2023 24 Milwaukee Bucks Report Cards: Brook Lopez

2023 24 Milwaukee Bucks Report Cards: Brook Lopez

on today’s lock on bucks we continue to hand out our player report cards and this time the man in the middle the seven-footer Brook Lopez we take a look back at his season what to take from that going forward and the overall evolution of the big man Camille and I get into that conversation after this unlocked on bog you are locked on by Buck your daily Milwaukee Bucks podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day welcome into locked on bucks I am Justin Garcia you can find me on the Bucks radio network joined as always by Camille Davis who you can find on the technical file podcast on the carry the g& MK podcast and the pack a day podcast and we both thank you for making locked on bucks your first listen every day we are free and available wherever you get your podcasts you can find us on YouTube as well it is all part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day today’s lockdown Buck is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase terms apply Camille we continue our look at uh individual performances from a season ago and this is one of the the more interesting ones obviously Giannis and Dame carry a lot of attention for number one the first year in Milwaukee for Damen Lillard the efficiency for Giannis last year we touched on Chris Middleton and the underappreciated aspects of his game we’ve done Andre Jackson Jr who has been the apple of a lot of Bucks fans eyes in terms of the young players and now uh one of the more interesting ones Brook Lopez who I think was pretty consistent last year with what we had seen in Seasons past uh but it it felt different and I think that’s going to be the overall takeaway from this episode was similar but different but I’m also I’m not really sure how much of that to lay at the feet of Brook Lopez Same Same and that was something I mentioned throughout this season where it’s like I know it looks like Brook Lopez is uh giving up a lot but one has to understand how the bugs defense innately worked with Brook Lopez being that man in the middle and a lot of it was predicated on having really strong point of attack Defenders who knew exactly how to play really tight defense on the opponent as well as if they did get beat how to funnel them to Brook Lopez properly um and this year without Drew holiday on the the roster which of course everybody’s talked about the the absence of Drew holiday but that really affected Brook Lopez because when you think of Brook Lopez it’s about the defense like I mean last year he was he finished second in defensive player of the year he was first team on defense so you expect certain things out of Brook Lopez’s performance and when people weren’t seeing it this year a lot of questions started coming up around like hey is Brook Lopez watched has the best days behind him I don’t think he can do this anymore so on and so forth but I think if you examine a little bit closer you will see that a big part of why it did not look the same is because the point of attack defense was so much weaker for the Milwaukee Bucks this year which led to Brook Lopez being in a lot of situations where he’s trying to defend two guys at one time um instead of just focusing on one and then trying to get back and help so uh it looked a lot different for Brooke and I think that put him in a spot where we talked about what he might be I think his season might be one of the most misunderstood on the Milwaukee Bucks this this year yeah and um one of those things that you mentioned I think we talked about during the season itself and I think is important to point out and that is um the contests that Brook Lopez had where I think by the Numbers it was pretty similar to last year when he led the league and shots contested per game um he was slightly in front of it for large stretches of this season and just in terms of a per game basis but you know to me and again it’s what makes it difficult to really gauge Burke Lopez um was la last year and in years past those contests were by Design you had Drew holiday and Wesley Matthews on the perimeter and that’s how the defense was set up is we are going to funnel you into this shot so it’s going to be controlled in that we want to push you to that area where Brooke is waiting for you to contest that shot this year that was not the case as you alluded to the perimeter Defenders or lack thereof that it was Brook Lopez basically under attack and it was one after another when you think about a lot of the issues that this team had it all goes back to that and and not Brook Lopez per se but the challenges and contests at The Rim rebounding and that’s another area where I think it it’s not even hard to judge Brook Lopez he gets unfairly judged a lot of times when you think about man Brook Lopez only five rebounds a game or only this what do you want him to do he’s contesting the shot somebody else has to come over and close out the possession and I think a lot of times he falls victim to that this isn’t just going to be hey let’s defend Brooke Lopez uh episode here but I think that’s fair to point out is that you know we’ve known all along Brooks’s numbers his value it’s not going to be represented in the rebounding numbers it’s what he does the the opportunities that he creates for his teammates when you have a solid foundation as a team defense it shows up and we saw that for the years under Mike buholzer this year when you didn’t have that Foundation it’s not just the absence of Drew holiday and Wesley Matthews and Javon Carter was a lot of things right how they changed their defense and we had to have players going to Adrien Griffin after four games saying hey Brooke can’t