Who and what to watch for when the Bucks Summer League tips off this weekend

Who and what to watch for when the Bucks Summer League tips off this weekend

today’s locked on bucks is brought to you by Game Time download the game time app create an account and use the code locked on NBA to get $20 off your first purchase terms apply on today’s show we had mentioned hey sooner or later we’re going to see who’s on the summer league roster for the bucks and it is uh sooner we got that roster so we take a look at the most intriguing names on there there’s one name that’s conspicuous by their absence and who has the potential to be the break out candidates this July we get into that conversation coming up next on lockdown bucks you are locked on bucks your daily Milwaukee Bucks podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day you’re tuned in to locked on bucks I’m Justin Garcia joined by Camille Davis and we thank you for making locked on bucks your first listen every day as always it is free and available wherever you get your podcast you can find us on YouTube as well it’s all part of the lockdown podcast Network your team every day Camille it is always an exciting dare I say time of the year for Bucks fans when we finally learn the summer league roster now we talked about this in previous shows that um there was always that one name of huh okay I remember that guy or as we thought last year it was going to be Jabari Parker’s return didn’t really get that on this year’s Club I I guess the Edition for the second consecutive year of Vin Baker Jr would be the closest we got to that um but I think the big difference in years past versus this year is there’s what probably at least six young guys that are on this roster that Bucks fans at the very least are familiar with and probably more than that by by actually going back and looking at it but also excited to see in summer league yeah I think that’s the biggest difference here normally summer league rosters as you mentioned are kind of like a a mismatch of just like how many of these players can you actually recognize here uh but for the bucks with where they are right now and the amount of young talent that they have on their team um as you mentioned there are a lot of familiar names on this list for the team um and one name that was missing that I was just kind of like ah it looks like AJ green has graduated uh from Summer League which I think plays into the conversation that we had earlier this week on locked on bucks when we were just trying to figure out who could possibly be that starting two guard for the bucks and AJ Green’s absence on this list um gives me a little bit more encouragement that he strongly is in the consideration uh for that job I mean he didn’t play much during last summer league either um so see that he was able to graduate after putting together a pretty strong uh season last year given limited minutes I was like I’m kind of proud of the guy like okay okay you graduated here but then again you see that Maran is on the list I was wondering how those third guys going to their third years AJ Green and Maran Bo champ if they would be on the roster what that looks like and seeing Maran on the roster I think goes to what we also discussed before which is last year was a really strange year for Maran especially with the last half of the Year him being injured having the back spasms I could see it like if he plays well I could see the first game or two that you don’t see much more of him after that um but I think for now it’s just like we got to see you get out there and what I would hope to see from Maran when he’s on the court is him looking like one of the best players on the court just given the fact that he’s entering into his third year and he’s kind of like the the vet so to speak on this particular bug summer league team you hope he’s uh at the very least has the look of um in baseball you would call it a quadruple a player where it’s like all right we haven’t really seen it yet maybe he’s not ready for the big league but we know he has graduated from tripa a that he’s he’s Beyond this and I think that’s the hope with Maran in those first few games as you mentioned if he looks good do you just say okay we’ve seen enough we feel like he’s up to speed um because look we probably haven’t or at least I I should say haven’t really given him a fair Shake here because it was easy to get lost in the shuffle a year ago with all the change with the fact that Andre Jackson Jr took uh Bucks fans Hearts by storm and the injuries down the stretch just really made it a very very tough season for Maran so I I’m with you that I took it as just we got to get him back on the floor and I take the AJ Green Piece of not being on this roster and we saw a little bit of reporting as well that um apparently his agent or so had been told he’s guaranteed a pretty decent spot within the team here in the rotation going forward which should not come as a surprise when what we saw from him a year ago even the fact that on on our show the other day when we were talking about who’s the fifth starter it was a name you at least had to bring up of is it AJ Green and you know in hindsight Camille we spent some time on it not quite as much time as other names and the fact that he’s not on the summer league roster means maybe we should have spent more time on that yeah because we were talking about this earlier with Frank as well just like if you’re looking at who’s the closest kind of to Malik Beasley like AJ Green slots into that role where it’s like Malik