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Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome into the Winkler Verse. I am Bart Winkler. It is Friday, the 6th of March. And we are going to talk some Wisconsin sports today.
And so let's do that. Ty Windish is going to join. The show from Eurostep Podcast. And uh, GSPN. their network We got to talk some bucks.
And Ty has been a very. Loud critic of Doc Rivers. Which I think a lot of us have. But as soon as the announcement was made, and even before that. Ty was basically trying to He saw the train coming and he tried to step on the tracks and say, Do not do this, Bucks.
And they did it and then the train has destroyed this franchise. We'll see for now. We'll see. The Milwaukee Bucks. A once great institution.
Making a terrible mistake. That will cost generations. of pain. I'm talking about the Milwaukee Bucks specifically. They went into this decision without thinking of the consequences.
I am talking about the Milwaukee Bucks. They do not realize the amount of lives that will be damaged and changed forever because of this horrendous decision to do what they are doing. No bravado is going to get you out of this. I am talking. About the Milwaukee Bucks.
It may be something else, but we'll do that in a little bit. I must first. Give condolences to the Harlan family. to everyone that knew Um, Bob Harland, former president. Of the Green Bay Packers, who passed away this week at the age of 89.
From Packers.com. They have this outline of. what he was for the organization. He joined the team in 1971. Became the president and CEO in 1989.
And he served as the principal executive. Until his retirement in 2008, Under him? They had the league's best record from 93 to 2007, where they were 152 and 88. They got the Lombardi trophy back here. And from 92 to 2004, they had 13 straight 500 or better seasons.
So, yes. The product Was better. Um And he's, you know, he's. I think Ron Wolf gets a lot of the credit for that, as he should, but who. Who brought him in?
So, Bob Harlan. And I think the. Story: I always think of is when Wolf is he had to go to Tarland and be like, We're trading our first-round pick for Brett Favrea. Yeah. And Harlan said, If hey, this is your football guy, so go ahead and And do it.
I've seen a lot of great Harlan stories. I think there's a lot of people that I don't have one. I've never met Bob. I've never talked to him on the phone. on any of these shows.
Um And I do think a lot of times, this is a very Bart thing to say here. I think there's a lot of times when someone does pass. People tend to make their tributes to that man about themselves. I think I think that that happens sometimes. And I and I don't I don't care right now.
I I don't th I don't think I'm not even getting mad about that. Any story that anyone has about Bob Harlan. Make it about yourself. Share that story. Because I think people do need.
I think people need to know. I think there's a lot of Packer fans. Like, we, we. Even me, like I, you know, I didn't live through the 70s and 80s, but a lot of the success that I enjoyed as a fan and the joy that that brought me with. You guys are my family, or my friends, or my wife, or my kid.
Bob Harlan started that. And I think The way that I want to look at this, again, read all the stories, listen to all the radio. I know um Um Bill's show. They're doing a lot of good stuff over there. I think Willie had German on and.
McCarthy's talked, Rogers at least gave a statement. Seek it all out. If you're a Packer fan, seek it all out. Listen to these stories, listen to these tributes, because it is important. And I think it also.
Shows the importance. And you know what? I will actually directly mention. the war that is happening. Right now, because I've been thinking about this.
There are a lot of decisions being made right now. that will affect the rest of our lives. They just will. Just like I've realized, there's a lot of things that have happened in my life. And when you go back and it's like, oh, that was because.
You know, this politician enacted this rule or this. Media person did this thing. When you get to a certain level of power or importance. When you lead something, a country, a team, a business. You do make the sit you make the I We make decisions.
With the best information we think we have in the moment, we don't know how it's going to play. You know? Even something as simple as What if your dad didn't answer your mom's call that one night, or he didn't go to that thing. How many stories do you have where parents meet where it's like, well, if I wasn't going to go and then I did. And even me and my wife, she wasn't going to go to this thing.
And then she did. And then we met. And now my kid's born. And then he can trace back the lineage of what if my parents didn't. You know, work at the same place together.
And then you try to, we just. You don't know that decisions you make. can reverberate people's lives. stop or are created. Because of decisions you make sometimes.
I don't think we think that enough. And I don't think that. I think why I'm saying all this is. A lot of things that are happening with the Packers. And a lot of the success that they have had.