play here it was just a number of things that went into it and I think that’s where you really saw all right he he really stands out for the best when all of these things fall into place when it’s not there even if the numbers are similar it feels different and I’m not sure that it’s it’s really his doing or anything he could have done differently yeah I mean even if you look at the numbers like you mentioned the rebounding which with Brook Lopez that’s always been a point of contention because people are like you’re seven feet tall go and get the rebounds but since he’s been with the Milwaukee Bucks lineups with Lopez tend to grab a higher percentage of rebounds defensive rebounds than when he’s not on the court and that’s been consistent throughout his time here in Milwaukee um and even in this year I believe I saw let me pull up the number here but according to cleaning the glass they were in the 84th percentile uh when it comes to grabbing available defensive rebounds so like they were still good it wasn’t as good as we’ve seen in some bucks year or bucks teams in years past with Brook Lopez anchoring the middle but he still is doing his job like the numbers don’t stand out for him but he allows for other guys to go go and get the rebound like you mentioned to end the possession even if you look at the numbers with just the rim protection like he still was up 2.4 Blocks game this year he only Trail Victor W Bamba for that I if you look at the numbers I mean he still was a good rim protector he still contested a league leading 46% of shots attempted at The Rim an opponent shot just a little bit over 50% with him contesting at The Rim so like the the numbers say that Brook Lopez can still do this at a level that is going to be good the thing with Brook Lopez and what you saw a lot uh is that teams were trying to find ways to take away what he’s best at and get him away from the rim which again goes back to your point about four games in when the team goes to Adrien Griffin like we need to get Brooke closer to the rim again for defensive purposes but when you pull him out yeah it’s going to look different it’s the same thing with like a Rudy Gober where he’s definitely a defensive player of the year uh and he looks the best when he’s closer to the rim you pull him out on the perim and your team is like okay we have him in a disadvantage situation like we’re going to try to take advantage of that so when you look at Brooke as well I feel similar to him with that where it’s like yeah if you’re looking for a big to be switching and playing on the perimeter he’s not going to be your guy but I think there’s still a way to use Brook Lopez to Anchor a defense that is good and Elite roller coaster of the the Rudy goar trade worst trade ever to oh not so fast to back to the worst trade ever then you you win your first games to the playoffs and well here it is and and now we’re back to the man I can’t believe they really did that and there are some similarities there with Brooke I I look I think the big thing is this um we have it out there in the graphics is he on the decline yes but I mean any player of that age is on the decline and any player once you start to hit 30 you’re G to be on the decline so I I don’t mean it as a bad thing well he’s washed and it’s over because again I still think he is incredibly valuable in the right spots with the right help surrounding him and that’s the big piece for this team it is going to be interesting because it did seem as though and we’ll talk about this a little bit in the the next segment here I’m not sure what his role is with Doc Rivers we knew what it was with Bud we knew how important it was there but we saw moments where Brook Lopez wasn’t one of your closers we’ve talked about this on the show before too maybe you need to transition to that right where jannis is your five and you’re able to switch more on the perimeter the the caveat is you need more guys that can switch out there um but I don’t think this to throw the baby out with a bathwater situation you still need Brook Lopez or somebody that’s going to fill that role there is still a spot for him when you think about Joel embiid niika yic the other bigs in the league even if yanis becomes your five I don’t know that you want Giannis to play the five in the regular season that’s probably a playoff or a close ing games situational thing for Giannis so is Brook Lopez on the decline yes I don’t think that’s a bad thing because again Drew holiday is probably on the decline and a number of players so I think that’s that’s the big thing to point out there but there are some interesting things to kind of back that up as it pertains to Brooke and his play a year ago we’ll get into that and I mentioned too the perhaps the most interesting piece is Doc Rivers and what that means for Brook Lopez and especially some of those changes that we saw offensively so we’ll get into that conversation coming up after the break here un locked on bucks well as we mentioned this episode of Locked on bucks is brought to you by game time it makes getting NBA Finals tickets even faster and easier prices on the game time app actually go down the closer it gets to 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create an account and use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase terms apply and again create an account and redeem with the code locked on NBA l c k e d o n NBA for $20 off your first purchase download game time today last minute tickets lowest prices guaranteed all right Camille I mentioned uh we’ll get to the dock Rivers piece in just a moment here but when we talk about the value of Brooke you referenced those rebounding numbers and just how good of a job the Bucks do with him on