- 11 hours ago
Jim Owczarski from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel joined Rich, Ken, & Ted to discuss a Jaylen Brown for Giannis straight up trade, and his response was surprising.
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00:00Well, we have with us right now on the hotline, Jim Ozarski.
00:04He is the main reporter for the Bucs for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
00:09We just played that clip of Jimmy Haslam, and it sure does seem like they're talking about it.
00:13Hey, Jim, thanks for coming on with us, man. We appreciate it.
00:17Hey, Jim.
00:18Jim, you got us?
00:19Hello.
00:20Hello. Oh, we lost Jim.
00:22Jim, I got you.
00:23There you are. What's up, man?
00:25Thanks for coming on with us, Jim.
00:27Yeah, look, obviously I can't speak to Boston specifically, but yeah, I mean, Bucs ownership clearly has put out the
00:39clarion call to the league to say, show me what you got, you know, and, you know, I don't know
00:46how you come back from that.
00:48Like, if you're Giannis, if, you know, okay, the team is saying we're willing to field offers, and, you know,
00:58Jimmy and John Horst have said this on the record now in the last month, guys, like, well, maybe we
01:03won't trade them.
01:04You know, they didn't trade them at the deadline.
01:05They didn't get what they wanted or see what they wanted.
01:08So, I guess that, you know, that possibility still exists, but, you know, is Boston a fit?
01:16I don't know.
01:16You guys could tell me maybe a little better with what Brad Stevens is willing or not willing to do
01:21with all of those draft picks, but yeah, clearly the Bucs are at least going to be willing to listen
01:27intently over the next six, seven weeks.
01:30Well, Brad Stevens yesterday specifically said that this team needed to be tougher around the rim, and obviously the first
01:37thing you think of is, you know, the Greek freak and somebody who could actually do that because this team,
01:41we got abused by Joel Embiid.
01:43I mean, absolutely abused in that first round.
01:45And so, but the one thing I was trying to figure out, Jim, is that is a Jalen Brown for
01:52Giannis Antetokounmpo swap something that the team would be able to successfully sell to the fans up in Milwaukee?
02:01Absolutely not.
02:03Look, but I don't know if that's a Jalen Brown issue more so than it's just a, you know, there
02:10is no deal.
02:11Like, Giannis, look, I'm not saying Milwaukeeans are going to react like people in Dallas did with Luka, because this
02:19is clearly now signaled a very, this is a public, open bidding war.
02:23This is not some shock situation if he's dealt on draft night.
02:27But the history of these trades, fellas, is there's no good haul.
02:32There's no good return.
02:34The GM who trades an MVP gets fired in two years, and the team is generally bad.
02:38So, you know, Jalen Brown, straight up, probably not, guys.
02:45Like, he only makes, next year, he only makes a million dollars less than Giannis.
02:49So the reality is, in my view, a 30-year-old, $57 million Jalen Brown is not a good return
02:57for the Bucs.
02:58I think, Jalen, if we're talking about Boston, Milwaukee specifically,
03:02we're going to have to loop in a third team that sends 20-somethings to Milwaukee,
03:09and the Bucs maybe get all the Celtics draft picks.
03:13Wow.
03:13Like, I don't think a one-for-one situation here.
03:16Like, why would Milwaukee trade a 31-year-old MVP for a 30-year-old who's maybe a fringe all
03:24-NBA guy going into his 30s?
03:27You know what I mean?
03:28Like, that's the point.
03:29I mean, he was a finals MVP, and he's, you know, won a championship,
03:34and people thought he might be up for MVP this year.
03:38He's good on Twitch.
03:38He's a Twitch maniac.
03:40The guy loves the fans and causing controversy.
03:44Never been arrested.
03:45Almost a league MVP this year without Jason Taylor.
03:48So, you know, yeah.
03:50But it's interesting how people see JB outside of Boston, though,
03:54and Jim's the perfect guy to talk to for that.
03:56Yeah, that's shocking, Jim, because the impression here is that, oh, well, it's a one-for-one.
04:00There's not even a question.
04:01And I know that people are going to be bidding for Giannis,
04:03but, I mean, I don't know what other player is out there that you could sell to Milwaukee fans
04:12that's as good as JB.
04:14I'm just trying to figure out if ultimately, if they do decide to make a trade,
04:18it's going to end up with the Celtics.
04:22Again, I don't think it's – look, unless they're getting Joker, Wemby, Shea,
04:31they're getting a worse player.
04:34Like, Giannis is a two-time MVP, a DPOY, a final – like, that's a resume two active players currently
04:43have,
04:44and they're not getting Shea or Joker, right?