Beasley shooting 41% from three last year AJ Green shot about 40% from three on a lower volume but we know that the touch is there for him so like if you want to try to keep some semblance of what you had going last year with having a a shooter shooter in that two guard spot AJ Green is a great option for that and we’ve said it multiple times like while he is not a lock down defender or anything like that um he’s average like he’s going to hold his own now that piece goes into what I’m looking for um in that starting two guard spot next to Dame just given uh how explosive Dame is offensively but with his size uh and just historical uh precedent of what the defense looks like you want a really strong point of attack Defender next to him in my opinion so that’s why I personally was like not AJ Green but again him not being on the summer league roster him you saying as his agent was mentioning like there’s a spot like a rotation minute for AJ coming up like he probably does deserve a little bit more credit and just a bit more respect about what he can possibly do for this team this upcoming year it feels like it’s been a gradual buildup the last few years when we’ve talked about going into summer league hey they have more than one player that I’m interested in seeing and then it was hey they got three players I’m interested in seeing and you know we sat at the top of this show a six or so I mean actually in looking at this list looking it over once again I think there’s six for sure names that Bucks fans are going to be watching with a close eye but really you could take that number up to nine or 10 I think when you look at this list of players that they if you’re not super excited for you’re at least familiar with and have seen in the past and one very very intriguing name that’s on there for a second year in a row so we’ll do the Deep dive on all those players that are listed on the buck summer league roster and as we mentioned at the top of the show who’s most worth watching who has the potential to really put forth a breakthrough campaign during this couple week stretch here of Summer League we will get into that conversation coming up after the break here on locked on bucks well it’s summertime and for many of us that means taking in baseball games maybe you’re going on road trips maybe have one of those lists of trying to check off all of the major league ballparks that are out there it can be a fun road trip to do but the only confusion that sets in is where do I need to sit what are My Views going to look like what do I need to know about that Stadium if it’s a road trip and I’ve never been there before that’s where game time gives you the ultimate assist comes through with the save if you will to give you all of that information and make the ticket buying experience as easy and affordable as you can get they offer lastminute deals where you can save up to 60% off when you buy last minute tickets for sports concerts comedy theater and more there are Flash Deals where you can save even more with exclusive inapp deals on select seats ahead of the game or event most importantly Allin pricing you can add that feature when you’re browsing the seats that are out there so it shows you the total upfront price no surprise fees no sticker shock once you get to the checkout as we mentioned maybe you’re not familiar with that stadium that you’re taking in here you get a panoramic view from your seats in the app before you buy the ticket tickets to see what that view is going to look like maybe I suppose I’ll look for tickets somewhere else you can get all that covered with game time plus they offer one of the best ticket price packages out there if you can find seats cheaper game time will credit you 110% of the difference in your purchase is covered with the most flexible customer service policy in the ticketing industry so download the game time app create an account and use the code locked on NBA to score $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account and redeem the code lock down NBA l o c k e d o n NBA for $20 off your first purchase download game time today last minute tickets lowest prices guaranteed so Camille I suppose we should go through um for those that did not have a chance to see the full listing here I’m not going to go Name by name but I mentioned by my count there’s probably nine or so players uh that Bucks fans are probably going to be interested to see here Vin Baker Jr for the second consecutive year is on the summer league roster we mentioned Maran Bo champ is out there as well Jaylen Galloway who came over from the NBL and spent some time with the Bucks last season on a two-way deal is on the summer league club once more Andre Jackson Jr is there of course you have the two rookies AJ Johnson and Tyler Smith Tai Tai Washington on the the uh the summer league roster once again Ryan Rollins and uh we couldn’t go a show without me mentioning Chris Livingston out there as well but that other name that I alluded to Hugo B the second consecutive year that he is there um the Bucks took him as a draft and stash in uh what 2022 I believe that was was on the summer league roster a season ago I know John Horst gave an interview before Summer League last year where he pretty candidly said no I I wouldn’t expect to see Hugo with the big league club if you will um with the bucks at the NBA level this season as in 23 24 I would assume the same applies to this year as well given the size of the Bucks roster already but did reiterate look it may not be this year may not be next year