DOY: Giannis Antetokounmpo

DOY hasn't been around for a couple months now. I gave up on it as I sort of phased out different sections of SnoTap. One day, it will come back in all its glory. But we have to get a DOY shoutout to Giannis Antetokounmpo whom threw one down against Utah's Rudy Gobert. Granted, Milwaukee is currently having all sorts of trouble with Gobert as he has been a force down low, but they still got one dunk on him. Giannis continuing an impressive Summer League run. Milwaukee is down by 22 due to a hot shooting night from Rodney Hood. Whatever I will still take the Giannis dunks all night long.  Good night Tappers, be well, hopefully going to have some things in the works tomorrow.  (H/T @CardboardGerald)

Charlie.

Jason Kidd Doesn't Owe You Answers

Milwaukee Bucks introduced Jason Kidd to Milwaukee yesterday morning. They brought in their new coach after Larry Drew was ousted rather quickly, and the press conference did not make them go 1-0 to start the Kidd era. People tagged it as 'awkward' and Kidd avoided all sorts of questions about the situation itself. The criticism of Kidd's press conference happened at a rampant rate with everyone trying to make their own dodging joke. Bucks are in such a weird spot due to everyone on the Internet hating their coach, but everyone embracing their players like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker. They aren't the bad boys, but not many people want this team to succeed next season.

It is sort of surprising to see how many media members rushed to criticize Kidd for dodging all sorts of questions. This is PR 101. Kidd didn't want to spend the press conference talking about what just happened. He knows at some point, Kidd will have to face the music and talk about the situation in Brooklyn, that will eventually happen, but this isn't the time for it. But right now, this is not the topic Kidd wants to talk about, he just wants to move forward. This is a problem right now with media and other outlets where they expect answers at the drop of a hat and then get pissed when it doesn't happen.

It makes sense that's how the new generation thinks about things because so many things happen immediately.  In the days before the Internet, you had to read about the press conference the next day and now, there is an immediate reaction with need of opinion. In reality, we need to let it simmer. Sure, Kidd didn't come up guns ablazin' where you want to go 'HELL YEAH COACH, LET'S RUN THROUGH SOME BRICK WALLS!!!'  We would love to have those sort of things from all of the coaches we bring in, but every coach is different. Kidd didn't need to win the press conference. He owes the media nothing and knows they are killing him right now yet the main part of the whole thing is building this young team to make a push to the playoffs. 

If Kidd's first season doesn't work out the way we want and the Bucks struggle again which would delight a ton of media members, that's fine if a couple things happen. For one, Giannis takes another step as a basketball player. Parker gets off to a good start in Milwaukee. Brandon Knight becomes a different point guard under the tutelage of Kidd. And maybe most importantly if he's not traded, Larry Sanders returns to form with a new coach. All of those things are more important winning next year. If the Bucks only win 24 to 26 games, but all of those things happen, the foundation is set for Milwaukee to be a real solid team for the future. That's more important than anything else right now. Winning is secondary despite everyone in the media wanting him to fall directly on his face.   

My stance on Kidd was always I thought it had some backstabbing elements to it, but in the end, he is the coach and if he wins, that's all that matters. What also is weirdly strange about the whole thing is Milwaukee stole the headlines from some of the biggest free agents. This story fascinated everyone in the NBA community. It also means a great deal of things for the Bucks in the national scope. People will look at this team closer. Bucks are going to get at least one or two games on national television whether it is an ESPN, TNT, ABC or FOX Sports 1 game because their matchups with Brooklyn are appointment television.  This paragraph is something we haven't been able to say about Milwaukee years so yes, good press is bad press. 

All is hopefully quiet on the Bucks front for now. It will be about filling the coaching staff and deciding what players they want to keep or bring in. It should be a fun offseason leading up to the October tip-off.  

Charlie. 