04:46So, I think what Milwaukee has signaled – not that I think I know this –
04:52it's younger players and a lot of draft picks.
04:55And, yeah, Jalen's a very good player.
04:56For the record, I'm sure it's out there.
04:58I voted him fifth on my MVP ballot this year.
05:00He's a very good player.
05:02But he will be in his age 30 season next year.
05:05And I don't think the Bucs – if they're going to do this,
05:09I don't think they're interested in 30-year-olds.
05:11Like, I think – now, I'm not saying Jalen couldn't be part of a deal.
05:15I think a third team is getting looped in.
05:17I think if you're going to hear trade scenarios of, say, Apollo Bencaro or Jalen Johnson,
05:23you're looking at 23- to 26-year-olds who are all-stars or all-NBA to sort of grow
05:30here in Milwaukee
05:32as opposed to guys in their 30s.
05:33I just think that if they're going to do this, that's where the Bucs are looking for
05:39in terms of who's on their team next year.
05:41You know, maybe there's a reroute somewhere in there, you know.
05:44But I don't think it's a one-for-one.
05:47That's just not – that's just not going to fly.
05:50I don't think PR-wise and even for what they're trying to do if they were to move him
05:54and sort of rebuild.
05:56Jim, does Giannis want to stay in Milwaukee?
05:59Or is there any signals to tell you that he's trying to get out of Milwaukee?
06:04Or do you think he wants to stay long-term in Milwaukee?
06:07So just for some clarity, I've known Giannis since he was 18.
06:11I was here when he was drafted.
06:13You know, I talked to him on February 3rd, and I flat-out asked that question,
06:18what do you want?
06:19And, you know, he ran through the list.
06:22He wants to retire in Milwaukee and win in Milwaukee.
06:25But that's always been the caveat, guys, is he doesn't want to be here
06:31if it's a 32-win team, if it's a 40-win team, which makes sense.
06:37Like, you know, he's 31.
06:39He's not 37, right, at the end of this thing.
06:42So, yes, the short answer is yes.
06:45He wants to be in Milwaukee.
06:46He wants to continue to do this here.
06:49Being a one-team guy is very appealing to him.
06:53However, he's not interested in 25 wins or 30 wins or 40 wins.
06:59So that's the dance they've played, guys, for the better part of a decade.
07:04And every point, the Bucs have answered that call and made moves to be a winning team.
07:11You guys know this.
07:12There have been some great playoff battles between these organizations.
07:16It's just that now they're at this weird inflection point where him being 31 makes the team wonder,
07:23wow, like, should we still invest in this?
07:28Because he's not 28.
07:29He's not 25 like the last two extensions.
07:32So, yes, he still wants to be here.
07:34But now it's that sort of, ooh, are we on the same timeline here in terms of where this organization
07:40wants to go?
07:41That's to be determined.
07:42What do you think Giannis thinks about Boston and Missoula and Tatum, Jim?
07:46Has he ever dropped any knowledge about those three entities to you?
07:50Yeah, specifically.
07:51My colleague, Lori Nickel, did a series of great exit interviews, if you will, with Giannis.
07:58And it came up with, you know, I think he talked to Joe a little bit at that end of
08:04the regular season.
08:05And he mentioned culture building and, you know, that type of scenario that he likes in terms of we know
08:14who we are.
08:15There's no excuses.
08:16It doesn't matter who's playing.
08:18Now, we can presume was that the Doc River, you know?
08:24Did Doc make excuses for things?
08:28You know, so you can – was he reflecting a little bit or projecting what he wanted versus what he
08:33didn't have currently?
08:36So, yeah, he definitely has the utmost respect for Joe and, obviously, the Celtics organization.
08:40He said that to Lori on the record.
08:43I wouldn't go so far as to say he wants – you know what I'm saying?
08:47Like, that's like a request or whatever.
08:49I think Giannis is – he just wants to win.
08:53And I'll be honest, I talked to him the other day with Taylor Jenkins being hired here, effusive of Taylor.
08:59Said Taylor's a culture setter, you know, that type of coach, a no excuses, an accountability holder.
09:05So, yeah, utmost respect for Joe.
09:09He has said that.
09:10It's at jsonline.com.
09:11Celtics fans can find it.
09:13But I think it was more in general of what he desires in a team.
09:17And, frankly, the Bucs did replace Doc with a guy he feels brings that, Taylor Jenkins.
09:22All right, so we're talking to Jim Ozarski.
09:24He covers the Bucs for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
09:26And I want to ask you about Doc because, obviously, you know, here in Boston there's a love and there's
09:32also, you know, a love of Doc Rivers for his time here.
09:34But we also know, you know, what Doc Rivers did.
09:37And, you know, he might be one of the biggest chokers as a coach in recent history.