the floor a 70 nearly 76% defensive rebounding rate in those lineups with Brooke on the floor defensive rating we we went over this when we were talking about the Andre Jackson Jr minutes granted much more limited than Brook Lopez but very similar number 13.2 defensive rating with Brook Lopez On The Floor for the bucks and as we mentioned it was a couple hundred possessions with Ajax 5,000 possessions that the Bucs played with Brook Lopez on the floor and look that’s the other piece that we have to mention the big elephant in the room with Brook Lopez is durability right we we all had this question um very early into Brooks tenure when you looked back and said well what about those two years that he had in Brooklyn when he played just five games 22 games total in a two-year period out of three years and you wondered seven-footer those were leg injuries that typically doesn’t bode well he had been an Iron Man right coming back from those missed 10 games the next season missed nine games the next season missed seven games the season after that came to Milwaukee missed one game it was the final game of the regular season that next year year was the 73 Game season where he missed five of those games missed two games the year the Bucs won the title and then he had the back surgery year but I look you can’t mention that without pointing out in the two years that followed the back surgery for a player in his mid-30s he missed a total of seven games in those two years yeah missed a total of seven games in those two years and played at least 30 minut minutes in each of those two years the most minutes that he had played as a Milwaukee Buck because if you look back I mean when he started his first year in Milwaukee he only played 23 minutes then it was 28 then it’s 26 then it’s 27 then it’s 22 in the year where he had the back surgery and then after that you see 30 minutes consistently this past season and the one before that as well the oldest that Brook Lopez has been the most minutes that he’s been playing with the Bucks uniform on like we haven’t hadn’t seen Lopez play 30 minutes consistently since the 201 12 2013 season back to back so um that in itself is impressive and also like you mentioned I remember last year being like do we want Brook Lopez to have this many minutes on his body like I know he mentioned how the back surgery did him wonders and how much better he feels coming out of that uh hence the the minute load and just the games played but the reality of it is like you said uh he’s 36 years old 7 foot one almost 300 pounds he’s going into what his 17th 16 17th season coming up so you want to try to take care of his body along the way as well I mean we mentioned it during the Giannis report card and I believe the Dame report card as well about managing minutes in the regular season and then the question that I keep coming back to when thinking about Brook Lopez and what he brings to the team because to your point I think that there is can still be value with Brook Lopez being on the the Milwaukee Bucks now what you do around him you have to make sure you tighten up a bit and I think you go the opposite way of what you did this past season where you’re looking to insert Malik Beasley into that starting two position where you’re like okay let’s get some more offense you got to look I think defense in that because you’re going to have Damen Lillard on the court and for as many times as Dame does give the effort and we have seen Quake hands from Dame the reality is that Dame is a below average Defender and that just is what it is Chris Chris Middleton someone who I love he is no longer like an outstanding onev one Defender like in a team concept I think he’s smart enough to be able to play some really good team defense but he’s not your wing stopper and then you have Giannis who was great when it comes to help uh and then you would have Brook Lopez here so the question is like what do you put around him to try to tighten that up because like I mentioned uh the way you utilize Brook Lopez is generally keeping him closer to the rim uh so you need that fifth starter to really be like that Wing stopper that real good Defender to kind of help with the point of attack defense to utilize Brook Lopez in the best way possible so I do think that there is still value in Brook Lopez for sure um it’s just that what you put around him has to be right and then the other question of that is with Brook Lopez going to the last year of this two-year contract that he signed do you try to instead say like okay we understand that this is coming to an end we are going to look to try to you know use Brook Lopez in trade conversation to get another player but again if you’re looking to replace Brook Lopez you need to get another rim protector Rim protecting big uh to come in as well so it’s not as if like you can just get rid of Brooke and then do something completely different like you still are going to need a big to kind of anchor that defense for you if you want to allow Giannis to play that help role that we have seen him be so amazing at that last part is the most interesting part to to kind of keep an eye on how the Bucs handle this offseason because you’ve heard the usual names come up Bobby poris is mentioned the most Pat conon gets mentioned a lot by Bucks fans um Brook Lopez that’s that’s the big piece of it that you mentioned is it is a what 23 24 million dollar 23 exping contract that you have to dangle for is there a team that is uh maybe has somebody that’s making more money for more years that they want to get off of of that you feel like well this is a way to kind of rejuvenate us similar to what we did with Damen Lillard even though it resulted in another first round exit but this