up with what it feels like we’re seeing the offense has been mediocre since this change they they’ve been 15th best in the league um but defensively what they’re doing there they’re 11th best according to cleaning

The glass with the garbage time um taken out of the mix 11th best in defensive efficiency 13th in turnover percentage which I know Frank mentioned this over the weekend as well they were dead last under Adrien Griffin and that was one of the Staples of that defense that was

Coming here is we’re going to be a high pressure defense that causes turnovers and they weren’t but in these seven games played since they’re 13th best at causing those turnovers and sixth best on the defensive glass so I think we all pointed to if you can improve your

Defensive rebounding and if you can improve your transition defense it may not be Elites but the defense will be better and it’s probably going to be closer to League average or slightly better then and that’s exactly what we’ seen I mean even going back to Utah in

The first half I think the Bucs had four turnovers the Jazz had zero points off of turnovers which again speaks to they’re doing a much better job getting back in transition and playing defense and it’s not all Doc Rivers some of it was those three games with Joe prty but

This group has looked much better defensively since the change was made they have and that’s what we’ve been touching on a little bit throughout this episode so I’m glad the numbers do back up the eye test I always love it when that happens and you’re like okay I am

Seeing what I think that I’m seeing in the moment and it’s so interesting that that’s what we’re seeing given the fact that the Bucs under dock are one and three uh but I feel so much more confident about the process in which the Bucks are attacking games than I did

Previously with Griffin where it felt like in reports were saying that a lot of it was Talent with the guys on the floor just kind of figuring it out calling their own plays doing what they need to do um in order to try to find a

Way to win a game again this first half of the Season bucks had one of the easiest schedules in the league so I think that should also be noted um whereas at this point in the season now that we’ve played a couple games we’ve gotten the defending Champions out

The way we’ve gotten the Mavericks out the way Utah now the bugs have the second toughest remaining schedule left in the NBA so again new coach coming in during a very very tough part of the schedule where you’re not having much time to practice and install things

You’re going to be using games for practice to help uh put these Concepts together and we saw proof of that in that Mavericks game where the day before in shootter around they were implementing how to effectively run uh that defense where they are putting pressure on a single player that

Trapping that blitzing and where to come from with that and how to rotate on the back end which was a big problem for the bucks I used to say that the way to break down the Bucs defense penetration caused them to scramble someone’s going to get lost and from there you should be

Able to find an open shooter but the bugs have been a bit tighter when it comes to the rotations and the scrambling which comes down to communication I love the report I saw where doc mentioned the fact that they had a silent practice in regards to the coaches where coaches could not speak

And it was on the players to communicate throughout the entire session and how at the beginning they were kind of confused and not talking but as they figured out the coaches weren’t going to be providing any input they had to speak they had to communicate and doc said

Something that was just like wow this is so simple but like so profound in the same sense where he mentioned that this was a low communication team prior to me getting here and the guys would admit that as well and generally speaking when you’re low communication you’re not

Talking because you don’t know where you should be or where other guys should be at um so we have to make sure guys are aware of their assignments know what they should be doing so they can communicate and play better and you’ve been seeing the early returns of that

And they look pretty good um in comparison to what we were seeing earlier again very small sample size a lot more season to go and the competition is going to be very high so um it’s it’s an interesting time for this Milwaukee Bucks team with a lot of

Change um while trying to implement things on the fly yeah and look they the hole that they dug not that it’s insurmountable in terms of their ratings um but the reality is you’re probably not going to finish the season with a defensive rating any higher than 14th 13th somewhere around that range is

Probably the max of what the Bucks can get to given where they currently sit um as it stands so it’s it’s like what just as we talked about earlier in the season with those numbers since November 3rd that we would so often point to it’s going to be since Jan January 24th or

Since February 1st maybe um of what this team has looked like and if those numbers are somewhere around that 12 13 defensively and your offense is still in the top 10 and Elite that’s really what you’re looking for uh going forward for this group because even with those

Changes now you’re up to 19th in uh defensive efficiency and you’ve started to to carve out a little bit of a path where you’re not that far behind the teams that are directly in front of you but it’s going to take a lot of work to

