Monday Morning Media Roundup: October 19th, 2020

It’s been coming for a long time, but with the NBA season at a close and almost nothing besides whether Anthony Davis is the greatest big man of all time (trust me, I’ve seen some psychos discuss this on The Twitter), the sights of the sprawling collective known as the chattering class can fully turn on Giannis. And if they’re turning on Giannis, that means they’re turning on every possible reason why Giannis will decide to sign with any team that isn’t the Bucks.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

Exhibit D

Exhibit E

Exhibit F

(I’m aware that half are satire, but the line from satire to speaking-into-existence is the slipperiest of slopes)

Previous MMMRs have been used to prepare everyone for the onslaught awaiting us just beyond the horizon. Well, the horizon is here, and it’s louder and dumber than we could have ever imagined.

Let’s roundup!

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What does the offseason hold for the Bucks’ roster? (The Athletic)

Sorry for the paywall, but if you have access to the Athletic I think you’ll find that Eric Nehm has done a good job laying out the (lack of) options for Milwaukee’s team building given cap constraints. The reality is that — assuming the NBA decides to keep the 2019-2020 cap numbers in place for next season — the Bucks have only a few small tools on-hand to sign free agents with (MLE, bi-annual exception, etc.). That was always going to be a problem, but you’d have hoped it’d be a problem we’d be dealing with off the back of a championship run. Now, having fallen short and probably needing some change, the best we have is some cap trickery, someone willing to bet on Eric Bledsoe, or the 24th overall pick being a Tyler Herro-like contributor from the jump.

However, all that is on hold while we figure out the CBA...

Sources: NBA, NBPA extend negotiating window on CBA modifications to Oct. 30 (ESPN)

The good news is that the league and players association are still talking to one another. Neither side has taken a (publicly) entrenched position which allows for the number crunchers to conduct a full audit to figure out what kinds of hits revenue streams took and may take in the year to come. Having a relatively harmonious relationship with the PA has been a defining feature of the Adam Silver-era, and so far it has paid off in avoiding a threatened lockout.

It’s unclear what the cleanest solution is. If they opt to keep the cap values consistent to a year ago regardless of the drop in revenue, there will undoubtedly be some wrangling since billionaire owners won’t take a hit like that on the chin lightly. But, to have the cap drop in one fell swoop would also put 25/30 teams into the tax and... well that’s just another tax on the owners, really. There will probably be some give by both sides, but until we have concrete numbers...

Bucks To Pursue Bogdan Bogdanovic? (Hoops Rumors)

We get to engage in some wild speculation about who is hot and who is not on Milwaukee’s free agent radar. Shams Charania from The Athletic reported last week that the Bucks are quite interested in finding a way to land Bogdan Bogdanovic of the Sacramento Kings. Bogdanovic is a restricted free agent who is fresh off a 15.1 ppg (.440/.372/.741), 3.4 rpg, and 3.4 apg season as a member of a Kings squad that is perpetually in the midst of turmoil and chaos and abject madness. However, as a restricted free agent it is totally within Sacramento’s power to match any offer the Bucks might lodge.

One option on the table is to pull the old Malcolm Brogdon-reversal and have Bogdan declare that he is upset about having too small a role, unwilling to stay no matter how much they pay him, and that Milwaukee suits his weather preferences far better than California. It is then, and only then, that DJ Wilson finds freedom.

The Social Media Section

Brandon Jennings did everything he could to prevent the revolution

THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO “HMMMMMM” EDITION

A moment of reflection for our moderately-injured leader

This is how my fiancée greets me when I survive another day as a professional desk jockey

If we put Thanasis in charge of team stretching that goes a long way to explaining the Bubble disaster

I thought this said “happy sixth birthday” and was perturbed by how old the child appeared

This is more wholesome than the Halloween club party, at least

I assume this is a shoot for a video game appearance? I can’t tell what’s happening here

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Since everyone is allowed to live in a temporary fantasy land between now and whenever whatever changes are made to the CBA are made to the CBA, we can continue to get creative here in our slice of the internet. While we’re busy pretending DJ+the Indy first is a fair trade for Bogdan, I’d like to imagine we could convince Christian Wood to come back for a part of the mid-level exception. He’s ready for a ring; he’s ready to come home.

Or maybe we can just check in with Brandon Jennings right before the playoffs and see if he’s got enough juice left for one more playoff run. We might need some more lead guard help around these parts sooner rather than later.

Happy Monday!