Tuesday Morning Media Roundup: September 6th, 2022

Sorry for all of those international readers who set their wristwatch/appliance clocks/entire weekly schedule around the constancy of the MMMR posting sometime between 6:00-7:00 AM (Central) every Monday. Labor Day and a friend’s wedding in Milwaukee called me away from my Saint Paul sanctuary and means this week we’ve a TMMR.

To be frank, there isn’t a whole lot going on besides EuroBasket; which isn’t nothing, but also gives us Americans a taste of our own medicine having us tune in at inopportune hours if we want to watch live. Otherwise, expect to hear bits and pieces about players arriving back in Milwaukee over the coming weeks as they prepare for training camp. All things considered, it wasn’t the driest summer I’ve been through with the column, so thanks to all for indulging in whatever random articles I found to fill the space each week!

Let’s roundup!

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NBA offseason survey: What coaches, scouts and execs are watching ahead of 2022-23 (ESPN)

Pretty interesting series of questions and answers here, posed to 15 “NBA coaches, scouts, and executives” (note that the level of these individuals is not identified; I assume they’re somewhat knowledgeable regardless). Giannis leads the way in most of the player-centric categories in terms of who the best player is right now, who will win this year’s MVP, and who will be the best player in the league five years from now. And yet, Milwaukee as a whole remains tied to come out of the East with Boston and a vote behind the Clippers for the title. The Bucks also avoided being labeled as having either one of the better or worse offseasons in the league, all of which accords with what we’ve observed.

2022-23 NBA Player Projections (FiveThirtyEight)

I know you folks love totally random stat assessment tools, so you’re welcome ahead of time. Also, I went ahead and answered the question top of all our minds: How do MarJon Beauchamp and DJ Wilson compare in FiveThirtyEight’s system?

Outstanding. Horst has done it again!

Bucks Notes: Giannis, Mamukelashvili, Lee, Kerr (Hoops Rumors)

It’ll always be hard to strike the balance between international national team play and club competition in basketball, especially since the tradition of national team precedence doesn’t exist in the American context outside the Olympics. Given that, I’m glad the Bucks and the Greek federation have an arrangement that, while probably somewhat unwieldy and an added hurdle for the Greek staff, allows Giannis to play during the offseason.

Giannis Antetokounmpo Dealing with Knee Discomfort; Injury Is ‘Nothing Major’ (Bleacher Report)

That being said, as long as Josh Oppenheimer is heading overseas to be part of the Greek coaching staff, we might as well send Suki Hobson with him as a nice-to-have traveling buddy/knee strengthening expert.

Offseason Review: Milwaukee Bucks (Liberty Ballers)

Genuinely appreciative of our sister sites taking the time to do a little look in on what the Bucks have been up to. It’s a good starting off point for analysis on how the teams match up, and will hopefully deepen the insight a Sixers fan can get in watching the Bucks when we play. Luckily for the writer of the piece, Joe, there wasn’t a whole bunch he had to cover — suffice it to say we’ll be hoping any upgrades other Eastern teams made aren’t nearly enough to bridge the gap rent by Giannis Antetokounmpo being himself and having Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton available.

Small-Market Teams Are Paying Big Prices to Go All In (The Ringer)

The market always had the possibility of being awash in future draft pick trades, but it has really kicked up a few notches the past four or five years, it feels. Zach Kram views the recent trades by the Timberwolves, Hawks, and Cavaliers as front offices throwing the chips down to emulate a Bucks-style trade a la the one that got us Jrue Holiday and a title. The trade off for these teams is the loss of retooling if a bid for a title goes sideways via the draft, but teams that stockpile an army of future picks have to move off of them at some point. While losing three or four first-round picks may sound dire on the day of the trade, I wonder if we’re not just accelerating into a future where teams who mortgage the future in decisive fashion won’t be able to recoup capital relatively quickly with so many draft swaps sitting around out there.

Fan Post of the Week

Vacation is over, and with the brain trust back in the office we’re already churning out some really original thinking. Leading the way this past week was lightning-rod-man who wrote the FPOTW equivalent of a novella — allowing us readers into both the headspace and conversation between Jon Horst and Danny Ainge, in, “If Danny Ainge Is Smart…”

Will the piece win the site its first Nobel? Probably not. But just as Ryan Smith’s techbro dollars spend further in Utah than they do in the Bay Area, a FPOTW award means more among this esteemed company than whatever some high-brow Swedes hand out.

The Social Media Section

...what the hell?

Looking forward to seeing what color scheme they whip up to match these with the purple alt unis this year

Been praying for a long time to live in times like these

It rocks that this dude is on the squad lol

Click through for an absolutely necessary Zaza Pachulia sighting. From one great Georgian Buck to the next. It’s about tradition.

I think I know which random player Jon Horst is obligated to find a roster slot for for eternity

He might be the legendary Sixth Antetokounmpo brother

I love that he posts pictures that cut copyright disclaimers right in half

Happy first day of school to all the kids!

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Greece and Georgia continue their respective EuroBasket journeys apace this week, starting tonight (today) with the Greeks taking on Ukraine in Milan, Italy and the Georgians hosting Bulgaria in Tbilisi. Then on Thursday, it’s Greece v. Estonia and Georgia v. Montenegro.

Greece looks in comfortable position to advance out of the group stages having won all three of their games played so far, but it’ll be a trickier road for Georgia with a 1-2 record and a game against group A leader Montenegro to close the opening phase of EuroBasket play. As ever, we appreciate the continuing stream of comments from our European readers keeping us in the loop as to how the guys are looking. Here’s to getting to the knockout rounds!

Happy Monday!