Gil’s Arena Gets An INSIDE LOOK At The Bucks’ Erratic Season

Gil’s Arena Gets An INSIDE LOOK At The Bucks’ Erratic Season

So just looking at this Buck Squad obviously uh Doc Rivers taking over for Adrien Griffin yeah team has been struggling just a little bit in the Doc Rivers era in your opinion you get to see this team all the time what’s the Buck’s biggest issue right now oh man

Just trying to find you know who we are as a basketball team just and an identity um and that was uh even an issue when we were rolling and and had a really good record under under Adrian Griffin who is an outstanding person really good coach I think in a different

Scenario where the expectations were not quite as high you know that he’d be the perfect man for a job like this but this was a situation where its Championship or bust and um even that good record that we had uh was done with the softest schedule in the league the first half of

The Season our schedule the second half is the hardest schedule in the league and so uh Adrian came in and wanted to uh reinvent some things that had been successful for the team under Mike buen hoser one of those was was force more turnovers well we were last in the

League in turnovers even though we had that great record a lot of the stuff that he wanted to do we last in the league in transition defense was just some some some glaring effort effort stats that just uh weren’t coinciding with the team kind of coalescing and

Coming together like you would hope it would and it just got to that point and then you know um some of the things that had Bobby poris blow up uh um during the n Season tournament uh gannis came out and said that it’s funny gannis came out

And said that we all got to be better the coaching staff must be better the equipment manager must be better I must be better that night we played against Utah I’m like I got on the air I’m like broadcasters we got to be better everybody’s got to be we getting ready

To turn this stuff around everybody’s got we got down like 30 in the first half and and it then that’s when it was like for me a disconnect like what’s going on I don’t know what these guys now next game Boston later that week blew them out played great great so I

Just think management felt it was time to at this point in the season just kind of bite the bullet make the tough decision and uh and bring in a guy that’s had 24 years of head coaching experience in the NBA has had some success as a as a champion with the

Celtics and you know just just knows the NBA kind of ropes and lingo and parlament and so you know we’ll see how it’s been fascinating watching it kind of unfold I don’t know where it’s going to lead but it’s been fast you know you you never know you never know you know

So do you think Adrian would have been better with a younger team oh without question if if we were the Orlando Magic or or one of these young upand cominging teams I still think he he could coach in the NBA you know he’s an outstanding coach outstanding person got his PhD and

Organizational leadership but you know the the the first kind of sign was coming in and changing our defense and having Brook Lopez um Blitz on the perimeter at 71 290 lbs with a 76 wingspan second best shot Blocker in the League last year second for Defensive

Player of the Year got Brooke out there trying it you know but but with little success after about a about two or three weeks in uh I think it was Chris Middleton Giannis maybe even Brooke came to Adrian and said look you know let’s let’s get Brook back into that drop

Defense that he was so successful doing last year and so Adrien said hey I am no fool I’m going to listen to this put him back in drop that that next game against the Knicks he had nine block shots and so just little things like that little

Adjustments like that that um you know he was trying to do something you know you come into a new situation you want to put your own mark on it and and and and so I’m I’m the new coach so we’re going to you know do things differently

Than the old regime well the old regime bu holder our defense was like top five for the last four or five years offense was really solid so my opinion is that you don’t have to throw out everything you know you you you come in and tweak a

Couple of things here and there try something different put your own personality your own style on it but um you know it didn’t work I think the guys uh if you were there you know you get that sense that something wasn’t right just in huddles and and the and and

Everybody’s doing their own thing and everybody’s talking and then nobody’s you know it’s it was just a real um nonproductive vibe that you picked up on that um I thought made the change um necessary so I got another question so even though there was 30 and 13 at the time yeah winning doesn’t

Solve those things well it’s you know it’s if they was 13 and 30 no without question without question but but everybody expect the change but but again he just e just Schedule E just schedule understand but it’s still is the NBA though yeah yeah it’s it’s still the NBA

