MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – MARCH 19: Nikola Mirotic #41 of the Milwaukee Bucks reacts after injuring his thumb in the third quarter against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Fiserv Forum on March 19, 2019 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is
Milwaukee Bucks
MILWAUKEE, WI – APRIL 17: George Hill #3 of the Milwaukee Bucks walks through the tunnel at halftime during Game Two of Round One of the 2019 NBA Playoffs against the Detroit Pistons on April 17, 2019 at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading
DETROIT, MI – APRIL 7: Blake Griffin #23 of the Detroit Pistons looks on during the game against the Charlotte Hornets on April 7, 2019 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions
MILWAUKEE, WI – APRIL 14: Brook Lopez #11 of the Milwaukee Bucks smiles against the Detroit Pistons during Game One of Round One of the 2019 NBA Playoffs on April 14, 2019 at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User
I am currently at the library. The library is named after some local hero. His last name is or was Porter. I don’t know if he’s living or dead. I don’t know anything about him. What does any of this have to do with Giannis Antetokounmpo and the number one-seeded Milwaukee Bucks? I don’t know.
Last year in this space, we introduced a metric called Wins Above Age-Derived Expectation, or WAADE. It measures exactly what it sounds like: how many more wins an NBA team actually gets than you would have expected them to based on their minutes-weighted age. In introducing the metric, we highlighted several teams that stood out
I don’t know what nerve Joel Embiid touched within Eric Bledsoe, but it was a big one. It’s no secret that Joel Embiid had been buying up real estate in the minds of his opponents, and it appears Eric Bledsoe is the latest one he’s put a house in. That’s not just me saying that
The challenge in judging this year’s crop of Most Valuable Player candidates is that the players in question have such vastly disparate cases. More so than in almost any other year, selecting a single most deserving player is almost entirely a matter of personal taste. A voter who values single-handed, precedent-shattering production might favor James
The Rockets’ Chris Paul may be getting up there in age, but he hasn’t lost a step, as evidenced by how he crossed the Bucks’ DJ Wilson off the Earth. Chris Paul is getting up there in the age department. He’s now 33-years young, and normally, basketball players who are reaching the halfway mark of
The NBA season has been full of surprises so far, from the Kings competing for a playoff spot to the Pacers staying strong even without Victor Oladipo, but few analysts and fans appear to expect the season to end any differently than they imagined it would at the start. The Golden State Warriors, despite only
Last year, this writer started his tenure with Basketball Insiders writing about who had the best case for Coach of the Year. One year later, he’s revisiting the same discussion. This time with an entirely new slate of candidates. The Coach of the Year Award produces one of the most fascinating races in the NBA
SAN ANTONIO, TX – OCTOBER 7: Pau Gasol #16 of the San Antonio Spurs looks for room between PJ Tucker #17 of the Houston Rockets and teammate Eric Gordon #10 during a preseason game on October 7, 2018 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that,
Eric Bledsoe believes the future is bright in Milwaukee, so bright that he put his signature on the dotted line of a four-year extension with the Bucks. Eric Bledsoe wants to be part of the Milwaukee Bucks’ future. On a day when the Bucks snagged Pau Gasol off of waivers, Milwaukee turned its focus to securing
Al-Farouq Aminu remembers when he was on a minimum contract. It was five summers ago in 2014. The Dallas Mavericks had signed him to a two-year, $2.1 million deal with a player option for the second season. After playing as a rookie with the Los Angeles Clippers and spending the next three years in New
With the trade deadline in the rearview, buyout moves made and rosters largely solidified, the contours of the NBA landscape are more defined than ever and the terms of engagement for the home stretch of the NBA season are largely set. Still, so much remains up in the air, and thus fascinating to monitor as
As we move into the final stretch of the regular season, it’s important for the real contenders around the league to narrow down exactly what combinations of players they want to use during the postseason. Matchups will, of course, dictate personnel in most playoff series, but that doesn’t mean teams can’t start preparing for the