Jabari Parker: A Peek Into Milwaukee's Future

Milwaukee Bucks fans have waited for Thursday night since the start of the new year. It was evident Milwaukee headed for the top of the draft lottery given their struggles in the 2012-2013 season. For months, people debated whether Milwaukee would draft Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker or Joel Embiid. At times, everyone wanted Wiggins. Other times, it seemed like Parker became the choice. Embiid had his moment in the sun as well. But when the dust settled, Parker became the newest member of Milwaukee's professional basketball organization. 

Everything that he is doing is a perfect recipe for Milwaukee. Allegedly, Parker said he wanted to be a part of the Bucks organization due to its proximity to his hometown of Chicago, and he supposedly tanked the workout with Cleveland to ensure they would draft Andrew Wiggins. Whether that's true or not, causal Bucks fans all wanted Parker because it finally seemed like a player wanted to play for Milwaukee. You don't see that often. Todd Day said 'Mil-wauuuuuuk-ee, damn' when the Bucks drafted him in the mid-90's. Milwaukee once drafted a player in Yi Jianlian whom despised the idea of coming to the Cream City. Parker is a breath of fresh air. 

This is exactly what the Bucks want right now as an organization with new owners, trying to build a new arena and trying to start a future. If a small-market team wants to be a contender, they need to build through the draft. Brandon Knight, John Henson, Larry Sanders, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Parker are all top-20 picks (Knight drafted by Detroit). O.J. Mayo once was a top-five pick, but he doesn't count at this point. This is a smart foundation for the future. Milwaukee will be an outside contender for a playoff appearance next season. It could be a true transition year, but the Bucks are inching closer to being a top-tier contender in the Eastern Conference.

The great thing about the Eastern Conference is anything can happen honestly. With the West, it is a complete dogfight and could take years to come back to prominence. In the East, we have a team like Toronto going from a top 10 lottery pick to being the three seed this year in the NBA Playoffs. I am not saying Milwaukee get that fortunate, but anything is possible for Milwaukee next season. And if things go to hell again getting another top notch lottery pick isn't the worst thing in the world even if it sounds like the worst thing ever at this juncture. 

For years and years, we have waited for the Face of the Franchise for Milwaukee Bucks, and it feels like this team now has two of them with Giannis and Jabari. This could be the next great duo in the NBA. Sure, Wiggins and Kyrie Irving could be great, yet at the same time, there is some uncertainty if Irving will be there for very much longer. More so than 2010 when Brandon Jennings made a little push, this is the most exciting time it's been to be a Bucks fans in quite a long time, probably since 2000. This is the start of something special. 

When it gets closer to the season, we will talk about managing expectations for this team and Parker, but right now, let's relish in the fact Milwaukee is in a great spot. 

Charlie.

Ford: Bucks and Lakers Could Be Trade Partners

ESPN.com's senior NBA writer and insider, Chad Ford, said in his chat yesterday that the Lakers are possibly looking to deal their #7 pick in the upcoming draft. Ideally, they'd like to get a veteran All-Star to go with Kobe Bryant but he speculates that they might not get such a talent for said pick.

Here's what he said exactly in response to a fan's question regarding the Lakers' plans for the #7 pick:

 Kobe is coming back. He doesn't want to be in the lottery. Of the players that will be left on the board when the Lakers draft, both Marcus Smart and Julius Randle would be instant impact players. But they wouldn't have the same impact that a veteran All-Star would. I think the Lakers will try hard to package that pick to get back a veteran talent to pair with Kobe if they can. But that's a big if. Teams covet the No. 7 pick, but I don't think they get Kevin Love, Al Horford, LaMarcus Aldridge for it. Maybe something like Larry Sanders and Brandon Knight.

This isn't totally far-fetched as it's been reported that the Bucks are likely to be active when it comes to acquiring another first round pick.