But it’s the way that you’re winning you know teams that we should be blowing out it’s a struggle we’ve got to come back to beat I forgot who it was but one of these teams that was at the bottom of the league had us down you know Detroit

We got to come back to beat the pistol we go to Detroit to play the Pistons back to back and it’s a struggle each game while they’re losing the Mr to losing 25 26 in a row and and and and and again it’s the NBA and the talent is

There on a given night for anybody to compete but you could just get the sense that the team wasn’t buying in you know in terms of what he was trying to do I understand you know but isn’t that isn’t that a isn’t that a personal problem for

Each other right because um I remember when Eddie Jordan came and and he he gave he put the Princeton in right same offense that they had right and we didn’t buy into it right right horrible like this is a horrible offense coach like you know what I mean like

This is horrible like this is not how I play basketball this is we sitting here passing people touching the ball that they shouldn’t be touching the ball at the wrong times right and realizing he’s not going nowhere he just got the job I’m new so at the end of the day it

Didn’t work all the new things that was trying to be put in it didn’t work so he said here’s the Playbook learn it and I said well can I change some [ __ ] in here that I see to fit us as a team like we have you know we don’t have you know um

Chris Weber and them that making back pass that’s not our team so can I change it a little bit and it said do it so I took the Playbook the whole time and then end up changing it and then the same team the very next year we added Antoine Jameson that actually helped

Right relieve some of the the back door problems that we were having so as a team if you failed last year and he’s trying to implement something new but we didn’t fail last year but in the sense you didn’t win last year Well we did but

Giannis got jannis missed two and a half games against Miami but that but see that’s the problem if he wouldn’t have got hurt in that series I’m telling you we beat Miami in the first round now how much further we would have gone could we have beaten Boston to get to the finals

I don’t know but I really believe in my heart we could have beat Miami with Giannis being healthy okay but see that’s the that’s the delusion that we have sometimes is just humans right we we we did lose right without jannis without jannis two and games right so if

You say so let’s bring back so let’s bring back let’s bring back Giannis and say we would have went there then why fire the coach so that means the coach didn’t do nothing wrong either so so you fired a coach knowing that if y’all would have been healthy y’all would have

Probably well how long did Eddie Jordan last with you guys did he like have a lot of success once we had we had what four five six years Ed Eddie’s a good man EDD so you fire the coach that lets you know that you need to change anyway

So the guy you bring in if he sees that we could do this better you have to give it some time so sometimes we just go into situations that we don’t like change like if I like sitting back here right saving my energy you come to me

Right now you want me to come Blitz and hard show and do all this and that’s not what I want to do I’m I’m I’m a give it half I’m I’m going give it half the [ __ ] he may see oh course this [ __ ] don’t work oh he keep going go give me the

Fake H yeah but but I seeing a lot of that it was a lot of it was a lot of but even boser now the knock on Coach boser I thought was excellent but that it was it was adjustments you know just kind of he had this mindset and I forget what he

Called it but it was a it was it was a it was a corporate kind of a of of a of of an approach where you don’t change you just stick to what you’re doing come hell of high water success of failure you got to believe in it you stick to it

And so that was something that uh not so much the players maybe ownership I know I know the fan base didn’t like it they just they wanted more change they wanted him to play younger players and develop younger players and he was a kind of a

Guy that I’m rolling with my older vets and that’s kind of how doc has been so far so I mean so you know he’d been there five years and you know it’s always something that you know when when the player start tuning you out at a certain point you know ownership thinks that

It’s time to go in another Direction yeah go ahead no this is a young guys League yeah so without question got to play young guys well I wholeheartedly got and and look you can’t roll with them maybe in the finals or conference but you got January February March when you want to give

Your old vet’s legs a little chance to rest a little bit I mean the and then you’ve got to start developing them in my opinion and out of training camp and play them you know in a little bit in December January so by the time uh Andre