it’s not going to be in the short term but he does remain a pretty big piece of our plans in terms of Youth and developing Talent and you know look he he was a teammate of Victor wanyama as well and the team that he played for over in France so that’s another one of those intriguing names of oh yeah I forgot about this guy I did the exact same thing I was like oh yeah we did draft him a couple of years ago and I did see after the draft this year the assistant GM Milt Newton he came out and was talking about uh best and then he was just kind of like you know the plan has always been for us to develop him and then we want to make sure like we don’t bring him over here and he’s losing opportunities when he can still be playing ball over in Europe so we’re going to keep in touch we want to make sure he’s in a good place but we do want him to come over at some point like that is still part of the goal of him coming over and playing for the buck so I’ll be really curious to see what he looks like in Summer League this year in comparison to how he looked last year and that’s also one of the things about summer league uh that can be fun it’s just seeing like okay haven’t seen you in a whole year how much different do you look this time around when I see you on the court in addition to the excitement that you get from seeing your rookies for the first time like that’s part of like the summer leue tradition of just getting really excited about the possibilities of something that you’ve never seen before so with Tyler Smith getting a chance to play with AJ Johnson getting a chance to play I’m really looking forward to seeing what they have as well especially since as we’ve talked we necessarily didn’t project for either one of them to be somebody who gets a lot of minutes in the regular season so from them I’m really just looking to see some flashes from these guys like just flash some of the tools some of the traits that we saw about in your scouting reports that we read about that we saw on film against other competition let’s see you do it with the difficulty level turned up a bit not quite NBA level all the way but just turned up a little bit uh and see how you respond to that and that’s part of the fun of Summer League which makes me want to ask you like when you’re watching Summer League games given the fact that so many of these guys are going to be playing out of the role that they’ll play on the main roster like what do you tend to look for uh from guys when they’re playing like are you just looking for flashes development like how do you necessarily watch the games and try to evaluate uh what you’re seeing because it is a wonky environment for basketball to be played yeah it’s I mean and it used to be it’s gotten a lot better um you know Ty and Rohan and those guys from the eurostep can speak to it a lot better but it used to be pretty similar in the g- league when you think back to the early iteration of the g- league and especially the first what two years of the Wisconsin herds existence uh that was the danger with the g-league was if you were the best team you would oftentimes fall into this trap of being a chucker where he he’s just out there getting his shots and he’s not really doing any of the developmental things or team building things showing that he can play A Team game and that’s the conversation we had so many times about you know who you’re already nodding Christian Wood where people would point to here’s the stat lines he had another 4020 game in the G league and he’s doing this and he was the player of the week but it was always look he’s not going to do that at the pro level he’s not going to be asked to come in and hey Christian can you give us 30 points we need you to be the leading score he’s gonna have to defend and and rebound and do some of these other team portions of the game and I think that was the frustration a lot of times with the front office and with Bucks fans too that where it’s easy if you’re not watching those games to just see the statline and say who what do you mean there’s not a role for him he’s doing this he has to be good um summer league I I think you you take that and you turn it up to 11 with just how strange it is I mean you know this you You’ make the joke oftentimes in the NFL when you’re watching preseason games especially in the past when you would get to the end of the preseason uh back when stars actually played in the preseason and you would have a guy put up some big numbers but it was always like well yeah he’s doing it against a a lineup or a field full of guys that are going to be working for UPS in a couple of weeks so I don’t know what to take away from this that to me long story short is basically you look for flashes and I always look for some of that team connectivity types of things of who’s getting others involved and and who’s not just out there seemingly going through the motions and just okay this one was called for me this is my turn to score and then I’m gonna half ass it down the court to play defense afterwards yeah because it can be tricky a lot of these guys are playing for their career so like of course you want to showcase what you can do and sometimes s when you’re trying to do that it might not fit into a team concept where you’re making the right pass you might want to show like hey I’m a scorer I can do this with the ball I am known for this and you might overthink it so like that’s also part of what makes that environment just so different um again in NBA night and night out of course you’re playing for jobs we see that