Naturally, this intrigues Bucks fans because with the new owners, you'd like to have a brand new infusion of rookies to move the franchise forward. I love Larry and Brandon. They're good guys who genuinely like (don't mind) playing in Milwaukee. However, you would be clearing a lot of future salary with Sanders' 4/$44 contract kicking in this coming season. I'm guessing the owners wouldn't be opposed to getting out of his deal after his shenanigans this past year.

Also, Knight will be in the final year of his rookie contract and will most likely be due to be overpaid after he'd undoubtedly improve yet again this year. Knight averaged a very solid 18 and 5 on the worst team in the league last year. He's too much of a gym rat to not improve.

The Bucks would more than likely have to take back a guy like Steve Nash for salary filler. Not sure what would happen with Nash if he did end up in Milwaukee but if he stays, I could definitely think of worse locker room guys to mentor the youth.

I'm not sure it makes a lot of sense for the Lakers to deal the pick because Kobe's clearly not getting any younger and this would be their chance to find the next legend to replace him, as they always seem to do.

The problem the Lakers face is that, outside of the #7 pick, they have exactly zero assets. They ended up not trading Pau Gasol, Nash is done, Kobe is done and the rest of their players last year were tank commanders. Nick Young, Wesley Johnson, Xavier Henry, etc. You kidding me? The only thing I'd be interested in personally (other than the #7 pick), would be Kendall Marshall who showed what he could do after the Lakers took a flier on him halfway through the season.

If the trade were to go down, they'd gain two assets from one and could have some talent to go with Kobe and they'd still have money to throw at a free agent this offseason.

For the Bucks, you'd have the #2, #7 picks as well as the plethora of second rounders that John Hammond covets. You could be looking at taking Jabari Parker and Marcus Smart with the 2 and 7 picks respectively. Those wouldn't be my two choices but those two have the best chance at impacting a team both on the court as well as turning the culture of the organization.

This type of trade really gives you options in a few different areas (who to take, who to start, etc.). Areas that I won't get into right now because that will be its own post, Tappers. That is all for now.

Be good.

-Big Money

Tapping The Keg Podcast Episode 91

Tapping The Keg rolls on for another week of Tapping The Keg podcast. Charlie and Mitch cover a bevy of topics in about 45 minutes.  Surprising since there wasn't much to talk about this week. We talk about the Minnesota bar whom will give you free beer if you invest 1,000 dollars. Mitch and Charlie then preview the NBA Finals breaking down different storylines like Tony Parker's health, Miami's defense and if Spurs will be 'gutted' if they win the title. We talk a bit about the Stanley Cup Final talking Kings-Rangers talking more about ratings and storylines versus the actual analysis. It moves to some Brewers talk looking at Aramis Ramirez coming back, Yovani Gallardo's recent struggles and the possibility of Kendrys Morales. A little Bucks talk about the Antetekounmpo brothers and California Chrome finishes us off.

Two Antetokounmpos Better Than One?

It is hard to find someone in Milwaukee whom does not like Giannis Antetokounmpo. He is the golden child of Milwaukee right now, and it would not surprise me to see him more in advertisements as well as around the city more often. Many Bucks fans and non-Bucks fans yet Giannis fans wants to live the dream and have another Antetokounmpo on the roster. Thanasis Antetokounmpo will be a second round pick, and the Bucks gave him a look on Monday as they do have three picks in the second round. While it would be cool to have two Antetokounmpos on the team, Bucks need to do what's best for them as a team, not from a marketing angle.

Currently, Thanasis sits around the 40th spot in mock drafts currently. This would be sandwiched between the Bucks second and third pick in the second round. If Thanasis is the best player left on Milwaukee's big board when Bucks are picking at 36 or 48, then he should be the selection without question. Yet Milwaukee needs to look at what the best fit for this team. Personally, I could see him going higher in the draft because of the success of his brother, and other teams will hope to replicate what Milwaukee received with Giannis last season.

