Monday Morning Media Roundup: August 2nd, 2021

There is a certain simplicity in retooling a title contending team when you’ve just won the title and have committed so much money to so many players as to constrain your team building options. It’s why the scuttlebutt that PJ Tucker will be signing up for another go-around in Milwaukee and the rumors that Bobby Portis might be right there with them are so enticing. We don’t have a ton of options other than paying the guys who are already affiliated with the team or willing to take less than they’re worth on the open market to stay here.

So it’s a good thing we won when we did, and it’s a good thing the guys who helped us win might be willing to stick around to see if we can’t just win some more. Between returning players, draft picks/progression from rookies into their second seasons, and whoever we can convince to join us on veteran minimum contracts, the defending Bucks are set to look a lot like the title-winning Bucks.

If it worked once, why not again?

Let’s roundup!

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All-Access: Bucks Win NBA Championship (Bucks.com)

Yes, it is an hour long, but it is worth every minute you spend watching. The Bucks have long been very good at capturing a lot of the highs and lows behind the scenes throughout the season, and they outdid themselves in a major way with this flick capturing Game 6 from the lead up, to the game, to everything else afterwards.

Milwaukee Bucks GM says Giannis Antetokounmpo won’t need offseason knee procedure (ESPN)

Just in case you were wondering and worrying about whether we’d get some offseason revelation that Giannis’s superhuman feats came with a price attached... turns out they don’t. He’s just that unique.

Massive crowd packs Milwaukee streets for Bucks’ title parade (NBA.com)

Where “The Social Media Section” meets “endless images from the streets of Milwaukee as the players and fans celebrated the title. It’s been two weeks and I still get a thrill watching the city get to revel in such success.

5 things we learned from Bucks’ championship run (NBA.com)

We did indeed learn a lot about what it takes for a small market to win a title, and to be honest, having lived it, it makes sense why it is that teams like Milwaukee break through so rarely. We benefitted from a sort of perfect storm in assembling the right individuals at the right time with an unbelievably slim margin of error. We’ve taken the first step in becoming the spiritual successors to the San Antonio Spurs, but we’ll need plenty more luck where this came from to pull it off.

Sandro Mamukelashvili on NBA Draft, inspiring Georgian youth, dad’s cancer battle (New York Post)

Sandro flew a bit under the radar (my radar, at least), though if you watch just five minutes of his highlights you’ll note that he possesses an eclectic skillset. Whether the Bucks will be able to mold him into a contributor is an open question, but if you want to get familiar with the individual beneath the player, here’s this pretty extensive interview he had with the Post prior to draft night.

Georgios Kalaitzakis leaves Panathinaikos to join the Bucks (Eurohoops)

We’ll have to see how this situation plays out. According the Eurohoops, Georgios intends on playing through Summer League before signing his rookie contract. I believe in that case he’ll be treated like any other Summer League attendee looking to earn a spot on the regular season roster. Whether he then sticks around, signs a deal, goes through training camp, etc. is just a long series of unknowns.

Fan Post of the Week

Ah what the heck, everyone wins again! (because the content is too good to not highlight)

• JSOnline Castaway 2.0’s gif storm to end all gif storms in “Playoff Run Recap, in GIF Form”
• Knox5 with the former-Buck reunion I certainly didn’t see coming in “Potential Sterling Brown Reunion”
• AlbertLef is bringing all the former Bucks back in their “21-22 roster - unpopular suggestions warning!!!”
• The shortest-lived extensive draft prep in jerrybasketba11’s “Realistic Players Bucks Could Get at 31”
• And one of the best exercises any member of our community has going with R983’s newest edition of the “Player Ranking 2021 Season: Top 30 Players”

Know Your Enemy

Trying to make sense of whose pick we get in the second round of the 2024 draft is this week’s enemy. Unfortunately, they don’t have a SBNation sister blog for me to pick on.

The Social Media Section

Salute to our compatriot Jordan Treske for a long and fruitful run over at Behind the Buck Pass. A well-deserved (blogging) retirement!

Welcome to the squad, young man

The Bobby Saga continues

This guy has no quit in him

The Rebound King returns

Winning titles and slinging Gatorade knock-offs

Friendly reminder to not use your phone while driving. Please.

Weather coming to pieces and Mark still can’t help but place our title front and center. Respect.

Winning titles and slinging prettier-than-usual bottles of Michelob Ultra

Fingers crossed a big summer for Jordan means he’ll be ready for a bigger role next year

Sorry BreakingT... there’s levels to the championship merch game

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We’ll probably have a clear idea of who is heading where in free agency in just a few hours with the “open to negotiate” period kicking off at 5 PM (Central) tonight. If any big Bucks news comes across the wire, you know we’ll be on top of it.

Until then!

Happy Monday!