another way to kind of prolong things that’s something that you are undoubtedly going to examine but it’s again as you mentioned what’s Plan B and i’ I’ve seen people talk about okay you trade Brook Lopez because he’s an expiring contract and maybe you trade them to a team that’s just looking to bolster their interior defense and you get nothing back other than draft picks and you get a trade exception and you also are able to skirt under the second apron so then you get more flexibility and you can use a taxpayer mid-level which is all fine and good but again who is playing Center for you because I don’t think we’ve reached the point where it’s Giannis at least in the regular season you still need some insurance policies there uh you would love to have somebody with some size knowing that you play at least as of this moment in the same conference as Joel embiid ideally you want to win a championship you might have to go against nicool yic we’ve seen the Minnesota Timberwolves turn things around with their size you don’t think about their bigs but Dallas they’re their big turnaround especially defensively was adding more size so wasn’t long ago that all those conversations being had about the Timberwolves we were saying those things about the Bucks of man this team is so long when you think of Brooke and Giannis and Chris and that’s your front line and then you bring in Bobby poris that that’s a very big team so I don’t think you want to move away from that it’s it’s the challenge of this off season where I think there is value for players like Bobby poris there’s certainly value in an expiring contract of Brook Lopez but you can’t paint yourself into a corner and to just finish that point you know I’ve seen people suggest well you do that and it gives you flexibility fine who plays center uh Jonas Valen chunis you can get him I don’t know that he crosses off all those boxes he is certainly not a rim protector he’s more of an offensive big man but again I don’t know that you’re getting Jonas valent chunis for a taxpayer midlevel and it’s not really a great crop that’s out there in terms of bigs so I I almost feel as though you have to approach this saying look he’s still very important to our team as we mentioned that that number you know a 113 defensive rating with Brooke on the floor that should be good enough for a team that has aspirations to win a championship with with where we’ve seen uh the league head in terms of their ratings and with an offense that we project to be you know Elite for the bucks in year I don’t think we can even really say two of Doc Rivers you’re what 1.5 of Doc Rivers but that 113 number to close at that point that would be uh 11th or 12th in the league and that’s right there in the neighborhood of where you need to be Doc kind of talked about that at the end of season press conference you gotta be close to the top 10 and that’s where the defense has been when Brook Lopez has been on the floor when he’s not or when he wasn’t last year it was a 121.4 defensive rating which is you know pretty much in line with what we were seeing early on when the Bucks were around 20 22 defensively so that to me really illustrates that point even more of look I understand if you want to move on from a 36y old big man and say we got to start to think about the future which is fair and true but I mean you have to have a backup plan you have to have a plan B because I think we’ve seen here especially with some of those challenges on the perimeter you need someone that can clean things up at The Rim Yeah and then the question is what’s more likely to to do just given the fact I named who else we expect to be starting around if you continue to have Brook Lopez on your team Giannis Chris and Dame for sure we don’t know who that fifth starter might be for the bucks uh but again you look at that you have a below average Defender already out there with Damen Lillard you have a guy in Chris Middleton who’s middle of the road better in a team concept doesn’t have the lateral quickness to really be your wing stopper uh so then it’s like okay I don’t think the Bucks are going to be able to just come up with this lineup where they have a bunch of amazing perimeter Defenders because a lot of those minutes are going to go to a Damen Lillard and and a Chris Middleton you have bannis out there of course but as we’ve seen there’s only so much that one person can do so it’s like your best bet really might be if not running it back with Brook Lopez which is probably what you’re going to do unless the asset what you’re able to get on the market can replace getting the rim protector in there uh because it doesn’t seem likely you’re going to be able to turn your team around in a offseason with this particular cap situation and stack your team with a bunch of of perimeter Defenders so it’s like how can we play it as smart as possible with Brook Lopez into your point um about how jannis plays and then what we talked about earlier with thinking about the best ways to use Brook Lopez and also thinking of the ways that we saw Brook Lopez put in some bad positions defensively and how other teams capitalized on that it’s okay again in the playoffs you want to be able to throw multiple pitches you want to be able to throw different looks depending on what’s being thrown at you and if you have a brook Lope say maybe he doesn’t close every game in a particular series maybe he is only playing 20 you know 25 minutes in a game in a particular series and you are rolling with that Giannis at the five lineup but again you want to have that insurance of that other rim protector behind you and that’s I think the true value of a Brook Lopez outside the fact of his ability to stretch the floor as well where you