Move into that top 15 and even beyond that where you have the Bulls in the Miami Heat that is basically three points per 100 possessions that you’re going to have to make up so you’re going to have to play like an elite unit to start to climb up uh that high for this

Defense we mentioned one of the other big things from this week is the trade deadline it is Thursday we have some news on that that we’ll get into but also there were some reports that came out today and a hat tip to our friend Eric name who pondered this just a

Couple of days ago and now we see more uh sourced reporting saying hey this could be a possibility and it’s one of those things Camille that I’m very interested to gauge the reaction of Bucks fans so we’ll take a look at that rumored potential deal and the latest

Chatter as we move towards the trade deadline coming up after the break unlocked on bucks well new year new you is what you hear most of often this time of year and that’s because around New Years we all get obsessed with how to change ourselves instead of just expanding on

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That we referenced earlier was a very interesting one so um a couple of people and and we mentioned Eric name went through I don’t know if I’d say hypotheticals these are more Source than just throwing things out into the wind but possible what about this for a trade

Trying to basically set the table of here’s what you can expect and here’s the realistic options the Bucks will have one of those revolved around Grant Williams of the Dallas Mavericks and now we see reports come out earlier today that the Bucks have reportedly had preliminary discussions

With the Dallas Mavericks in a move that would send Grant Williams to the Bucks in exchange for Bobby poris now the contracts are almost identical in their annual value this year but Grant Williams has more years on that deal I believe three more years that he signed

Um Bobby poris has this year and next year so that’s one of the big differences Grant Williams has I think it’s fair to say underperformed so far in Dallas to the expectations that they had but Grant Williams is a younger player and I know people are going to

Blush at I think it’s four years 53 million that’s fully guaranteed of man that’s a lot of money if you’re not performing maybe but I would also counter with look $13 million for a guy that’s still young 25 years old that you think is a rotational piece that is not

A lot of money in this day and age of the NBA I would assume there would be more to it than just grant for Bobby but certainly interested you know the reaction is going to be mixed at best given Bobby poris is standing with Bucks fans and given the fact that it’s Grant

Williams who was one of the more hated opponents Bucks have faced in the last few years mixed at best is a very like friendly way to put what the reaction might be whenever something was bad to say well you tried but yeah I mean so it’s it’s a few

Different pieces to look at with this proposed trade that’s floating out there I did see that Mark Stein came back and mentioned the fact that uh with these conversations that Milwaukee is unwilling to do just a straight up one for one trade Milwaukee will as they should more exactly more back because

Grant has had a down year so far he’s been a bit disappointing in Dallas but the question comes down to what does this team need and what do each of these players provide which one of them gets you closer to what you actually need from a rotational bench for coming off

Of the bench and it’s Bobby listen Bobby is always going to be good in the city of Milwaukee uh people felt that way PJ Tucker still do and what Bobby has done over the last few years with him being the mayor of the city how much love he’s

Gotten like I can understand the initial re like just knee-jerk reaction of being like no not gonna consider it but what you look at what the team needs Bobby poris is a big who’s going to come in and he’s going to try to get you buckets we’ve talked about the bugs bench

Scoring and it pretty much comes and goes as Bobby poris does if it’s a bad Bobby por this game then you’re not probably going to get too many points from your bench but if Bob good Bobby por this game you’re still not getting enough from your bench exactly exactly

So like it’s it’s it’s a back and forth and what does this team need we’ve been talking about defense defense defense defense it’s a topheavy team so if you’re going to roll out uh offensive changes which doc has mentioned wanting the ball in Dames hands more finding

Ways to make him more comfortable in the offense like I think it’s of the utmost importance to figure out a way to get Dame comfortable enough where his shooting performances can be more consistent that’s been my biggest problem with Dame so far it’s just the inconsist consist of the shooting so if

You’re looking for your offensive load to come from your starters from your Dame from your Yannis from your Chris from your Brooke from your Beasley okay so then let’s surround these guys with the defense because again once you talk about uh your playoff lineups you’re looking at seven eight-man rotations so