And the way that They've been able to build themselves. You know, when he took over in 89, and he actually lived through the 70s and 80s with the Packers, if he joined him in 71. They're not here without him. They're they're not here. There's no way.
The Packers should not exist. And there's been a lot of Areas and times where they could have been gone. Obviously, in the early days. Go look up like the 1923 NFL standings or 27 or something. There was a team in Racine, there was a team in Milwaukee.
The Dayton triangles. There's there's all these teams that were just like fledgling little clubs. That never formed, but things had to happen in Green Bay that stock sale. I mean, think of how different your life is without the Green Bay Packers. You can't.
It's it's unfathomable. But it's little decisions back then, little votes going one way or the other. Even with County Stadium and Billing Miller Park and, you know. With the Packers, Bob Harlan going door to door. Like, what if there was no Packers?
What if there was no Packers? Would would the box have ever moved here? Or been here with the Brewers? Maybe we had the Braves. Maybe the Braves stay.
I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. There's so many variables you can't think. And there were different times when it looked like more likely than not that the Packers could leave.
And, you know, they're playing three games in Milwaukee, for goodness sake. We can't. We shouldn't. We do, but we shouldn't take for granted. How special it is that the Packers are here.
And we shouldn't take for granted. That the Packers have stayed here. And it's because of a select few. that have made that possible and Bob Harlan is one of them. And a big one.
And so every single, and it's great that also he's a nice dude.
So You know, there's He had a great life. I think um Eight you know, eighty nine's a good a good number. You have a lot of impact. You get to see a lot of your family grow up. They get to cherish time with you.
It's always sad to see anyone go. It is nice that when someone does go, then you you you hear all the great stories. and the impact.
Some people die and they're just barely in the obituary. Nobody calls to even put them in there.
Some people die, and it's like, thank God that jerk's dead. Don't you get any ideas? But some people pass and it's a reminder of uh You know what they were as a person, but then. Like, yeah, you might not, that's the thing. You might not have a direct Bob Harlan story, but how many stories do you have about the Packers?
So, indirectly. That's because of him.
So we say goodbye to Bob Harlan at the age of 89. We are brought to you by Happy Place Hem. Promo code is BART, 25% off each and every order. Happyplacehemp.com, seltzers and gummies and tinctures and what have you. Again, it's a 25% off order.
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Settle into some SmackDown. You know, maybe kick in 8.45, 9 o'clock. peacefully drift into my Friday night. And it helps too with me not having the urge to. Look at every single thing that is happening.
So go check it out. Also, want to thank Dan Shaney. The Ty Windish interview, if you're more of a YouTube person. It will be available there. As well.
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Got a voicemail from our number one customer, David in Buffalo.
Something I got to get more into, man. Or I got at least talk about more. My Buffalo Sabres. Look to possibly be headed to the postseason again for the first time since I started rooting for them. 13 years ago.
David in Buffalo. Calls us up. Remember the Carls Place voicemail line 9 Oh shit. four one five nine oh two BART. Or is it 915-402-BART?
Tim, 402-915-BART. 402-915-2278. Here is David. What's up, Fars? This is David from Buffalo.
Call it in, man. Above the savers, they are absolutely rolling. Since the Olympic Breaks, another win tonight. National TV game, they dominated the Penguins. Uh, in the Steel City, great win for them, and I'll tell you one thing: you got uh, like you got five home games coming up.
Very, besides the game against Tampa Bay, I look at all those games as very, very winnable games. This team right now, Bart, has the look of a team that could be very dangerous. In the playoffs, multiple goaltenders getting it done. Um, who would have thought, man? I mean, the sabers.
For years, they were a doormat franchise. They were an embarrassment. They were irrelevant. And now, this team, you know, it's more than just Tate Thompson, it's other guys getting it done. The defense is a lot better.
The goal thing is a lot better. Lindy Ruff, I mean, typically when you bring a coach back, their second stint. It normally doesn't work out. It's worked out great. Kevin Adams, I know he built this team, but firing him was the best thing you could ever do.
He was. The ultimate stench on this team. And I'm curious to see what they do with the trade deadline tomorrow, Bart. We've already seen a number of trades in the NHL. I think they make some kind of move tomorrow because I think to me that you go for it.
In the NHL, you never know. This would be the ultimate rag to richest story in professional sports. considering they have not made the playoffs in 2011. Thanks for your time, man. I'll talk to you later.