Looking at his highlight tape, there is no denying talent is there for the older Antetokounmpo. He can dunk with the best of them. He is extremely athletic and could definitely provide some scoring from the Bucks off the wing. Additionally, he has a bulkier frame than Giannis therefore Milwaukee wouldn't get the same player. In my non-NBA Draft expert opinion, Thanasis seems like a great energy player off the bench once he got the feel for the NBA. Further, I think he is a much safer international pick due to his time spent in the D-League. He is not under contract with anyone overseas plus has some experience against near NBA talent. There are definitely some intriguing things about the older brother Antetokounmpo.   

But there is no guarantee he will be the exact same player as his younger brother Giannis. There is a chance we are looking at a Vinny Chase and Johnny Drama situation with the two Antetokounmpo brothers. It would make their young Bucks star happy, and people would go crazy for it here and also on the Internet because people love their family.  But there has been a long history of brothers not matching what their more famous did... a quick list - Dom DiMaggio, Billy Ripken, Tim Hassleback, Seth Curry, Drew Berry and Frank Stallone. All of these people have a more famous brother playing the same sport, it happens all the time.  

From a selfish standpoint as a Marquette fan, I think you want the Bucks to take Thanasis because it might guarantee Kostos Antetokounmpo, a 16-year-old highly recruited junior, will stay in Milwaukee with his two brothers and go play for the Golden Eagles. Nothing is a guarantee but given their dedication to family, it would like be the first place he looks when thinking about where he wants to play in college. Regardless of Milwaukee drafting Thanasis or not, Marquette should have the early edge over Wisconsin and others for Kostos, but we are still a year away from having this discussion. 

Besides all that's happening with the second overall pick in the draft, this will be an interesting storyline to follow in the coming month. I doubt Giannis will campaign for his brother to be in Milwaukee, but we all know damn well he would love it if the Antetokounmpo brothers rode in the Cream City. 

Charlie.  

Milwaukee Bucks: A New Era Begins

I've been lacking on my Bucks coverage over the past few weeks and for that, I apologize. Not to go all Tritschler on you but I was out of town visiting the parents two weeks ago and generally busy since then...so back off.

Alas, a new era of Milwaukee Bucks basketball has begun and the new blood has brought some marked excitement across Wisconsin.

New owners Wes Edens and Marc Lasry were officially approved by the NBA's Board of Governers this past Thursday and have seemingly taken the reigns from the shackles of Herb Kohl since then. Somewhat surprisingly, the new owners' haven't made any really drastic moves yet. I feel that many Bucks fans want a fire sale of the front office and coaching staff and for the organization to start completely anew.

Personally, I'm on the fence when it comes to the front office. I think GM John Hammond is decent to really good at drafting and assistant GM David Morway seems like more of the analytical type and could form a solid duo with Hammond when not under the control of a meddling owner.

As far as the coaching staff is concerned, I say dump them all. The play on the floor is generally a good barometer of how well the team is coached. How'd that turn out? The '13-'14 Bucks had the worst record in franchise history. Larry Drew was definitely part of the problem and is not part of the solution.

One thing the new owners have done properly was showcasing Edens' daughter, Mallory, at the draft lottery last night. She became the Internet's newest crush in a matter of minutes. Some might say Edens should be ashamed for taking advantage of his 18 year old daughter. In reality, it was a savvy business move to get the team some easy publicity.

Sites like SportsIllustrated and BroBible picked up on this and Mallory Edens was the second most talked about topic nationwide on Twitter last night.

The Internet’s Newest Crush is Mallory Edens, and She is Gorgeous -- http://t.co/5mT1olaTgs
— BroBible (@BroBible) May 21, 2014

Mallory Edens, daughter of Bucks owner, breaks Twitter during NBA draft lottery show http://t.co/zGVj8nUQTi (via @SI_ExtraMustard)
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) May 21, 2014

Here she is, Tappers:

Also, one Bucks fan put this cheesy song together which I thoroughly enjoyed:



Anyway, speaking of the Draft Lottery, Mallory's looks weren't even enough to get the Bucks the number one overall pick and instead, they'll have to settle for the number two overall pick as the #1 went to Cleveland (AGAIN!).

