Milwaukee Bucks Twitter Mailbag: Player Comparisons and Trade Talk

In our latest Milwaukee Bucks Twitter Mailbag, Tim Wray compares Ron Baker and Matthew Dellavedova, discusses whether the Bucks need to make a trade, talks Thon Maker‘s development and much more.

After a brief break for the holiday season, the Milwaukee Bucks Twitter Mailbag is back for another week!

As we’ve done in the past, this weekly mailbag post will run in addition to the one featured on the Win in 6 Podcast in order to connect even further with the Behind the Buck Pass readership.

This week, after the Bucks gave up a double digit fourth quarter lead to the New York Knicks in a disappointing loss on national television, we opened the floor to all your best Bucks questions, thoughts, trade suggestions and any bold predictions moving forward.

If you happened to miss out this week and have a burning Bucks question, be sure to follow @BehindTheBucks on Twitter to keep an eye out for the Win in 6 Podcast mailbag on Sunday or to submit questions for this write-up on either Thursday or Friday nights.

Now, let’s get to the questions!

Well, we all know that Stephen Curry is the American Joe Ingles, so it’s natural to think that Matthew Dellavedova has a Yankee Doodle Dandy counterpart as well. Could it be Ron Baker? Let’s find out…

Best four-year collegiate player at a mid-major with a mop-top? You know it.

Fought through training camp and onto an NBA roster after being undrafted? Check. Gee, they should really make a movie about this guy…

Athletically challenged, yet willing to scrap and dive for every loose ball? Needs more grit, although he did ‘Meet The Fockers’ on this play… (I can’t help it)

Ascend the mountain and brought home an Championship ring? Not with those Knicks…

In all seriousness though, full credit to Ron Baker. He was +18 in the fourth quarter, kept Derrick Rose riding the pine for the whole 12 minutes and made some crucial (dare I say Delly-esque?) winning plays down the stretch against the Bucks.

Fire up the ESPN Trade Machine, it’s dealing season!

Not for you though, Bucks fans.

Unless Milwaukee finds a seriously desperate team willing to take one of the three centers at the trade deadline, I just can’t see the front office prepared or required to make any changes. As it stands, the Bucks don’t really have any obvious personnel needs which could realistically be remedied via trade.

Whereas potential playoff teams are looking to cash in assets for role players who are going to push them over the top, as Doug Collins mentioned on Friday’s ESPN broadcast, the Bucks can essentially do that without giving up anything if Khris Middleton returns from injury sometime around the All-Star break. In reality, this is probably a better result than any trade they could make, given that Middleton is such a high caliber player who is already familiar with the Bucks system and should be a massive boost for Milwaukee’s playoff hopes.

Short answer? Upside.

Thon Maker is the definition of a long-term project player. Though he’s shown glimpses of a tremendously high-ceiling, whether it be draining threes, breaking Birdman’s ankles or emphatically swatting away shots, the bottom line is that his slender-framed body just isn’t ready to play consistent NBA minutes yet.

Whilst game time is obviously important for rookies, the most critical aspect of his development is what goes on in the practice facility day-to day, particularly working on his core strength and learning the intricacies of how to play against NBA bodies.

It’s no secret the Bucks have a troubling logjam at center, but I’d hope that the picture is much clearer in a couple of seasons time when Thon is much further along his development timeline and ready to play consistent minutes as a role player on a decent playoff (hopefully) team.

Although I was initially skeptical (in the heat of the moment) when the Bucks swung for the fences and took Thon with the 10th overall pick, mostly because I wanted a much more ‘NBA-ready’ player who could contribute sooner rather than later (Malcolm Brogdon!), there’s no doubt that he’s an incredibly exciting prospect who has the potential to make the Bucks an utterly terrifying team to play in four to five years time (If they’re not already by then).

So many undertones.

In a general basketball context, I think not knowing who to blame is much, much worse.

That would be like having Giannis in the early Naismith era of Basketball…

Next: Milwaukee Bucks Best and Worst: December 30 – January 5

Thanks for all of the great questions, everybody! Don’t forget to shoot us a tweet @BehindTheBucks to have your queries answered on next week’s Milwaukee Bucks Twitter Mailbag.