402-915-2278. I also just found out today is the NHL trade deadline.
So, thank you to David for that information. Regarding Buffalo, they've got a new wide receiver, DJ Moore. I think that'll work out in Buffalo. I think he will fit. What they're looking for.
They've tried a lot. And it hasn't worked out. Not taking Xavier Worthy, trading that pick to the Chiefs, and then Keon Coleman has not been what they wanted him to be. you know, Josh Palmer, Amari Cooper, all these guys are trying to bring in. I'm just not working out.
Who'd they bring in at the end of this year? Cooks. DJ Moore was bad this year. DJ Moore is like a guy that I don't know. You watch him and you're like, DJ, DJ, could you?
Could you give us Could you give us more? I think Buffalo will be a good spot for him. Bears get a second-round pickback. Which is good for them. Looks like there's going to be some quarterback movement.
Kyler Murray out, Geno Smith out. We can get more into that. possibly next week. Ty Windish of the Eurostep Podcast. I will just throw it right to that and brace yourselves.
Hey, if you love Doc Rivers, stick around. Or if you Tim? I'm recording in my upstairs bedroom today. We have an electrician today. I don't have the pegboard on me, so it throws me off.
It throws me off. Anyway. Here's my chat with Ty. Let's welcome into the Winklerverse Ty Windish of the Eurostep. Podcast.
Ty, I told you this is what I was going to start with. Are you ready? Uh as I can be.
Okay, we're talking bucks with Ty, so here we go. Ty, the one question I did prep you with is. What the fuck? Yeah, so it turns out when me and my co-host on the Eurostep, Rohan Cottie, Freaked out when the news leaked basically that they were going to hire Doc Rivers. And said, This is an awful idea.
This hasn't worked for anyone. We were right. And we fell for what we've since termed. Dockholm syndrome said where, and I think Jordan Treskey, who uh who used to pod with us too, he may have been the one. I think I said like Doc's Dockholm syndrome, and he geniusly put them together.
But we fell for that. Doesn't that make you feel stupid though? When you say something like Doc Stockholm syndrome and it's right there, and then somebody else picks it up. Here it is. Yeah, the connect, you know, there's starters and there's closers.
And that was a Mariana Rivera close. That was like Don Draper. You know, he sold the deal. I sat back down in my chair. I was the tobacco executive.
I was getting up. You've lost my business.
Okay, I'll sit back down. Toasted? All right. But we were right. And we fell for the Dockholm syndrome of, like, oh, he's not that bad, like, this and that.
He's making Danilo Galinari work in the playoffs. And oh, he doesn't run the Giannis Dame pick and roll, but yeah, maybe they don't want to. What's he going to do? Coach him? And now I think it's just been laid bare with the other issues, not having Dame and Giannis missing so much time that.
Just like the bones of this org are crumbling, right? Like the foundation of the house is shaky. There's rot on the wood. And I think the farther we get into this, and the more of these we have, where it's just like, really? We're not competitive at all against these guys, like, not even close with the honest back.
I feel less and less aggrieved about the whole, like, Giannis, like, oh, maybe I want to go. I don't really want to leave, but I don't want to be a loser. I don't want to be a loser on this losing team. I'm kind of like, yeah, I get it, man. This has been a tough scene.
This is not fun for any of us right now. I think what's going to be We don't know. I mean, we don't know. How things are going to play out, you know, depending on which Giannis quote you see last. Might change your perspective on that.
But I don't There's a good possibility. That Yannis. gets traded, leaves, okay. I I understand. I hear what he's saying.
He's saying, oh, you know, you wonder about stuff. He's been in the same place for a long time. I get it. I get it. I totally get it.
I just don't want. For it to happen. And then for us to say Yeah, but it didn't need to happen. It was salvageable. I agree.
I agree. I agree. If they didn't go down this path, if they didn't. you know, the Griffin stuff and then Doc, like He was going to stay. But then you guys fucked it up.
That's what's going to bother me. Wait, he's still here. I mean, like, clearly, he doesn't want to go because he's still here now. And I think there was a moment, like a week out from the deadline, where kind of the story started to pick up. And I know a lot of people say it's all fake, whatever, whatever.