have to respect that shot you put him next to a Giannis what that does for his game as well like Brook Lopez is like one of the ultimate like uh core pieces that just kind of helps everyone else’s game succeed in my opinion he uh as we’ve mentioned is starting to hit that age he’s 36 years old he turned 36 late in the regular season so uh he’s going to turn 37 at the end of next season as the contract is is setting to expire and look we’re seeing guys play later now I mean LeBron James is is really defined time Al Horford is what I think he’s going to turn 38 during the finals here and he’s been incredible for the Boston Celtics and you look at how Boston is is used Al Horford that might be the model for Brook Lopez where he had that year in Oklahoma City didn’t really play got to rest up and came to the Celtics from that point forward played in around 65 games uh each season played about 27 or so minutes per game but he’s played over a thousand games in the regular season in his career he’s played just a bit longer than Brooke I think it’s been one additional season uh 1,25 games played for Al for Brook Lopez 1,78 games played for Al Horford so very very close there and even the playoff games Al Horford with more experience daating back to that time in Atlanta with the Hawks but he’s played 181 playoff games Brook Lopez has played an 84 of them so there’s there’s more wear and tear there on Al Horford and he’s holding up now and and he’s been a very important piece to the Celtics during this playoff run so that might be something you look at too of look maybe not just this final year we’ll resign Brooke uh albeit for less money than 20 plus million per uh but we think we can continue to Max maximize him for another year or two but you’re going to need to develop someone or at least find somebody else to eventually take over for Brook Lopez as you do that and as as we just said look I don’t know that you would point to this crop of free agent centers is is where you’re going to get it Nick Claxton is out there I don’t think the Bucks are going to be able to afford Nick Claxton even if they’re able to maneuver and free up that taxpayer midlevel ception Nick claxon I would assume is going to go for more money than that Andre Drummond is out there look he has value right but he’s not going to check off those boxes that Brook Lopez does Isaiah hartenstein I would love to have Isaiah hartenstein he is way yeah he is way out of your price range those are the names that you’re looking at I think you would and we mentioned Jonas Valen Tunis but Jaylen Smith possibly out there that’s more of a project though and that’s kind of the spot where you’re at with the these free agent Su centers this summer where I don’t think it’s a big surprise that of the initial list of names we’re starting to see the Bucks looking at working out for draft prospects it’s been a lot of power forwards and bigs yeah it makes a lot of sense because to your point uh there is still value in Brook Lopez’s game as we have discussed already the thing is that you have to start thinking about the future as well and how do you pivot once the Brook Lopez years are done because he has been an anchor for the bucks teams for the last six years here uh so how do you pivot out of that and that’s the real question with it and I know we can talk about this in the last segment here but also just the ways that he’s utilized because one thing that we heard DC Rivers mention a lot of is just how much bigger the Bucks tend to be than their opponents and how they need to utilize that size a little bit more like are there different ways to use Brook Lopez offensively we talked about about the defense because that’s where you normally start with Brook Lopez but offensively are there some different ways that the Bucs can use him next season uh to make him even more effective when he’s on the court yeah and I do want to touch on some of that and just you know what we’ve seen from Brook Lopez these last two years in the postseason we’ll get to that coming up after this unlocked on bucks well if you are constantly watching ESPN Fox Sports all day and and find yourself reaching for the channel to turn down the volume because it’s just too much shouting that means it is time to make the switch to locked on sports today it is a free 247 sports streaming channel channel and it is programmed for you every day bringing you the biggest stories without all of that volume lockdown sports today has C Miss analysis opinions news and it streams 247 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app part of of the locked on podcast Network your team every day um Camille as as we start to round this out here you know one of the other things that stands out I mentioned how good Al Horford has been for the Celtics the last few years right not just this playoff run I mean Al Horford you think back to that Series in 2022 against the Bucks Jason Tatum huge in game six and down the stretch in game four Al Horford had some huge moments in that game for win as well uh but Brook and the playoffs the last two years now I do think there’s one lens we need to view this under and that is the injuries to Giannis but he’s been very good in each of the last two postseasons 19 points per game that he averaged against the Heat in that five game series uh what last year nearly said two years ago he shot 41% on his three-point attempts he shot 44% on his threes in six games against the Pacers and average just under 18 points per game the scoring came up considerably in each of the last two postseasons the only other one in a bucks uniform where it was right around the same was when he was just under 16 points per game and shot 40% on threes in the 1920 series uh against