To use a cliche: I'm not upset the Bucks didn't get the number one pick, I'm just disappointed that Cleveland got it again and they won 18 more games than the Bucks this past season.

However, there was plenty to be happy about around the league regarding the lottery:

• Pinheads in Wisconsin can breath easy as the Lakers and Celtics didn't leapfrog the Bucks and take the one and two spots in the draft, due to preferential treatment. In fact, they didn't move up at all.
• The Detroit Pistons really got screwed on a trade technicality and went from a mid-lotto selection to having no first-rounder at all, meaning they won't get an injection of young talent into that wasteland of a starting five. They gave a $35 million contract to Stan Van Gundy and now have no lotto pick for him to choose.

The Bucks having the second pick isn't really the worst, all things considered. Granted, it really depends on who you want them to take and who the Cavs end up taking before the Bucks. ESPN's Chad Ford says they like Andrew Wiggins and also that they like Joel Embiid. I think they might also consider Jabari Parker at #1, given how antsy they are becoming to get back into the playoffs. 

I really want Wiggins so I'm hoping the Cavs take a chance on Embiid or go for the more sure-thing in Parker so he falls in our lap. I won't cry over getting any of the three or Aussie guard Dante Exum at #2.

I just think Wiggins can be plugged right into the Bucks' starting lineup at the shooting guard right away and can form a great defense-transition combo with Giannis Antetokounmpo. Many have said that Wiggins has the most upside but will be a bit of a project. I disagree. His defense is NBA ready and Bill Self didn't make the best use of the prodigy at Kansas. As I've said before, Giannis and Wiggins in the open court could be basketball porn.  

The draft is June 26 and there will be plenty of discussion and stories about what teams and potentially draftees are doing and not doing between now and then. Undoubtedly, the most sickening ones will be involving Kevin Love and where he thinks he wants to play and so forth. Love is arguably my favorite player but it will be unbearable after a few more weeks.

That's all for now, Tappers. Fear The Deer.

-Big Money

SnoTap Thing of the Day: All 61 Giannis Dunks!!!

Do you miss Giannis Antetokounmpo as much as I do?  I have something to cure your blues. Down To Buck, a great YouTube handle and person, decided to get a super mix of all of Giannis's dunks this season. It is like going through a happiness timeline where you can forget the Bucks lost a lot of the games where Giannis had dunks and rather watch him seeing/knowing the future is bright with this Milwaukee team. We really do need a Giannis first pitch at Miller Park soon if it hasn't happened already just to get an added extra Giannis fix. I wouldn't be shocked if Antetokounmpo finds his way to the Dunk Contest next year or if we get really ambitious, an All-Star appearance and a trip to the playoffs.

Charlie.

Lasry & Edens: A New Hope

We've had about a week now to digest the full transfer of ownership from long-time owner, former Senator Herb Kohl to New York based billionaires Marc Lasry and Wes Edens. I'll hopefully get into more detail later about these guys' comments later but I'll just say that the arrows are definitely pointing up with these two gentlemen.

The sale isn't officially approved by the NBA's Board of Governers yet but commissioner Adam Silver has stated that he doesn't foresee any issues with the sale. 

Full disclosure: I went out and celebrated the ownership transfer last Wednesday night (after Charlie and I attended the final game of the Herb Kohl era), because I had to. It was perhaps a bit too much in the end but it happens. 

Now that that's out of the way, I must first pay tribute to one Herb Kohl. While he was very unsuccessful during his 25+ years of ownership, Kohl has single-handedly ensured that we've had NBA basketball in the 414 for the past 25+ years and (hopefully) for the next 30+ years. I cannot deny him of that fact. However, during the standing ovation the BC crowd that I was a part of last Wednesday gave, I had my fingers crossed a bit. It was almost like a "thank you, Herb, you son of a bitch" type ovation, at least from me.