I think there's always some reality to it, and they overblow it for the clicks, but like. They can't just fully make stuff up, Shams, ESPN, whatever. Like. The player could come out and say, like, hey, that's not true. And Giannis has actually done the opposite.
We're like, yeah, guys, I look around, I think about it. Um Which again, it'd be greater if he didn't say that, but it's his prerogative to say whatever he wants and put the pressure on the org or whatever else. But I think there was a real moment there when he could have been like, yeah, you know what? I just don't see it. Let's make it happen.
And I think if it wasn't one of the teams, and we don't have to rehash the whole saga, I went through it ad nauseum. I'm sure you did too. I think somebody out there would have been like, we're just going to jump in and get the guy. Like, you just can't trade for players like this. It's so rare, blah, blah, blah.
Like, Miami tried really hard, Minnesota, Golden State, their stuff just wasn't that good. They were the super desperate teams. I think somebody would have if it was like fully happening, because we kept getting the reports as we got closer. Teams are like, yeah, they're answering our calls, the Bucks, but they're not really, doesn't feel like they're trying to make a deal, which they clearly aren't, right? Neither side wants to break up, but You know, again, Giannis doesn't want to be a 12th or 11th or whatever in the East, and I don't blame him for that.
So I think he could have made it happen. He didn't. And we'll see how it goes this summer. But I agree with you, and I still think it is salvageable. Like, there's some pieces here.
Giannis is clearly still great, and he just got back, and he was sensational in that Hawks game. It just wasn't enough because their coaching is totally broken. And that's the, I think this wasn't part of the storyline for the Bucs. Like, when things were really hot about Giannis asking out or leaving, whatever. No one talked about coaching, and I made us think about this: how do you not even bring this up?
Like, everyone focuses on the roster, the assets, they're so far away. And it's like, oh, well, Doc's buddies with the media. Yeah, the media is caddy. I don't know if anyone cares about that. We see media members at poor Doug Gottlieb.
I mean, poor, whatever, your mileage may vary, but he sure got it. He was still actively in the media, and he got it from the media.
So I think it's more, especially from the ESPN side of this. If your line is Yeah, I mean if they brought in a good coach, they'd probably be a good team. Then the whole Giannis has to go piece falls apart because that's easy. That's easy to fix. For an NBA team, there's no cap, there's no draft picks, whatever.
I think the storyline being like they're so far away made it more convenient to then say, this is why Giannis has to go. I just think, like, so that Hawks game the other night. Yeah. This is a chance where, and I got myself hype up for it. I'm like, we need to, we can do this, we can do, we can, we can make this a race.
I think one thing the NBA sorely lacks is like a pennant race kind of thing because everybody's basically in. And then if you're not, what is it, like a 48-game combined losing streak or something with all these. Other teams, including us, and yeah, um Just like I know that one tall lineup or the big lineup. Tall like oh my god, uh, triggered a lot of people. Then he went back to it.
But what's weird about this season, especially in the context of Adrian Griffin. And I think you said something about this the other night, and I've been talking about it where. Whether or not, whether or not, whether or not, whether or not. You made a point to say. That record, while good, It's not good enough.
We're concerned about what it will turn into. There are expectations higher than 31 and 13. And we don't see it getting done.
Sorry.
So With that being said, and with them firing Bud with A very built-in excuse of injuries. To bring in Doc Rivers. And to, I always like to say, like, well, if he was trying to get fired, what would he do different? There are so many losses. that they have had.
And I brought this up too. There was one night with Jason Kidd. I was there covering it. It was at the Bradley Center. He likes to bench Jabari or something.
Mm-hmm. But it took him an hour to come out to do post game and we're like He got fired.
Sometimes, when a coach is like, even if they're like near hot seat, a game can go so poorly. This happened to Mike McCarthy. We have to fire it right now. There's been like 13 of those for Doc. And he's still, and even with the night, you know, when they have something to play for, there's no sense of urgency.
He's trying things out. This team doesn't know how to defend, they don't know how to do anything. There's that Stephen A. Smith report now, which are we gonna are we are we gonna Believe Stephen A. Smith one time because it's about something that we kind of like where Doc might retire, but it wouldn't make sense.
Like, I just don't understand. They've wasted the season. Mm-hmm. And I know Giannis was hurt and stuff, but This didn't need to be this way, and it was. And I think a lot of Bucks fans are just wondering why.
