After a busy offseason marked by many highs and lows, the Milwaukee Bucks have put all of their chips into the table going into the 2020-21 season.
In a state that runs on Green Bay Packers football, the Milwaukee Bucks have started to emerge in a similar light, even as not all Bucks fans may not be fans of the Packers or football in general.
Considering that all BTBP readers are interested in all things related to the Bucks, but not be plugged into the Packers, I will be using the Packers as a blueprint for how Milwaukee have built around a generational superstar and are approaching the 2020-21 season and beyond.
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Encouragingly, the trade of Jrue Holiday made by Bucks general manager Jon Horst seems to suggest that the organization is indeed taking the necessary, all-in attitude ahead of the coming season.
All-in meaning that they are truly gunning for a championship, and not just regular season success or making the playoffs each year. That they are prioritizing their here and now, rather than building a foundation for long-term success.
Given the questions over the long-term future of Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Bucks embraced the risk and traded the sense of security they could have relied on due to their regular season success during the Mike Budenholzer era.
The parallels of Hall of Fame talents like Antetokounmpo and Aaron Rodgers falling to the Bucks and the Packers in the draft are striking. It didn’t take long for Green Bay to strike it rich once Rodgers entrenched himself as the team’s starting quarterback in the face of controversy, while Antetokounmpo’s rise came first before the stunning success of his team.
All throughout Rodgers’ reign, though, the Packers’ draft and develop mantra has followed over their roster construction, from low floor/high ceiling prospects to players that fell through the cracks and went undrafted. While the Packers have found many diamonds in the rough deep in the draft, have prized financial flexibility and maintain their strong culture, the tag of being risk-adverse has followed them from moves they haven’t made via trade or free agency.
The steadying success of the Green Bay Packers over the last decade serves as a cautionary tale for the Milwaukee Bucks after their last couple of seasons.
The Bucks, meanwhile, have largely been built by trades and free agent signings to build a contender around Antetokounmpo, as part of their many whiffs in the first round. That is when they have ultimately used their first round picks.
Having said that, building for the future in both the NBA and the NFL is far from a like-for-like comparison. For example, executing trades and making free agency splashes are not as impactful to team success in the NFL as they generally are in the NBA. The situation and context ultimately matters as well.
The same goes for how one playoff game can make or break an NFL season where NBA teams play best-of-7 series to determine who moves on and ultimately wins an NBA title.
Being in a position to regularly make the playoffs like the Packers have under Rodgers has come with playoff heartbreak and young players becoming scapegoats for making a simple mistake that change the course of a game. Is the price that comes with bringing in a veteran upgrade ultimately worth it when they can be the difference when it has mattered most? The Packers have thought differently and it has shown, unfortunately.
That’s where the superstar presence and magic that Rodgers has routinely supplied has been the constant for the Packers, especially as his supporting cast, largely built prior to their championship season, has eventually aged out.
Where the Bucks stand in their run with Antetokounmpo, they aren’t afforded the time to form out a core to nurture and develop when the clock is ticking and Antetokounmpo’s future in Milwaukee is in the crosshairs.
After many years, the Bucks have finally accrued the playoff experience and regular season success that is needed to gain the experience that often leads to a chance to contend for an NBA title. That only took them so far to the point where the Bucks had to be as aggressive in reshaping their roster with someone of Antetokounmpo’s stature leading the way.
Meanwhile, Green Bay has only been able to win one Super Bowl throughout Rodgers’ reign as the Packers’ starting QB. The same could be said for his predecessor, Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre, who won one title over his 15 years with the Packers.
It’s the stuff of first world problems and entitlement to believe both Hall of Fame quarterbacks could have won more titles in Green Bay. But when you’ve been on the precipice so many times with only two title in the last 25 years to show for it, it leads to plenty of frustration and anguish that can often emanate from Titletown.
Antetokounmpo has long vowed to stay in Milwaukee if he and the organization were on the same page in competing for championships. Many look to the Holiday trade as showing the Bucks’ seriousness to win it all and secure Antetokounmpo’s long-term services, but ultimately, it’s Antetokounmpo’s decision with his supermax extension that will hold the final say on the matter.
It nearly took a king’s ransom for the Bucks to acquire Holiday and they gutted their depth around their foundation in hopes of a new approach and a fresh makeover to lead them to the NBA Finals this coming season. There isn’t much wiggle room for the Bucks to operate if they fall short of their ultimate goal, but being able to show you’re all-in is the prerequisite of keeping someone like Antetokounmpo long-term.
If the addition of Holiday proves to be the catalyzing effect that leads to the Bucks winning a championship and Antetokounmpo signing a third contract with Milwaukee, it shows that going all-in does have its many benefits in this case for the Bucks. Time will tell.