The Buck Stops Here Roundtable #3: Remaining Free Agency Decisions
By Tim Wray
The Bucks have extended a qualifying offer to Miles Plumlee, making him a restricted free agent. Should Milwaukee re-sign him? If so, how much do you believe the front office should offer him and/or how high should they go to match a potential offer sheet that he signs with another team?
TP: I really don’t have any strong feelings about Miles Plumlee’s future at all. If he returns, OK. If not, OK. I think in either case, Plumlee’s greatest contribution to the organization has been to point them towards the type of center that fits with this team; namely an active, athletic center who doesn’t need the ball dumped in to him a lot to be effective.
Therefore, I think the only real misstep would be to overpay him. I think if Plumlee is offered John Henson money, the Bucks should not match.
AM: I think Plumlee is important only because he acts as a safety blanket. As Tom said, he laid out the road map for the Bucks in terms of finding an ideal center rather than causing an end to the search for that player.
I’d like him to be re-signed if only to know that there’s a route to them lining up with that kind of center on the floor next year, as without him I’m really not sure what’s left.
Plus, if he leaves do they really move Monroe and look to pick up two centers off the scrap pile? Festus Ezeli‘s deal makes a price on this one tough to view as value, but anything close to $10 million may still be worthwhile considering the alternatives. It’s a tough decision.
RF: I’m going into this assuming Monroe is gone and that our current Center rotation consists of John Henson and… a slight southwesterly breeze.
If that is the case, I believe it is a necessity that the Bucks take a serious look at bringing Miles back. He had a wonderful second half of the season and brings all the energy and athleticism you need out of your bench big. His stats aren’t going to impress or blow you away, but for his role and expectations, he’s damn near perfect.
Of course, once the dust settles the market for centers may be more devoid than we think. If a borderline playoff team gets desperate and thinks Plumlee could seriously augment their odds over the 82-game season, he may get a big offer sheet. I certainly wouldn’t be matching that; he brings a lot to the table, but not something that can’t be replicated with someone else.
TWindisch: Miles Plumlee is certainly replaceable, but the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. Keeping him around would be ideal, considering he already has the chemistry down with the young Milwaukee Bucks on the floor.
That being said, I wouldn’t want to pay much more than $7-$8 million per year to keep him around. Replacing him would be less ideal than keeping him, but price has to be taken into account, especially with Giannis needing to be extended fairly soon.
JT: I’ve long wrestled with what the Bucks should do with Plumlee. On one hand, he brings the type of energy and athleticism that the Bucks need from a center next to Jabari and Giannis. On the other hand, I think, while his play in the second half got the recognition it deserved, it was exaggerated by how miserable of a fit Greg Monroe has been as well as John Henson’s disappointing year.
With all that said, I think I’d go as far as $7 million on either a straight offer or a possible offer sheet with Plumlee. Plumlee sure fits reasonably well alongside the Bucks foundation, but I’m very skeptical whether he’s a long-term solution at center for the Bucks.
TWray: I think we all agree that Miles Plumlee’s low-usage, high energy game is the right type of fit for the Bucks’ “Point Giannis” offense. After regularly registering DNP-CDs during the first half of the season, it was great to see him finally get regular minutes and contribute to the team once the ball was put in Giannis’ hands after the All-Star break. Whilst I’m with Jordan that he isn’t the long-term solution as a starter, I think he can continue to play a meaningful role off the bench as the second center in the depth chart. Like Ti said, he has fantastic chemistry with the Bucks young core and despite his lack of touches, is still fairly effective, as Riley mentioned.
With the free agent market for big men thinning out, a number of teams may get desperate. With this in mind, if Plumlee were to sign an offer sheet with another team, I think the absolute highest I’d go is $9 million. However, ideally the Bucks aren’t forced to pay that much and manage to retain him for somewhere in-between $6 and $8 million per year, especially considering Festus Ezeli was signed by Portland for just over $7 million per season.
Next: Gauging Returns On Greg Monroe