Yeah, I mean, to your point, like I get this sometimes too, because I've been, I've become grouchy, which I think is sad because I. I feel like I'm a pretty optimistic, sometimes to the point of being unreasonable. Fuck. I will say, Ty, I have noticed. More of a cut of you.
Yeah. Especially towards Doc. I was like, oh, Ty. Ty, Ty, Ty, what you tweeting there, Ty?
Well, 'cause it's like it's all this like, oh, we owe him some $10 million. Like, okay, if we went to the owners before the year and said, hey, I'll give you 10 million, but your season with the honest is going to suck, would they take that deal? Like, is that all it costs for this multi-billion dollar franchise to punt a year of Yanis's prime is 10 mil? And why'd you get him ten mil in the first place? He failed everywhere.
I mean, he didn't fail in Boston. He left there when they started to tank. You know, they made the trade or whatever. But that was also. an adult like 18 years ago.
Yeah, um, 100. It was a quarter century since he won Coach of the Year. I saw, I think it was like 2000 or something like that, but he didn't win it. It's championships three months away from having a cigarette. They're scratching lottery tickets.
Me too. I'm three days away. But I, yeah, the whole thing is just beyond frustrating to me. Doc said, I think after the Boston game, or maybe the Atlanta game. Like, yeah, we've tried five defensive schemes and none of them have worked.
I like to your point about trying to get fired. That's like If this was a normal season, like, could you imagine if Budenholzer said that at one point? Like, yeah, we tried five defenses, none of them worked. Are there even five defenses? Like, none of them have looked good.
None of them have just been like, hey, let's have dropped bigs. Maybe let's drop a little bit, which is so funny now that we're here after complaining about it. Cause that's really all that Bud did for the first two years or so. He never really switched. And they kind of, like, Drew came in and PJ Tucker and they kind of talked him into it and it worked.
Um, and they spent it was bass drop, it was always bass drop. And the funny thing about Griffin being fired is he tried to go away from it intensely. He wanted to do like their Raptors thing of like, we're going to blitz, we're going to attack the ball screens. And it didn't work at all with Brooke Lopez. No one's around the paint.
Like, they had no good defenders either. They also, you know, they kind of undercut him. He planned to build that scheme. He was going to have Drew Holiday in the middle of it. Maybe it would have worked.
And then they trade him for Dame, Damon, Malik Beasley. Nothing was really working with that guard duo. But now they're really aggressive again. I mean, you watch them defensively. They're like fighting over screens for guys who never shoot threes.
Like they're picking up Dyson Daniels, 38 feet out. That guy is like a horrific, like having one of the worst three-point shooting seasons in history right now. And they guard everyone like they're Steph Curry for some reason. I haven't seen five defensive tried. It feels like they're really aggressive.
And then if that doesn't work, they're like, well, let's try the zone for eight straight minutes again. And the other team inevitably breaks it down. But the way they've been coached defensively, the rotations, it just feels like Rohan said this on our pod. It's like all or nothing. It's like, oh, you want Usman Jang?
Fine. He starts now because he gets along with Giannis in the runs. Oh, you want Pete Nance? Sure. Oh, Kuz had a bad game.
He's done. First DMP of his career. He comes back, he's the best player off the bench. It's just like so, it literally feels sometimes to me like he. Opens up, like, I don't know where he would read these things, like, sees like whatever people are mad about.
Maybe it's like what the reporter was asking about. He's like, F it. We'll try. Mine, you want, we'll do that then. Like, next game is going to be like, you know what?
We're going to drop so hard. We're going to be going under so. We're just going to have four guys at the rim, and they're going to get lit up. He's going to be like, We tried six defenses now. I don't know what I don't know what we can do.
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Now I haven't like Watched every game Doc Rivers has ever coached. Right. Um But he's been in the playoffs a handful of times. I still, my favorite, maybe one of my favorite quotes in sports is. How He's like, everyone shits on me for losing game seven, so they don't give me credit for getting to the game seven.
He is like 3-1 leads, he's blowing. He's a generational talker. That was so great. But it does seem like when you're watching this guy. I don't care if he won a title or let's say take the title away.
He's been a coach for. 25 years. Yeah. He looks like he got plucked from the crowd. And just the whole vibe around everything, Doc Rivers, he doesn't seem to care.