Jackson Jr or Maran Bo champ or AJ Green has been really good if I need you you’re ready you’re ready you’re ready and uh so yeah I I agree I agree hardly with that instead of coming into January and you got you coming into January and

You got 22 dmps like to but to your point so the teams that that that that killed us this year they was going up and down and every time make a Miss they just pushing it up the floor so we got our you know Chris Middleton and and and

And and Brook Lopez and and Dame I mean some of our 30 plus year old guys you know they can’t go there you know and and and Miami did that to us was the other night they came in we just beaten Denver on Monday night they came in Tuesday night and man they

Just transitioned us they just played fast Nia yic look like Nia yic you know just lighting us up at inant beating us down the floor getting his spots we close out they beat us kick you know and so um yeah yeah it’s it’s it’s we’re we are a work in progress progress not

Perfection so what’s the difference between let’s say Doc and Adrian so like even with Adrian you know you’re trying to implement new stuff and they’re rejecting it now the problem with the new coach is it’s old stuff I need to implement my stuff and if they don’t

Like it they’re going to reject it now Doc is on the time ticker and this is why I first said he can’t win here the reason he can’t win here is when he comes in he’s going to look at that roster think about he’s on the watch

List right so I’m not going to gamble as much as a coach I’m a play I’m going try to cut my rotation down and I’m going to play safe basketball safe basketball for that you’re not going to win and that’s the problem because you need to

Experiment to see who can do what now you sitting here with a there used to be a ninan rotation now that shit’s a seven man rotation cuz you want to try to collect these wins up they make yourself look good but understand this about about docking where he is in his career

I don’t know what his contract is let’s just say it 40 million like 40 million know 40 mil for we know it let’s just say it’s 40 million for 3 what 13.3 a year okay so and if they fired me what happen I don’t get that money yeah you

Get it okay so I’m guaranteed 40 million for three years that’s not going to put any I mean I you know and I’ve been around 24 years not like I’m just some new coach got to prove I won a championship I’ve had some success I’ve

Had some a lot of lot of failures up 3-1 blah blah blah but I don’t think it’s that same kind of and that’s the thing when you’re when you’re a veteran coach like Doc 62 years old a Milwaukee guy guy Marquette you’re coming in and um hoping that that what you want to

Implement now he’s got two great assistant Dave jger uh I I loved him since he was uh with Memphis Sacramento I thought he did a really good job absolutely yeah you you can tell by the way his teams play you know that that that this guy can coach maybe wasn’t

Ready to take him to the next level who knows um uh Rex calamian calamian played the a coach with the Clippers with Doc he’s been around forever so he’s got a good good staff that he brought in with him and so um I just think with Doc is

Like hey I’m going come in I’m I’m going give it my best shot and if these guys respond and the guys know that like they look like look y’all done got rid of one coach two coaches actually bu hoser and Adrian Griffin after after after 43

Games with a 30 and 13 record now the onus is on you to embrace what this man is you know we didn’t got rid of two guys for you now here comes the third in with with a with a nice resume got all the background that we’re looking for in

Terms of being a local guy and all the success he had at Marquette now the owners is it puts the pressure on the players now what y’all going to do and so Doc’s thing is he wants to simplify uh what we’re doing so that the players don’t have to think as much they

Can play with more fire and you could see that that was an issue before uh and then he wants to uh stop talking about it and be about it stop all this like yeah we want to be Champions we we want to win you know forget about all that

Get out there and play like you want to be a championship team so whether or not it’s embraced by the players remains to be seen but that’s what makes it fascinating so let’s talk a little bit about Damen Lillard uh still trying to find his rhythm with the team yeah what

Do Dam and the Bucks need to do after the break to get him right you said with the team or with the coach you got to now you know you got worded right worded right with the new coach coaches team no he was all now he start or allar with

