It's time for Make the Call, a weekly discussion on the top Wisconsin sports stories of the week.
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Now, it's time for Make the Call, the Civic Media Sports Production.
It is the weekend which means it is time for Make the Call, part of the Civic Media Radio Network.
I'm Jimmy Koska, sports director here at Civic Media.
And today we are going to completely break our format.
We are not going to do our top eight at eight this week.
And that's because we've got really a top one at eight.
We are going to talk all bucks.
all the time, all the program today, and we've got some guests to help us get through it.
Coming up in a half hour from now, Dan Schaefer will join us for the Reconpopulation Area.
He, of course, is a huge Milwaukee Bucks fan, and he'll talk about his reactions to the trade of Ghana's Atetic Coompo.
We'll also hear from Mike Clemens to get a weekend review in sports that'll be coming up here in about 40 minutes from right now.
But
To start to show, I am joined by the usual suspects, the co-host of this program, Gray Gunderson in Park Falls and Parker Olson in Madison.
And guys, it is great to have you on.
We have been talking about this story for, I don't know, it feels like
The last year or so and it has finally happened.
Yannis has been traded.
So I thought let's bring in some people to help us talk about it and we bring in to start our program the author of building the Milwaukee Bucks.
So look at the first Milwaukee Bucks championship which happened around a half century ago and that is Jordan Treske.
So Jordan welcome aboard.
It is great to have you and what a historic moment for this Bucks franchise.
You got to write
about, of course, one of the biggest turning points of having the Milwaukee Bucks and their basketball history here in Wisconsin.
Boy, we're at another one of those now with the Honest Ateticoopo trade.
First of all, great to have you.
Second of all, what a historic moment for this franchise.
Well, first of all, thanks for having me.
I've always enjoyed being on here and talking bucks.
Yeah, I mean, what can you say?
I mean, again, parallels can be drawn.
I think even when I was writing the book,
I always just kind of wanted to see out like the Korean stuff because, you know, you never know, like kind of maybe make comparisons of some things changed over time because obviously it took me a long time to write the book.
So now that we're here and talk about Yanis as no longer being a buck, it is just very interesting to see like the parallels and how things kind of, you know, dwindled and declined for the bucks originally.
And then 50 years from now where, you know, we have ample amount of time and energy to talk about.
why we got here and why, what things led to what, and it just kind of like, when the trade happened, it's like, it's the, the finality of everything, but you just realized like things that were chasing just were unattainable at a certain point and no one had the right solution.
So I want to start, you alluded to the parallels.
What are some of the similarities between the honest trade and what happened with the box in the 1970s?
I think, ultimately, I think a lot of the reporting after the fact has bore this out.
It's like,
the pressure of keeping the machine going, keep, you know, I mean, I know Jim Ozarski of the Milwaukee Journal has said this repeatedly.
It's like between when Bud was, Mike Brunholzer was in Milwaukee, they were, they won the most games in the regular season.
I get that the regular season doesn't have the same amount of importance in the NBA as other sports, but it still is something to, you know, kind of hang your head up because they were still in it.
They were still at the top of the East.
They won the one seed multiple times, even in the year that they got, you know, flamed out against the heat a couple of years ago in 23.
So I think just like when you add in that, like that's that's the top of the years before that when they make the change from Jason Kidd, they were still trying to be a better team.
They just didn't realize they're sealing or hit that ceiling.
And then they fire, but the offseason comes.
The pressure starts ramping up of Yanis is kind of flirting with maybe wanting to leave or thinking of elsewhere at least.
And then they make the trade for Damian Lillard.
Then they bring on Adrian Griffin that summer.
And that doesn't, you know what I mean?
Like there's just so many different events.
And like, again, I think it's very easy to have a very fishbowl mindset of like, we just think of the most recent thing of like, this is why this is why it's like, no, when you look back at like the last 10 years, this team has been trying to win at the highest levels.
They haven't gone there.
They did eventually in 21.
And that's a long time.
And then when you don't have any assets to replenish and kind of keep, you know, adding young talent, kind of keeping the thing going, like it's just, it's insanely hard to do that over and over and over again to the point where now at this trade, they've been able to wipe the slate clean by adding youth into the whole project.
What do you think about the hall that we're getting here with the bucks in this trade?
I mean, you alluded to it right there.
There was basically no capital for the bucks.
And Jimmy has been on that for a long time.
They've had nothing to work with for a long time.
