Bucks 2024-25 Season Thread

[Voyageur]

Fantastic! The Bucks trade Beauchamp for a guy who has a long string of arrests everywhere he goes. This is total idiocy.

 

[Voyageur]

2/7 - Bucks visit Atlanta. It was embarrassing. They fell behind by 12 points at the end of the first quarter, and roared back in the 2nd, scoring 47 points and outscoring the Hawks by 30. It gave them an 18 point lead at halftime. The Bucks came out in the third quarter and promptly let the Hawks run all over them, to take the lead. It was disaster.

Kuzma, Portis, and Lopez played solid games, and Lillard was a bit off on his shooting, and forgot to cover anyone he was assigned during the 2nd half. The rotations that Rivers used in the first half worked, and instead of sticking with it, he switched them all up during the 2nd half, and pretty much failed to have the right guys suiting up for the game.

Sadly, I think it's going to end up even worse.

 

[Sanguine camper]

Bucks can't defend the perimeter. They're way too old and slow. Point explosions by opposition teams will get easier as the season goes on and the team just gets more run down. Already two years ago, the geriatric experiment was over and the team needs to be rebuilt. Waiting just makes any trade value less. They need a complete rebuild that includes trading Giannis ASAP. If the Bucks traded anyone with value over the age of 26, maybe they could land 3 firsts and several good role players. It isn't going to prevent all of painful seasons that need to come, but the current team is hard to watch.

 

[Heyjoe4]

Here's where the Bucks stand with draft picks.

2025​

In 2025 the Bucks owe their first-round pick to the New Orleans Pelicans if it falls within the top four of the NBA draft lottery. If it does not, the Bucks owe their first-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets.

Milwaukee owes its second-round pick to the Cleveland Cavaliers. But the Kuzma trade brought back a 2025 second-rounder from the Wizards, so they'll have at least one pick in the 2025 draft.

2026​

In 2026 the Bucks owe a pick swap to the Pelicans. This means that New Orleans can choose to swap its own pick with Milwaukee's and the Bucks have no say in the matter. Should the Pelicans choose that route the Bucks will then select where the Pelicans' pick landed in the draft order and vice versa. Either way, the Bucks will be picking in the first round in 2026.

As far as the second round goes the Bucks owe their second-rounder in 2026 to either the Orlando Magic or the New York Knicks, depending on how favorable it is (AKA how high in the draft order it lands).

2027​

As things currently stand the Bucks will not have a first-round pick in 2027. If it lands in the top-4 then it belongs to the Pelicans. If it lands outside the top four, then it will go to either the Pelicans or the Atlanta Hawks, depending on if the Pelicans' own pick is better. If it is, then Milwaukee's pick goes to Atlanta. If not New Orleans will send its own selection to the Hawks and keep the Bucks' instead.

The Bucks owe their 2027 second-rounder to the Philadelphia 76ers.

2028​

The Bucks already have a complicated setup for their 2028 first-rounder and that was before they included a swap for the Wizards to get the Kuzma-Middleton deal done.

Before the trade, the Bucks owed their first-round pick to the Portland Trail Blazers if it fell in the lottery (picks 1-14)— but only if the Blazers had not conveyed their 2027 first-round pick to the Chicago Bulls. If the Blazers did convey their pick by then, Portland has the option to swap with the Bucks no matter where Milwaukee's pick lands in the draft order.

Now the Wizards are involved in some capacity, which has yet to be reported. It seems likely Washington will get the right to swap with Milwaukee after Portland gets its own chance to decide.

The Bucks owe their 2028 second-rounder to the Oklahoma City Thunder.


The future has already been sold until about 2030. Horst has destroyed not only the chances today but for roughly 8 more years because he's been allowed to make trades that have stripped this team of quality players and draft picks in an attempt to prove how good he is at his job.

We have squat going forward. I wouldn't pay $1 to go to a Bucks game at this point. I already passed on the game In San Antonio a few days ago. My son and grandson went but I begged off not wanting to be embarrassed by the way this team plays with all the money they dish out for salaries and still being on the edge of total collapse.

Thanks for the ugly future ahead. Didn't Horst give up at least two second round picks for Crowder?

 

[Voyageur]

Thanks for the ugly future ahead. Didn't Horst give up at least two second round picks for Crowder?

It's worse than that. The Bucks traded guard George Hill, center Serge Ibaka, forward Jordan Nwora and three second-round draft picks to the Pacers and two second-round draft picks to the Nets for Crowder.

 

[Sanguine camper]

Thanks for the ugly future ahead. Didn't Horst give up at least two second round picks for Crowder?

You certainly put a lot of meat on my bones about the need for an urgent rebuild. Since there aren't any draft picks to speak of, the Bucks will need to trade Giannis and Lillard. Is Lillard worth a late first round pick at his age? Maybe a desperate team needing to replace an injured player would do it? Late first rounders are no guarantee of anything. Giannis would probably net two high first round picks and a young player that would either be a starter or 6th man type of player. Cupboard is bare after that. Everybody else like Lopez or even Kuzma is going to only bring in a second round pick. If the Bucks cleaned house, I could see them netting 3 firsts, 2 seconds and 6th man type of player. I'd keep Portis but you're looking at least 5 straight seasons of 20 wins unless the draft picks are home runs. If the Bucks keep Giannis until his contract expires or he demands a trade which is more likely, they're mediocre and will get dumped in the playoffs. After that, the long rebuild would be inevitable.

 

[Sanguine camper]

With the 2025 second round pick and 2026 first round pick, if the Bucks cleaned house and were able to net 3 firsts and two seconds over the next 2 drafts, they would have total of 3 seconds and 4 firsts. Keep Portis and one player as part of the Giannis trade to add to the 7 draft picks. There's your 9 player team. Unless 2 out of the 4 first round picks turned out to be home runs, it would be an extremely ugly situation.

 

[Voyageur]

You certainly put a lot of meat on my bones about the need for an urgent rebuild. Since there aren't any draft picks to speak of, the Bucks will need to trade Giannis and Lillard. Is Lillard worth a late first round pick at his age? Maybe a desperate team needing to replace an injured player would do it? Late first rounders are no guarantee of anything. Giannis would probably net two high first round picks and a young player that would either be a starter or 6th man type of player. Cupboard is bare after that. Everybody else like Lopez or even Kuzma is going to only bring in a second round pick. If the Bucks cleaned house, I could see them netting 3 firsts, 2 seconds and 6th man type of player. I'd keep Portis but you're looking at least 5 straight seasons of 20 wins unless the draft picks are home runs. If the Bucks keep Giannis until his contract expires or he demands a trade which is more likely, they're mediocre and will get dumped in the playoffs. After that, the long rebuild would be inevitable.

Sadly, you may have nailed it. This whole thing with Horst has turned into a fiasco.

I think the Bucks are going to have a rough time peddling Dame's $54 mill plus contract for next year, with a player option for over $58 mill the following year. Finding that cap room is going to be the difficult part. The Bucks would have to do a lot of salary eating to absorb the hit for another team. They could easily lose $20 to $30 mill in cap space in the process.

It's a real mess.