Bucks Summer League Players to Watch, NBA Cup Groups Revealed and Giannis talks future (sort of)

Bucks Summer League Players to Watch, NBA Cup Groups Revealed and Giannis talks future (sort of)

Summer league is finally here. We share with you the names you need to keep an eye on for the Bucks. And we do know four games on the Bucks schedule for this upcoming season. We give you the latest on today’s Locked on Bucks. You are Locked on Bucks, your daily Milwaukee Bucks podcast, part of the Locked On Network. Your team every day. Welcome into Locked on Bucks. I’m Justin Garcia, joined as always by Camille Davis. You can hear me on the Bucks Radio Network. You can find Camille on the Technical File podcast and on the Locked On NBA show every week. Today’s episode is brought to you by our friends at Monarch Money. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use the code locked on NBA at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. Uh, summer league is here, Camille. As we record this Thursday morning, the first game is upon us. Later on tonight, the Bucks and the Denver Nuggets do battle out at the uh, what it’s at the Thomas and Max Center, right? Or is it called out in Las Vegas uh 8:30 Central time tip for that matchup. So, uh, time to take a look at the summer league roster. And a lot of Bucks fans already got in front of it and noticed some interesting names on there, but, uh, the guys that we’re most interested in seeing play here during summer league, I mean, I think there’s one very, very major name that most Bucks fans are looking forward to, and that is Bogaloo Marovich. Uh, he is on the summer league roster. wear number 23, the Bucks draft pick, lone draft pick this season. And we’ve had some ambiguous reporting on what his role could be with the team this year, whether or not it’s going to be a draft in Stash or whether or not he’s going to be on the uh the active roster and and also whether that means he’s one of the 15 guys or if he’s on a two-way deal. Um, I think that’s the place to start just to see, okay, what does Bogey show us here? And with the way they worded everything, these four games may well determine if he’s a drafting stash or if he’s on the roster. That’s what it seems like based on what we heard um after he was drafted. And it’s like we’re not exactly sure yet of what we plan to do with Bogey. We’re going to kind of see how Summerly goes. and knowing that he himself is ready to come over and he’s like, I want to be on the main roster immediately. I’m ready to hoop. I’m ready to get to it. Um, so like we’re going to see how that shakes out. But that is definitely the player I’m also most looking forward to seeing. Um, again, I know when he was drafted, people were thinking of Bugs for Captain a little bit when they were like, “Oh, we’ve been keeping our eye on him for years and we were surprised he was on the board at 47.” But even if you looked at consensus rankings, like some people had him as high as a late firstrounder, some people had him early second, but like to be on the board at 47. I could see the Bucks actually having some genuine surprise, but I’m ready to see him play. You know, 610, 611 guy needs to add on some weight. There’s been various reports about how much he weighs from 190 to 220, but when you’re looking at somebody who’s 610, 611, like that’s still pretty thin. And so we know he has to work on that physicality, but I want to see how the offensive game looks for him because that’s the piece of his game that uh he’s been heralded for. Like he has a good touch. He has a playmaking feel. He has some post flashes in this game. Um the rebounding is there for him even though, you know, he can get out physicalled at times. And I just want to see the kid play. Um, I’m trying to find a new quote here, but in his pre-draft interviews and whatnot, he was getting interviewed and he said something to me that made me be like, “Yeah, I kind of want to see what this kid is about.” Um, he was asked, of course, of like, “Hey, what do you see your vision for your NBA career? Like, what what do you want?” And he said, “I’ve seen some young guys when you ask them what they want, they immediately go to the highest things like championships and whatever. My main goal is to come here, be drafted if possible, and just continue developing. Stay in the NBA, be a part of a winning team. That’s all I want. All the other things can come easily, but staying in the NBA is my main point. And I loved him just saying like, I want to have a career. I want to be in the NBA for years. Like, hearing stuff like that makes me think he has the work ethic, which is also part of why it’s like, man, bring that kid over. Let him be around Giannis. Let him be around some of the guys on this team and continue to work. But yeah, I’m very excited to see him in the summer league setting. Yeah, interesting to see his playmaking ability, too. Um, and what he brings, where the shooting is at. But, uh, stretch four basically is is what he would project to be to your point to to put on some more bulk to the frame as well. But the the wingspan, I just I don’t see him being a five with that. I mean he’s he’s 6’11 and I believe his wingspan’s like seven foot wings span so not really adding much more there but uh can he also grow into a facilitator as we saw in some of the clips and highlights of his international play. So that