Was what they got an appropriate amount?
Can you kind of grade how this trade turned out?
You know, I mean, I think it's two full.
I think one, like no one's ever going to compare to Yanis.
It's just a simple statement, but I think we just have to keep saying it.
Even in the state where he's 31, you're kind of looking more towards the back nine of his career rather than the, you know, the whole totality of it.
I will say, I think considering where they were when kind of the ESPN reports happened, was it like September of 25?
Like before the start of last season, and we're kind of like, okay, you're talking about the Knicks, what do they have of interest to the Bucks if you're tradey honest, that kind of thing?
the next meanwhile won the NBA championship.
So I think between that and the kind of teams that were kind of looming around the deadline, again, when you know that you're not going to have a comparable, like, haul for Giannis, I would say maybe they got 50 cents to a dollar.
I think some of the guys are interesting, like Tyler Hero is more established than any other player in the trade.
There's already been rumors that
He might not be long.
I think his con, he's on an expiring contract too.
It could be wrong about that.
So there's that, but you also need kind of more of an established figure.
And again, it's the NBA like bucks are here to sell tickets.
Got a whole ton kid not saying that's part of it, but that certainly was part of it.
I do like where I think he's interesting swing piece.
I think a lot of the guys like him, Jaime Hacaz is a good kind of depth piece.
I'm gonna butcher his last name the kid from Illinois that the heat trap to last year very interesting six like he's Got good size.
He couldn't handle it pretty well and the draft picks.
It's like They they were able to parlay Yanis into building a pipeline to start and some of the guys are more you know Judging from the draft night reactions like guy like buries is a good solid swing that
you know, maybe elevate some further.
I got like Nate Amant, really high, highly touted recruit, doesn't do as well going to Tennessee, but that's still a swing.
That's part of where we're at now.
You're kind of, you're going to have to kind of do one for them, one for me of being able to take the kind of singles or doubles to use a baseball parlance and then go for the home run if you can, because obviously the bucks hit the home run about 13 years ago.
So
Jordan Trusky joins us.
He's the author of building the Milwaukee Bucks.
It looks it takes a deep dive into the first NBA championship for the Bucks back in the 1970s Joining us here on make the call myself along with Greg Anderson and Parker Olson Jordan We were talking about sort of kind of the reset for the franchise and as we said there wasn't a lot of room to maneuver with Yanis on the roster I want to say this I want to give the Bucks credit for
Going all in with Yanis and doing everything in their power with the very limited resources that they have to try to build a contender around him unfortunately Because there's so few players involved in the NBA your roster is so small and an injury to a player or Something as a change of just water two guys can greatly affect kind of the outcomes there But I do want to give them some credit because they really did try to go all in with him.
Yeah, I think
I mean, I know a lot of Bucks fans, this is why, you know, our infiority complex strikes when all the sham stuff and everything like that was happening routinely.
And maybe it's the more national media and it's not, it's not a criticism, but like their, their job is a lot different than us watching every game for 82 nights.
And if you're lucky, if you make the playoffs.
So over this ride, it's like, you think about it, it's like, the Bucks, they could say they won a title.
That is the whole point of this.
It's the why you want to win a championship.
It boggles my mind that there are some things, whether people believe these takes are not, they're still staying on television.
And it's like, what is the point of sports if you're not going to want to try to win something?
Other teams that can think of that come to Miami, look at the Clippers that went four broke.
They got close the year that the Bucks won.
They could have made it to the finals and played against Milwaukee if Kwai Leonard did not get hurt.
But that happened.
The Brooklyn Nets, the Bucks beat in 21, they have not won a playoff game since that series.
And I believe they're on their third rebuilds, second rebuild since then, since trading James Hart and Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving.
So it's like, we get very enamored by the teams that have the stars and build.
you know go for bold and go for broke really and the bucks did it but they also when they're going on the rise they did it organically it's like they you know chris milton was as much of a homegrown star even if he was not necessarily a rookie they didn't draft him but like they still saw it out and i think reflect you on the last couple years i think when the bucks kind of lost their way is when when they faced a bump in the road they kind of went
in all sorts of different directions.
And that, to me, symbolized why we are here right now.
But we can still say that we celebrate on July 20, 2021 to see them win an NBA title.
Not a lot of other teams.
The Clippers, I mean, again, Clippers, they have had to shake their reputation as a franchise for a very long time.
