Bucks Basketball in the summer
The 0-0 Milwaukee Bucks take on the 0-0 Denver Nuggets as summer league play starts on Friday afternoon in Las Vegas. In Milwaukee’s summer league opener they will play the defending champion Denver Nuggets. For this preview we’ll get more into the rosters below. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU.
Milwaukee will participate again in some summer league games in ‘sin city’. The games are always a good chance to see the young guys play. Milwaukee will also have some ‘bubble players’ involved as they look to lock down roster spots 12-15 for the upcoming season. Whereas last season those spots seemed strictly reserved for vets, this season everything feels more ‘on the table’ in terms of who slots where.
Related: NBA Draft Recap for the Bucks
Both teams, as expected, have young inexperienced rosters. Let’s see who might be set to play and who to look out for.
Denver Roster Notes
The Nuggets have a great head coach in Michael Malone. His system fits the team’s personnel. It puts an emphasis on dribble handoffs. The Bucks will also run dribble handoffs but not at the volume the Nuggets do. With Jokic at that “point forward” position, why not?
A really interesting player for Denver is Ismaël Kamagate a center from Paris Basketball/France. You might see him try a few of the dribble handoffs.
In terms of their draft picks Julian Strawther, Jalen Pickett and Hunter Tyson will all play. Sratwther was their top pick (29th overall). The Gonzaga guard has the potential to be someone who could play ‘honest’ regular season minutes for the team.
Related: Summer league Dates Announced
Milwaukee Roster Notes
What a bummer that former Buck Jabari Parker is not going to play in the NBA summer league for the team. Even if Parker makes the roster, one would hope he could give the team a veteran presence.
AJ Green is back. He’ll be one of the star players for the team and will get an chance to house quite a few threes.
Local UW-Milwaukee product Vin Baker Jr received an invite. How cool is that! He might not get many minutes but if he does he’ll need to prove to NBA executives he deserves a G-League roster spot.
Drew Timme, a legendary college basketball player in how own right, received an offer to tryout for the Bucks. He’ll also need to produce to show that his great college game can adapt to the NBA level.
Up Next
Bucks fans will get a small appetizer of basketball in the next few weeks with some summer league dates. The schedule is as follows:
- Friday July 7th vs Denver Nuggets ~ 4pm Start Time CST (ESPNU)
- Saturday July 8th vs Phoenix Suns~8pm Start Time CST (NBA TV)
- Tuesday July 11th vs Brooklyn Nets~5pm Start Time CST (ESPNU)
- Thursday July 13th vs Miami Heat~4:30 Start Time CST (NBA TV)
https://www.nba.com/bucks/schedule
Things to tell your buddies as you are watching the game
- Denver and Milwaukee were the number one seeds in their conference. Of course Denver had that #1 seed success Milwaukee was longing for. The Denver Nuggets won their first NBA championship.
- Jokic is listed as a true seven footer. He weighs 284 pounds. I have friends that weigh 284 pounds- they ain’t seven feet tall!
- Denver leads the all-time regular season series vs Milwaukee 63-39. (Regular Season)
- NBA summer league games are a great opportunity to catch up. Hopefully you can cheers your buddy a belated happy 4th of July!
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