The way he was playing before doc got there if we revote right now goddamn it well I mean Brunson you the starter now goddamn it you the starter Brunson it’s interesting it’s funny you mentioned Brunson cuz with Dame I mean if and I was talking with him a few games ago and

And and and I was like man you know if I had to grade you based on you know what I know you can do and what I’ve seen so far I give you like a c C+ you know uh shooting percentage we down turnovers are up um usage rate is way down his

Usage rate is like 30 or something percent and that’s like lowest it’s been in about 8 years M the thing that doc wants to do is to not you know cut down Yannis is touches but this sounds crazy but give the ball to damn a little more

Let Let the point guard be your point guard jannis you get out in transition get out on the wing you know the backside cuts to the basket you don’t have to initiate every single action every single time and Yan’s usage rate is about the lowest it’s been in about

Four or five years it’s not like he’s been a ball hog and and another thing I told Dame is uh when he talked to me about a month into it he told me he was you know having some challenges I’ll put it that way to figure out kind of how to

Play with Giannis what’s the best I told him man this round Thanksgiving I like Yannis can fix his own plate you know you you worry about your plate don’t worry about trying to fix his place he going to get his you know Yannis is going to go go to the hole get in

Transition get some offensive rebound do this do that get some steals he go he going to get his don’t even don’t don’t concern yourself with him and and you know as a point guard you know it’s easier to say it than done because you want to Plate the big man you want to

Make sure he’s fed gets the ball where needs to get it but but with Giannis you don’t have to worry so much about that and I think Dan got and he and he told me recently that you know he sat out a game or two uh with an ankle or

Something but he said I’m starting to really kind of see what this team needs me to do and that that’s to be Dame I mean penetrate kick use your quickness that use that little extra gear you have when you can beat a guy off the dribble and separate they you collaps the

Defense now Look to You Know kick at the shooter so he’s doing a better job of that and you mentioned Brunton I’m telling you Dame’s defense has been um disparaged and talked about but this dude plays better defense than what what people thought he he sh he locked last three or four

Minutes of this Nick game I think it was in in in season tournament or whatever it was but I mean he got into jayen Brunson and gave this effort that to me was like okay now see you didn’t expose yourself I don’t want to see anything

Less come you know crunch time so what we used to do when so you got so when chy came right M CH a great decision maker CH will get the ball where he need to get it to but he can score when he need to so we stopped throwing the ball to

Melo in the back court m like whoever got the now whoever got the rebound now you make him get ah head of the ball yeah right make him go yeah right yeah so now when other guys so when Brooke getting the rebound or Chris whoever the guys don’t want to bring it

Up they can’t bring it up they give it to Dame instead of Yiannis is always being the one back looking for the outlet right right so now you make him get ahead of the ball yeah now Dame got the ball now he can be the decision

Maker I think a couple few games got Brook somebody threw it to Dame he would like hit him in the back of the head cuz he’s waiting for him to give the honors he so used to this is how we’ve been operating this need to be a a saying you

Got to be 100% of the time but as a group in order for us to play better and play different get a different result different well we got I’m not but it has to be a conversation within the locker room that Janis we need you to get ahead

Of the ball more times bringing it up so you can go in pick and roll with Dame now it’s a better but remember remember I said I said I’m watching the game and I I I pointed something out I said Dame and Giannis do not know how to play

Together together with each other because what ends up happening is when Dame does a pick and roll with Giannis everyone knows jannis can’t shoot so they’re going to Blitz d right so now when he wants to set a pick and roll thinking this is about to be AAR in him

And they’re like nah we going to Blitz you get out now he’s like oh [ __ ] I got to give it to and he’s not really good at passing out of Dame that’s that’s not a strength of his bigs and teams are doing that the real big long length on

Him comeing blitzing him and he he has some issues kind of finding the open guys because of his side and all so he rather stay with uh so now he rather just do the pick and roll with L Brook he L Brook yeah so he so now Yannis for

