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MILWAUKEE BUCKS: state of the franchise

State of the Franchise

Projected Cap Space (before luxury tax): $26.5 million

Background: The Bucks have been criticized for always seeming to be in the gray area . A few years back, in the days when inefficient gunners PG Brandon Jennings (DET) and SG Monta Ellis (DAL) were in the backcourt, Milwaukee always flirted with the idea of tanking, while still somehow attempting to become a title contender at the same time. Now, with Jennings and Ellis long gone and a new era of young guys donning a green and red jersey every night, namely position-less, non-human Giannis “The Greek Freak” Antetokounmpo and rookie SF Jabari Parker, Milwaukee finds themselves in the dreaded middle ground again. They are a few games above .500 at midseason and holding onto a bottom playoff seed in the weak Eastern Conference, but there is hope that this will not continue. The Bucks were actually supposed to be bad this season, just like last season where they tanked en route to the worst record in the NBA and got Parker in the draft. However, the emergence of several young players, PG Brandon Knight and Greek Freak in particular, as well as the ability to play in the pathetic East, have propelled Milwaukee to their current status. They will likely take a first-round loss at the hands of a contender come April, but just making the postseason shatters expectations for this year. Despite many overpaid veterans still reminding Bucks fans about the poor management in the not-good-but-not-bad era of Ellis and Jennings, the future is bright for the Bucks with a plethora of prospects full of upside.

Current Financial State: This one is odd. Most of the guys who play the most are paid the least, and most of the guys who play the least are paid the most. This is because many of the overpaid veterans are, well overpaid, and are just not as good as the young guys. In addition, head coach Jason Kidd should play the prospects over the vets, as the prospects are the future of the franchise and need the playing time to develop in what will be no more than a first-round exit this season anyways, while the vets will be out the door once their contracts expire. Meanwhile, the young guys are mostly on their cheap rookie deals and are already better than the guys who ride the pine that are making millions more than them. These guys with the bad contracts include C/PF Larry Sanders, SG O.J Mayo, PF/SF Ersan Ilyasova and C Zaza Pachulia. Lucky for the Bucks, however, all these contracts will expire in advance of the legendary 2016 free agency, except for Sanders’ $11 million annually, which will unfortunately not come off the books until 2018. Milwaukee can afford to just ride out these deals, because as mentioned, the players who eat up most of the playing time cost next to nothing, so the Bucks have no immediate use for these wasted dollars. Just enjoy the rookie deals while you have them, Milwaukee, because Parker, Greek Freak and others could be asking for max dollars when their current deals are up.

Targets: As a rebuilding franchise that has more interest in losing than winning, the only impact players Milwaukee would want to get in a trade would be young guys that the Bucks could use in the future. Problem is, there are not any players that fit that bill currently on the trading block, or at least any that would address a positional need for Milwaukee. With PG Brandon Knight, SG Giannis Antetokounmpo (I guess that’s his position, sort of?), SF Jabari Parker and SF/SG Khris Middleton all likely to be key pieces for the future and PF/C John Henson the closest thing the Bucks have to being a big man that they’d like to be on the team five years from now, Milwaukee must turn to the draft to find a big guy to their liking. However, unlike last year, Milwaukee will not have a very high first-rounder, as their record has been fairly good this year. In addition, trading any veteran pieces for draft picks wouldn’t work, as all these guys are overpaid. However, there is one thing Milwaukee has to offer in trades: their cap space. Since they have no use for this money, they can take a bad contract and a pick for next to nothing. One current bad contract is Golden State Warriors SF/SG Andre Iguodala. “Iggy” still has 3 years/$35 million left on his massive contract, and as the Warriors are a title contender, they could really use that money. By dumping Iguodala’s contract on Milwaukee in exchange for SG O.J Mayo, who has 2 years/$16 million remaining on what is not quite a disastrous deal, but a pricey one nonetheless, Golden State could free up some precious cap space. They could dodge the luxury tax while being able to re-sign key piece SF/PF Draymond Green, as well as maybe a new addition with the money they would create. SG/SF Klay Thompson would be asked to play a lot of small forward if Iguodala were to be traded, especially because Mayo plays shooting guard, but that would not be an issue as Klay is 6’7”. As for Mayo himself, he could either be the go-to option in the second unit, or slide into the starting lineup nicely as a spark scorer between Thompson and superstar PG Stephen Curry. Milwaukee would also have no problem throwing in C Zaza Pachulia’s 2 year/$10.4 million deal, if the Warriors want it (they probably wouldn’t). Of course, Golden State would have to give up a second round pick as well as this year’s first rounder in the deal, but that would likely be one of, if not the, last pick in the first round. For Milwaukee, Iguodala’s contract is no big deal, as they will not need the money until their young guys’ rookie deals expire, and Iggy’s contract comes off the books just in time for that. The first round pick is what the Bucks are really in it for, and even though it is a late pick, the Bucks can either package their two first rounders for a better one, or simply select two rookies. The rebuild is on in Milwaukee, and they had better start preparing for the future.

The Fit: As the main point of this deal is to simply acquire draft picks and not for Iguodala’s talent itself, describing the fit Iggy has on this young Bucks team is a little hard, because there really isn’t one. In fact, having Iggy on the team could potentially hinder the growth of wing players Greek Freak and SF Khris Middleton (SF Jabari Parker is out for the year with an ACL injury) as Jason Kidd would be obliged to give the veteran wing defender minutes, though it likely won’t be too much of an issue. This is because Iguodala would probably take up the same amount of playing time that Mayo does right now. Iguodala himself can improve the Bucks’ already surprising season with excellent perimeter defense, intangibles, as well as an above-average offensive game. One could even make the argument that since Milwaukee is enjoying such a successful year, they should be buyers, not sellers, at the trade deadline. However, trading away future assets for a veteran, while improving the team in the present, would ruin what is currently a bright future for the Bucks. Nobody will remember or care whether they have a second-round exit this postseason or a first round exit, but a title five years from now as opposed to a mere playoff berth will be remembered forever in Milwaukee.
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