Milwaukee Bucks Roundtable: Ready for the 2019-20 season to begin

5. Whether in the Eastern Conference or the entirety of the NBA, which team are you most concerned about the Bucks facing between the regular season and playoffs this year?

DL: The LA Clippers. The Clippers boast two of the best two-way wings in the league in Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, and have a very talented roster surrounding those two players. If anyone is capable of replicating what Toronto did to Milwaukee on both ends of the court this May, it’s the Clippers.

The Sixers are close too, if everything clicks. However, unless and until we’ve seen it work, the Clippers get the nod here.

BS: It has to be Philly. Last season after going 2-0 up, we all looked ahead to the GSW matchup that never happened because Toronto won four games in a row to pull our collective pants down. Philly has amassed perhaps the best starting 5 in the league, and at the very least a defensive juggernaut, based around stopping Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Alternatively, we’ve just signed/re-signed the Lopez Brothers as a clear sign that we’re planning our defensive strategy already for Joel Embiid. Obviously both LA teams and Houston present a potentially difficult matchup in the Finals but to get there, we’re going to have to go through Philly (barring unforeseen circumstances) first and, as a result, they’re my pick.

RD: I think that the Bucks are one of the top teams in the NBA and not too many teams scare me. I know this is a little premature as we saw teams get the better of the Bucks down the stretch last season. In terms of Eastern Conference teams that scare me, I would have to say either the Philadelphia 76ers are a real threat, especially with the talent they added in the offseason. Aside from Philly, I see the Brooklyn Nets as a dark horse in the East to be a challenger. I’m not saying this because of the Kyrie and Durant signings, I say this because the Nets have a great team chemistry and a great young core that they can build around.

As for the NBA as a whole I think the only Western Conference team that scares me is the LA Clippers. I think that Kawhi and PG are dangerous and will dominate some teams in the West. I also think the combination that the Houston Rockets put together of Harden and Westbrook could cause some issues in terms of who is the leader and who is the primary ball-handler. Coming off last season Harden had the highest PPG average and Russ was a walking triple-double. I think it will be interesting to see how they find balance for both guys.

LB: Phoenix.

On a serious note, it’s Philly. They have so many bodies they can throw at Giannis. Horford, Embiid, Ben “He’s a baby” Simmons, Tobias, and Richardson is a legit core 5. We have to see it all play out, but in theory this is the team that can plant those seeds of doubt.

In terms of the regular season, I think the West is just going to be absolutely brutal for us. Last season the Bucks were a stout 20-10 against the Western conference with nine of those wins coming on the road. I just have a hard time believing they can replicate that type of success. Utah is better. Houston is better. Everything in L.A. is Better. They’re going to take their lumps on those west coast trips just like everybody else.

BO: The Sixers, no doubt. I have so much respect for Joel Embiid, and I think they’re going to have an incredible defense. Losing Redick and Butler will definitely be a big loss for them, but adding Horford and Richardson will ease the pain for them. Al Horford has proven to cause problems for Giannis, and he’ll be out there next to freakin’ Joel Embiid. They’re going to be a huge problem, literally.

JC: Simply, there are three teams that really stand in the way of the Bucks winning their second NBA championship this season in my opinion. Those teams being the 76ers, Clippers, and the Lakers. The 76ers obviously being the most direct threat being in the Eastern Conference. They’ve had a weird offseason with bringing in the Buck killer Al Horford and then losing Jimmy Butler, most notably. I have a hard time seeing Horford and Embiid meshing well in that system, but after how they exited the playoffs last season they’ll be playing with a chip on their shoulder.

The remaining two threats will eliminate one or the other in the process. The Lakers have a fantastic pairing with Anthony Davis and LeBron James, and the Clippers also have a great pair in Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. I think between those two that the Clippers have a slight advantage because of their better supporting cast. Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell, and Patrick Beverley is a really solid cast. All in all, I think the Milwaukee Bucks are much deeper than both of these teams which could really pay off once the time comes.

JT: We’ve seen the damage that Kawhi Leonard laid on the Bucks in the Conference Finals last season and that makes the LA Clippers a clear dangerous threat to the Bucks’ title hopes this year. But the Sixers stand directly in the Bucks’ path and aspiration to come out of the East, to the point where you can’t afford to gloss over the roster they have assembled over the summer. Philadelphia is obviously betting on the talent they have collected on coming together to overrule the fit and durability concerns that are too big to ignore going into the season. The big question that we all will be following is whether the Bucks’ cohesion and continuity will prevail over the talent advantage Philly has put together in their starting lineup and we likely won’t know the answer to that until late May, if everything holds true to current projections.

AM: The clear answer for me here is Philly, and I think that’s in part down the uncertainty of what exactly they’ve got going on. I think there’s been something of an anointing of the 76ers in some quarters, and that’s incredibly premature given just how weird and idiosyncratic their team will be. Having said that, I fully understand the appeal of the Sixers in the scenario where everything clicks into place, they find a way to make it work, and Joel Embiid emerges as a full-on destroyer of worlds.

The West is so competitive that even a team as talented as the Clippers could be upset by any one of seven or eight teams before a potential playoff matchup with the Bucks comes around. The same can’t be said for the East. That makes the Sixers the team that commands all attention at this point, as a postseason matchup feels completely inevitable. I think they’re going to have major offensive issues that will hold them back, and they still have no real depth worth speaking about. But the individual talent can’t be overlooked, and therefore Philly must be afforded respect for what they could become, rather than what we know or don’t know that they currently are.