After leading the NBA in regular season wins in each of the last two seasons, the Bucks have had an up-and-down start to the 2020/21 season. The team has now lost its last four games, dropping its record to 16-12, but reigning two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo isn’t concerned about the slump, as Eric Woodyard of ESPN details.
“I kind of have a feeling that everybody is in a panic mode, which should not be the case,” Antetokounmpo said.
While the Bucks’ star isn’t ready to panic, he acknowledged that the team has to “be better,” and noted that the absence of Jrue Holiday – who is sidelined due to the league’s health and safety protocols – has hurt in the last week.
“Obviously, one of our best players on the team and playmakers and best defenders on the team is not playing with us,” Antetokounmpo said. “Obviously, it’s not an excuse. I’m not a guy that gives excuses. But it’s a big part of who we are, and we need him.”
The Bucks haven’t offered any specifics on Holiday’s status, but he has now been out for over a week and the belief is that he registered a positive COVID-19 test.
Here’s more from around the Central:
- Tuesday’s game was the first this season in which the Bucks allowed fans into Fiserv Forum. According to a press release, the plan is to increase capacity to approximately 1,800 fans – 10% of the arena’s full capacity – by Sunday.
- After missing 11 games due to a quad injury, Wendell Carter Jr. returned to the Bulls‘ starting lineup on Monday. Carter, who beat his projected recovery timeline, said after the game that he felt healthy, but admitted his conditioning could use some work, per Rob Schaefer of NBC Sports Chicago. “I got winded pretty quickly which I knew was going to happen,” Carter said after logging 21 minutes.
- Several Cavaliers players – including J.R. Smith, Kevin Love, Kevin Porter, and now Andre Drummond – have expressed some level of dissatisfaction with the organization in recent years, prompting Jason Lloyd of The Athletic to try to determine why it keeps happening. While Lloyd has no solid answers, he observes that general manager Koby Altman has been a common denominator and questions the front office’s culture-building ability.
While as a fan I want to argue that it isn’t a bad organization, and that three of those 4 players have been a nuisance on or off the court in some way, every time Kevin Love shows frustration I become discouraged about our direction. While we have great young players, there is still no identity for this team. Crossing my fingers everything changes for the better here in the next couple years.
Altman handed out that contract to Love when he should have traded him, or let him sign with another team. Hopefully he learned & trading Love is priority #1 this offseason.
I think he has. Otherwise Andre Drummond would’ve been handed a Gobert sized contract.
Drummond only takes up one roster spot with bad expiring salary. I doubt he was ever in the Cavs long term plans.
Cavs gave him a showing & maybe Altman thought it was an appropriate gamble with the salary cap to try & squeeze an asset out of him? It failed & Drummond will be waived.
Drummond is 1 dimensional & Allen/McGee are better especially if Love is playing.
When have veteran players ever not complained about being on a bad rebuilding team?
Not to say that the Cavs don’t have issues, they probably do… but if we are using player complaints as evidence then half the teams in the league have major problems.
Most teams are badly run, I mean if you can’t keep your own guys happy, you ain’t going nowhere!
That’s what the article did, and local reaction has been poor. A list of Altman’s successes & failures may have been a better way to do it, then generating a list of malcontent-ery, but I suspect the writer wanted to only graze the surface of critical contacts without risking making them mad.
Best proof is team W-L and direction!
Someone should tell Giannis that what he said was exactly making an excuse.
I think you just did. Well done!
I trust in what Koby is building with JB. The team has issues but they’re clearly rebuilding and this whole Drummond thing has been blown way out of proportion. The team has needs, which, in turn helps build culture when you’ve actually got a filled out roster. This Cavs team doesn’t have any of that right now but a young core. Give it time.
Well Gianni, the team is basically .500 and Bud is on his way out. I wouldn’t even wait for the season to end to fire him if it were up to me.
And to Gianni’s point, as long as they finish above the 7-8 seed, they’ll make it to the 2nd round of the playoffs, just like the the past several years….
I get you’re bummed out about how the bucks are playing but a .571 win percentage isn’t ” basically.500″ They will pick up the pace. Too many bad teams in the east for them not to.
They are for sure several steps beyond the Michael Redd Bucks, but some of the losses this year has felt peculiarly like watching the Michael Redd Bucks.
This last week has been real ugly with no Jrue. But back to back losses to NOLA/Charolette was also rough. If they’re contenders, they need help.
Love the current squad, but I’ve never watched a game with Bud in charge and thought “our team is outcoaching [opponent].” Bud is in the same death spiral as Mike McCarthey was toward his end with the Pack, only Bud doesn’t have a ring.
Think that’s enough WI-sports rant for one post…
Giannis doesn’t need no excuse at all… the guy has been beasting it out the last 4 games…
in 37.5 minutes his stat line is 33.5/13.3/7.3/1.75/2.75 with a shootin’ line of 59.3/30.8/77.3… I mean WOW! He has played the best possible, wins will come, but at the end of the day MIL will be in the playoffs & it ain’t important to finish #1 or #6, makes no difference to a good team, only a bad one that needs good seeding & home court advantage, MIL is too good for that!
