Hello Fansided Nation, my name is Dakota Schmidt and I’m an 18-year-old diehard Bucks fan. I’ll try to bring a unique but positive perspective about the Bucks. (Isn’t that what is lacking in the Bucks community?) I’m excited about the young talent that is on this team and I hope you guys enjoy my thoughts and perspectives on this team as the season goes on.
Fox Sports Wisconsin plans to air 70 Milwaukee Bucks games, and ESPN has a December 19th Bucks/Grizzlies date on tap. Below is a breakdown of the 11 games that won’t be broadcast live locally this season.
Opponent |
Date/Time/ Place
Comment
Washington Wizards
November 9th
6:00 PM
Verizon Center
Of the twelve Bucks games that will not be broadcast, this game has to be the one I’d be most looking forward to watching. I have a lot of interest in the young backcourt combo of Bradley Beal and John Wall; watching them face off against Ellis and Jennings would make for great television in my opinion.
The Wizards have made the turnaround from a team that would be laughed at for its weird and awful decisions to a smarter team lead by veteran big men like Nene and Emeka Okafor.
Charlotte Bobcats
December 7th
7:30 PM
BMO Harris Bradley Center
The Bobcats should be somewhat better this year, right? Charlotte finished with one of the worst winning percentages in NBA history last season so I could see why the higher ups at FS Wisconsin dodged it.
The additions of Ben Gordon and rookie Michael Kidd-Gilchrist – plus a more experienced Kemba Walker –should put this team in a better position going forward, but they will likely still be stuck in the cellar of the Eastern Conference this season.
Brooklyn Nets
December 9th
5:00 PM
Barclays Center
Here is a game that Bucks hoopheads will truly miss: a first glimpse of Deron Williams and the Nets. They loaded up on All-Star talent like Gerald Wallace and Joe Johnson, so Bucks fans should be interested to see how their own players stack up against the All-Star core in Brooklyn.
The early 5:00 PM CT Sunday tipoff may not be desirable to TV execs, especially when it means going head-to-head against the NFL, but a game like this could determine where the Bucks stand against the better teams of the Eastern Conference.
Cleveland Cavaliers
December 22nd
7:30 PM
BMO Harris Bradley Center
I know it’s silly to complain about not being able to see a game against an average division team that you’ll be facing off against four other times. But seeing a young rising team like the Cavaliers is always a special event especially when you get a chance to watch a matchup like Jennings vs. Kyrie Irving. Also, getting a chance to see rising stars of the Central Division like Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters should be fun.
Detroit Pistons
January 29th
6:30 PM
BMO Harris Bradley Center
Winner and still least interesting team in all of the NBA goes to the Detroit Pistons!
In all seriousness, the pairing of young big men Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe has the potential to surprise some veteran front lines.
Brandon Knight and Rodney Stuckey could make for an interesting backcourt but I really don’t see them becoming more then just a serviceable duo. Perhaps that wishful opinion could be due to the fact that I don’t want to see Detroit become another threat to the Bucks in the Central Division.
Detroit Pistons
February 9th
7:30 PM
The Palace of Auburn Hills
Washington Wizards
March 13th
6:00 PM
Verizon Center
Milwaukee will get the chance to see Bradley Beal at the BMHO Bradley Center twice – once in the preseason and once in February – but they won’t get to see either of the rookie’s games in DC.
Orlando Magic
March 17th
Noon
BMO Harris Bradley Center
So how does a team bounce back after getting royally fleeced in one of the biggest blockbuster trades of the past decade, one where they trade the best center in the league for only pennies on the dollar? The new look Magic could potentially roll out a starting 5 of Gustavo Ayon, Glen Davis, Hedo Turkoglu, Aaron Afflalo and Jameer Nelson. That group, when paired with an underwhelming bench core, is a potential disaster I wouldn’t mind missing for at least one game.
Atlanta Hawks
March 23rd
7:30
BMO Harris Bradley Center
By the time this game tips off we’ll have a good idea how the new look Hawks team will be, but right now it’s really a mystery to see how the post-Joe Johnson era will begin. The Hawks’ ship is now run by the duo of Al Horford and Josh Smith who is still on the hitlist of many Bucks fans after stating that “everybody knows that there’s nothing to do in Milwaukee” which angered not only Bucks fans but Milwaukee natives in general. If the Hawks want any hope of competing for a playoff spot with the Bucks at this point in the season they will have to depend on center Al Horford to stay healthy after missing all but 11 games last season after tearing his pectoral muscle. This game could help determine who has the upper hand in the run for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Toronto Raptors
April 6th
7:30 PM
BMO Harris Bradley Center
I honestly don’t know what to say about this Raptors team which is why I am rather upset I will have to miss this late season affair at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. They have loads of talent on offense with players like DeMar DeRozan and Andrea Bargnani, who was having an All-Star-caliber year before a left calf injury sidelined him for the season.
The two newcomers to the Raps are European import Jonas Valanciunas and free-agent signee Kyle Lowry. 20-year-old Valanciunas is an aggressive and athletic center, but young Euro bigs often have an uneven learning curve in the NBA. Meanwhile Lowry is a three-point shooting machine who should transition nicely to an offensively minded Raptors team. How he will fare against fellow Central Division point guards should be answered before this late-season game against Brandon Jennings.
In an ideal scenario (or at the very least, the pleasant scenario that seems to exist for nearly allother NBA teams), all 82 games would make it to local cable. Bucks fans sadly don’t have that luxury. Kindly, the decision-making TV execs chose to drop games
against some of the league’s weakest draws. The thought of missing a chance to see former Buck Corey Maggette (Detroit) or Ben Gordon (Charlotte) is a positive at least in my eyes (Maggette’s five trips to the free throw line in a given game would just be a horror show.) But isn’t that the irony, though? If the Bucks had to play a game against… hmm, I don’t know… say… themselves, would FS Wisconsin air it? And that’s not to say the Bucks are bad, but they don’t have a marketable cast of characters like Miami, Los Angeles Lakers or the Oklahoma City Thunder.
So why would one want to watch these 11 games? I would say it’s because the Bucks should do very well. Most of these games are against lower-tier teams, with the possible exceptions of Brooklyn and Washington. The Bucks sometimes struggle against this dreck, playing down to the level of their competition, but if they’re going to win seven of these games, wouldn’t you want to be able to see it?