So at least the Bucks can say that they did that eventually.
I'd like to give a shout out to my co-worker Joel Karnack who likes to refer to the NBA as a superstar driven league.
Jordan is somebody who's
dove deep into the superstar teams or the championship teams from Milwaukee, excuse me, both of them with an incredibly notable figurehead at front and center.
Not literally, but you get the idea.
Does it look like there's somebody there who could emerge and become that for the current roster?
Or does it look like there's a missing piece to you?
Does it feel like we're making the bed for success the same way we were before those two championships?
Do you feel?
That's a very good question.
I mean, I'd probably be more pessimistic that
Not but the whole point when you're kind of in this in this new reality is that you're taking That's why I like any kind of like talk about keep flipping keep flipping It's like okay You can do that to build up like all the assets that they have they traded away over the last ten years essentially But if there is there's a guy that they they value and think that he might be it I Don't mind it like I think part of
Going through this ride is that yeah, like the the bucks rides the top was as messy as it was going down like we can I can name a bunch of different things like moving on from Malcolm Brockton because they were scared of the luxury tax or or You know, and I think a lot of people have forgotten over the last couple years of like Dwight Parker was the guy that kind of Really lit a spark under this franchise and they rallied around and then all of a sudden Yanis just became Yanis and Dwight got hurt.
It's like
That's part of, you know, I was going to say like you have to break a couple of eggs to kind of get to where you are.
That's a terrible way of putting it.
But like there isn't, I think that's part of the fun too, is that like we're kind of, we were so used to like, you got to win, you got to win, you got to win.
And in the NBA, my frustration is that we only remember the teams that win.
And I think what gets lost in the general scheme of things, and maybe that's just kind of social media.
Pilled or anything like that.
But like, there are teams that go for it and they, not every team is going to win.
You know what I mean?
It's impossible.
There's only one team that always goes on top.
So I think for me, it's just like being able to kind of relive this ride and it might not go well, but let's give it a shot.
Like that's, that's the whole point.
That's why we got to the top in the first place.
Let's just do it over again.
Jordan Treskey, author of Building the Milwaukee Bucks, which you can find anywhere.
Really, you can buy books, right?
And you can find it, of course, in southeastern Wisconsin.
I appreciate your time and insight on the Bucks.
Great to have you and talking about such a big moment in Bucks history.
Thanks for having me.
It's always a pleasure.
Again, Jordan Treskey there.
This is Make the Call.
We'll have Dan Schaefer coming up in about 15 minutes.
Mike Lemons later in the show.
Back right up for this on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
Coming up about 15 minutes from now, Dan Schaefer of the Reconpopulation Area will join us to talk a bit more about the Milwaukee Bucks.
Mike Clemens will give us a week in review in sports coming up later in the program.
I'm Jimmy Koska, along with Parker Olson and Greg Gunnerson.
We have a few minutes to ourselves here before our next guest.
After talking to Jordan, they got me just thinking about
you know, kind of the historical significance, you know, the bucks win a championship and we get to this point, we've been talking about this for weeks, guys.
And I think we've said all that needs to really be said to this point about it, but I want to bring it back just real quick to talk about, you know, we've seen this coming.
This was like.
This was like reliving some of the the previous superstar encounters in wisconsin in the last 10 to 15 years It's like reliving that all over again.
It's just this time I feel like there's more acceptance with this outcome because there wasn't really a lot the bucks were going to be able to do to build around yannis with the very very limited resources the lack of draft picks and you know star power around him to
try to open this window again for a championship run.
So in a way, it kind of felt inevitable given the setup in the NBA.
But I'm curious, have you guys reached the acceptance stage of the honest trade?
I went through a lot of sadness.
I did the depression.
I even had a bit of anger in there, right?
I went through the whole cycle of whatever angry at the NBA has the system that we can't keep our own superstars in small markets.
But I've come around to accepting it because all signs pointed to this and it's been pointing to this.
Probably since Damien Lillard tore his Achilles in the playoffs.
Yeah, I mean, it's weird for me because I was, and I've said this on the show plenty of times, I was in the impression that the Bucks should keep you honest and try again for just a little while in this season.
And that did, obviously, as we're talking today, that didn't happen.
He's not here anymore.
But despite the fact I wanted them to keep him a little while longer, I'm still.
Good with it.
Like, like you said, Jimmy, I mean, we knew it was going to happen and we just kind of were prepared for it.