09:45Just the way that he has had leads in so many different – we know about choking around here.
09:49But, like, I wonder – it seemed to have ended badly with the Bucs.
09:56Can you kind of tell me how everything went down there at the end and how everything went sour with
10:01Doc Rivers and the team?
10:04Yeah, it definitely did not – I mean, clearly did not work.
10:08And, yeah, look, he basically signaled he was done, you know, months – with a month or so left in
10:17the season.
10:18Handed the in-game stuff to Darvin Ham to sort of run the team.
10:21So he was out, you know.
10:24And I think the team realized that far earlier than that.
10:28So this year, Giannis getting hurt, you know, Kevin Porter Jr. getting hurt.
10:33I think they both played fewer than 40 games.
10:35So there was some bad luck.
10:37And I guess with Doc, there's always that what's the line between a reason and an excuse, right?
10:44And, look, Giannis, Damian Lillard, Chris Middleton never played a playoff game together.
10:50Like, that's not his fault, you know.
10:52The Bucs clearly aren't going to win if those three guys weren't playing in the playoffs.
10:58But, yeah, it just didn't – look, you hear all the stuff that came out after.
11:01When you have players willingly running to media outlets to talk about things he said in private meetings.
11:08And, Ted, you've been in a locker room.
11:10Like, you know what that means, right?
11:13Like, he lost those guys.
11:15And it just never worked.
11:17It never clicked.
11:18The sense I got was just the messaging in 2026 never landed.
11:25You know, publicly, he – so there was this stuff, obviously, that was reported.
11:29But, you know, he's in Philadelphia and says, in a pregame, Joel Embiid's the most talented player he's ever coached.
11:35Well, Giannis is in your locker room.
11:38That's just not – you know.
11:41It's not in Bucs.
11:44I got to tell you, you know, it's funny.
11:46It's like, you know, we gave Doc Rivers a whole lot of credit during that run with the big three,
11:51Paul Pearson, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen, you know, for this Mbutu thing and how the whole team was, you
11:57know, each for each other and how this locker room and how he ruled with an iron fist.
12:01And then you started to learn as the years went on that that was really Kevin Garnett who was responsible
12:05for all that.
12:06And, by the way, this is coming from a guy who thinks that Doc Rivers, like, as a person, like,
12:10if you talk – he's, like, the greatest guy, like, a nice guy, you love him to death.
12:14But it does make you think just how effective a coach he was and whether it was truly just you
12:20had three of the best players of that generation together and a true leader in that locker room in Kevin
12:26Garnett.
12:27Yeah.
12:28I mean, obviously, I can't speak to that era of Boston.
12:31And, look, he's – to your point, he is a great person.
12:34And unequivocally, everyone that I've been around in Milwaukee that speaks to that, obviously, Doc, is very outspoken on a
12:42lot of things.
12:42But, yeah, on the court, look, that – all I could – let's go back to the first year here
12:48when he was hired when the Bucs were 30 and 13, just behind the Celtics in the East.
12:53A coaching change needed to happen at that point.
12:57Doc was available.
12:58It seemed like it made sense.
13:00And the problem was is Chris got hurt, but Dame and Giannis, like, that should have been the moment of,
13:08you know,
13:09those two top 75 players sort of running roughshod, right, and showing what that looked like.
13:15And it just never clicked.
13:16It never happened.
13:17And it's not just Doc.
13:19Obviously, players have everything to do with this as well.
13:22But, yeah, just never – he never was able to pull it together here with either those stars or this
13:28year, guys, when, you know,
13:31it was just Giannis and, like, these supposedly role players or guys with chips on their shoulder or these try
13:37-hard guys.
13:38Like, that didn't work either.
13:39So, yeah, I think just by the end of this and maybe the end of his coaching career, that je
13:47ne sais quoi, I guess, just didn't – it didn't land here.
13:51And, yeah, clearly, you know, they decided they needed to move on.
13:54He decided he needed to move on.
13:55Well, this offseason is going to be interesting.
13:57It is.
13:57And more interesting than I thought it was going to be.
13:59And because all it is is Giannis talk here now that after the last couple of days, you know,
14:04everyone's got Twitch fever and we don't like what we're hearing if you are a fan of Taylor Brown.
14:08So, we'll see how it goes.
14:10But, Jim, great stuff.
14:11We'll catch up with you as they get closer to – it sounds like the draft.
14:14That's what Haslam's got his eye on.
14:16And, you know, we'll see if there's any more heat to this story, Jim.
14:18We appreciate you coming on.
14:19Thanks, Jim.
14:20Yep, thanks for having me.
14:21All right, thanks, man.
14:21All right.
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