I think is the number one name for every Bucks fan that they want to see what he looks like and and what the Bucks are bringing into the fold here. Maybe number two on that list is uh going to be the other guy that came the night of the draft and um and shortly thereafter on the two-way deal and that is Mark Sears who’s an undized point guard but certainly put up some prolific numbers at Alabama and his ability to shoot and we keep talking about finding ball handlers and creators for the Bucks. I mean, I don’t think you can bank on Mark Sears being that guy, but if he can show you flashes of it this year, you just solved another major problem there. You have. And summer league can be it’s always an interesting place to watch basketball because it’s the type of ball that it is. It’s It’s not always connected. It can be very haphazard at times. And when you’re able to have an actual point guard on the floor to help set people up in summer league especially, like it’s always a valuable trait, but in summer league, it really can go a long way. Like I watched the I watched probably too much summer league already, like some sickle levels of summer league. Um, watching like the California Classic in Salt Lake City and like watching the the 76ers and they didn’t have like any real facilitators out there and it got really messy at times just watching them play. So Mark Sears, I think, is going to have an opportunity to at least show like, hey, I can set up a table. Here’s what it looks like when I’m out there. And that’s a very valuable skill to have and one that’s needed when you’re an undersized point guard. Like you have to be able to be um elite at a certain end of the floor. And if you can control the offense, if you can knock down shots, you know, people call him like a little mini Jaylen Brunson, the left-handed game, uh the bucket getting ability. So, if that all can come together, and again, it’s summer league. You don’t want to put too much stock into it because we’ve seen guys excel in summer league and not make it in the NBA. We’ve seen guys have terrible summer leagues and be great NBA players. So, you take it with a grain of salt, but I think just getting your eyes on Mark Sears for the first time, knowing he’s a two-way guy and also knowing the Bucks have had some success with bringing in two-way guys and then being converted with Ryan Rollins and AJ Green. So, it’s a valuable position on the team and it’s a position on the Bucks point guard where there are some questions about like do we have enough depth. We’ve heard the Bucks are still looking to add point guard depth. So, yeah, I’m also very excited to see Mark Sears uh take the court because what could be like we’re going to see him with the herd a lot this year maybe on the main roster. So, yeah, excited to see what he can do. Uh, a couple other interesting names that are out there certainly for uh, any local fans, you got J David Joplain, Otto Marquette on the roster as we mentioned, Chris Livingston still on the summer league roster and I know that drew a lot of questions from some Bucks fans. Isn’t that kind of weird or why is that the case? Uh, maybe it creates for an awkward situation, sure, but you know, summer league is also the opportunity for other guys to find jobs. So, this is that next opportunity for Chris Livingston to have a strong summer league and catch on somewhere else as maybe a two-way or at the back of the roster with another team that has a need. Um, so there’s that. Pete Nance, who we only saw flashes of last season in a Bucks uniform, is on this roster. Uh, what is it the I’ve always gotten the first name wrong, but is it Bla1 Threat? uh the the kid out of Weieber State who was on the roster summer league a year ago uh with those connections to Damen Lillard who we came to find out was Dame was pushing for the kid to get that spot. He’s still there and maybe a little bit of awkwardness there as well without Dame. But you got that guy, you got Andre Jackson Jr. on the club. And the most interesting name to catch on this roster as we’ve started to see this accumulate more and more with some guys that were in the league, maybe didn’t pan out, weren’t in the right situation, and then a little bit of time passes and they’re on a summer league roster. Kind of similar to how the NFL retoled the practice squad. If that guy can be on a practice squad, that’s where we get to Kea Bates, who is on the Bucks summer league roster. Yeah, that one surprised me a bit when I saw his name. Especially when you’re looking at just like the years of experience on the team and you’re like, “Okay, rookie first year. First year rookie rookie. Okay, Andre Jackson two years. Okay, you’re like, wait a second, six years. Who is this?” And you look over at the name and you’re like, got a B. He’s he’s playing on the summer like, but again, a guy who, you know, he was part of the Julius Randle Company trade if I remember correctly. didn’t stick in Minnesota, got cut, played overseas, and now he’s looking for a chance to get back in for a Bucks team that has been, you know, looking for wing guys. Like, it’s an interesting flyer to take. So, really looking to see how he looks amongst some of the youngsters here at summer league because ideally he should look like a guy who is far beyond uh the competition level at this stage. But again, it’s a chance to get your foot back in the