The Milwaukee Bucks and Minnesota Timberwolves seasons open tonight.
All season, the Bucks will be featured on WKTY. They play the Gordon Hayward-less Boston Celtics at 6:30 p.m. tonight on 92.3 FM / 580 AM.
The two teams are hovering along the same path and it’s hard to say which one has a brighter future.
At this point, I would lean Timberwolves, solely because of the offseason it had in adding Jimmy Butler and Jeff Teague to compliment Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins — though, at this point, Wiggins is the worst of those four players. But the Bucks’ ceiling might be higher. Maybe.
The Timberwolves playing in the west and Milwaukee in the east will make each team’s seasons odd to compare. Milwaukee might be a better seed with a sub-.500 record, while Minnesota might struggle to make the playoffs.
Minnesota is thin but a mostly complete team — teams can always use another shooter and both Milwaukee and Minnesota are lacking in that department.
The Bucks could use more than just a shooter but they will be hard pressed to make any moves during the season based on their roster — too many mediocre players make too much money and will be hard to move.
- John Henson is in the second of a 4-year, $48 million contract.
- Mirza Teletovic is in the second of a 3-year, $31.5 million contract.
- Matthew Dellavedova is in the second of a 4-year, $38.4 million contract.
- Tony Snell just signed a 4-year, $44 million contract.
The Bucks had been rumored to try and dump both Henson and Teletovic but that would take first-round draft picks.
It might be worth it, however, similar to when the Golden State Warriors dumped Andris Biedrins, Richard Jefferson, Brandon Rush and five future draft picks, including two unprotected first-rounders in 2013. We all know what happened after that.
The way Giannis Antetokounmpo is playing and with Milwaukee getting a new stadium, it’s not out of the question free agents will want to come here. Khris Middleton is a rare breed in the NBA with his ability to shoot and play defense. Thon Maker is his own breed of an athletic center who might turn into a 3-point shooter. And Malcolm Brogdon might be the answer at point guard, but probably not yet.
The Bucks need some pieces. But, for that to happen, they need cap room.
The Timberwolves are set for the foreseeable future, after re-signing Andrew Wiggins to a 5-year, $146.5 million contract.
Everything for the Bucks, however, depends on Jabari Parker’s health and willingness to work with the team on a possible contract extension.
Rumor is Parker wants max contract, identical to that of Wiggins.
If the Bucks don’t do a salary dump, their ability to make moves in the offseason will depend on if and when Parker gets that contract. If he waits and lets Milwaukee make some free agent moves, that would be ideal but a guy that’s blown out his knee twice probably doesn’t want to wait.
The way the roster is right now, Milwaukee isn’t going to the NBA Finals. The Timberwolves would have that potential in the east. In the west, however, it’s fairly impossible to beat the Golden State Warriors
Minnesota is very intriguing, however, just to see how all the new pieces will mesh. Towns was one of the best players down the stretch last year. Adding Butler takes some pressure off but it could also backfire.