I haven't watched them to be honest, but based on numbers from Giannis, their 18 game winning streak, their #1 record and their crazy net rating (+13.9) I was wondering how they are doing this? Have they improved even further because of Giannis? No more Brogdon to share with? What is it? Regardless, I'd have to say if by the end of the year it still resembles these numbers with #1 record in the league than Giannis deserves the MVP way more than this year than last year. Harden while putting up crazy numbers does not deserve it as much as last year so far in comparison with the rest of the league.
Except for Giannis every other starter is worse than last year. Middleton got injured and missed a significant amount of time , Bledsoe last season played 1st team all Defence this year and Brook Lopez now has turned into Brick Lopez. But George Hill is in excellent form and DiVicenzo now that he's healthy in his second season has been a revelation. Donte can fill a large gap of what Brogdon did. This is the second season under Bud, so the offence is more fluid, they can execute flawlessly ATO plays and the defence is top quality again. So the team is better even if so far most of players are worse than last year. Of course Giannis is much better now, hitting 35% from 3s on high volume in December except he can't hit a FT to save his life.
Giannis and the Bucks come to play every night. They are a mature and disciplined team. Elite on both ends of the court. Supremely jealous. The Rockets are not even close to them, unfortunately.
Imagine being able to play these teams 4 times a year Knicks Cavs Hawks Bulls Wizards That's like 20 auto-wins for the Bucks. 1 quarter of their entire schedule.
The East has been better than the West this year, so what's your point? Golden State, Memphis, New Orleans, Portland, San Antonio and Minnesota haven't been exactly lighting the world on fire. Teams over 0.500 West : 6 East : 7 Teams with over 10 wins West: 9 East: 10 Out of the 3 Bucks losses 2 have come from Eastern teams..Miami and Boston.. So in fact they would be much better if they were a Western team this year.
Yeah, but the East gets to play...well...the East a whole lot. I wonder how the East fairs vs the West overall so far?
East > West. I'm too bored to explain so here: https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1919367
Had they kept Brogdon, they could win it all this year. They are a great regular season team, with the deepest bench in the league, great chemistry, and defined roles in offense and defense. Every night two or more bench players will contribute. But they lack the top end talent to beat the Lakers and the Clippers in the finals. They need to trade the Pacers pick and some of their less used young talent (Wilson, Brown, Bender) for another playoff rotational player. Marcus Morris would be great on the Bucks.
It is extremely boring to watch. I watched more games in the 15 win season than in the 18 win streak season. It is a complete snoozefest, games are over by the third quarter there is no struggle or interest. Not even a high draft pick rookie to watch. You cant even enjoy wins because they were supposed to win them in the first place. Everyone acting so professional and clinical. Boring me out of my wits. I need to find a new team.
Why? Games start at 3:30 am. Tell me a reason to bother to wake up to watch a 2-3 quarter murder. Then in the morning when I already know they won by 20-30 points why bother watch? It's not like they play a Hawks or Spurs style when it is a joy to watch the game in itself. I want competition and struggle. To be anxious about the result and be angry and then be happy after a hard fought win or sad about a loss. There is zero excitement. The only games worth tuning in are against 5-6 teams.
Do the Giannis rules still work? He has a bit of a 3pt now. Is his passing still meh, or gotten better. Jazz and Raptors used the wall. Below is one from Celtics. Pickup early in transitinon Build a wall. (against transition, and a half court wall against his drives) Double the post with a big. Switch multiple defenders. Spoiler
They're the Rockets but with better three point shooting (currently 10th in %) and better defense. When the Rockets had those things they went 65-17 and almost took down an all time great collection of talent on one team.
The West vs East is 70-71 so far. So It's pretty much a wash. If you look at the standings, the conferences are spread pretty similarly. The East has a little more bad teams. The West has a little more below average teams. They have about the same number of good teams. It's interesting that when LeBron moved to the West, people were predicting the gap between the two conferences would be even bigger. It turns out not the case so far. I guess the demise of Golden State has a lot to do with it.
