Spin Zone: This is exactly what the Bucks franchise needed.

Live look at HQ this morning:

A comically embarrassing performance for the entire Bucks franchise. The #1 seed in the entire league not only lost a first round series to a play-in tournament team, they lost it in FIVE GAMES. Didn’t even lose a hard fought 7 game series! They got dominated physically and mentally. Remember this moment from 1994?

I remember watching that at 10 years old and being BLOWN AWAY that the 8 seed Nuggets somehow beat the #1 team in the league, the Sonics. It seemed inconceivable.

Well 10 year old Jonathan, I’ve got some good news and some bad news for you. The good news is that the Bucks, YOUR BUCKS, will win a title in 2021! I know, right?!? The bad news? They’re going to play the role of the the 1994 Sonics in 2023. But how about that news about the championship!

Before we get to our Spin Zone, you’ve got to tip your cap the Heat. The better team won that series. They played like the #1 seed. They were more focused, they were confident, executed on both ends, and Jimmy Butler put together an all time performance. The best player on the floor the entire series and that includes Giannis. He was the Alpha. That was a prime Kobe or prime Jordan series from Jimmy Buckets. Just dog-walked every player the Bucks tried to defend him with. Some of it was bad defense (more on that later), but a lot of it was superior shot-making and will to win.

Alright, are you ready for a spine zone? Cue the graphic:

Spin Zone: At some point in the future the sun will swallow the earth and no one is going to remember any of this anyway. Enjoy your Thursday!

Ahhhh I kid, I kid.

Here’s the actual Spin Zone: Better to lose the way they did in this first round series, than to beat the Heat, then beat the Knicks, only to lose to the Celtics in the ECF. If that’s the way this plays out, nothing would change going into next year. We’d all be able to say, ‘well, we always knew it would be a tough series with Boston, but we were a step away from the Finals, let’s freshen a few things up on the fringes but run it back in 2023/24.’

Because here’s the thing: This team needs, at minimum, a soft reboot. I realize the Heat played out of their minds on several levels in this series, but as Miami was rallying AGAIN in the 4th quarter last night, I finally came to terms with the fact that the Bucks simply were not as good as we thought they were this season.

Don’t get me wrong, they have a lot of talent. You don’t win 58 regular season games without talent. But the problem is that the gap between the NBA regular season and the NBA playoffs is getting bigger and bigger in terms of the level of competition. In the NBA regular season you play a lot of bad teams, you play a lot of hurt teams, and you’re playing a different team every other night. When you’ve got guys like Giannis and Jrue and Brook and Khris, and some of the bench pieces the Bucks have, you can win a lot of those games. And they did!

But when you get to the playoffs, EVERYONE plays harder. Good players and good coaches can put together gameplans to specifically attack your weaknesses. And that’s precisely what Jimmy Butler and Erik Spoelstra were able to do. This version of the Milwaukee Bucks was not ready for that jump in intensity. It’s hard to understand why that would be, given they just won a title 20 months ago, but for whatever reason they couldn’t conjure it up this season. It manifested itself in lack of adjustments, lack of focus, poor decision making, turnovers, and a BOATLOAD of missed free throws. Overall: They played VERY dumb basketball against a team that was essentially just Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo and a cast of misfits.

Now we abruptly hit the offseason, and my guess is we’re going to see some changes. Which have to happen. Questions in no particular order:

• Bud. God bless him, whether it was because him or in spite of him, the team won a title with him as the head coach in 2021. We’ll always remember that. But it really feels like it’s time for a new voice. He made SO many mental errors in this series. Lack of adjustments from game to game, never doubling Jimmy at any point in the series (Giannis was critical of that in his post game yesterday), forgetting to call a timeout and advance the ball with .5 seconds left last night, not using a timeout on the final possession of overtime and watching his team play hot potato as time expired on their season. It was a mess. Bud allows his team to play ‘free’ offensively, but that freedom led to so many STUPID possessions all series. At some point you need to reign your team in and have them run a few set/designed plays. I don’t know who his replacement would be, Nick Nurse or Charles Lee or somebody else, but if he is the head coach on opening night in October I’d be surprised.
• Brook Lopez. He’s 34 years old but coming off of one of his best seasons in the NBA and was just about the only player you could count on in this series. They needed to get him the ball more. I don’t know what kind of contract he would get (3 years, $60 million?) but I want him back.
• Khris Middleton. He actually finally looked like himself a bit last night. He was in and out of the lineup all regular season. At times he looked VERY sluggish, his lateral movement was pretty rough, especially defensively. He will be 32 years old next season and has a $40 million dollar player option. I would have thought there’s no chance he’d opt in, hoping for one last big payday somewhere. But because of the injury questions, he may have to opt in, and hope for a good season in order to cash in next year. If he opts out, do you let him walk? If he opts in, do you trade him somewhere? To me, this is the biggest question mark of the offseason. Middleton and Giannis have been together since Day 1. Obviously they don’t win the title without Middleton, and watching him leave would mean a MAJOR change.
• Jrue Holiday. A ton of fans want him gone based on his performance in that series. I’ll admit, ‘Playoff Jrue,’ is hard to figure out. He shot the ball so well all regular season, and then disappeared in the playoffs. That’s been a theme in regards to his shooting most of his career. He also played WAY too fast at times, and was turnover prone. Jimmy Butler had his number, particularly in games 4 and 5, but my feeling is that that was superior shot making by Jimmy. Jrue contested PLENTY of those shots, Jimmy just made them. He’s going to be 33 years old and has one more year left on his deal, then a player option in 2024/25. Could he be a trade candidate? Sure. They would get something for him. But my guess is he’s back and I’m fine with that.
• Giannis. Obviously going nowhere,  the only reason I’m mentioning him is because he has two more years left on his current deal, then a player option. He’s only 28 years old and still very much in his prime and one of the top players on the planet. Based on his age, and where we are in his contract, this feels like a good spot to blow out he cartridge a bit and hit the restart button.

Anyway, it’s going to be a LONG and interesting offseason. But if it results in some bigger changes that lead to a different mentality and a fresh perspective next season, I’m glad the season ended the way it did. Even though it is heartbreaking.

PS: Giannis’ ability to give a thoughtful answer on the fly in moments like this is almost more incredible than what he does on the court:

Double PS: I know a lot of people wanted Butler called for the push off on that game tying shot at the end of regulation, and it was a push off, but we can’t complain about the refs. The Bucks shot 45 free throws and the Heat shot 17 last night. The Bucks MISSED the same amount of free throws that the Heat attempted. In a game you lost by two points!