a lot towards the end of the season as well where sometimes teams are you know resting key guys and you’re seeing other guys play and they use it like this is an audition for every other team in the league to really see what I can do um and what my hope is for the bug summer league team team of course is that when you’re seeing guys looking to get that contract they’re playing ball within the team concept making the right passes is not going gball and trying to show like I’m I’m the next Kobe or whatever the case may be but like I know how to play basketball and play it the right way so that’s the type of things that I tend to look for um in addition to those flashes that we mentioned and with this roster in particular going through it when I saw that Tai Tai Washington was still on the summer league roster given that his two-way contract expired it looks like the Bucs are already up at three since uh Stanley um was signed yeah this offseason to a two-way spot so seeing him on the team is kind of like interesting that Tai Tai is playing summer league with the Bucks again we know they have familiarity since he was with them last year but just given how his current spot with the team’s kind of in flux I would say um seeing his addition to the team was really interesting and seeing um not listed was interesting but then I was told like he’s had the ankle uh problem so he probably won’t be playing in summer league but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything but tie tie on there definitely caught my eye yeah and I mean that’s the other piece of it is it’s not so much I mean if it works out for the bucks great but it’s not necessarily just for the bucks when we get to Summer League because we’re still at the point where is it just one or or so teams that don’t have a g-league affiliate where you still have some shared teams um like look no further than the Bucks roster where you have players from the Portland Trailblazers on their summer league team so part of it too is just you know whether it or not it’s doing an AG in a solid it’s more doing the player the solid of okay here’s your chance to kind of put yourself out there and maybe if you pop here in summer league it can lead to a two-way elsewhere or maybe even if injuries pile up or something else you can be the 15th man for a team at the NBA level so that’s a big part of it as well and I thought the same thing when we did not see um umay on that roster and then did the same uh research as you did of oh okay so it’s it’s inter related last thing to mention on this is uh it’s two years in a row now that I’ve done it I knew I was gonna do it again um to call him Hugo B but uh Besson is that to me is the guy that I am most intrigued to um we knew it was going to happen there Camille where something everything was going too well and technical issues popped up but we’re back now um that to me was the most interesting is the most guy interesting player to watch is uh Hugo bessin so we’ll get into some of the reasoning behind why that is coming up after the break here unlocked on bucks so he’s still a couple years away way I think is putting it mildly um and it’s the same conversation that we had with the two rookies this year at least we think in Aj Johnson and Tyler Smith um but again you just go back to playing with the ball playmaking ability his size too that he is a six foot six guard that can handle the ball um and getting some of those reps in professional leagues and games overseas where you haven’t seen quite as much of it in recent years with the draft and stash it was a big piece of the late 90s and early 2000s when International play was really starting to explode um but I’m gonna be very interested to watch his minutes maybe more than anybody else on this roster because for most of the young guys right Andre Jackson Jr Chris Livingston Marjan I think broadly we know what we have with them it’s just kind of looking for what have they developed and where have they gotten better from last year is there else that they’ve added to their game uh with the two rookies from this year again it’s probably at least a year off before you see them contribute at the NBA level so more the same of all right let’s just see what they have to work with here um with Besson I suppose it’s it’s similar to that but unless you’re a sicko that is just watching the French league the only game tape you’ve seen of him was the summer league a year ago yeah that’s the only one so I definitely get why he’s someone that for your list is like he is the number one guy I’m looking forward to watching he’s definitely top on my list in the top range but I would actually go with your guy Chris Livingston as top of my list um because of all the young guys who we’ve had on our roster he’s the one we’ve seen the least of um up on the bugs roster like he played in the G league for a bit he got some running there but I mean everything around Chris Livingston has just been kind of different from him getting like the largest contract ever for the last pick in the second round of a draft before to just him kind of being like you know I’m around the team but I’m at the G league as well and just seeing his tools that he has like again a big bodied Wing like I just want to see what that looks like because he was uh you know TZ having just all this potential he can be a really lock down player he can guard up he can guard down in addition to him having athletic gifts on the offensive end so like I really want to see what he looks like this year um especially given the fact