door and even if it’s not with the Bucks, it’s an open invitation to everyone else around the league. Yeah. So, again, tonight at uh what 8:30 Central time is when we get our first look at this Bucks summer league group and most notably when we get our first look at have we decided is it going to be bogey that we refer to him as? But Marovic and Mark Sears later on tonight against the Denver Nuggets. We did get some tidbits for the upcoming schedule as well as the NBA revealed their NBA Cup group pairings and your two home and road games. We don’t know the dates of them, but we know four games home and road for the Bucks and those games tied to the NBA Cup, I should say, for this upcoming season. So, we’ll get into those details and some familiarities coming up after this on Locked on Bucks. Well, if you’ve ever wished managing your money felt easier, that’s where Monarch Money comes in with the assist to let you know it can. Whether you’re growing your savings account or planning for a big purchase, Monarch Money puts you in the driver’s seat. It’s like having your own personal CFO, giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money is more than just a budgeting app. It’s a a complete financial command center. You can track all of your accounts, investments, and spending in one place. So, in addition to managing your money, you’re also building wealth. Want to track down how much you’re spending monthly on subscriptions or food service deliveries? Monarch Money can add all that up for you and show you it’s maybe more than you expected. And if you’re managing your finances with a partner, Monarch Money makes it easier than ever to track those shared goals, individual accounts, and where your shared accounts are at. Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use the code locked onna at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That’s monarchmoney.com code locked onnba to get half off your first year. So maybe lost in the shuffle of of all of this uh yesterday, Camille, was the NBA releasing their pairings for the uh the NBA cup and uh couple interesting tidbits to come from the uh the Bucks group. So, they are now in group C for this upcoming season. And uh it feels like I believe one team in their group they’ve had in each of the three years in their groups. But uh group C is comprised of the Bucks, the New York Knicks, the Miami Heat, the Chicago Bulls, and the Charlotte Hornets. Uh, I would say group A is the death group in the Eastern Conference, although it’s nowhere near what you’re going to see uh, in the West, but you know, group A, you have the Hawks, you have the Cavs, the Pacers, who still expect to be competitive, the Young Wizards and the Toronto Raptors. And that leaves, you are, you know what, I’ll change that. Group B has more potential. uh the Celtics, the 76ers, who you know, who knows? One of the more could be this, could be that teams, the Pistons, the Magic, and the Brooklyn Nets. So, there you can see most of these groups in the East, there’s one really good team, there’s maybe another team of Yeah, I can talk myself into that. And a couple intriguing teams, whereas we’ll get to the Bucks, the West, Group C, Camille. Um, the Denver Nuggets, the Warriors, the Rockets, the Spurs, and the up and cominging Portland Trailblazers, the NBA Group Cup is where it really, really shines a light on. And you know what? It’s good to be in the East. I swear that it does because when I saw that West Group C and I was like, Nuggets, dang, Warriors. Okay. Oh, the Rockets. Then you’re like, oh, the Spurs. And then you’re like, and the Blazers. And my husband made a joke. He’s like, man, poor Blazers. And I was like, hey, they played some defense to end the year, so they’re going to be a scrappy team this upcoming year. And then you look even at the other brackets. And again, it shows the difference, I think, between the conference because you got West Group B with the Mavericks, the Clippers, the Lakers, the Grizzlies, the Pelicans, which Pelicans, we’ll we’ll we’ll see what they can do. If they’re healthy at the time, they, you know, could be quite competitive. Teams. Yeah. I mean, group A is where you’d want to be, right? Because group A in the west is the the Wolves, the Thunder, the Suns, the Kings, and the Jazz. So like that’s probably the lightest group in the West. And then you look over to where the Bucks are with group C in the East, Hornets, Bulls, Heat, Bucks, and Knicks. And um the Knicks of course project to be like the toughest group team in that group, especially after how the Bucks had very limited success against them last year in the regular season. And you have the Miami Heat who I think are going to be annoying a lot this year with the the offensive firepower that they have now with Norm Powell being there with Tyler Herro, some of the younger pieces they have on that team as well. the Bulls can have been annoying um since they started playing this faster pace of basketball last year which seeing the Bulls and the Heat in the same group as like the the playin east playin superstar teams right there like they are allstar playin team so there’s history there and to have the Hornets in there you get to see Pat Connson you know over there um in that group as well so with LaMelo Ball and I’ve said this before but it seems like every time LaMelo Ball suits up against the Bucks um it’s always