Monday Morning Media Roundup: Reintroducing Milwaukee’s Big Three

You want an arbitrary unit of measure to help illustrate how seldomly (relative to expectations) Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, and Khris Middleton have played together this season? When I put in the keywords “Giannis, Khris, Damian” into our image search tool here at SBN, I got three results with the one chosen for this article coming from November 2023.

That’s a silly way to measure something that I can quite literally look up the stats for, but how interesting that the core engine of this Bucks team hasn’t even been photographed together all that much this year.

Anyways, to the numbers:

• This season, the Giannis-Khris-Dame three man lineup has shared the court for a total of 674 minutes — across merely 38 games (27 wins, 11 losses) — and is 10th placed among three man lineups the Bucks have trotted out this year
• Since Doc Rivers officially took to the sideline as head coach on Jan. 29 against the Nuggets, the Big Three have played 92 minutes together in four games (two wins, two losses) — by comparison, the most-played three man group in that stretch logged 466 minutes (Brook Lopez, Dame, Malik Beasley)

The downside is obvious: Milwaukee’s key players haven’t been able to share the court together nearly as much as anyone would like. It makes determining the true nature of the team that much more difficult because its ideal identity isn’t readily available. Chemistry building has been a stop-start project all season long.

But what about the upside?

In those 92 minutes together, Milwaukee’s Big Three has registered a stellar +30.1 net rating when on the floor (127.6 ORTG and a 97.0 DRTG). If you expand the range to the entire season, the net drops a bit, but remains impressive at +18.0 on the year (125.9 ORTG and 107.9 DRTG). Basketball as a sport cannot be boiled down to three man lineups to explain everything, yet we can take heart in the knowledge that the numbers say these three function extremely well together on the floor. 92 minutes is a small sample, true, but the gains in Milwaukee’s overall defense since Adrian Griffin’s firing means the team is far more likely to reach a survivable floor upon which the Big Three can build most nights.

The trick ahead of Doc Rivers and the players themselves is striking that ever-elusive balance between adding more minutes to that four game sample-size and ensuring everyone’s health. Everything points in a positive direction. We just need to actually see it more than once every blue moon.

Let’s roundup!

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Milwaukee Bucks Links

Biden met with billionaire Bucks owner (& Doc!) in Milwaukee (Politico)

We will accept any and all idea submissions for Bucks-themed Super PACs to make light of Joe Biden’s recent stop in Milwaukee and meeting with Edens/Doc. “Bucks in Six For America” and “Adrian Griffin’s Special Advisory Committee” come to mind, but we’re happy to take on all comers.

Why Damian Lillard, Bucks face a bigger challenge than the Celtics (Yahoo)

Now that we’re entering the home stretch of the season, the question quickly becomes one of wondering whether 11 games is enough of a runway to get the Giannis/Dame/Khris trio up and running as expected under Doc’s auspices. A tricky balancing act given an equal desire to be as healthy as possible once the post-season starts. Would be a shame if unavailability during the season ultimately undid this Bucks team.

The Bucks have finally unleashed the Lillard-Giannis pick-and-roll (ESPN)

Torn between laughing and despairing at the fact that this kind of extremely basic drilling was ignored for months and months:

When Rivers led his first shootaround in Denver a few days later, he had five players take the court — three players on one side, Antetokounmpo and Lillard on the other. Then, Rivers had the two run pick-and-rolls together.

“We’ve laughed about it in practice,” Lillard said. “[He’ll] be like ‘All right, Giannis set the screen. Throw it back. Now dribble it back to Dame. Dame throw it back.’ And we’re just going back and forth with each other for 15 seconds.

Dinners With DeMar - Ep. 3: Damian Lillard (DeMar’s YouTube)

Haven’t had a chance to watch, but wanted to share it here in case you wanted what looks like a promising interview to start your week. DeMar has been one of the more vocal players when it comes to addressing mental health challenges, and the two are close friends, so could be some good insights not only to the past year-plus in Dame’s life, but the rigors of their line of work in general.

Know Your NBA Enemy

Los Angeles Lakers - Silver Screen & Roll - The Lakers finally turned the corner on offense

A team offense with a reputation for having completely forget how to make jumpers from beyond the three-point line? Since when did Silver Screen & Roll start covering the Milwaukee Bucks?

New Orleans Pelicans - The Bird Writes - The Pelicans’ Top-Ranked Defense Has A Serious Weakness

Unsurprisingly, a critical component to a team defense that functions well and one that falls apart is the presence of big men who can both communicate and participate actively within a wider scheme. It is nigh impossible for a perimeter player to fill this role since, understandably, their back is turned to what is going on elsewhere on the court. If a big like Jonas Valanciunas cannot cover ground and call out assignments to his teammates, you’re very likely heading to a world of hurt.

Atlanta Hawks - Peachtree Hoops - Three questions for the Hawks during this stretch run

Question one: Wtf kind of glasses is Quin Snyder rocking that article header? In all seriousness, another year, another mostly lost campaign for a Hawks team that never found a way to build on the success of their somewhat surprising trip to the 2021 Eastern Conference Finals. You’d figure deeper change would be in the cards, but you’d have also figured that would be the case for a number of offseasons now, so who knows.

Comment of the Week

Some good and level-headed takes in the immediate aftermath of the loss to the Celtics last week. Felt that Dark Hark’s bevy of analyses was some of the best of the bunch:

Few thoughts...

1) I continue to love how Doc distributes minutes. Khris isn’t playing like he is coming back from injury, and the continued push will do him well.... Loved in the 4th when he kept playing the hot hands, he has done that multiple times and he’s both not afraid to do it, nor afraid to move away when it is no longer effective (both evident tonight)

2) Last time I commented on a Bobby at 4 lineup with Giannis at 5 there was isolated pushback, but I stand by it. This Boston team is different from years past, and thus has a different solution .. neither Horford nor Kristaps, nor Tillman scares me as a physical enough 5 to make Giannis not effective there, and honestly getting either Jrue, Tatum, Brown or White out of the game because they are inept at guarding Bobby seems worth it.

There’s more to the comment over on the Rapid Recap of that Celtics-Bucks game! Thanks, Dark!

The Social Media Section

Bobby’s branding guy is stellar. Get them in touch with Breaking T!

Lead us, 99

The shimmy shake celebration will undoubtedly come back to bite us in the rear at some point in the near future. Enjoy it for now.

Stay wavy

Pat Bev would die for this team

Yak

I like big shiny counting stats against names of players I recognize

Vague allusions to Las Vegas?

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Riley’s 2023-2024 Regular Season Prediction Record: 34-37

Milwaukee Bucks 2023-2024 Actual Regular Season Record: 46-25

One more at home before the Bucks hit the road yet again:

v. Los Angeles Lakers, Tuesday — 6:30 PM CT

@ New Orleans Pelicans, Thursday — 7:00 PM CT

@ Atlanta Hawks, Saturday — 6:30 PM CT

A couple of generally bad teams and a Pelicans team that is a little wishy-washy. Am I bold enough to predict a perfect week? No, of course not. Someone is going to be catching a breather in at least one of these games, if not multiple of them, and so the way forward gets dicey (especially with the team getting a little breathing room in the standings ahead of the Cleveland Cavaliers). I’ll go for wins over the Lakers and Hawks and a defeat — competitive, we hope — against the Pelicans with Giannis sitting and Zion Williamson ripping the Bucks in half.

Happy Monday!