Who are those three guys coming off the bench and what are they providing for you if you’re getting your offense from your starters then I think it does make sense to lean more Heavenly defensively uh on your bench and those guys who are going to be part of the rotation you of

Course would love for them to be able to knock down an open shot and Bucks fans remember uh Grant Williams knocking down a bunch of open shots against the Bucks in the playoffs and the numbers haven’t been as consistent this year for him either so far but again again he’s

Actually playing with Luca someone else who’s going to draw a lot of attention get you a lot of open look so I don’t think that he’s going to see necessarily more open looks uh here in Milwaukee than what he’s already been accustomed to so you would hope the shooting

Continues to improve but like just the concept of what Grant Williams provides a a Defender who can you can move around a little bit um and then someone who can knock down open shots theoretically I think that concept of a player fits more neatly with what the Bucks need than

What Bobby poris does provide and again that’s not me saying that you know Bobby is trash or he’s invaluable he’s actually a very valuable piece which is again why this wouldn’t be a straight up one for one trade like the Bucks would get more back than just Grant Williams

But um when you think about the type of players they are and what the Bucks need I can see why this is something that’s floating out there as a possibility well and look also because Grant Williams is I believe 25 years old too as we referenced and um number one this is an

Old team so as we’ve talked about through the course of this season and and we talked at at length about guys like Marjan and Andre Jackson Jr and the importance of developing them because of the age of this group but same would apply to Williams of you would be

Getting younger at least there and as we talked about a couple of minutes ago when Doc is I wouldn’t even say hinted he has basically hit us over the head with look I go very very short rotations once the playoffs uh get here somebody asked him um I think it was after the

The Denver game his first game about the rotations and why did you uh play nine guys or or something along those lines and and the question was basically of why did you only play that many and Doc took it as why did you play that many and said because it’s not the

Playoffs that we’re gonna play more guys so that gives you the insights of I don’t know what that means for Bobby poris and for Pat conon not to say that Bobby would be out of the rotation altogether but you’re gonna ride your starters and you’re going to trim down

Those rotations even more and to that point you made you know Giannis and Dame are going to play a lot and you’re going to be getting offense there we saw Chris Middleton play 38 minutes against the Dallas Mavericks a season high that you figure they trust him now that with that

Time off between games in the playoffs he’s going to play a lot of minutes and we’re getting offense from those guys we need somebody that can help us play different defensively and that again not to make the comparison to PJ Tucker because it’s it’s like a a favorite

National Pastime for Bucks fans now but it gives you some of those things in theory if Grant Williams can be the guy that he was even last year but certainly two years ago at his best he gives you a lot of those things where you can play

Him at the four you can play him next to Giannis he can space the floor specifically in the corners and he can defend and switch a little bit and and those are the things that this team really really needs so uh I I know there was probably a lot of panic from Bucks

Fans when they saw that name and saw Bobby Portis uh that report from marike Stein Mark Stein as we said the Bucks shouldn’t do that as a one for that you’re taking on more money and yes you’re getting younger but Bobby poris has a lot of value in the league because

He can still rebound and score and he’s a big and it’s a position where that is a premium so there’s some value there so if if you’re the Bucks and you feel like this helps you you get younger and I would assume you can get some draft Capital whether that’s anything

Substantial I I wouldn’t expect it to be hypothetically speaking if this deal moves forward I wouldn’t expected to be the Bucs get a first round pick out of this but if you can get more second rounders and then use that with something else to to add to what you

Already have and make another move that’s another thing to keep an eye on um for this Bucks team so I would imagine those are the types of names that we’re going to hear maybe not anything major per se but guys that are going to help you defensively and then

They’re going to fit the way the Doc Rivers really wants to play more and that’s let’s showcase Giannis and Damen Lillard let’s let’s try to get Dame unlocked even more so and get the ball in his hands a little bit more and find guys that can in around that and maybe

Don’t need the ball and don’t need to score but they’re going to give us value in uh in some other areas um we we mentioned to some news we are going to do a live show on Thursday to recap whatever it is that happens at the trade