the Miami Heat well that two rounds but in that playoff series against the Miami Heat and again the similarity there is Giannis injured so we’ve seen when they haven’t had Giannis and haven’t had the full complement of size Brook Lopez has consistently stepped it up and that is where it’s been the guy that we often hear referen as Brooklyn Brook playing with his back to the basket and scoring around the rim three-point shooting is beneficient as well but really showing off all aspects of his scoring ability when they’ve needed that with no jannis yeah and when they like you said when they kind of have to uh and that’s one thing that Dr Riv hammered home like we need to get better at playing through our bigs at times and it’s not even for Brooke just getting him a lot of post-ups like we saw with Brooklyn Brook that’s what I think most people think of like get him on the Block get him on the post let him let him go to work because he has an Immaculate post game but even if he just has a guy sealed off like just get the ball up to him and let him try to get an easy bucket and I think that’s an area where the Bucs can really look to improve it’s just kind of getting some of those easy buckets like those seal off buckets uh when there’s mismatches as well with Brook Lopez because to your point Brook Lopez has been a playoff razor like when it comes to his game like he generally does play better in the playoffs than what you see in the regular season and it’s not as if he’s going through the regular season sleepwalking I already talked about the impact that he made this past year and uh we’ve seen how dominant the Bucks defense has been with him anchoring it but to look at the playoff numbers and to see like in this partic like this this past year since we’re looking at 2023 24 to see that okay in the regular season you know Brook Lopez he averaged 12.5 points a game so 13 points a game in the regular season shooting 37% from three shooting 62% from two like pretty good for Brick Lopez and then you look at the playoffs and you’re like oh this year in the playoffs he averaged almost 18 points a game while shooting thir or 44% from three shooting 50 or 65% from two like again yes Giannis was injured but again you see the impact of what Brook Lopez can do which again goes into the fact that Brook Lopez still has value what it is for the bus is just fig out the best ways to use him and what Doc Rivers invisions as well because Doc Rivers is hammered home to be a championship team you need a top 10 defense you need a top 10 offense and he felt the Bucks are well in their way to having that top 10 offense like we got that covered it’s the defense that we need to figure out so it’s like what do you do and how does Brook Lopez fit into that particular pitcher now as we’ve discussed I think there are a lot of different ways you can still use Brook Lopez and that be effective uh but the question is going to come is does Doc see it that same way if it is not a top 10 offense next year you got bigger problems right either either there were more injuries or there are some bigger problems to address here um and I just keep going back to some of those numbers that we shared where again he’s contesting shots he’s creating those rebounding opportunities when he’s on the floor they are a better rebounding team the Bucks are and where that defense rates it is right around 10 in the minutes with him on the floor so look to me I’m not disputing you would love to get younger you would love to have especially when you watch other teams as much as We’ve joked about it but you’d still love some of those aspects of Rudy goar who is a traditional rim protector but has some of that Mobility as well you’d love to have that but sometimes you just got to settle for what you have don’t really mean that in a bad way but it’s just maximizing that with Brook Lopez because I I think if we’re all being fair even if you’re one of the brook is old and slow and washed if you just look at the numbers and look at how this team is constructed he’s important and I think he showed that last year but I think more than that what we saw is I think really if you contrast last season to the year prior was Brooke as good as where he was a defensive player of the year probably not is he as bad as uh some of the accusations that have been thrown out there last year no the truth is somewhere in the middle and to me that is still a very valuable and important piece to this Bucks team and to any team for that matter so I’m more of a look don’t just complain about something offer me suggestions Solutions how are we going to fix this problem if you think it’s time to move on great how are you going to do that and what is Plan B it’s not just well Brook’s old and Brooks slow you got to move on from him well yeah how how do you defend then and and what does the team look like that’s the big piece and I don’t know if it’s uh a ringing endorsement for Brook Lopez so I don’t mean this to come off negative but I I just don’t know what the better option is what plan B is that is going to look better than what you would currently have with Giannis and Brook Lopez really leading the charge in your front Court I mean I think you summed it up really well by just saying that he’s still valuable like I think that’s the piece of it where it’s like it’s it’s not like he is completely trash he is unplayable if he’s on your team you’re doomed to fail like it is definitely not that extreme while the numbers haven’t weren’t as strong as they were the year prior when he was second in defensive player of the year a year where I thought he could I thought he should have won it uh two years ago actually but uh he still valuable there are still things that you