MILWAUKEE — Since it’s the NBA All-Star break, it’s a perfect time to check in on the Milwaukee Bucks. They resume play Friday night in New Orleans, and then they play nine of 10 games at home.
Spectrum News 1’s Dennis Krause sat down with Bucks beat writer Eric Nehm of The Athletic to chat about the recent trades and the adversity that Giannis Antetokounmpo has been faced with this season.
Here’s a portion of that interview.
Dennis: Eric, the Bucks won five of six before the All-Star break. Is that real? And what changed?
Eric: Oh, wow. That’s a great question. I think that’s a tough thing to kind of know. I think the exciting thing is that two new players came in, Cam Thomas and Ousmane Dieng… Both of those guys made contributions, which is always what you want to see as a pretty instant impact for those two guys. So if we’re looking at the real, not real part, I think that’s the part the Bucks are hoping is real. Cam Thomas was a 20 point per game scorer with the Brooklyn Nets, so he can do that. He can fill it up. And, almost immediately, Doc Rivers gave what I thought was a great compliment when he said, “This is Lou Williams, this is Jamal Crawford.” Those are two guys that he’s had on his teams before that. Cam Thomas reminds me of that. That’s an exciting thing for the Milwaukee Bucks to have a sixth man that might be able to do it.
Where it gets more interesting is whether or not Cam Thomas actually wants to be the sixth man, if that is good enough for him. With Ousmane Dieng, this guy was drafted in the lottery, he’s still 22 years old. He was playing in one of those programs where there was a lot of winning going on. That is a very serious team. That Oklahoma City team is great at drafting and developing. And he just got pushed down further and further on the list. And now all of a sudden, he’s got an opportunity. It’s a nice lottery ticket to grab through two games. I think there’s a lot to be excited about what Deng has done.
Dennis: You’ve talked to Giannis as much as anybody over the last several years. And I know he talked to you after the trade didn’t go through or whatever. He stayed in Milwaukee. Are we going to hear the same scuttlebutt from the national media this summer?
Eric: Yeah. This is exactly what it’s going to be with him. I know there’s a lot of frustration from people where it’s like, why doesn’t he just say, “I never want to get traded. I want to stay in Milwaukee. I’m going to do that forever.” Why does he always have to put these qualifiers on it where it’s like, “I do want to be here, but…” I think what all of us have to realize is that this is the most insanely competitive person I’ve ever been around.
I’ve covered a lot of athletes in my 10 years here, and he’s the guy. All he cares about is winning basketball games. So, for him to just say like, “Yep, I’m going to be a Milwaukee Buck, I don’t care if we win. Being in Milwaukee is more important to me than winning.” It’s something he’s never going to say. I think one of the things that’s hard is that has continuously put the organization in a tough spot, right? Like, you can only contend for so long in the NBA. At some point, you have to refill that roster with draft picks, with a different trade, with a new coach. You have to find ways to contend. They did it for seven years in a row. This year is not one of those years.
And I think one thing that I tried to get across in my stories is that I think this has been harder on Giannis than he ever thought it was going to be. To play with the team that is there, not trying to lose games. But there was just no way, with Damian Lillard tearing his Achilles in the playoffs last year, that they were going to get to a spot where they could be favorites in the East. That wasn’t going to happen this year. I think he thought he was going to be able to handle this a little bit better, like the struggles of playing with two young point guards, with trying to help out a team and do everything for a team to keep them in the playoff picture. I think it was a little bit harder on him than he thought. And he’s really struggled with it.
That the final month before he gets hurt, it was game after game of him complaining about Doc Rivers’ game plan, the point guards having the ball too much and him not getting the ball in the spots that he needed. It was him complaining about the younger players not seeing the things, effort level, like just over and over, all of those things. I just think it was harder on him than he really thought it was going to be coming into the season, and he struggled with it.
Dennis: Final question. You got Doc Rivers and Marques Johnson, both finalists for the Basketball Hall of Fame. Do you think either of them gets in this year?
Eric: Man, I want Marques to. So bad. I just think, you look at his resume, and I don’t think you can tell the story of basketball, like the first Wooden Award Winner, that you can’t tell the story of basketball without mentioning Marques Johnson.
And yes, I know, obviously his career went sideways with the injuries and things like that, but I think you have that. And then the fact that he’s been such a willing contributor to the game, I know that’s not necessarily basketball credentials, but that is something that matters for the Hall of Fame. There is the idea that, “What did you give back to the game?” He’s been a great broadcaster for going on two decades now. I don’t know, I hope Marques does. I’m not super hopeful. I think he might be on the outside looking in again. I think Doc will. I think you look at where his win total is. I just don’t see how you’re going to keep him out as a coach.