Milwaukee Bucks links for your perusal on October 22nd, 2024
Writer’s note: I was out of town this past weekend at Minnesota’s North Shore, so this week’s MMMR is actually a (thankfully rare) TMMR. I spent an unhealthy amount of time thinking about Khris Middleton’s knee health while staring out at the frightening majesty of the queen of the Great Lakes, so this series shouldn’t miss much of a beat. Thank you for your patience!
Khris Middleton may be dead. Long live Khris Middleton.
Normally Khris holds his seasonal surprise until at least a few weeks into the year, but lately he’s gotten into the habit of debuting it before games even get underway. For 2024-2025, we already have cleanup ankle surgeries and the news that he will (probably) miss the season opener. Thus, a new front in the ceaseless Khris Middleton Wars opens up.
Rather than razz the situation (you know I desperately want to), I want to ask what I think is an increasingly important question: how many regular season games do the Milwaukee Bucks need out of Khris Middleton? To me, there are something like four options these days:
- 0 games — he is literally only a 16 game player in the spring/summer
- 30 games — he plays about once a week most months with a slight ramp-up in March
- 50 games — you get him for chunks of games at a go with flareups that sit him occasionally
- 60-65 games — regular contributor who catches “DNP-CD (Rest)” like a normal star
I think anything beyond 65 appearances is optimistic in general, and if he hits that number, things went extremely right (or extremely wrong) for Milwaukee.
So which number would you advocate for? 50 is easily the most “realistic” option on the board given recent history, but is Khris so important to the team’s playoff outlook that we should be happy with an artificial 30? By artificial, I mean to say load-managing Middleton to the point of almost-absurdity. The coaching and medical staffs would lay out the NBA schedule on a week-to-week basis and select a game (or two!) a week they’d like to see Khris go in. Every other day is dedicated to R&R.
And in the abstract, would that approach even be that “absurd”? You’d miss Middleton’s playmaking in particular with this group, but the recent iteration of Khris isn’t contributing so much that you instantly fall out of the contender picture if he isn’t playing. Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo will spearhead any winning this year, so pushing more usage their way isn’t a bad thing per se (although you can argue Khris’s need for rest consequentially adds second-order miles on his teammates legs). If Khris is out, other guys get an opportunity to step in and showcase skills.
The point I’m trying to make is that Khris missing games is 1) To be expected and 2) Not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself. You’d rather have a third star needing heavy management than your second or first. Push the right buttons, pull the right levers, and you enter the playoffs with a top two who have built a solid understanding between themselves and a very healthy third option who can help stir the entire drink.
Think positive! It’s the first week of the season!
Let’s roundup!
Milwaukee Bucks Links
Can Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard get the Bucks back on track? (CBS Sports)
The kind of borderline-split personality article idea you’d normally expect from the likes of Mitchell Maurer has made its way onto the main CBS page. Yes, this is the most important question facing the Bucks. No, you need no deploy literary devices to “basketball “analysis””.
Here are the new food and beverage items coming to Fiserv Forum for the 2024-25 Bucks season (Milwaukee Record)
Eating my brisket barbecue nachos and washing it down with a lukewarm plastic cup of “Wisconsinitis Cream Ale”, all for $35. And they say the upper Midwest lacks culture.
‘I embrace it’: What former Runnin’ Ute Delon Wright says about latest stop on his NBA journey (Deseret News)
By “it”, Delon means the fact that he’s become the kind of NBA player who is both capable and is forced to ply his trade from place to place to place rather than settle in at one location. With luck, his market is muted enough that a good season here is just a prelude to a re-signing next summer. If it all comes together and he carves out a niche as Milwaukee’s backup guard, all the better for the team.
One Defining Stat for Every NBA Team Heading Into the 2024-25 Season (The Ringer)
Milwaukee’s stat here isn’t even a stat. Or, maybe, my reading comprehension is failing me. And I’m relatively proud of my reading comprehension! DON’T TAKE THIS FROM ME, KRAM.
How Losing Made Giannis Antetokounmpo Want to Smell Better (Men’s Health)
Sorry Giannis, but in this house we only purchase Dove Men+Care products. My skin is the opposite of a title-contender and needs all the help it can get. If smelling good means you shoot 30% from three rather than 22.4%, though, more power to you.
Know Your NBA Enemy
It’s baaaaaaaaaaack! My favorite running sub-segment of this column returns with the NBA season. For newer readers, I troll around the web for an article about Milwaukee’s opponents in the week ahead. We catch up with the enemy and support other bloggers with clicks. Win-win!
Philadelphia 76ers – Liberty Ballers – What back-to-back games should Joel Embiid play and which ones should he miss?
This is quite literally an article idea I might have to copy and do for Khris. Which game every week of the NBA season should he play and which should he miss? As discussed in the intro, at least load managing your third guy is preferable to load managing your top guy.
Chicago Bulls – Blog a Bull – For whom is this Lonzo Ball comeback, if it ever happens, even for?
The best and most withering blogging on the basketball internet happens over at BAB, so I’m very happy to have them back in my life. As the Bulls season gets underway, they’re asking an important question: What the hell?
Brooklyn Nets – Nets Daily – Cam Johnson might be traded … but is it a given?
Of course, nothing at all is a given in the NBA. Just because you want your random role player to net you some future seconds doesn’t mean other teams want to give them to you. The Nets may just send Johnson out for a ham sandwich regardless because this team isn’t winning anything for a very long time. In no way, though, are we going to see a Cam Johnson Sweepstakes. He lost to the Bucks in the Finals! That’s a horrific black mark.
The Social Media Section
Dreams do come true for 18th men
Please be good
I prayed for scrimmages as good as this
Yes, you are. I think.
Riley’s 2024-2025 Prediction Record: 0-0
Milwaukee Bucks 2024-2025 Actual Record: 0-0
This exercise began years ago when the times were good and the wins were plenty: could I out-predict how well the Bucks machine was winning. I’m here to confirm to you that no, I could not. But it is an easy way to set the table on the week ahead and look like an idiot at the same time, so we persevere! This week:
@ Philadelphia 76ers, Wednesday, Oct. 23rd — 6:30 PM (Central)
v. Chicago Bulls, Friday, Oct. 25th — 7:00 PM (Central)
@ Brooklyn Nets, Sunday, Oct. 27th — 5:00 PM (Central)
I will go with 2-1 with the loss coming to the Sixers. Not that they’re a juggernaut, but poetically it would feel appropriate if Milwaukee lost that one just so the fretting and doubting can go into overdrive. If they lose to either the Bulls or Nets, I will evisercate them on this column next week.
Enjoy the games! Bucks basketball is finally back.
Happy Tuesday!