Wednesday Windmill: How should the Milwaukee Bucks approach the rest of the regular season?

                                             (Credit: Morry Gash/Associated Press)

On Tuesday, I addressed the Los Angeles Lakers and how they should approach the rest of the regular season and now I'm going to do the same for the top team in the Eastern Conference, the Milwaukee Bucks. Like the Lakers, the Bucks pretty much have the top seed in their conference locked up, so they too have the luxury to view the rest of the regular season as additional tuneups before the playoffs.

Unlike the Lakers, however, they don't have anyone on their team who has led a team to a title. While LeBron James has been through the fire and knows what it takes, Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo is still in the process of figuring out how to lead a team to a championship. Giannis is once again having a fantastic season, averaging 29.6 points, 13.7 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.0 steals, and 1.0 blocks per game. He's the best player in the game and certainly has all the potential to bring a championship back to Milwaukee.

As they look ahead to their eight seeding games, the Bucks too need to figure out how to handle the rest versus rust debate. They don't want any of their key players (especially Giannis) to get injured, but at the same time, given the amount of time they've had off, they also don't want their players to get too rusty. It's the age old question that gets asked every year in the NBA and especially the NFL, and every team handles it differently.

For the Lakers, I said they should be all systems go aside from perhaps limiting Anthony Davis' minutes due to him having a history of getting hurt. As for the Bucks, they don't really have that same concern. Giannis has been pretty healthy his whole career as has their number two scorer Khris Middleton (21.1 points per game). Obviously, proper precautions should be made to not play either guy in garbage time and I do think it probably would be wise to not play either guy 40+ minutes a night during these seeding games. The Bucks shouldn't completely throw their caution to the wind when it comes to keeping them healthy.

At the same time, given the nature of this season and how there is no home court advantage (except for the Orlando Magic, sort of), the Bucks do need to do all they can to regain the momentum they had before the break happened and reestablish themselves as the top team in the NBA. I think putting minutes restrictions on Giannis and Middleton (30-35 minutes) would be perfect as it would allow them to get a good run in without overexerting themselves. Eight games isn't that many and before they know it, they'll be forced to enter playoff mode in a setting that no top seed has ever had to experience. It'll be interesting to see how things go for Milwaukee as they go about navigating this most unusual season.

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Tomahawk Tuesday: How should the Los Angeles Lakers approach the rest of the regular season?

                                             (Credit: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

The NBA restart season begins on Thursday with two games: New Orleans Pelicans vs. Utah Jazz followed by Los Angeles Lakers vs. Los Angeles Clippers. Both games will air on TNT with the Jazz and Pelicans tipping off first (6:30 PM EST). In case you are unfamiliar with the format, each of the remaining 22 teams will play eight seeding games and if the ninth seed in each conference is within four games of the eighth seed, then a play in series will be triggered. That's the skinny.

While some teams are fighting for their playoff lives or jockeying for position, the Lakers pretty much have the #1 seed in the Western Conference locked up. They need just two wins to clinch. This is overall a good position to be in as the Lakers can more or less view the eight seeding games as tune up games and bonus scrimmage games to get themselves back in shape. However, there is the challenge of balancing rest versus rust. Obviously, the Lakers want to make sure their players stay fresh for the playoffs, but given the amount of time guys have had off, they also don't want guys to get too rusty.

Personally, I think the Lakers should err on the side of avoiding rust. There are only eight seeding games to play and they still do need to clinch the top seed. If they had everything wrapped up right now, that might change things a bit. But, given that they still need to secure the top seed and the fact that the number of seeding games is so few, the Lakers should use these final games to establish a good rhythm and make sure they're all ready to go come playoff time. Opening up against the Clippers is a great way for them to get their juices flowing as the Clippers are one of the teams in the West that is seeking to topple them off their perch.

LeBron James is also a workhorse and rarely gets injured, so I think the Lakers should feel pretty confident in his ability to log significant minutes with little risk. The only guy who I might be cautious with is Anthony Davis. He has a fragile history and the Lakers would probably be wise to not overwork him. If there's a guy who they should be careful with and mindful of, it's Davis. If he goes down, their road to an NBA championship becomes a lot tougher.

Outside of that, it really should be all systems go for the Lakers. They have the top record out West and have the luxury to view these eight seeding games as additional tune ups. As we look at the Western Conference, they're definitely the team to beat.

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Saturday Slam: Is Tom Thibodeau the right hire for the New York Knicks?

                                              (Credit: Butch Dill/AP)

Earlier today, news broke of the New York Knicks hiring Tom Thibodeau as their new head coach. Fresh off a controversial suspension for berating Republican senator Josh Hawley, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Thibodeau's deal with the Knicks is for five years. Thibodeau is a big name in the NBA, but if you look at his body of work, he looks more like a flash in the pan than a guy who is going places.

Thibodeau got on the head coaching radar during his days as an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics from 2007-10. He was known as the architect of the Celtics' championship defense in 2008 and being a hard-nosed tough guy that didn't take crap from anyone. After the success that the Celtics had with him, it made sense for some team to give him a shot as a head coach.