that horse came out and was like he’s somebody who’s had a really good summer and we think he’s going to be somebody who contributes to the team in the rotation so like if that’s how it’s been looking behind closed doors I can’t wait to see what he looks like in this environment although as we said you take it with a grain of salt for you know a certain degree but I would love to see some improvement from Chris Livingston and just looking to see him play and what it looks like like I’m really interested in that he is uh 23 years old to round out the conversation on on Besson and played the uh what the 2 223 season for the metropolitans 92 which again was that team that uh that we saw Victor wanyama play for um look I haven’t seen any of his games when you go through the box scores of recent games that he had been playing in the Euro Cup in uh he played a couple of games in Syria a as well um you’ve seen some scoring ability there but I I think the big pieces are just what we’ve heard in The Scouting Report of his ability to defend and his making ability at that size is what makes it most intriguing to see what he’s going to potentially bring to the table um for the bucks and then the other names the big the biggest piece of all of it is just where do these guys grow where do they get better especially my guy Chris Livingston is the offensive game more polished and and all of them where do they grow also I suppose very curious to see how they use Andre Jackson Jr I mean we talked about it the other day and I think it was maybe our offline convers ation with Frank too of if you start him you could probably stash him in the dunker spot offensively and is at a spot that he could really thrive in so how they use Andre Jackson Jr in these games it’s not the the be all end all but do you use him as a point guard do they play him off the ball does he play the forward at all so that’s the other interesting thing to keep an eye on yeah that’s exactly what I was gonna say like the last guy I want to make sure I mentioned is Andre Jackson Jr and for all the reasons that you mentioned in particular I really want to see if they use him as a ball hander a little more like that aspect of it is the piece of where I’m the most interested and for the every dayers who listen they’ve heard me say this multiple times but Andre Jackson Jr himself you know he mentioned one of the biggest adjustments of coming into the NBA was learning to play off ball more because he was so used uh to having the ball in his hands a lot more at Yukon so just trying to learn that and understanding that and seeing how the bug season ended this past year where there was no Giannis where they went through the stretches without Chris Middleton where Dame was in and out of the lineup with injury turns and we were seeing point guard Pat conon Uh during stretches just wondering and looking at the roster constructed now of who are the backup guards who are going to be your guys to bring the ball up who can initiate um and for Andre Jackson Jr like I think a hope for him uh for me at the very least is thinking of how uh the Nuggets were using Aaron Gordon at times in the playoffs where it’s like Jamal Murray’s getting sweated right now so let’s give the ball to Aaron Gordon let him bring it up for a second give Jamaal Murray some breathing room and then once we get the ball over half court swing it back to Jamal let’s get the offense going but just save your point guard some some time some energy some reps from having to fight to bring the ball up the court at all times so like if Andre can even do that for the team well and we saw him do that at points during that Pacer Series where it’s just like you please initiate the a just bring the ball up for us because they are full court pressing um just having those uh valve release pressure points on the team are very very important so I want to see if the Bucks use him in that way in addition do we see him at all as like a small ball for any lineups that they’re throwing out and again take it all with a grain of salt at summer league but I am just curious like you mentioned of how they’re going to use Andre Jackson Jr uh as we start to wrap up here we uh we put it out there on social media as well but we are going to do a mail bake episode next week so to me Camille Frank whoever you can tweet in your questions or send them to that email address as well we’ll retweet the link to that and we’ll take your questions at some point next week during one of the off days uh because it’s what Saturday Sunday Tuesday Friday I think is the buck summer league schedule um so get your questions in it could be free agency it could be player Personnel how the Bucs intend on using guys maybe what we tackled yesterday more thoughts on uh the starting five but we we’re going to do a mailbag episode next week uh as we start to wrap though Camille there’s uh really three small pieces of news in terms of free agency to I suppose put out there because there’s some interesting ties to the bucks um first and foremost sadique Bay is officially off the market he signs a three-year 20 million deal with the Wizards he’s going to miss most of the season with that torn ACL um but I was very curious to see if there would be a contending team or a at least playoff level team that says okay we know he’s going to miss the first handful of months of the Season let’s sign him to maybe a OnePlus One or something where he can recoup some of that and and build up his value and we get him for the stretch drive if he’s you know rehabed and ready