2017-18 Finish: 66-16

Season Highlight: The Bucks were a monster team in 17/18, finishing tied with eventual Champs, (the Cavs) as the league’s best home and away team with a 66-16 record improving upon his previous campaign of 64 wins.  Badwolf got up to his usual tricks of pissing all over opposition gm’s in trades as he spruiked up the value of young players who ‘are on the verge of bursting into stardom’, (apparently) as he stuffed his pockets full of future picks in return.  If I didn’t know any better I would guess this guy was a real estate agent or a used car salesman in a past life, ‘get your best bargains in MIL before the market leaves you behind’ *snort*.

Season Lowlight: This was a tough call between, (i) being bundled out of the playoffs, this time in the Semi-Finals by the 76ers after such a promising regular season, (ii) trading away Mr Milwaukee – Russell Westbrook, (more on this one later).  The Bucks after making the post season for 10 years consecutively and never making it out of the East have got the reputation now of being really good in the regular season only to falter in the post season.

 

Best Trade: The Detroit Pistons send Donovan Mitchell to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Milwaukee Bucks send Jusuf Nurkic to the Detroit Pistons.
The Milwaukee Bucks send a 2nd-Rounder (Orl) to the Detroit Pistons.
The Detroit Pistons use their trade exception over $ 2,947,304.

Unbelievable deal here for the Bucks.  Note a caveat here is the date of this deal was 12/07/2017 – so about this time last year, before the season began.  Mitchell had just come off a successful summer league campaign for context.  This deal whilst at the time seeming fairly balanced and innocuous, will likely be felt by both franchises for the next decade – with Mitchell set for superstardom and Nurkic disappearing into the abyss.  Badwolf wins again and the question still remains, ‘is this man a time traveler?’  As a little side note and something which just came to mind, at one point could Detroit and gm laddas have had a team which featured Ben Simmons,  Jayson Tatum and Donovan Mitchell?!?

 

Worst Trade: The Dallas Mavericks send Otto Porter and Lonzo Ball to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Milwaukee Bucks send Russell Westbrook to the Dallas Mavericks. The Dallas Mavericks receive 13 GM points. The Milwaukee Bucks trade -13 GM points.

It is worth noting that a subsequent trade occurred whereby:

The Milwaukee Bucks send Iman Shumpert and Lonzo Ball to the Toronto Raptors. The Toronto Raptors send Solomon Hill to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Toronto Raptors send Marshon Brooks to the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Philadelphia 76ers send a 2nd-Rounder (Phi) to the Toronto Raptors. The Toronto Raptors send a 1st-Rounder (Tor) to the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Philadelphia 76ers use their trade exception over $ 1,656,092.

So to distill this down, the Bucks basically sent away their all-time franchise do everything superstar in Westbrook for Otto Porter and a 2020 1^st round pick.  Now I have always been the guy who says Milwaukee wins the battle of the picks but in this case I just don’t think I like it.  I feel as though Westbrook has been somewhat of an enabler to badwolfs ‘rinse and repeat’ lifestyle as no matter who else is there with this guy you are likely going to win close to 50 games.  So the Bucks have been good for 10 years despite their fixation with youth, if you get my drift.  I just don’t feel as though Otto Porter who is at best a starter and one 1^st round pick is enough for a top 5 NLL player.

 

Other Notable Trades:  As you would expect there are some doozy’s here and if it wasn’t for that Mitchell trade some of these could have got the nod for best deal. There are no real bad ones in the mix.

The Milwaukee Bucks send Wade Baldwin IV to the Denver Nuggets.
The Denver Nuggets send a 1st-Rounder (Den) to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Milwaukee Bucks send a 2nd-Rounder (Mil) to the Denver Nuggets.
The Denver Nuggets use their trade exception over $ 1,874,400.

A great deal for the Bucks as Baldwin has basically disappeared off the NLL landscape for all intents and purposes whilst that 1^st round pick ended up falling in the lottery and badwolf selected Wendell Carter Jr who many are touting as possibly the best big in the NLL draft.

 

The Milwaukee Bucks send Aaron Gordon to the LA Clippers.
The LA Clippers send a 1st-Rounder (Por) to the Milwaukee Bucks.

This one is not a clear cut win for the Bucks as Gordon looks the goods.  The pick has become Trae Young and only time will tell on this guy but so far indications are that he may be too small and slow for the NLL game – we will see.

 

The Boston Celtics send Nick Young to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Milwaukee Bucks send Patrick Patterson to the Boston Celtics.
The Boston Celtics send a 2nd-Rounder (Tor) to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Milwaukee Bucks send a 1st-Rounder (Mil) to the Boston Celtics.

This is not a great deal for the Bucks and it seems as though gm jmac may have got the better of the evill empire in this one.  SwaggyP has since been renounced by the Bucks whilst 2-Pat is still under contract and the 1^st became Justin Jackson who still has some promise.

