With free agency a little over a week away, the latest Milwaukee Bucks rumors suggest a strong interest in signing Matthew Dellavedova.
While most Milwaukee Bucks fans are scrambling around trying to figure out who the team is going to select with the 10th overall pick in Thursday night’s NBA Draft, the rumor mill continues to churn, and forces us to look a little further into the future.
Between the draft and the beginning of free agency next week, there’s a growing expectation that the Bucks are going to take some steps to retool certain positions on their roster.
The draft will likely provide some form of confirmation on whether or not this is strategy the team will pursue, but most fans are now in consensus that there’s a need for changes at the point guard and center spots.
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The Bucks will have plenty of high profile and favorable options to choose from at both of those positions with the 10th overall pick, but if recent reports are to be belived, it seems like they might be leaning towards addressing the point guard spot in free agency instead.
In conversation with Zach Lowe on a recent episode of the Lowe Post Podcast, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst mentioned some of the potential suitors for Cleveland Cavaliers free agent point guard Matthew Dellavedova.
"“They [Cleveland] could’ve signed Matthew Dellavedova to a $2 million or $3 million a year contract and now I think someone is coming in with a $10 million offer sheet.For some reason, and I’ve got a pretty good idea why, the Milwaukee Bucks attended Cavs games in the playoffs like they were a fan of the team. They had scouts there…[coach] Jason Kidd came to one of the games. I think the Bucks have zeroed in on Dellavedova. I think they intend to offer him a bunch of money.The Detroit Pistons were hanging around in the playoffs a lot, sending scouts. They weren’t sending scouts to evaluate J.R. Smith, I think they intend to go after Dellavedova.”"
Of course, this isn’t the first time the Bucks have been linked to Dellavedova either. Not only that, but it’s not the first time that Windhorst has been the one to suggest a Bucks interest in the Australian’s services.
Back at the trade deadline, Windhorst mentioned on his radio show that the Bucks “would love” the chance to acquire Dellavedova.
With Windhorst’s close ties to the Cavaliers, it gets difficult to ignore these rumors. Jason Kidd being present at games during the Finals doesn’t necessarily mean that he was there to watch Dellavedova, but it’s certainly not a stretch to believe that as a legendary point guard himself, Kidd would like to get an up close and personal look if Milwaukee was considering offering Dellavedova a contract.
A contract in the region of $10 million would be an incredibly steep price to pay, particularly considering Dellavedova certainly didn’t cover himself in glory throughout the Finals, but such is the nature of the rising cap, there’s very little about that figure that sounds like it would be completely unrealistic.
Ti Windisch recently took a closer look at Dellavedova’s game and his fit with the Bucks as a part of our series of free agent profiles.
"If Dellavedova could be stolen away from Cleveland in NBA free agency for a fair deal, he’d be an ideal fit in Milwaukee. Delly could probably start on the Bucks–he’s one of a few point guards who just feels like a great fit next to Giannis.Despite the hatred many fans have for him, Dellavedova is a good player. He does what he does well–there are holes in his game, but Delly has smartly found ways to avoid his weaknesses as much as possible while he’s on the floor."
Everything there is true. Dellavedova is not popular. His style of play makes it impossible for him to be a hit with opposing fans, and there’s very little flashiness to grab on to for the neutrals.
What Dellavedova can do though is knock down open three-pointers, provide intense, pesky defense, and be a reliable creator in small doses.
The problem lies with the fact that the chance of him being stolen away “for a fair deal”, seems like a ship that has long since sailed.
Does this mean that the Bucks are going to draft big man? If they take a point guard does that kill any notion of interest in Dellavedova?
Next: NBA Mock Draft 4.0: Countdown To Draft Night
Expect to hear much more about this particular one of the latest Milwaukee Bucks rumors in the coming days.