Welcome to The Whiteboard, your daily source for the previous day’s best NBA content from around the internet, plus an original column. Catch The Whiteboard here on The Step Back, and subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. Brook Lopez is a player who has always been put in boxes
The day after the trade deadline passed, LeBron James had some interesting things to say about the arms race that was going down between the Eastern Conference titans. “They know they ain’t gotta go through Cleveland anymore,” James said. “Everybody in the East thinks they can get to the Finals because they ain’t gotta go
The Milwaukee Bucks didn’t get a lot of fanfare when they hired Jon Horst, but he’s made some great moves so far. Jon Horst was not a sexy pick as general manager of the Milwaukee Bucks when he was hired in June 2017. Horst was an in-house hire after Bucks ownership failed to agree on
There is perhaps no figure more emblematic of the NBA’s 3-point revolution than Brook Lopez. Once a back-to-the-basket center who shot just 31 triples his first eight seasons — and only seven before 2015-16 — Lopez has now attempted nearly 1,000 since 2016-17. As a rookie, 53 percent of his shots came at the rim;
On Thursday, the NBA’s trade deadline hit all zeroes — along with plenty of fireworks — and now buyout season is right around the corner. But as franchises continue bolstering their roster ahead of the postseason (or lottery-bound future efforts), another deadline passed recently without much fanfare. Last month, the deadline to sign players to
Eric Bledsoe is one of the most important parts of the best team in basketball, the Milwaukee Bucks. For the first time in his career, he’s where he wants to be. Eric Bledsoe’s career has been defined by his butting up against the breach of his own development, improvement in the form of plexiglass terrifyingly
Between stops with the Milwaukee Bucks and Wisconsin Herd, Christian Wood found time to stop by J. Cole’s Dreamville studio with some teammates. Milwaukee Bucks assignment player Christian Wood tore up the Windy City Bulls on Wednesday night, dropping 33 points and 12 rebounds en route to a big win for Milwaukee’s G League team,
MIAMI, FL – DECEMBER 22: Thon Maker #7 of the Milwaukee Bucks looks on prior to the game against the Miami Heat at American Airlines Arena on December 22, 2018 in Miami, Florida. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms
The Bucks traded for Nikola Mirotic, shoring up a playoff rotation that now should be aiming for the Finals. The story of the trade that sent Nikola Mirotic to Milwaukee unfolded strangely over the span of just a few short minutes. First, we found out that Mirotic was going to Milwaukee. There were speculations that
Remember when the consensus with the NBA Trade Deadline was that it was going to be pretty boring with more buyers than sellers? Those were some good times, because a lot has changed since then. Suddenly, the Grizzlies decided to end their golden age of basketball, Kristaps Porzingis and the Knicks divorced and rumors are swirling
Back by the popular demand of pretty much only myself, it’s the second annual edition of Around the NBA in 15 Trades. We’re taking all 30 teams in the lead up to the Feb. 7 trade deadline and finding a happy middle ground for prosperous barterdom. The Milwaukee Bucks currently own the best record in the
As we approach the trade deadline this season, rumors, speculation, and reports will begin to circulate on social media. Some may be grounded, others may be purely opinion-based. Regardless of what comes up, there is always one guarantee: Trades will be made. Whether teams are trying to improve their roster before the playoffs, mix up
With the first half of the NBA season firmly in the rearview mirror, it’s time to look toward All-Star Weekend, the looming trade deadline and, ultimately, the high-stakes playoff chase. Although most of this year’s rookie class — minus one outstanding potential exception — won’t be headed to Charlotte for anything outside of the Rising
The Milwaukee Bucks game operations staff trolled Kawhi Leonard in hilarious fashion during Saturday’s game against the Toronto Raptors. Seriously, get these people some more money. The game operations folks at the Fiserv Forum came up with an all-time tremendous troll on Saturday night. The Milwaukee Bucks were hosting the Toronto Raptors in a matchup