Monday Morning Media Roundup: July 31st, 2023

The Jrue Holiday trade. Turning free agents like Brook Lopez, Pat Connaughton, and Bobby Portis from flotsam into precious metal. Being sanctioned for the invalidated Bogdan Bogdanovic trade. Signing Tony Snell to a gazillion dollar contract five seconds after free agency opened. Acquiring Jon Leuer on a draft night deal so he could retire with the Bucks as his last nominal employer. AJ Green.

For Milwaukee Bucks GM Jon Horst, past offseasons have been a blend of a singular masterstroke, savvy free agency marginal player turnarounds, relatively hapless drafts, misfires, and figuring out ways to keep just enough space available on the cap sheet to ensure Thanasis Antetokounmpo always has a place.

He can now mark down Saturday, July 29th, 2023 as one of the moments of Bucks history of all time. It was the night MarJon Beauchamp ascended.

Scoring 83 points in any organized game — no matter the level of competition — is impressive. Just think about how long you have to be out on the court with the ball in your hands to make that happen! I’m tired just thinking about it. There is no taking away that accomplishment.

What is interesting about MarJon’s detonation, to me, is not so much that it is a sign of sustainable things to come (I’d be genuinely shocked if he ever tops the 30s for a career-high scoring night), but that it is another data pointing to be one of The Guys in offenses he is part of. Yes, he remains an average-at-very-best outside shooter right now, his one move is a dribble drive to the elbow before stopping and pivoting for a fader, and his limitations make finding a place for him in a lineup featuring Giannis Antetokounmpo still relevant.

But, still, it points to a mentality shift. One I’m somewhat skeptical of since Beauchamp’s basketball raison d’être is on the defensive end and the long way he has to go to make a consistent impact offensively at the NBA level. The true question yet to be answered is whether all this will carry forward.

In years past under Mike Budenholzer, I’d dismiss all of this as worthless as MarJon would inevitably play ~30-40 games to start a season before demotion to serious pine-riding time. With new coaching in place and a new approach to building young players up, you can’t be quite sure how development will be approach. Perhaps Adrian Griffin is putting one of his rotation pieces through the paces to see what he’s capable of.

Maybe its all in my head.

Whether MarJon the scorer sticks or not, though, we’ll always have the audacious snapping and posting of a discount Wilt Chamberlain impression:

Let’s roundup!

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Watch Bucks’ MarJon Beauchamp drop 83 at CrawsOver Pro-Am (Yahoo)

Here is the aforementioned ascendency for those curious. The highlight package is merely 1:37 long and so doesn’t catch all 83 points. I’ve yet to find stats to determine how many of the 83 came from three, so I assume a lot of the baskets were from inside the arc. His body control mid-air adjusting to defenders in the paint is noteworthy. If he can continue to work on that off cuts and feeds from teammates rather than attempting to create his own look off the dribble, that is promising.

Credit to the article writer for not knowing Wes Matthews is no longer a Buck, by the way.

Spurs re-sign Sandro Mamukelashvili (NBA.com)

Very pleased for Mamu that he was able to carve a niche for himself in the random pile of players the Spurs ran out there last year. I doubt the deal is for very long or for very much, but I get the sense that where the Bucks failed to see the ways Sandro could mentor Giannis, the Spurs won’t make the same mistake vis-a-vis Victor Wembanyama.

Jaylen Brown is the first test case of the “max or bust” salary philosophy created by the new CBA (CBS Sports) & Jaylen Brown Won’t Have the Richest Contract in NBA History for Long (The Ringer)

I’m increasingly reaching the opinion that any conjectures about how the second tax apron will impact team-building remain simply that: Conjecture. As many will rightfully point out, the percentage of the cap max/supermax players are taking remains unchanged from before; we’re just dealing with a much larger cap than ever before at the same time.

The intriguing question will be for the middle tier of NBA player. Will the second apron’s penalties be so punitive as to force teams to pay 2-3 guys and strip mine the rest of the roster for minimums? Or will current hand-wringing around Jaylen Brown heralding the death of the NBA’s “middle class” prove premature? Joe Ingles, who has absolutely nothing left to give on an entire half of a basketball court, just guaranteed himself an $11 million salary.

Guys who are solid NBA players will likely win or lose out on paydays based on the circumstances they’ve always been subject to: Salary cap rises, the connections of their particular agency, changing teams in free agency v. riding off the back of Bird rights via trade, employers prioritizing larger game before they get to the average pickings, etc. Does that make it fair for those players who, in a vacuum, would be worthy of a decently large contract? Of course not. But its never been fair in that regard.

Fan Post of the Week

2 emo 4 u

The Social Media Section

Veronica fashionable as always, Giannis wearing items he picked out at random while blindfolded that morning

Utter scenes when Lauren starts lighting Jrue up like she’s the second coming of Jimmy Butler

I would love to see Pat go all out with longer hair. Bring that early Portland flow back, brother. We know you can do it and do it tastefully.

Leather jacket Serge is him at his most powerful

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Not much on the docket this week barring more pro-am appearances. I see that Giannis was and may still be in Nigeria for a visit, so I assume we’ll get some news items out of that. Thanasis will likely return to Greece soon to rejoin the Greek national team for World Cup prep, and Bobby Portis should be reporting to Team USA’s camp in the near future. A reminder that the World Cup begins on August 25th.

Happy Monday!