Getting role players and fringe all-stars isn’t a bad return anymore because being a play-in caliber team is the best way to get a high lottery pick.

You can absolutely still tank you just do it differently now

The answer is simple you became Miami Heat.

Not really since the Bucks don’t own most of their picks.

The Bucks pick situation means this really isn’t going to be a blueprint - normally teams go into a rebuild with some control over their future firsts in the next three years.

As a Bucks fan, the problem with this scenario is we don’t control our own picks. Losing a ton of games for a better pick doesn’t help us anyways.

I wonder if the Nuggets trade Jokic next offseason for more draft capital for the future.

Yea the Mikal and Desmond trades were made with the old rules in mind

I wonder how teams pivot

I think you still take the picks bc you don’t need team to bottom out for likelihood of picks

Idk if that means teams safeguard picks more knowing that being an 8 missing the play-in basically same as bottom 3

Or if teams feel the flatter odds mean it’s really just luck and you hope your pick doesn’t get luck - as opposed to knowing being bad skews the odds

We’ve yet to see the arithmetic that GMs are doing in their calculations and setting the market

Its not really giannis drama, he is going to miami

People are talking way too much about what this means for teams trying to get high picks through their own play when the more interesting conversation is what teams do when they’re acquiring new picks.

You can now trade with a fringe playoff team and still have decent odds of getting a high pick. It really expands the range of potential trade partners if you’re looking to the future.

Also play in level teams’ picks become much more valuable.

Was just thinking about that. What value does trading to be bad have?

Spurs made out like bandits.

You become the Miami Heat

All i know is that I would LOVE to see him on the heat

The draft is still the best way to rebuild. There’s no way to get around that. It’s just harder to guarantee than previous years due to the restrictions now.

It’s going to be the same thing but you try and win a few games instead of sidelining your better players like Washington and Utah did.

Honestly I doubt it changes too much. More than likely the emphasis will be put on the role players and young guys getting traded

That said, funnily enough a guy like Giannis was drafted at 15. 1st rounders still matter a lot

How about this? Put the best team you can on the floor without jeopardizing your future picks. Play the best you can. Let the chips fall where they may during the season. If you want additional draft picks, trade for them in the offseason.

I mean, it’s not a first look because the Bucks don’t control their own picks, so they can’t strategize around the new landscape of lottery odds

The Bucks don’t have control of any of their firsts until 2031 so they weren’t going to try to tank regardless

I mean Milwaukee cannot rebuild with free agency so it has to go through draft, amd considering they have 0 picks they have to get some picks at some point. But I would day rebuild might be easier as you can still compete and grow be a bottom 10 team for max odds just make sure ur not bottom 3

You can still tank, once again there’s always a way to game the system. If you thought stuff looked stupid before, prepare for a new dumb way to see basketball be played.

No it’s not. There is only one Giannis

Oh wow 

Bucks don’t own their future picks, otherwise the solution would be a no-brainer. Keep Jaylen Brown as a tank commander to put asses in seats, and contribute to the mentality of the new players, surround him with some cheap role players and rookies, and you should be a middling team that occasionally pops off. New lottery rules reward teams for being mid, so there is a chance for a good pick in future drafts with which to continue to build on what you have.

I think the new “multiple draft picks” is “very good role players on team friendly deals”. Blue print to win in this age of parity is depth, defense, and shooting.

Does anyone trust the Bucks front office to rebuild the team properly once Giannis leaves?

Atlanta Hawks finally in paradise.

“You can’t tank anymore”

Just flat wrong. If you tank and it pays off you’re pretty much guaranteed 11 years of control or worst case he extends and forces a trade so you get a kings ransom anyway. Just because the odds are worse doesn’t mean the payoff isn’t worth it.

No, getting role players is not more desirable than a star player.

If those role players get you the 5th-8th worst record in the NBA, then getting like the 7th pick on average is almost never going to move the needle for a team without star players. Even if you hit on that pick with an all pro, you still won’t compete for a championship

Getting a star player surrounded by limited role players, having like the 10th worst record in the league, and then having the 7th pick is a much surer way to actually winning.

You hit on that 7th pick one of the years, then all of a sudden the FA role players sign with you, you trade 2nd rd picks for other role players, and your team can win it all.

Shoot. Presti knows what to do. Just hoard as many picks as possible. 1st Round Quantity > Quality now since those picks will have better odds going forward. Ask for a ton of future picks (5-7 years away).

Just watch out for protections.

They dont really own their picks tho right? So there’s no reason to tank even with the old rules

This is the same shit as the trade deadline last year. The bucks organization created a false deadline aka the nba draft to boost trade value when in reality all these teams are wishy washy the fact that random teams like pistons and lakers creeping out the word works tells me that he will be in Milwaukee at the start of the 2026 season because the bucks don’t have to move him till next February they clearly aren’t getting the return they desire or the odds wouldn’t be flip flopping 

So what do you prioritize now? Do you make moves to get some young guys but also decent roles players to be in “No Man’s Land” to get the highest odds for the #1 pick, or do you do the classic tank method?

You do the same thing that has been the most consistently effective rebuilding strategy in the 21st century (that is to say, since acquired players expected to have agency about where they play by the time they’d been in a league a while):

Develop a core and a culture. Maintain your flexibility. Be willing to cycle through players. Acquire assets. Make marginal improvements when they present themselves while maintaining your ability to make a big move when necessary.

The dirty little secret is that multi-year intentional suck-jobs don’t, generally, actually lead anywhere. I suspect this is in part because the stars you’re likely to get aren’t good enough to make up for all the talent you shipped out the door trying to get bad enough to draft them, and in part because players develop better when they step into a winning culture and a functional team.

No matter how much the evidence piles up that intentionally being terrible for years doesn’t result in championships, the narrative is so strong that people keep believing it. Meanwhile the Bucks, Warriors, Knicks, Nuggets, and Raptors all won titles while clearly employing the “okay, let’s just keep trying to get better by adding better players and developing the guys we have,” strategy.

There’s at least a bit of a gray area with the Thunder and the Lakers, although I would argue that the OKC traded their way to a title far more than they tanked their way to one. And yes, the Lakers did stealth tank for a few years to get the pieces that they traded for AD, but that title was more about Laker exceptionalism (two of the top 7 players in the league decided they wanted to play for the Lakers) than the assets they shipped out for AD.