something in those games like he seems to very much enjoy playing the Bucks. So, it should be it should be fun group play. Um I would still expect the Bucks to be one of the top team. The Knicks are going to be the one where it’s like that might be a little tricky, but uh the Bucks should have a pretty good chance at you know getting back to the knockout round, getting back to Vegas uh for the NBA Cup again this year. Yeah. And um we interesting group that they’re in. Uh there’s the two teams that are going to come to mind are the Heat and the Knicks. The Heat, I still don’t know what to make of them. Uh the Knicks is going to be the interesting one that that’s going to draw all the attention and and it’s right back to year one of the NBA Cup with Bucks and Knicks. Um that was one of your quarterfinal matchups, too. The Heat were in their group last year, were they not? I believe so. Uh because I think it was like Heat, Pistons, Wizards, and then whoever the the fourth team was. I can’t remember at this time. Pacers, right? I think. Yeah. No. Was it? Who know? We’ll figure it out after the show. But yeah, you can’t avoid the Miami Heat. Now, we don’t know when the games are going to be played. We do know the two home and road games for the Bucks. Did you see this part, Camille? No, I did not. Okay. uh major let down in that the home games for the Bucks are going to be the Hornets and the Bulls. And I mean I get the well NBA Cup game and the the Bulls in that crowd. You’re going to have that crowd regardless. Yeah. Uh you really wanted the Knicks at home for an NBA Cup game. So on paper, your two most difficult games in this group are both going to be road games in New York and in Miami. Yeah. and that’s that’s not favorable. And I did look really quick last year the Bucks group was group B in the East and it was Bucks Pistons Heat Raptors and Pacers. So your your memory was correct on that. Um and yeah, those are the two toughest games for the Bucks to have on the road in this grouping. But I mean, the NBA Cup going into its third year, I’m curious to see how teams approach it, too, because we’ve heard the feedback about like, okay, well, it’s kind of weird to have this week off in the middle of the regular season. And some teams are like, well, we kind of like having that week off. We didn’t really care too much about winning the championship. But for this Bucks team, I mean, last year, the NBA Cup kind of helped get the ball rolling for them because they had the terrible start to the season going 2-8. Then they went nine and one over that next 10 games and then you know they were undefeated in group play. They get to Vegas and they showed out in that championship game against the Thunder which I do believe is the fewest points the Thunder scored in any game leading up to that championship that they won this upcoming year. So if you want a little carrot on your hat for that one, go ahead. Bugs and Bugs fans. But this could be another time for this year where like competition kind of ramps up. you can kind of see where you’re at um early in the season before you get even to All-Star break. So, I’m a fan of the tournament. I know there’s some mixed reviews on it, but so far I like it. I’m looking forward to seeing the courts and everything like that. I just hope that the NBA also puts a little razledazzle on the playoffs and the finals after seeing what they do for the cup. And it starts Halloween. It ends, I believe, a week earlier this year. It ends before December. It’s the last Friday in November. So, that’s going to give you two weeks. And I think that was one of the bigger gripes last year, too, is like, can you just go from group play into the knockout rounds, but there’s going to be about a two week gap? It’s the same cadence that the championship game will be played, I think, December 16th, and it’s going to be like the 13th and 16th or the semi-finals and finals, and then the knockout round is is leading up to that. So, uh that’s the schedule for it. Those are the groups. And if I can just jug jar the memory here. I believe 2023 it was the Bucks, the Knicks, the Heats, the Hornets, and the Wizards was that group. So, we’ll see how much longer I can I can keep this rolling. And side note too, when you look at the groups and the logos, you see it on paper now amongst other logos that you see the Magic’s new uh update and really like what Orlando did there. Um, okay, speaking of real clean and things that are going to draw a lot of attention, our guy was on a what was it? Twitch stream, whatever. He was he was on a stream this morning with I show Speed and had some interesting things to say. If you missed it, we’ll run back what those were coming up next. Um, are you a big YouTube stream? Uh, are you a big YouTuber, Camille? Like you get into the personalities. Now I’m I’m I’m always on YouTube. Like that might be my most used streaming platform, ironically enough. um some Twitch because you know some of the homies like to stream games and whatnot. So I I do be on Twitch but I’m not very big on the streamers like Kaised and all them. I don’t tend to watch. My knowledge of them is limited to and this is not me advocating for the person. If they tag along with Logan Paul at WWE events then okay I know who that person is. Yeah. Like I normally see the clips of their streams on other social media platforms and that’s how I know