Well folks, the Eric Bledsoe drama appears to be over, and Milwaukee has won the sweepstakes. The Bucks and Suns have agreed in principle to a trade sending Greg Monroe and protected first- and second-round picks in 2018 to Phoenix in exchange for Eric Bledsoe. Let’s dive right in.
What I Like
The most important thing about this trade is that Giannis will finally get a little bit of offensive help. Last year, Bledsoe averaged 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists (along with a steal and a half, as well as half a block). If you were to drop those numbers on this year’s Bucks, he would be their second-leading scorer, their fourth-best rebounder (once you took out Greg Monroe), and their leader in assists. Anytime you can get someone who can lead your team in assists and be the second-leading scorer, that’s cause for celebration.
As for the trade itself, it looks pretty great on paper. Hoarding draft picks is not a priority for a team as young and deep as the Bucks, so losing a first- and second-rounder from a single draft is really not that bad at all. In other words, Bucks fans can almost think of this as straight-up swapping Greg Monroe (who was previously Milwaukee’s biggest non-draft acquisition in recent years) for Eric Bledsoe. When you think of it this way, it seems like an absolute slam dunk for the Bucks.
Bledsoe’s age and experience also make me like this trade. At 28 and in his eighth season, Bledsoe is young enough to make it worth Milwaukee’s while to take on his contract for this season and the next, but old enough to bring some experience to the team as a starter (as opposed to the current Bucks vets who lead the team from the bench). On top of that, the Bucks actually end up saving money by shedding what remains of Greg Monroe’s contract for this season (which didn’t end up being as disappointing as some thought it would be circa the 2015-2016 season, but was still too much money for a sixth man).
Most importantly, I love what the Bucks didn’t give up for this trade. They didn’t get rid of Thon Maker (the floating of whose name last week nearly gave me a heart attack, no matter how far they were from actually shipping him away), and since Monroe’s contract ended after this season anyways they didn’t really touch their young core at all. While this is to be expected when trading for a guy whose team has vowed to get rid of him by any means necessary, it still makes it an absolute gift for Bucks fans.
What I Don’t Like
Now, after all that gushing, there are some things about this trade that I do not like. The first is that we have to say goodbye to Greg Monroe. Now I am well aware that I am in the minority of Bucks fans who actually liked Monroe, but I believe his stabilizing presence off the bench allowed Giannis to get much more rest than he might have gotten with other bench units. Just this season, there have been plenty of games where the starters have sat, and Monroe’s scoring ability was the only reason the opposing team didn’t immediately go off on a huge run.
That said, this trade will almost certainly move Tony Snell to the bench, and as one of the most efficient scorers in the NBA, he should be able to pick up that torch fairly easily. Monroe was also crucial backing up Thon Maker, though, and it will be interesting to see how that situation plays out now that Monroe is gone. My guess is that John Henson (riding a solid start to the season) picks up most of the minutes, and that Thon Maker will continue to be a starter-in-name-only.
My other issue with this trade is that it feels weird to give up a player as good as Greg Monroe to a team who was very clear in their desperation to get rid of Bledsoe. This is a minor quibble, though, as they clearly got a good deal because of Phoenix’s desire to dump Bledsoe. On top of that, Bledsoe being an objectively better player than Monroe also helps soften this blow. Still, I think we can expect to see a few more Bucks losses in the next few games as Bledsoe figures out his place on the team and Kidd figures out how to replace Monroe.
Overall Thoughts
At the end of the day (as you can see from how much I wrote for the “Like” section versus the “Don’t Like” section), I like this trade much more than I dislike it. In fact, it’s about as close as can be to a slam dunk for the Bucks, considering they only had to give up a single player (no matter how much more I liked that player than most of the people reading this). If Bledsoe can match his level of play from last season, he immediately makes the Bucks an objectively better team, particularly on the offensive end. He won’t join the team tonight, so we’ll probably have to wait until Friday against the Spurs to see if he can put them over the top in yet another early-season test.