I talked about it with the other day. The Lafleur stuff. What's interesting about that is I obviously hate LaFleur. Yeah. Um And there's people that defend him.
So. When you have like fan base saying fire, fire, fire. When you have a opposition to that, that ignites the flame.
So, the conversation gets louder because there's two sides to it. There's only one side to this. Nobody's defending Doc.
So it's like everyone's like, yeah, fire, but it doesn't go anywhere. The Bucks seem on phase. Doc seems on phase. The teams, it's just like. They're acting like they know something that we don't.
Like, either they know that this season's not going to matter anyway. Like the world's going to end, who cares? Basketball is nothing. Or they're acting like we know it's going to turn. They're just acting like none of this has any consequence.
When I think with the future of Giannis and just the future of a franchise in and of itself. There's a lot of consequences. We'll be dealing with the ramifications of what. This Doc Rivers tenure was assuming. He's not the coach in October, which God only knows.
You know, feels like they know something we don't. Yeah, that's the odd part of this to me. Is you could clearly make the case that, like, starting months ago, like when Giannis was out and they'd lost all those games, like, Okay. Whether he stays or goes. If we get a top 10 pick with like shot of a top five pick with a little bit of lottery luck.
That's so important either way. Whether it's a trade asset or hopefully a young player that we can kick off the next era with Giannis, ideally, or even without him, that's a really important piece because you don't control your draft from now until 2031. And you just happen to be lucky because New Orleans is really bad at this whole running an NBA franchise thing.
So the opportunity is there for you. I don't think. They wanted to ever jump on that, though, and I don't think they've done anything that shows you that they would. I mean, they didn't sell at the deadline, they kind of didn't do anything at the deadline. They're like, Yeah, we'll take.
Jang will pick up Cam Thomas. Maybe, I mean, I don't know. Is that stealth tank commanding? I honestly don't think so. It's not like they play Cam Thomas a lot when he's not playing well, which has been most of the Cam Thomas games thus far.
And Jang is getting the shots. I think Giannis loves him. And this all comes back to me. It all comes back to like what does Giannis want? And I'm not blaming him for that, actually.
I know some people do. Like, you did the coaching thing, you got us in this mess, you wanted all these trades. Yeah, he wanted that. He doesn't pick up the phone and call that or send that to the league office. Like, if you kowtow to the player every time, Then you've lost your agency as a franchise.
And that's my suspicion on what's happened here. It's just like, whatever Giannis wants, we'll just do it. We'll never tell him a hard truth. We have three Atedacumpos on the roster right now. If you were looking for added confirmation, you look at Alex Tetacumpo's G-League stats as a two-way player, the same pipeline that brought us Ryan Rollins and A.J.
Green, and now Pete Nance. Doesn't look like he's going to be the next one of those success stories. Um And I don't blame Giannis for this stuff because if I was a star employee at my company and they were like, hey, we'll hire, I don't have a brother, but if I did, we'll hire your best friend. I'd be like, yeah, sure. That sounds great.
Like, of course I want that. Oh, we want to put you in a better position. Great. I don't care about the draft picks. I'm a player, it doesn't matter to me.
And I just think they've lost their way in that sense. And all this to say, I don't think they want to tank because Giannis doesn't want to tank. We know Giannis doesn't. Giannis is F them kids. And again, like, I get it.
He doesn't think a 19-year-old is going to help him win a title in the next two years. Probably won't. You never know, but probably won't.
So I think they're going for it. They brought him back, right? Like this huge injury risk. He looks fine to me now, but I don't think there's like this grain plan of like, we're going to get this draft pick and we're going to be so smart about this. Like they went eight and two, and the org seemed really pumped about it.
And now they're losing again, and it's just awkward. It's awkward because, like, you have the people who are going, okay, actually, this works. Maybe it's too late now to get a great pick. You're stuck at 10. The teams at nine and eight are kind of have some distance on you now.
And you don't really have a way to play in either. I mean, you do, but the Hawks loss really hurt. You're a couple games behind that.
So they're kind of caught in the middle where logically you could say they should try to suck. Like, this is not a team that's ready to make a run with the coaching and the roster. Like, there's this idea that Nick's podcast I was on is like, oh, can you guys go upset Detroit? I was like, no. No way, dude.