who some of the guys are. But yeah, not something I tend to watch. But um seeing Giannis with Eyes Show Speed, especially after Giannis said uh on a stream earlier this offseason that he kind of wants to get into streaming because of how much money they can make now, you know, and his wife was like, “Please no, like we don’t need this.” And then he shows up on I show Speed Stream and it’s like, “Ah, he’s getting started.” Um, I mean, I don’t think we can play the stream, but basically Giannis was asked, uh, I forget what the leadup question was, but the followup was, “You going to stay in Milwaukee?” And you can find the clip everywhere. Basically, it’s it was on the Bucks Reddit uh, sub, and just search and I show Speed and you can hear it for yourself, but asked, “Are you going to stay in Milwaukee?” and he gave a very honest answer where paused kind of uh yeah probably probably uh we’ll see he threw in there but he did add at the end I love Milwaukee I take that as the city and the community um I don’t take it as a definitive one way or another this is Giannis announcing his loyalty or this is Giannis really saying I don’t know maybe I’m going to leave I think this is more of Giannis just doing what superstars cars will do. And one of the cards you have to play to keep the pressure on the organization to say, “H, yeah, I’ll probably stay. I like what you’ve done so far. Keep doing it.” He wasn’t even looking at the camera when he like he was looking off into the distance. He had his hand on his chin. He’s like, “Yeah, you know, probably, you know,” and he looks off and it’s like watching it, I had to laugh cuz I was like, “Gannis loves the troll a bit.” And I took it the way you did where it’s like it’s not definitive like I’m here forever but it’s at least a yeah probably you know I love Milwaukee. We’ll see what happens because I believe leading into the question I show speed was talking about bigger markets and he’s like you know LA California New York the taxes are crazy. New York and he said New York they tried to get me to go there. Yeah. He’s like you know they try to get me to go there. He’s like he’s like you don’t want the taxes are crazy. You don’t want to go there. And you know Giannis is still looking off in the distance and being koi about it. But yeah, I looked at it like he’s he’s kind of trolling a little bit here. And I saw too they recently released the uh Zoom Freak 7s and the designs have been coming out and Giannis posted in his story because the bottom of the shoe spells out of the Kmpo which is actually a pretty cool feature I thought on the shoe and he mentioned that he turned it around you can see a skyline and I’ve seen the T like oh it looks like Milwaukee skyline. me staying forever. And I keep looking at the shoe like I I don’t quite see Milwaukee in this in this shoe. But maybe maybe I’m tripping. Maybe it comes out like, “Yeah, it is Milwaukee. Just doesn’t have the art museum.” Whatever the case may be. Um the breadcrumbs that people are trying to follow this off seasonason of what does this all mean for Giannis. Ultimately for me, he looks like a guy who’s having fun, but also wanting to keep a little pressure on the organization to keep making sure that they’re improving the team going forward. and they’ve done that. Um, you know what we’ve talked about, you could probably make the case at times of did they do enough with other organizations with superstars? Um, I don’t think you can make that case to the Bucks. Have they misstepped? Have they made some mistakes along the way? Yeah, every organization does, but we’ve seen John Horse willingness to be bold and to constantly find things. I mean, I I feel like it’s an annual discussion of like, well, I don’t think they have the pieces to do this, and they do something like that. Um, so they’ve always done those types of things. They have always done right by Giannis. even if it doesn’t work out that way in the end result, it’s a move that they envisioned working that didn’t work that they’ve always tried to and this isn’t just like we’re plating Giannis. This is obviously to make them better, but they’ve always shown that willingness and haven’t just kind of rested on laurels and and sat on their hands. It’s remarkable too when you look at, you know, we we obviously have to see how it all comes together and and works on the court, but it’s remarkable when you look at the group now versus the group that we are entering the season with a year ago. When you think about Wow. I mean, now it is just Giannis and Bobby Portoris left standing from the championship team, which was, you know, it’s it’s getting further and further out there in the rearview mirror, but it was four years ago. It’s not like this was the first year of Bud. So, they have really reshaped this roster. And you know, this kind of deviates a little bit from the Giannis discussion, Camille. But one of the things I’m interested to get into and see as we start to get to the preseason and uh see the makeup of this group is one of the things we haven’t spent a lot of time talking about yet. last year when you talk about how different the roster was when you’re going into the season with perceived three of your five starters Brook Lopez, Chris Middleton, and Damen Lillard, you are going to play at a certain speed and pace. There’s no way around it. All three of those guys are gone. and the