His first year as a head coach was with the Chicago Bulls in the 2010-11 season in which the Bulls had a league best 62-20 record. The Bulls reached the Eastern Conference Finals, losing to the Miami Heat 4-1. Derrick Rose was named the NBA's Most Valuable Player that year and Thibodeau was riding high as the coach who helped bring the Bulls back from the dead. The Bulls followed that season up with a 50-16 season, once again locking up the top seed in the NBA. Rather than going further than the year before and reaching the NBA Finals, the Bulls instead lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Philadelphia 76ers.

After looking like a championship might be coming back to the Windy City, things kinda went south for the Bulls and Thibodeau after two promising seasons. The Bulls went 45-37, 48-34, and 50-32 in Thibodeau's final three seasons with them. They were still a solid team, but not what they once were. A lot of that had to do with Derrick Rose getting worn down, something Thibodeau is known for doing to his star players. The Bulls wisely made the decision to part ways with Thibodeau after the 2014-15 season, realizing that they weren't going in the right direction.

After taking a year off, Thibodeau resurfaced as the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves, going 31-51 in the 2016-17 season. It was a rebuilding year for the Wolves and not a lot was expected. The following season, 2017-18 season, was a success as the Wolves made the playoffs as the 8th seed in the West with a 47-35 record. It was their first trip to the playoffs since the 2003-04 season. Even though they lost in the first round to the Houston Rockets, things were looking up for Thibodeau and the Wolves after the season.

The 2018-19 season was a weird one in which the Timberwolves fired Thibodeau midway through the season after a rocky 19-21 start. Thibodeau and Jimmy Butler did not get along and more news was surfacing about how Thibodeau's players, particularly the stars, don't like getting worn down by him.

As for his new chapter with the Knicks, it's hard to see it going well. The best case scenario is that Thibodeau will be a good short-term hire for the Knicks, providing them with some toughness, discipline, and identity. But knowing that this is the Knicks, it can be safely assumed that this won't end well. The bottom line is that Thibodeau is a guy who had a couple good years as a head coach, but preaches an out-of-date, old school philosophy that beats his players to a pulp. It's not a recipe for long-term success, something that the Knicks clearly know very little about.

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Saturday Slam: Will the NBA be able to pull of its restarted season?

With the NBA restarted season fast approaching and their schedule already set (click here to check that out), the big question that I think is on everyone's mind is will they be able to actually pull this off? The plan is for NBA teams to descend on the Disney Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, Florida and hunker down for a wild season in which players will be required to not leave the bubble created for them and be subjected to intense testing and screening.

Any player who tests positive for COVID-19 will be required to be in a period of self-isolation until they are cleared to return by medical professionals. As the league prepares for teams to fly to Orlando after the 4th of July and restart the season at the end of the month, I have a lot of questions about whether or not they will be able to actually pull this off. 

For starters, I wonder if the NBA will not run out of able bodies. If they're really going to strictly enforce these rules of self-isolation, it's entirely possible that the entire league at some point will need to self-isolate. At which point you are either forced to cancel the season or call upon G-League players and former And-1 Mixtape players to finish the season. Don't get me wrong, it would be entertaining as hell to see Grayson Boucher (a.k.a. The Professor) finally get his shot in the league, but it would also be really weird if we saw an NBA consist of non-NBA players. It just wouldn't work.

Going off that, if the NBA is going to pull off this season, they'll probably need to not freak the hell out over every single positive test and be a bit more lax about it. That isn't to say that they don't take the proper precautions, but they have to come to terms with the fact that guys will get the virus. Hell, they already have as 16+ players have tested positive within the past few days. Also, you all remember Rudy Gobert touching all those microphones, right? 

Another issue I have is whether or not the players will fully get on board. It's possible that the closer we get to the restart of the season, the more players we have bail for one reason or another. We've already seen a thinning of the herd a bit with guys choosing not to play to nurse an injury or just not deal with the risk of getting the virus. It's sorta like a Space Jam thing where the players didn't want to play after seeing Patrick Ewing, Muggsy Bogues, Shawn Bradley, Charles Barkley, and Larry Johnson lose their ability to play at an even functional level. If enough guys get cold feet, the league may abort their restart plan.

Finally, there's public pressure. The NBA is very socially conscious and wants to appear like they are on the right side of important social issues like public health and social justice. I don't think this is strictly a PR thing. I think commissioner Adam Silver sincerely wants to do the right thing and have his league be a force for good. If there's enough pressure to fold the season from people like Anthony Fauci, Silver won't fight it. He'll only give the season the green light so long as the optics remain good.

Ultimately, I remain skeptical that the NBA will be able to pull this off. I definitely think it can be done, but there's still a lot of hurdles that need to be cleared. It will be interesting to see how the league navigates these next few weeks as they attempt to conclude the most bizarre season in league history.

Note: I started a conversation about the NBA's restart efforts on Cake.co. Click here to check it out.

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