Detroit would destroy Milwaukee in a playoff series if the Bucs got through the playoffs somehow. Different worlds. But they're just like in the middle, and it's just awkward and uncomfortable. And you can tell Yoadis is unhappy about it. He whipped that ball at the stanchion.
Um so it's just it's just a weird awkward failure spot they're in right now. And I think it could work out for them long term, but not if Doc is back for sure.
Well, is that a horse decision to make? Also, where is he? Yeah, right.
Someone I saw posted, and I think the Bucks beat reporters get too much flack, frankly.
Someone was like You guys got to man up. Like, ask about Doc's job security. And I quote to his ask who? Horse hasn't spoken all year. You ask the man himself?
Like, someone's like, why don't you ask Doc? I don't ask someone if they're going to fire him. Like, that's not, he's not the one who makes that call, right? Like, maybe he is, but I guess they need to go to Brown's camp if they want to get answers on this. That might be the only interview you could get right now with a Bucks ownership or front office member.
Which is not ideal.
So Uh what are we like What's going to happen? I see this roster. Here's my comparison I made the other night. I don't know if it's a good one, I thought it was. But Giannis right now feels like Paul Rudd sees a nine of friends.
Where There's this group. That was like starting to build some I don't know, they were winning some games. But whenever Giannis plays on this team right now. And Paul Rudd's a great actor. But you know, friends had their little cast.
He just seemed, it doesn't seem like. It seems like he's making a cameo. It seems like these aren't his guys. And we've seen him with, you know, a different cast, so to speak. And Bobby's still there, but.
You look at this roster, and yeah, there's a lot of people that you might like or think could be something. We all got excited about Cam Thomas for 24 hours and Jeng's starting now and stuff. And KPJ and Rollins had a good month. Yeah. Who's going to be here in a year, even if Giannis is here?
I don't know. I don't know what the foundations beside Ziannis of this team are. Yeah, I still think. I would prioritize Rawlins, and I know it's been uneven. But I think at 23 The stuff he's shown, he's still at elite shooting season.
He's a really good rim finisher, he's a really good defender. I think he's been overtaxed when he's been the only point guard. Especially when Giannis isn't on the floor. Because really You know, Giannis is going to be the primary offensive, you know, everything when he's on the floor. I think Rollins can do enough alongside him to be the quote-unquote point guard.
And I'm not saying he's as good of a player, but the same way Drew Holiday was, right? Like, you wouldn't want to build a team in a vacuum where Drew was your number one. Offensive player? But playing off of Giannis, it worked.
So I like that a lot. KPJ to me I There's been some really nice moments. He did have a month where he looked like the better of the two guards for sure. I just don't find it sustainable with him the way he usually plays. They've gotten him to pass more, which has been nice.
But his three-ball has actually been totally gone. He's like sub 25% in 2026. That's just a huge issue playing with Giannis. Turner, I think that move looks disastrous now, clearly. And this is why my take I rolled out this week was like: they need a new front office and a new coaching staff, or at least.
the front office to be more involved in picking the coach. Because they invested all these resources into Turner, and Doc immediately was out on him. You can tell within like a month of games that, like, he didn't really know what to do. Sims is closing. Just Sims, yeah, who's a nice player?
He's come along, keep him as a backup center, but. He's not Hakeem Elijah out there. Like, it's a problem that Turner has fallen out of favor. Even if you do like Sims better, you know, people are like, oh, Sims should play. Like, he rebounds.
That's nice. The issue is they didn't wave and stretch Damian Lillard and trade second-round picks and cut another guy to get Jericho Sims. That's the guy they got for free. You could have just had that guy if that's all you wanted. Like there's a clear disconnect there.
But I still think Turner can really work. He'd be better with Giannis. I think he's a good fit. I don't think Doc has used him well or cares for him at all.
So I would I like Rollins Giannis Turner. And then I would build it out from there. I mean, he clearly doesn't. I know. You know who I'm down on right now?
Who? Green. A.J. Green. Yeah, yeah, I think I think you could defend as well as he did in that Hawks game.
I mean, there's so many nights where he's like, oh, for four. It's like, what? Isn't that what you do? From three? That's the tough part about a shooting specialist, everyone's going to have those nights, even the best.
I think at AJ's best, not just shooting, but like overall, he's been a reasonably stout defender. But he has really bad foul habits. And that's one of those things. You know, I don't put entire stuff like that on coaching. I think it would help if they had better coaches there.