Dame when Dame want to get off and get his [ __ ] going Giannis is not his number one option he’s like I don’t want to you can do your own me I’mma play with you guys and that’s what and that’s what ends up happening so Dame is consciously

Going away from Giannis pick and roll and staying here and then when Giannis wants to play Giannis is playing one-on-one so what ends up happening is is it’s going to be what is really the betterment of the team and the problem that’s going to be is this Giannis

You’re going to have to play high uh half court basketball yeah right because when we give it to Dame and Dame is bringing it up your fast break is going to be cut off now that $50,000 that you you spent in the summer to try to prove

A point you going you going to have to exercise that 50,000 get your ass in that post and yeah now you going to have me sitting here like right and and he got you well plus he got you God damn it and when jiannis goes one on1 it’s like one4 it’s walls

It’s walls I mean and then the good Miami Eric spoler I mean Giannis had uh one free throw I believe for the game he had 19 at halftime 23 for the game four and a second I mean they built a wall and did it effectively you know bam out

Bios got the strength got the foot speed to kind of stay in front of him not let him get to his spots and every time he spun there was somebody coming at him and you know and so it it’s it’s better for him almost in situations like that

Against good teams what you’ll see in the playoffs is to rely on Dame to kind of initiate and now you looked as that weak side cutter to find your spots in there after they Blitz Dame or whatever they’re going to do to try and slow him down all that defensive attention he can

Command now you’ve got some stuff going on on that second side that you can exploit and and his jumper he’s knocking down his mid-range jumper a lot more consistently the last five or six games it’s starting to come around his postup game is a lot a lot better he’s got the

You know nice little jump hook hook middle he’s got this Fade to the right shoulder on the Baseline that he’s knocking down so it’s just a question of and this is where Doc and his staff you got to earn that how much 13.3 you got to earn that money coming up coming you

Divide and Doc even doc has said that this team is not it’s a long ways from coming together and it’s going to be after the allstar break before we kind of get get our feet under under us and and go on a little bit of a roll and so so far he’s been

Precient with that I better be careful where y’all listen that first round matchup yeah can’t let too many go and you [ __ ] around slip and you got the wrong match up in the first round well right now there a point where we were three and

Indiana was six and I looked at that and I was like know what’s funny is it’s it’s it’s Giannis right like after this season he should look at how Miami plays him mhm how do they keep stopping me personally right I’m having trouble with this team

What are they doing so when he thinks about this is the best team team defense that I face let me watch it let me break down the film so I can work on my game see where my advant see where I can gain an advantage to get this this is the

Person this ain’t a person this is a team that has your number that means you have the blueprint to how to get better once you defeat them there’s really nothing that can stop you right so if you need to say all right I can post him

Up here I can cut here I can this is where I need to work on my mid-range you will start really understanding how to get better as a basketball player well and that’s the difference you know between KD and a guy like Giannis is I’m you overstating the obvious here but you

Know k d pulled that mid-range jumper 10 times a game you give it to him Giannis May shoot it three times five even if he’s making or missing there’s kind of a limit and that’s that confidence that that you’re lacking in terms of where you were as a mid-range shooter where

You’re now you’re doing better but you still don’t have that inner confidence that you know that that that that makes like Chris Middleton makes you shoot it without even thinking still some you can see him thinking out there and hesitating and think he’ll pull it in

The short you know and I always say on the air you got to let that thing go if they give it to you let it go and live live with the results so

Gil’s Arena Gets An INSIDE LOOK At The Milwaukee Bucks’ Struggles This Season as Bucks Legend and current broadcaster Marques Johnson joins Gilbert Arenas and The Gil’s Arena Crew to peel back the curtain on what’s going on in Cream City since Doc Rivers took over as head coach and offer exclusive insights as to why a team with talent like Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo is struggling to gel this late into the NBA season.

Gil’s Arena premieres every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 11:30am PT / 2:30pm ET.

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