 

The Milwaukee Bucks send Skal Labissiere to the Boston Celtics.  The Boston Celtics use their trade exception over $ 1,242,240.
The Boston Celtics receive 10 GM points. The Milwaukee Bucks trade -10 GM points. The Boston Celtics send a 1st-Rounder (Bos) to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Part 2 in the battle between wolf vader and scrooge mcjmac.  Looks like wolf might have got one back here on jmac as he managed to pry away a future 1^st for a guy who looks more like a praying mantis than a basketball player.  Notably however jmac was somehow able to turn Skal into a 1^st and 2 2^nds and as if that wasn’t enough the ‘kick in the nuts 5gm points for good measure’ - in a subsequent deal with the unsuspecting gm mailo in this deal:

The Boston Celtics send Skal Labissiere to the Golden State Warriors.
The Golden State Warriors send a 1st-Rounder (SA), 2nd-Rounder (GS) and 2nd-Rounder (GS) to the Boston Celtics.  The Boston Celtics receive 5 GM points. The Golden State Warriors trade -5 GM points. 

 

The Milwaukee Bucks send Jakob Poeltl to the Brooklyn Nets.  The Brooklyn Nets use their trade exception over $ 2,947,320. The Brooklyn Nets send a 1st-Rounder (Mem) to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Here wolf recycles another big guy with ‘promise’ for a future 1^st which became SG Donte DiVincenzo.  Could this be the next Mitchell type deal, we will see?

 

The Milwaukee Bucks send a 2nd-Rounder (Tor) to the Toronto Raptors. The Toronto Raptors send a 1st-Rounder (Tor) to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Not sure what happened here?  Maybe gm carl just felt sorry for wolf since he only had 4 1^st rounders already for the next season?

 

Free Agency:

The Bucks typically don’t dabble much in the free agency market, preferring promising youth over used goods.  This season is no different as they have one RFA in Zach LaVine who is expected to return to the team.

 

Star:

Russell Westbrook – This was a close call between Westbrook and Towns but Towns was outplayed when it mattered most vs the Sixers so the nod goes to Westbrook who averaged 23ppg, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 1.6 steals per game in 82 games.

Goat:

Zach LaVine - For such a successful team it is hard to find a goat but perhaps this goes to Zach LaVine who only appeared in 29 games before injuring himself and then returning for the playoffs and stinking it up.

Draft Grades (from Insider):

#6 - Trae Young : The Westbrook era is over and you had the PERFECT fit finally in a pass first guy, fresh out of a solid rookie season, (Lonzo Ball)…but you trade him too and instead take another shot taking PG who is undersized. Trae is a capable assist guy too though, but he’s small and his combine results were average at best for a guy that has a game that seems to require him to be elite in mobility. Still, his handles are amazing and his shooting touch draws Curry comparisons so there figures to be as much upside as there are question marks. He’s arguably the best positional fit now too given who has been moved before the draft. Grade: B

#7 - Wendell Carter Jr : This is the perfect pick here. You’ve moved the more traditional styled Poetl and only have Jarrett Allen on the bench behind Towns, and you land arguably the safest pick in the entire draft. His floor is a rotational big for a decade plus, he just lacks the ceiling of the guys that went above him, but that doesn’t make him any less effective at what he does. He’s got starter upside still, and his work ethic is off the charts. This is one of those selections that just makes sense. Grade: A+

#10 – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander : Trae at 6, and now his reserve at 10. Shai fits nicely for the Bucks here so they don’t have to play the trigger happy Zach or Donovan at the 1 spot…only trigger happy Trae! Jokes. He’s got good size for a point and good defensive tools too. He’s a bit of a combo which works to advantage too and maybe his selection spells the end of a LaVine given he’s about to be paid and Wolf is always so worried about salary? Regardless, I think the spot and fit makes sense here despite the mystery surrounding SGA. Grade: B+

#12 – Mikal Bridges : Bridges is a Swiss army knife wing who’d rather not handle the rock too much, will knock down shots, play D and is super efficient? And team needs that, even if they own Giannis. Mikal is going to fit in perfectly with the Bucks, or any team for that matter in the event he’s traded and his multi-faceted game is going to be noted real quick. Grade: A

#18 – Donte DiVincenzo : He’s projected to be a bench guard and he’ll fill roles along side the stars holding his own on D and spacing the floor while doing the little things. His motor will allow him to play super hard for the entire time he’s on the court in that limited bench role. Just don’t expect him to become a star cause the ceiling isn’t as high here. For the Bucks and their ball hungry guys, he figures to fit well. Grade: B+

#40 – Gary Trent Jr : Trent is an ice cold sharp shooter. He won’t do much of anything else, but that one elite skill is all you need to fall back on. Grade: B

 

The Future-

The Bucks finished the previous season with the league’s best record, lost in the semi-finals and basically decided to rebuild!  Go figure?  They traded away their superstar in Westbrook and have handed the keys to Karl Towns and Giannis.  Not a bad duo right?  Throw into the mix a burgeoning superstar in Mitchell and a swag of new 1^st round picks, (5 to be exact).  4 of whom were lottery picks and you have a new future and present already.  Will the Bucks win 66 games again this season, probably not!  But they are a lock for a playoff berth and perhaps it makes sense to move on from Westbrook since he could never quite get them to the Title.  A bright exciting future ahead with youthful talent for days and an enviable swathe of future 1^st round picks still to come.  All is looking good in Milwaukee.