can do with Brook Lopez on your team that will be beneficial to you now can you construct a roster around that to really maximize what he can give you that’s going to be the question it’s going to be difficult for the bucks to do given who else has uh who else is G be getting minutes that we know of and then just what solution do you have as for that fifth starter to help with point of attack defense so like there is Extreme value still with Brook Lopez um and someone might argue well if there’s value get rid of them and bring something else in which I think that’s on the table I’m not saying it’s not I think that’s something that the Bucks have to exp you have to do your due diligence um in that sense and see but if Brook Lopez is on the Milwaukee Bucks roster for the 2024 25 season to start it I don’t think it’s a doomsday scenario I don’t think it means the defense is going to be terrible um I just think it’s going to mean you’re going to have to operate a certain way and you have to also accept the fact that uh in certain situations you might not see Brook Lopez you might have to have a different pitch the throwout um in that situation and hopefully uh Health allows for the team to find what those other pitches might look like for the bucks especially if you’re looking at lineups with Giannis being that five well and I think the the last thing to throw out too is as we talk about you know people are going to say look it’s time to explore trading him and um and move on from him look one of the interesting things to to keep an eye on is the value or at least perceive value around the league of Jared Allen and I get he is 10 years younger than Brook Lopez and he is under contract for two more years but I I’m going to be curious to see because I think we all assume there’s a pretty good chance that Jared Allen is moved that Darius Garland is moved otherwise Donovan Mitchell is going to be moved but let’s say Jared Allen is moved what’s the asking price what do he net in return because if it’s a lot and again he’s 10 years younger and there’s another year of Team control there but if it’s a lot then maybe there is a lot more value than we anticipated if there’s not even for Jared Allen a younger player who is under contract for an additional year then I I I think that also kind of leads you to your answer of well there’s there’s there’s not really a high demand for Brook Lopez if it’s not there for Jared Allen so it’s one of those things of he may not work for every team but he works for us so we just need to figure out how to enhance everything else that’s around him yep how to make it work the best that can for what we currently have is the same thing I said around the trade deadline the line from Friday make it enough make it enough that might be where the Bucks are depending on how this offseason goes but even if they do have to make it enough I do think that the the bones they are still pretty good um and I I think that’s the best way to Su up Brook Lopez too that look may not seem like it he’s certainly not in his prime anymore but I think what you have there is still pretty good and especially when he has capable perimeter Defenders and also oh by the way when he has Giannis as that helper who is also a seven-footer giving you those those Twin Towers essentially so um yeah I’m gonna be curious to see the reaction to this one so certainly leave your comments I’m I’m curious to see how many Bucks fans are on the side of time to move on from Brook Lopez and how many of them are in the camp of look he’s he’s still pretty valuable and important to this team so I’d like to see us keep going as long as we can with Brook Lopez so leave your feedback in the comments we’ll address any of those questions as well Camille and I will in the chat here but uh an interesting one to get through is as we mentioned maybe the most misunderstood or misjudged player on the team is Brook Lopez we got one more show this week and it is our Flashback Friday show which will come your way tomorrow it may seem like why are you doing topics on these people as as we’ve gone over it’s up to you we we’re putting the options out there on the YouTube channel for you to vote on just taking a look back at events figures teams trades whatever it is through the years for this Bucks team we started with Mike Boler I think that one was victim of circumstance dropping Memorial Day weekend so if you haven’t checked that one out by all means do so it was a fun one for Camille and I to go through and uh now tomorrow episode number two on Flashback Friday we revisit it the trade that brought the Bucks Chris Middleton it was headlined with Brandon Knight and Brandon Jennings and some other guy that was playing in the g-league and a second round pick of the Detroit Pistons that none of us have heard of who turned out to be one of the greatest players in franchise history so we’ll take a look back at that trade what brought us to that moment to trade Brandon Jennings who we thought was going to end up being one of the greatest in franchise history and yeah oh by the way Chris Middleton and and what the Bucks got in that deal so that’s what’s up next on Flashback Friday the Brandon Knights Brandon Jennings Chris Middleton trade for Camille I am Justin we will talk to you once again tomorrow on locked on bucks

Justin and Camille continue their review of the 2023-24 Milwaukee Bucks season by taking a look at Brook Lopez. Is he the most misunderstood player on the roster and is his play on the decline? How effective is he yet on defense and what is the best way to utilize him going forward, or is it time to explore other options? We dig into all of it on Locked on Bucks

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