replacements. I mean, Miles Turner is not Jericho Sims in terms of his ability to just get up and down the floor, but Miles Turner is probably in the middle if we’re looking at Jericho Sims and Brook Lopez. Closer shading to the uh the Jericho Sim side than Brooke. So, you upgraded that aspect there. Obviously, remains to be seen who starts at the three, but you know, with either Ryan Rollins or Kevin Porter Jr., you’re going to push the ball and play at a faster pace than you would under Damen Lillard. So, that’s one of the other things that has changed massively that I mean again remains to be seen if this is going to be something that works to the Bucks advantage, but they are going to play at a much faster pace this year. They are and it makes a huge difference. Like I remember last offseason we were talking about the roster as it settled in and it was like we like that they got vets because in case the young guys aren’t ready to go, you know, you have these vets you can lean on while AJ Green and Andre Jackson Jr. and possibly Chris Livingston and these guys come into their own. And this season you look at the roster and the ages associated with them and you’re like, okay, you have some guys in their mid20s here who are ready to get out there and hoop. Like when Kevin Porter Jr. came to the team. I remember him making a comment of like like what do you like what are you guys bringing to the team? And he was like, you know, we we’re faster. You know, this is an older team. Like we’re we’re going to be fast. Like we’re we’re looking to push the pace here. And now you’re starting the season off like I don’t want to say that seem like an insult, but kind of a little bit more modern basketball at this point of we’re pushing the pace here, like we’re going to be faster. And I think when you put those types of guys around Giannis, something we haven’t really seen yet in this particular rendition of the Bucks, but it should be a big difference of seeing them play at a faster speed around Giannis, a guy who is a transition monster. Um, so like I’m looking forward to seeing what that looks like for them because it should be a completely different flavor of of basketball than what we’ve seen over the last few years of more um proddding, more a slower pace of ball. Yeah. And you know, even you can go back and you can pull their pace numbers from those final eight games of the regular season and compare it against how they played the basically the two years that it was the Bucks with Damen Lillard. And again, this is not to single out and attack Damen Lillard because it wasn’t just Dame. As we just said, you had a veteran group with older players that you’re too. Yeah. And and be more confined to a half court game. um you can pull those and see how it relates. It’s a number one, it’s a very small sample size, and number two, it doesn’t account for the the wholesale changes that they’ve made that again, we preached all throughout the start of the off season or as soon as the season ended, like this version of the Bucks, Giannis needs to be your oldest player. And for all intents and purposes, we’re there. We are. We are. And that’s why it’s exciting to get into this the season. Like I remember when all this kind of started unfolding and I was like if 34 is here in Milwaukee and they are getting ready to retool the roster around him in this new era, I’m excited to see what it looks like because it’s going to be a bit different. Like yes, some of the pieces are the same from last year, but that style of play that we saw from them when when Dame was out was different from what we saw before. And the idea of Giannis being one of the oldest players on the team with a bunch of young bugs running around him, like that’s kind of exciting for me to see what this looks like going forward. And I still feel the same way, especially with the Miles Turner edition now where you have a front court mate next to him that brings some familiarity of like how the play will be, what we saw with Brook Lopez, but also seeing a little bit more Kevin Porter Jr., Seeing Gary Trent, seeing AJ Green, you know, seeing these guys come into their own, I think is going to be really fun um throughout this season. And let me be very clear that sometimes fun comes with headaches because, you know, it’s younger guys. It’s a different system. There can be the ups and downs that come with it. Like AJ Green might have another streak where, you know, the the shots not falling for him, but you got to shoot through it. Like you live with those types of moments while these guys are developing. So, I don’t know. I’m I’m excited to see it. I’m also really excited for summer league tonight, which maybe is another indication of just like I’m ready for basketball to be back because I shouldn’t be this excited about summer league games. I don’t think. No. And it it’s, you know, looking at the group of guys to see what do you have there. Now, I I mentioned you we we can pull and and compare the the pace stats. It’s not the cleanest view. uh their pace actually went down in the games where Dame wasn’t playing. But again, how does this all come together? Because I would imagine it’s it’s not going to be the way they played last year. It’s going to be closer to um we say those eight games, but it was I mean it was really like the last five of those eight where it started to wow, this is how you got