Deadline so if it’s a quiet day and the Bucks do nothing and there’s moves made around the East we’ll do a show just after the deadline passes to to recap where we stand there if there are a lot of moves and if the Bucs make a move

Earlier maybe we’ll do two shows and and do a a quick recap of what’s happened and then once everything is settled and dust is cleared we’ll do one there as well but we will do at least one live show on Thursday as the trade deadline is going down to see what happens

Because as we’ve discussed Camille this could be it for not just the bugs a lot of teams that are in that second apron of this is our last chance to really do anything with all those handcuffs that are placed on us this summer one thing about that what with the news coming out

Of the LA with the Lakers is that Vanderbilt’s going to be missing significant piece of the season I was texting some of the tech file guys and I was just like man like because we have a guy on our show who’s a Lakers fan and I was like that’s your best perimeter

Defender he’s like absolutely like that’s a that’s a big blow for us and Eric mentioned the fact that now the Lakers are another team who’s going to be in the hunt for another player similar to what the Bucks are looking for um with a guy who can defend on the

Perimeter so I’m looking forward to the trade deadline because uh we I feel like the Bucs are going to do something all reports have come out have said the bugs have been aggressive uh pursuing some additional help at the deadline so something should be happening I would

Think um and with John horse history even though the bugs have limited assets we have seen him uh make a dollar out of 15 cents a few times when it comes to finding guys to be able to trade in order to make a move that he thinks theoretically can improve the Bucks and

I think we’ll continue to see that with this team and there gonna be a lot of other teams looking to load up as well because of the cap imp implications coming up along the road and the fact that again it feels like it’s a wide open SE like open year like there’s

Nobody where you’re like hey I don’t think we can do it this year or this team is too dominant we should just punt for next year like everybody who’s looking to compete and who are competing feels as if they have a shot to win it

All and we need to also keep an eye on what the Knicks do what the Cavs do these teams who are kind of behind us who have been making moves um but they’re close behind us in the standings and a move could set them over the edge

And help uh have them race up the standings have the Bucks fall uh which can have some very big playoff implications when it comes to the matchups and who has home court and things of that sort so yeah it’s it’s a big week here to see how things are

Going to shake out for a lot of these teams and uh speaking of the Cavs uh depending on how you choose to view it the Cavs have already caught the Bucks that they’re 16 games in the Lost column the Bucks are at 17 so um look that

That’s why often times we point to how many games back in the loss come because you can’t make up losses those are there you can’t scrub them away and right now the Cavs have fewer losses than the Bucks Cavs and the Knicks have been two of the best teams along with the

Clippers in the league since January 1 and that’s the last bullet point that that we have here Camille is I I don’t know how strongly toward This Disaster or Doomsday scenario but one thing that does give me a little concern is um the schedule that the Bucks are going

Through in the midst of a very very difficult stretch and and look we we tried to calm everybody down at the start and said we’re seeing the signs it looks better they’re getting there Giannis said the same thing but you can’t lose hold of the Rope too much

Here because as we mentioned the Cavs are coming on strong they’ve passed you in the Lost column they’re only a half game back in the overall standings and they’re playing tonight so when we wake up tomorrow the Bucks and the Cavs could be for second place in the Eastern

Conference Cavs have a better divisional record too that’s that’s the other thing is the Bucks are n and s in the division this year in a division they used to dominate and now they’ve basically been 500 because of the Resurgence of the Cavs and the Indiana Pacers um but then

You have the Knicks who have looked incredible since acquiring oan noi as well they still have one game left with the Bucks they’re a game back of the Bucks and the Knicks may not be done with the moves that they make I point all this out because the news that we

Received over the weekend about Joel embiid who knows when Joel embiid is going to return to the floors the Sixers have been very obtuse through this whole thing refusing to call it a tear in his miniscus and now no timeline on on what it’s going to take for him to come back

Um but at the very least going off of the type of surgery that it is and what Ramona shelburn had talked about earlier in the season I would guess this is five to six weeks at the earliest before we see Joel embiid back in all likelihood

So that would put you to right around the time that you’re getting ready for the playoffs that maybe have a week or two and the playoffs are here Sixers have a very difficult schedule left as well I would be surprised if the Sixers move up out of the fifth spot right now

