Milwaukee Bucks: Grades and reactions for the Eric Bledsoe trade

The Milwaukee Bucks agreed to a trade with the Phoenix Suns for Eric Bledsoe on Tuesday, but how should the deal be graded overall?

Eric Bledsoe trade rumors dominated much of the off-the-court discussion in the first couple of weeks of the NBA season, but when the focus next returns to what he can do on the court, he’ll be wearing the white and green of the Milwaukee Bucks.

The recently reported trade between Milwaukee and Phoenix will see Bledsoe join the Bucks with Greg Monroe heading in the opposite direction along with highly protected first and second round picks.

The news was first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe of ESPN.

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As is always the case, with the details of the trade now out in the open for everyone to discuss and debate, the focus has now quickly shifted to whether the teams involved have made good or bad decisions.

Much like draft picks, trades can never be perfectly assessed in the moment, but we can at least look at how they impact teams considering current situations, and the future outlook as it presently stands.

With that in mind, let’s dive deep into the various elements of the trade, the players and picks involved, and offer up a final grade on the deal from a Bucks perspective.

What the Bucks traded for

Eric Bledsoe is a top quality point guard, which is something that hasn’t been seen on a nightly basis in Milwaukee for quite some time.

Set to turn 28 in December, Bledsoe should be coming into his prime as an NBA pro and has already built an impressive pro career for himself up until this point.

For his career to date, Bledsoe is averaging 18.8 points, 6.0 assists, 4.8 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 0.5 blocks.

Bledsoe’s relationship soured considerably in Phoenix following the organization’s decision to shut him down for the latter part of last season as they pursued the best possible lottery odds. The very public nature of Bledsoe’s fall-out with the Suns since could be held against him as a potential attitude concern, but taking Bledsoe’s overall career into account makes his dissatisfaction with that situation more understandable.

Bledsoe has had more than his fair share of injury concerns throughout his career to date, most notably having torn the meniscus in his left and right knees on separate occasions. In other words, being kept off the court when he was actually healthy would be an obvious cause of frustration for the Alabama native.

Building beyond that, in spite of a high standard of individual play, Bledsoe has failed to make the playoffs with any of his teams since 2013 with the LA Clippers.

Bledsoe’s health and three-point inconsistencies will certainly be scrutinized during his time in Milwaukee, but his talent on both ends of the floor shouldn’t be doubted.

What the Bucks traded away (Part One)

Once hailed as the greatest free agent acquisition in Milwaukee Bucks history, Greg Monroe’s tumultuous time with the team has officially come to an end just over two years later.

Monroe’s willingness to buy into a young Bucks team, and what the organization was building, will always stand out as a watershed moment for this current group, but the big man won’t be around to enjoy any rewards that come from his original display of faith.

Having failed to make the playoffs throughout his time with the Detroit Pistons, Monroe came to the Bucks in search of postseason basketball. Although it didn’t work out for him as he struggled to find a fit as a starter in his first season in Milwaukee, Monroe did make it with the Bucks last year, and impressed with standout performances in the first round series with the Toronto Raptors.

Still, Monroe never became as integral to Milwaukee’s plans as it once appeared he would, and after two years of frequent trade rumors, he now finally finds himself in another NBA city.

Monroe’s offensive ability was particularly valuable to the Bucks in the second unit over the last 12 months, and already at the bottom of the NBA in terms of rebounding, his departure certainly won’t ease Milwaukee’s troubles in that department.

Considering the Suns already have a roster packed with big men, Monroe could well be a buyout candidate later in the season. Regardless, Bucks fans will wish him well in his next step in the NBA.

What the Bucks traded away (Part Two)

This is where things get really interesting.

In swapping out Bledsoe for Monroe, the Bucks also rid themselves of the opportunity to have some meaningful cap space to make decisions with heading into the summer. With a new deal for Jabari Parker also potentially on the horizon, any obvious avenue of creating cap space is now well and truly gone.

In that situation, the draft represents the most obvious path to adding further talent due to the low cost, but when exactly Milwaukee will have picks is now somewhat uncertain.

Originally reported as Greg Monroe and a first round pick, the deal was eventually detailed as also including a second round pick by ESPN.

A further wrinkle came from Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel who explained that both picks would include protections.

As our own Jordan Treske pointed out, the top-47 protection may help to appease a section of the fanbase who are still upset about prior mistakes.

In all seriousness, that protection does also give the Bucks a chance of keeping the second round pick, though. The Bucks picked 48th last season as the East’s sixth seed, and with an improved Western Conference, even an improved record could see Milwaukee pick in similar range this year.

As for the first round pick, the news of the unique protection coming out of Phoenix suggests the Bucks have a very good chance of avoiding giving up the pick until 2020.

First round picks are incredibly valuable in today’s NBA and even more so for teams with minimal flexibility. Still, considering the Bucks already have a player of Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s ability, it’s a more than palatable price to pay for high-caliber help, particularly as it means the likes of Malcolm Brogdon and Thon Maker remain in Milwaukee too.

Even with that, Jon Horst and company did an exceptional job of negotiating protections that will serve the team’s best interests in terms of their picks going forward.

Trade motivation

Milwaukee’s motivations for executing this trade for Eric Bledsoe are likely manifold. It’s whether one led as more of a driving factor than another that will really tell us something about them as a team.

Giannis Antetokounmpo’s continued emergence as not only a star talent, but as a lock to be one of the league’s very best players in the coming years creates a new kind of urgency. The Bucks have an opportunity to win over the coming seasons, and also have a responsibility to build a team to help that push. Beyond that, of course, they also need to convince Antetokounmpo to stay beyond his current contract.

A 4-5 start to the season and a three-game losing streak likely played some part in the Bucks’ decision to make a move.

Still, considering the relatively low price they paid for the talent coming to Milwaukee, it would be hard to describe this as a knee-jerk move, although Bucks fans and observers will be left to wonder if the deal would have been made if the team had started 7-2.

With everything taken into account, the Bucks had plenty of reasons to look for a way to inject their roster with more talent, and they’ve grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

Overall trade grade

This trade is nothing short of a home run for the Milwaukee Bucks.

There’s certainly risk attached in adding another player with a history of significant knee injuries, and replacing a well-liked locker room presence with a player who was disgruntled at his previous stop, but the cost of the deal makes that a risk worth taking for the Bucks.

Monroe’s name has been a staple of trade rumors for so long that the chances of him returning following unrestricted free agency already seemed slim. That was even before considering any financial obligations the Bucks may have with Jabari Parker. Although Monroe is a talented player who was incredibly useful for the Bucks last season, he ultimately amounted to little more than salary filler as an expiring contract.

Many Bucks fans would have gladly accepted a first and a second round pick as the price for Bledsoe, so to complete a deal with such stringent protections is a significant added bonus.

There’s a very real chance that the first round pick may not convey until 2020, and if that’s the case, the Bucks have wisely given themselves two more years of adding low cost, young talent to fill out the edges of their roster.

More immediately, Bledsoe will give Milwaukee the kind of offensive boost that they’ve been lacking behind Antetokounmpo late in games, while he’ll also present as a skilled defender who may help to bolster their creaking defensive efforts.

Sure, the trade does create concern in terms of center depth and negatively impacts the team’s already dismal rebounding, but it still seems likely that it will help the Bucks in more ways than it will hurt them.

Jon Horst showed he had the confidence and courage of his own convictions to go out and make a bold trade, and after a quiet summer, he’s now delivered in spades with his highest profile transaction to date.

Grade: A

Next: Win In 6 Podcast #157: Free throw woes, Thon Maker, second unit

What are your thoughts on the deal? Let us know in the comments below.