But that's just on him, too. Like, you see him, for me, the cardinal sin of defense is. When you're by the rim and you're giving up the drive. And you do a light foul, like a dumb foul, but still let the shot go up, it's almost a guaranteed end one. And he's had a couple of those recently where, like, If you're going to foul, you just need to go ahead and foul.
Slap the arm down. Don't let the shot go up. He does these like halfway, like, I'm going to show him defending. Like, I'm going to bump my belly out almost into the guy. They're going to call that every time.
And he's just been really bad about that. I don't know what it is with him. The shot being back, I think, would obviously help. I think it will be. And his passing's been, I'd say, improved this year.
That's been nice. But the defense has certainly regressed. And that's a big issue. I think playing him with the three hasn't helped. But against Atlanta, he was their two guard in that game, and it was still bad.
So that's been definitely disappointing after he looked like a core piece last season.
Okay.
Alright, so the Bucs sit five games back of the Hornets and Hawks, who I think. Both teams have been on winning streaks and I think there's a lot to like about the Hornets. I think there's actually a lot that I like the Hawks, sort of like. Got a bunch of these veterans that have something to prove situation. I don't think you're catching them.
Um, I think there is a possibility. I was just going to say to you, I was just going to say, how does this season? How does, and then I'm like, oh, they're going to go on this dumb little thing and they'll finish like one game out of the playing. But I'm looking at the schedule and then I'm looking at the schedule and then I'm like, it doesn't even matter the schedule. They've played like ass against teams that it doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter. There's good teams on their schedule. Yeah, well, they'll sit out, guys. They will still lose.
So what do you want to see? What do we need to see? Over this last month. Why am I still watching Bucs basketball in 2026? Other than, other than.
I hate myself. Yeah, that's a good one. Um, you know, potentially last Giannis games. I think they have better than a coin flip to keep him. I just think he wants to stay.
I think they'll sell him on something, but. You know, you never know.
So, watching Yanis always good. I wish Ty, I wish we could loan him out like soccer. Like, we'll loan you out to the Rockets for a month or somewhere, just so you can see what it's like. Yeah, like how Dame got loaned here. Dame got loaned here.
He did. He did. Yeah, that I would be interested in that model too. Uh, outside of that, I think honestly, with the weird middle spot they're in record-wise, it is kind of just like, let's see who's going to be around going forward, no matter what their path is. Like, I think Jang, I have some reservations.
The guy just doesn't go to the rim enough. He looks like he's adverse to that contact, but the shot, the passing, the defense has all been really intriguing. And he's a restricted free agent they can keep.
So, like, what can he do?
So, I love that they're starting him. And I think it's all because of Giannis, but start him all the way down. Let's just see because what else are we playing for? Same with Rollins and a little bit of green. Can we wake up Turner a little bit?
Would be nice, like, get a little momentum going. Sims too, although I don't think he's going to develop much more necessarily, but obviously, as Sean, he can play in the league. But otherwise, like, yeah, I agree with you. I think we'll know in the next week if they're even going to have a shot because I think they have Miami and Atlanta again, and both are going to be tiebreaker games.
So, like, if you lose both of those, now you're what, at least six out of the game? I think it's over. I think it's probably over. Here's, I'll tell you, I'll give you a bonus before we even get to those. They play Utah tomorrow night.
If they lose to Utah, who is like, literally, will be like, yeah, you had a good three quarters. You're done for the rest of this game. They want to lose so bad. If they lose to them, if they lose to them, I'll be like, yeah, it's done. All right.
Let's just hopefully they can tank. Like, let Giannis play five minutes a night. Go, you know, sign some autographs. Oh, and play the three brothers together. Why do we do this if you're not going to play them all together?
Call up, Alex. Let's get that. Let's make that happen. Why not? That's what I want to see.
God, Utah's the best. Utah tries for three quarters. We're done. No, it's ov it's over. It's over.
Keontae George, sorry about your stats, buddy, but you got to sit down. This is going to cost us 250 grand and we'll gladly pay it. What a league.
Well, you know what? It sucks, maybe, watching your teams, but it's still great to. Find out what's going on with them and get your perspective on the Eurostep podcast. Ty Windish. Thank you.
For stopping into the Winklerverse. Yeah. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? shifting a little money here, a little there, and hoping it all works out.
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