Given the absence of embiid and the schedule they have in front of them and the fact that the Cavs and the Knicks have easier schedules I think the Cavs have the ninth or 10th easiest remaining the Knicks are right in the middle of the pack and I point all this out

Because if those two teams do continue to stay on this pace and move past the Bucks and you’re looking at the possibility of a scenario where you finish fourth and your first round opponent is the Sixers with a newly returned Joel embiid and if you get through that then you have the Boston

Celtics and if you get through that then you have the team that’s on the other side of that bracket and if you get to that then you have the West winner that you know a couple of years ago we talked about the path that the Bucs could

Potentially have when it was three teams that we were looking at um but this would be the most difficult path that I could imagine of that threat of hey if Joel embiid comes back and they’re the five seed and he looks healthy for the playoffs that’s terrifying knowing you

Go through that in the first round and then the Celtics in the second round so it it puts even more pressure on you to hey I know we said you’re figuring it out you look better but you need to start winning these games when the schedule’s very very tough yeah you got

To start getting those wins which is part of why again that Portland game was a disappointment where you’re like hey this is one of the ones on the road where you’re like we should have gotten this game we kind of need this game so it’s really disappointing to lose a game

Like that on this West Coast road trip and I agree with everything you said so I’ll just end it here toughest schedules remaining in the Eastern Conference uh Boston has the second easiest schedule in the whole league to finish out so that one SE that they have they’ll

Probably remain in control of that by a wide margin probably yeah I would think so the Pacers have the third easiest schedule remaining uh in the league uh the Miami Heat have the fifth easiest schedule and then you look at Cleveland who has the 10th uh the Knicks they have

The 14th most difficult so they’re kind of in the middle there and then again that’s everybody who’s around you for the most part and then again the bugs have the second toughest remaining schedule left so uh those the process has to start uh showing some results eventually because we cannot afford to

Lose uh too many more games along the way which makes this difficult because you’re seeing Improvement um but looking at the standings it’s so great they were able to build up those games during the first half of the season because they had a little cushion um where you have a

Little forgiven a little leeway but now it’s going to start tightening up especially once we get back from All-Star break like it’s it’s game on that point yeah and real quick too you mentioned the Pacers in the Heat and their um ease of schedule left the the

Good news there is um that those teams are still I think five and six back of that group in the Lost column so that’s the positive is yeah it’s it’s easier than than what the Bucks and the Sixers have but they got a lot of ground to

Make up and look it it adds even more importance to the fact that the Bucks beat the Knicks as many times as they did earlier in this season for as much attention as we put on losing the season series to the Pacers you at least own That season series against the Knicks

And a disappointing loss in Cleveland and in no show where you’re blown off the floor that would have given you the same with the Cavs so at the very least you split with them but look it there’s a lot of layers to why we’ve said it’s a very very difficult schedule and stretch

In front of the Bucks here and it doesn’t get any easier in Phoenix against the Suns team that looks very much rejuvenated they’re what 14 and 15 and now I think they’re 29 and 21 or something like that um and no coincidence that their three stars are

Healthy and Bradley Beal just scored 43 over the weekend so it is going to be a challenge in Phoenix uh suns have yet to submit their injury report by the way but the Bucks have submitted their initial injury report and the good news is Brook Lopez is listed as questionable

So he has not been ruled out so you may have Brook back for that game um we will have a postgame show against the Suns it’s going to be late so we’re not quite sure when the post game will be but we’ll have a recap of that Suns game and

Again the very next day we will have at least one live show recapping the trade deadline so uh be sure to subscribe and be on the lookout for that for Camille I’m Justin and we will talk to you once again tomorrow un locked on bugs

The results might not be there yet, but the process has been undeniably better for the Bucks since a coaching change. Justin and Camille dig into the numbers that back that up, revisit a rough fourth quarter in Utah and check in on the latest trade chatter with the NBA trade deadline less than a week away. How opposed would Bucks fans be to the name Grant Williams? We discuss on the latest Locked on Bucks

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