The fact that he was really doing his best to drive the franchise into the ground by his constant push for the eight seed in the East had grown absolutely tired and the entire fanbase was completely sick of it. With these new owners, I have to believe the black veil that Kohl had over this franchise has been lifted.

One thing Herb did that may prove to be invaluable, is the provision in the contract that if a new arena deal isn't at least in place by November 2017. This should force the owners, who seem like highly competitive guys, to get the ball rolling as soon as they can. It should also prevent them from pulling a half-hearted attempt at an arena and then throwing their hands up and moving the team to wherever they please.

However, no matter how much young talent this franchise had accumulated over the past 12 months, it was still owned by Herb Kohl and the guise that he/they would do something stupid to screw up the foundation, was always there. Now, given the new billionaire owners, a new arena on the horizon and some young talent, Milwaukee might not be the wasteland of the NBA that it has seemed to be over the last approximately ten years.

Kohl flanked on the left by Edens and the right by Lasry

Who are these new guys?

Marc Lasry and Wesley Edens are each worth over a billion dollars. They are hedge-fund managers based in New York City.

Lasry is the co-founder and CEO of Avenue Capital Group and actually bought the penthouse at the top of the 55 Central Park West in Manhattan, commonly known as the "Ghostbusters Building". He has been a highly successful businessman in his life but while I can't find anything, I've heard he doesn't have the cleanest of hands. Let's face it though, you don't get to be a billionaire with out being a King Cobra sometimes. You can't make a cake without breaking a few eggs, if you will.

Edens is worth a little more than Lasry and is the one with a few ties to the state of Wisconsin. He stated in the introductory press conference that his mother was raised and educated in the state and he also employs approximately 700 people in the state.

He is the co-founder and co-chair of Fortress Investment Group, Inc. and has a bachelor of Arts and Sciences from Oregon State working against him (I'm a Ducks guy).

As I previously stated, some of these guys' initial comments make them seem genuine about keeping the team here and building a championship caliber basketball team and that's really all fans want. I feel a new arena would contribute directly to that idea but the fans will come back in droves if you can just give them hope. With Kohl there was no hope.

In a Q&A with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the two expressed their deep interest in basketball and that they both seem to understand that you need to have the right people in place, especially in management, to be success. That's music to my ears and says that they're not here to just collect the gate profits from making the eight seed in a sh*tty Eastern Conference to get buried by the Miami Heat twice at home. They are basketball fans and they are winners; a potentially great combination.

We'll see who they bring on as front office personnel on both the business and the basketball side. You'd have to think they'd at least consult with Milwaukee Brewers' personnel on what makes them so popular, if not plucking someone from the Brewers' organization to run the business side. That'd be the smart move, in my opinion.

Arena situation

Lasry & Edens are together putting down $100 million toward a new building from the jump. Couple that with Herb Kohl's $100 million he's vowed to leave toward the building and that's $200 million right away, approximately half of what it would take for a state-of-the-art, multi-purpose arena in Milwaukee.

That should be more than enough right? Well, I'm not sure it is. I could see "Ledens" needed to throw down a bit more, possibly Kohl throwing in a bit more (what else is he going to do with it?) and the parties needing to bring in other investors to get this thing entirely privately financed. Lord knows, getting any public funding for what fans think is exclusively an NBA (Bucks) arena is going to be an absolute bitch, but I digress.

The problem I have with a totally privately financed arena is that the city won't get a cut of any profit. The only way the city would then benefit is the bars and restaurants surrounding the new facility thriving.

I genuinely believe they will get this down at this point in time. The two new owners have said they plan on having a deal in place in the next 12-18 months. So if we get into that period and it's still crickets, I'll be worried but for now, I'm alright.

With new owners, Giannis Antetokounmpo and another top pick in the upcoming draft, the future looks a lot brighter than it did just one year ago.