BTW is it just me or what, but I can’t see all the attitude CLE are taking with Dre, I really do like Allen a lot… but having said that, I very much doubt Allen will ever be as good as Dre, so why swap them?
I do realize Allen is a few years younger, but Dre is just peaking now, all I can figure out is that Dre has a very big price tag, which he has earned… meanwhile Allen is a lot cheaper, it seems to me that CLE choosing Allen is just a penny pinching decision, & I do emphasize that I am a big fan of Allen!
It’s just you.
You have to look through the advanced stats (head over to basketball-reference.com).
Jarrett Allen:
-PER: 23rd (in the entire league)
-True shooting %: 1st
-Total Rebounding %: 8th
-Block %: 6th
-Turnover % (who has the most): 35th (most)
-Usage %: 13th
-Offensive win shares: 472nd (lol)
Average plus/minus: 41st
Andre Drummond:
-PER: 31st
-True shooting %: 181st
-Total Rebounding %: 1st
-Block %: 21st
-Turnover % (who has the most): 29th (most)
-Usage %: 129th
-Offensive win shares: 14th (just a little better than Drummond)
-Average box plus/minus: 96th
This took a second to type out, but I just want to emphasize how the Allen over Drummond debate is definitely in Allen’s favor.
I accidentally flipped two stats….
Usage %: Jarrett Allen 129th, Drummond 13th
Offensive win shares: Jarrett allen is 14th, Drummond is 472nd
Also on offense, Drummond needs the ball down low to be effective while Allen is a rim runner who doesn’t need a lot of touches. Allen is much more suited to the modern game.
Allen is already better than Drummond (and probably he will be getting more money than Drummond next year).
Drummond is looking at a Whiteside-type deal.
I haven’t read Lloyd’s piece yet, but it seems like Dan Gilbert is more to blame for the Cavs’ inability to keep players happy than anything Altman has done.
Obviously I’m not behind the scenes to know for sure, but if Altman is to be blamed then it should be more for some of the decisions he’s made (hiring Beilein who showed he was clearly out of touch with the players, for instance) than by any inability to build a culture.
It’s concerning, but overall I think it’s much ado about nothing. JR was part of the Finals teams and wasn’t interested in a rebuilding project, Love has complained about the direction of the team but has still been a great mentor to the younger players and hasn’t let it become a distraction, and Drummond’s issue only started recently because the Cavs acquired a player who’s younger, cheaper, and possibly better than him at a long-term position of need. He deserves long-term security, and he didn’t have an issue with the Cavs until it was clear he’d have to get that somewhere else. I also think that KPJ’s inability to buy in would have happened no matter who drafted him, and it’s possible that being traded was a wake up call for him, but I think he needed that no matter where he would have started his career.
The Drummond thing is not even a big issue for 20/21 but it will hurt when CLE goes to sign FAs, and they shy away, which is the author’s point.
So many TA posters list the mentioned players negatively that it looks unfair to them. That should not be the takeaway.
Altman should go… they’re still down, and the energy from not getting invited to the bubble has dissipated.
GA shouldn’t worry about the record. It’s not surprising (or particularly disturbing) that the Bucks aren’t the regular season machine they were for most of the last two years. They know it’s all about the playoffs for them.
What GA and the organization should be concerned with is the way the team finishes games. This was always a weakness, but, with more close games this season, its more evident. Much of the problem is GA himself. He’s not a star in a half court offensive game because his shot is unreliable, in particular from the FT line; and he’s going backwards in this area.
Finishing games/half court O -Much of the problem is GA himself –
Bold move typing that! Agree
Win, lose, or draw this year after the last game the Bucks play I want G to take the mic and accept full responsibility for everything good bad or ugly the team did….When you are that guy, you are that guy, and it helps the whole org doing so while taking the most jovial of hits ….Im interested too see, havent been the hugest fan of how hes handled last 2 years losing pressers… Agree record doesnt matter to them, thier no better or worse off than any team in East RN and basically all year
Today, few “star” players own their team’s performance. Most talk as though they are victims of their teammates’ failures to provide them the needed platform. Maybe not after the losses, but I actually thought GA did a decent job of owning it all when speaking about his extension. First, by extending instead of creating drama for another year. But also he spoke like he was actually “part” of a team that didn’t get it done. I wouldn’t have minded being his teammate hearing that; which is rare today.
Yea was kinda talking more in the moment and immediate aftermath of the last 2 playoff series loses. Agree the extension was all peaches and cream the way it was handled/embraced
I know the medias maniac but it was created that the ENTIRE problem was the team for those early exits, he stayed a litle hush hush in those moments I thought
He’s still oh so young, Id just like to see him sharpen up that killer mentality that every single thing that Orbits around the Mil Bucks starts and ends with himself no ifs, ands, or butts. Just a extra dash of that Kobe Bryant flava to the sauce. That mentality might carry over to the court as well somehow in those pivotal moments
Bucks didn’t improve. Let me rephrase…they improved (Holiday is an upgrade over Bledsoe) but Giannis did not… Still no jumpshot, still not a respectable clip from the foul line and in four minutes or less you can’t trust him with the ball! The bucks are 0-9 when they trail by the end of three quarters… I like Giannis but he needs to get better. I know as a back to back MVP that may be hard to hear, but it’s the truth.