PODCAST & Bucks Stock Market: A look back at the first four games, plus stock changes from Monday night
Injuries and how they may shape the rotation dominated our podcast discussion, which was the story of the season and of the win on Monday over Indiana.
Podcast
The Milwaukee Bucks have been without several rotation players for all of their first four games, but it'd be hard to tell that based on record alone as Milwaukee stands near the top of the Eastern Conference at 3-1. On the latest Gyro Step Podcast Network crossover recap pod, Adam, Rohan and I dove into our overall reactions to the first four games, recapped the new to the rotation players and how've they've looked in extended run with so many players out, but mostly just argued about Semi Ojeleye. Enjoy!
Bucks Stock Market
As a reminder, the Bucks Stock Market is a fictitious market run by the GSPN crew that tracks player stock “movement” following the conclusion of every game. Here’s the spreadsheet logging the game-by-game results.
Khris Middleton📈
There was a lot to like about Khris Middleton’s game on Monday night between his 52/66/85 slash line, his 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block, plus the 27 points he scored, but what stood out to me most was Khris using his handle to get to the basket multiple times. Middleton needs to consistently get to the rim to be a more consistent offensive star: this game was a good sign on that front.
Giannis Antetokounmpo📈
Giannis is really honed in on making the right passes to start this season. He flirted with a triple double and nearly got there, ending the night with 30 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, and just 2 turnovers despite a TON of usage: GA had 18 shot attempts and 13 attempted free throws to go with all that playmaking.
Thanasis Antetokounmpo📈
Thanasis got the start and logged more than 19 minutes, and the Bucks got positive contributions from him in those minutes. TA thrived in the dunker spot and ended up making 4 of his 5 shots, playing strong defense, and chipping in 3 rebounds and 2 steals for good measure.
Grayson Allen📈
The shots finally feel for Grayson! He was 5/11 from the floor and 4/9 from deep, plus a perfect 5/5 from the charity stripe. The Bucks have been absolutely funneling shots to him — he’s shot 35 threes, 11 more than Pat C in second place — and it was awesome to see their confidence paying off.
Pat Connaughton📈
SPEAKING of Pat Connaughton! Pat is following up being the Bucks’ most reliable three-point shooter in a championship run by, well, being their most relaibel three-point shooter. Grayson has taken more, and George Hill is shooting a slightly better percentage, but so far Pat is the only Buck to take 20 or more three-pointers and actually shoot well on them: on the season he’s hit 41.7%, compared to 31.4% for Grayson, 33.3% for Jordan Nwora, and 30.0% for Khris. He’s also worked on his finishing and continues to be a strong, athletic defender. Pat C’s stock value is skyrocketing.
Sandro Mamukelashvili📉
Mamu is more athletic than I thought. The trade-off, though, is that he has been less physically imposing than I thought. Opposing players mostly go through him on defense, where he’s consistently been a sieve so far this season as he was against the Pacers. That should more or less be expected, though: it’s pretty rare for the 54th overall pick to come into the league as a real rotation player. Some time in Oshkosh and in the gym with the Bucks training staff is needed for Mamu.
Jordan Nwora📈
Jordan Nwora is just fascinating to watch. He struggles with play-to-play inconsistency on both ends, including questionable decision-making on offense and some definite defensive issues, but he punctuates both with incredible highlights: big time three-pointers, and powerful blocks on the other end. Nwora was just 1/4 from deep against Indy but he added 9 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, plus 2 blocks in his 23 minutes. He’ll need to iron out the in-between stuff to be an every-game playoff rotation player, but goodness is the Nwora experience a fun one so far.