to go we get a pretty good shooter for the last two months of the regular season that is off the table now as he has joined the Washington Wizards speaking of the wizards they uh also added Landry shamut who um is signing stop me if you youve heard this before a smaller deal than was anticipated and what his previous a cap figure was but he’s going back to the Wizards the heat the Knicks Timberwolves and Bucks were all teams that had at least kicked the tires on Landry shamut and um the last one here is Memphis Grizzlies declin the uh the option on L on I almost said Luke cornette on Luke Canard who was making about the option was about $15 million they decline that figure and are hopeful just as we said before can resign him to a smaller um figure there but for the time being Luke Canard is on the market and would probably be at least by the Numbers the best shooter on the market shooting 48% on threes in 60 plus games last year with the Memphis Grizzlies so look we we talked about um Gary Trent Jr a couple of days now and I suppose it is worth pointing out that there was another I’m not going to say report but another message put out there or tweet put out there this time it was by Evan cider cidery um that what we had said before the market just isn’t there I mean we just named two guys that signed for less money than their previous deal was or had a an option declined and signed for less than that option figure was so is Evan cidery of um uh of the forb sports almost drew a blank there I put out there it’s starting to sound like he’s gonna take a one-year Pro it deal just because of where the market is at so I know when we mentioned Gary Trent Jr and who could be the fifth starter there was some push back of guys why you pointed that out like the Bucs only have the minimum to offer and that’s true and we know that it’s just I don’t want to get my hopes up too much here Camille but the money just isn’t out there that you’re starting to look around and say okay we can give you a a shot to be Maybe not maybe if I’ll say this if they sign Gary Trent Jr he is going to start for them so if you’re the Bucks it’s we give you the opportunity to be a starter you play next to Damen Lillard you play next to Chris Middleton and Giannis we think if we’re healthy we’re going to go in a deep playoff run you got a chance to compete for a championship build up your value and cash in next sum that’s the sales pitch that’s the sales pitch because money is not going to be what really tempts them to come to the Milwaukee Bucks at this point in time because as we’ve mentioned the money just isn’t there all the Bucks can offer is a vet man at this point so like your sales pitch has to be really good around that because the money is not going to entice anyone saying like hey I can we can get you a starting job here hey opportunity to win a title hey you’re probably going to get some of the most open shots that you’ve had in your career playing with Giannis and Dame like trust us on that like good Shooters can become great Shooters when they’re playing next to Giannis just given the opportunity that they have which again that’s how the sale pitch should be now whether that sell pitch works or not is a different conversation because it could be as simple as like we can give you a minimum but like we mentioned with Beasley going to Detroit where it’s like they just give you a couple million more and saying a couple million more like so casually but the understanding of what a million is understanding that for an athlete your career isn’t necessarily guaranteed to be very long so you’re trying to get in and make as much money as you can so that you can set yourself up and your future generations to be okay so like I get all that don’t know the likelihood of Canard coming here uh shamet I think shamet signed somewhere yeah he went back to the cool to hear we were in the conversation I’m glad it didn’t necessarily work out I wouldn’t have been thrilled with that particular pickup but like I get the the appeal of it because of the shooting prowess of them but um you got to keep your eyes open because strange things can happen as free agency drags on with guys just saying like hey the market did not shake out the way I wanted it to let me go ahead and take this man and try to you know raise my my value for next season we’ll uh we’ll probably pick up that conversation on tomorrow’s episode as well just more of a look at look here’s why we keep pointing it out because this is what the market is here are the teams that have money here’s what’s out there in terms of the taxpayer mid levels and Etc so I would still lean towards it probably doesn’t happen but I don’t think you can cross it off and say well it’s just not going to happen because all they can offer is the minimum a lot of teams are in that spot the money has dried up in this market uh on tomorrow’s show we’re also going to take a look at the defense because we’ve talked quite a bit about versatility is it already going to be a more versatile defense for reasons we have not examined we’ll get a look at that and continue to get you ready for summer league for Camille I’m Justin we’ll talk to you once again tomorrow unlocked on bucks

Justin and Camille breakdown the Bucks finalized 2024 Summer League roster. Who are the players to watch, why was one name left off the list and who has an opportunity to earn an extended look with this two week stretch. We dig into all things Summer League on the latest Locked on Bucks

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