to play. And you think about that monster stat line that Giannis had against the Sixers. like those were the types of games. So, I do think it’s it’s certainly going to lean much much closer to that than anything that we’ve seen really since the very very early days of this era of Bucks basketball when you’re you’re talking about guys like man Chris was still young. Giannis was young. Brook Lopez was what 30 when you signed him. So, um, basically the same age as Miles Turner that if you can kind of get back to that spot and I think that’s, you know, the pl place to close with the message that we’ve sent all off season. Um, I don’t think, like I know we’re all homers here that that come to this channel and that support the Bucks. I don’t think you can say at this moment the Bucks are a serious contender to win a championship, but let’s just see how these pieces fit. Knowing the pace component, the the group has gotten younger. They’re going to be more athletic. You’re going to be more heliocentric around Giannis. And having the best player in the conference gives you a as good a shot as anything to make some noise. So, can you put them in that inner circle of contenders at this moment? No. But it doesn’t mean that the the door to that room is closed and locked and no one else can get in. Somebody, it always happens. somebody else enters the conversation and enters that room and you know if things break right the Bucks have a chance to be that team because of Giannis and because of what they’ve done to reshape the roster. Yeah, it’s like a why not us type of type of team I think and as we mentioned we’re getting ready to wrap here. One thing I’m looking to see this season because we saw it really starting last year with Giannis being a more vocal leader for years. We know we’ve heard that he’s been more of a guy who leads by example. You watch how he practices. you watch how he plays and he leads in that way and Doc was challenging him a bit last year of like we need you to be a bit more vocal and you would see him you know in the huddles talking to guys trying to get guys together and going into this time frame now where he is one of the older players on the team. I am looking to see how that leadership continues to develop for Giannis going forward of like is he more vocal? Do you see him with the with the other guys put his arm around him coaching him up telling him exactly what he wants? Because one thing about losing a Brook Lopez is he’s always talking on defense, on the court, period. And you’re going to need guys that are going to be talking. So, I am looking to see how that growth in Giannis’s game on the the leadership style, communication style continues to grow as well. Uh, let’s take Bogey Marovic out of it. Who are you most looking forward to seeing in Summer League? Because I would assume he’s going to be number one. So, leave your thoughts in the comments. Who are you looking forward to seeing outside of him most looking forward to? And uh it’s going to be like riding a bicycle again, Camille, because we’re going to have a postgame recap of the Bucks and the Denver Nuggets coming your way for tomorrow’s show. We may even have a weekend show recapping game number two of summer league play. And uh we may even get Frank out there to share some thoughts on summer league and everything else that’s unfolded so far in this offseason. Did we talk to Frank about Miles Tur? Yeah, we did. Yeah. Yeah, it all blends together. I think we did. I’m pretty sure we did. We’ll Frank’s got thoughts. So, nonetheless, uh I think we’re going to have Frank back on the show again next week. That’ll do it for today’s show. Remember, the postgame recap comes your way tomorrow for Camille. I’m Justin. We’ll talk with you once again tomorrow on Locked on Bucks.

Bucks’ Summer Shake-Up: New Faces, Fresh Strategies, and Giannis’ Future

Milwaukee’s roster overhaul takes center stage as the Bucks gear up for Summer League action. Justin Garcia and Camille Davis break down key players to watch, including draft pick Myles Turner and two-way signee Mark Sears. The duo analyzes the NBA Cup group pairings, with Milwaukee facing stiff competition from the Knicks and Heat. Giannis Antetokounmpo’s recent comments on his future with the team spark debate, while the hosts explore how roster changes could lead to a faster-paced Bucks squad. With only Giannis and Bobby Portis remaining from the championship team, how will the Greek Freak’s leadership role evolve?

Tune in for expert insights on the Bucks’ transformation and what it means for their title hopes.

0:00 Summer league preview and NBA Cup groups
5:57 Bucks’ summer league roster breakdown
12:49 NBA Cup group pairings and schedule details
21:35 Giannis’ comments on staying in Milwaukee
25:11 Bucks’ roster changes and faster playing style
31:54 Potential for Bucks as contenders next season
35:05 Players to watch in summer league

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOBucks?sid=YouTube

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA

#MilwaukeeBucks #Bucks #GiannisAntetokounmpo #DamianLillard #NBA

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
Monarch Money
Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first year

Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.

FanDuel
Right now, new customers can get ONE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)