It's odd to say, but I really am not bent out of shape about it at all.
I'm pretty, I'm pretty well on the acceptance phase of that.
And you're right.
I think part of that is because not Bucks fans.
I'm sorry to say this.
I can't find a better word though.
It's almost a lost hope rate in Milwaukee.
It did not seem like there was a chance at a championship.
And if you were to compare that to Aaron Rodgers, say with Packers, it felt like he very well could have been on a team that got back to playoffs, championship games, Super Bowls.
It felt like that was still possible with Rogers.
Farve was a little bit before I actually understood anything, but I am sure that that was a very similar case as he could have been winning playoff games still.
With the bucks, sadly lost cause it kind of felt like.
So I'm okay with it, Gray.
I don't know about you, but it feels like the story was written and we were in the last chapter.
Yeah, absolutely.
And actually, I really hate to even draw the parallel, but in a way, it reminds me of a few of the darkest moments in my life.
And I know that sounds personal and dramatic.
It's not like that.
And forgive me, again, for drawing the parallel.
I'm going to apologize twice before I say it.
If you've ever had a loved one in the hospital and it wasn't going well, and you knew that that was probably going to be, you know, like, hey, let's get our goodbyes in, it
when they finally when you lose that kind of person it hits differently because you knew it was coming and there was a build up and sometimes there was some time and it's not that you're not sad it's that you're already ready to accept that sadness i think and i this feels very very similar i mean i was almost kind of laughing at myself i'm like hey hey let's remind myself that nobody died here but it's just that that bad news you knew was coming and thank goodness.
For whatever reason, human beings can handle bad news better if it arrives a little while after we heard that it was going to happen.
You know, we get that time and something works in here.
Maybe it's better that we don't understand it, but as I said a couple days ago, I slept like a
baby on Monday night.
No idea why.
Woke up to that news and thought, ah, that domino finally fell.
And we've all, the cameras have been on those dominoes for over a year.
Mike Clemens was saying back in March, hey, I know the talk's been a thing for a while, but things are moving now.
And I got to tell Mike the other day, Mike, you were right.
And now you can let your phone charge for a little while.
Let it rest.
It's going to stop ringing every five minutes.
Mike and I were, because we were both night owls and we worked, you know, two, three, four in the morning.
And I can't tell you how many times Mike and I had texts at like two in the morning just to kind of map out the next day for sports coverage.
Like, well, if you got us gets traded, make sure that you take sports updates in the morning because I'm going to be asleep or I'm going to be driving to another game to cover and vice versa.
I might be out doing a game myself.
I am very thankful that those text exchange don't no longer have to happen personally.
So I feel good about that.
We will hear from Mike here in about 15 minutes, 20 minutes or so, with a weekend review in sports, of course.
Just a final quick thought on all of this before we welcome in Dan Schaefer of the Recombobulation Area here in about five minutes or so.
I really feel like, too, that people are going to look at the trade hall and say, well, this doesn't match up to Giannis.
This all-time great.
But I have to remind people of two things.
One, the buck said,
Little to no leverage in all of this because Yanis essentially is a giant expiring contract who wasn't going to resign here until he was also very, very expensive and whatever team had to acquire him has to know that they're going to tie a lot of the resources into him.
So they got a lot of draft picks out of this and essentially kind of replenish part of what they've traded away over the years in trying to build a championship roster around
him.
We've talked about this plenty of times.
The Bucks had no capital.
They had, to quote Seinfeld, they had no hand.
There's no hand here.
They had no upper hand whatsoever in this situation.
It was a losing battle.
And like I said this earlier, I mean, the book was written and we were in the last chapter and I think it was pretty clear the only way that this could have gone was he was leaving.
I mean, the Bucks weren't going to hold out for the rest of that contract.
It never would have worked, right?
It sucks it really does because and great to kind of go back to what you were saying too about
losing a loved one and being prepared for it.
I think we were prepared for it because we had been conditioned already by the national media to expect Giannis to be leaving at any moment.
And also he had been through so many injuries recently.
Like, honestly, I am excited to not have to talk about why Giannis is hurt versus when Giannis is healthy for the Bucks.
I am kind of excited to get past that chapter.
And, you know, speaking of getting past that chapter, we're all going to hold hands and heal together because Dan Schaefer of the Recon
I have not seen any other prominent books.
Stan account be as positive as Dan has been in recent, uh, the recent days in covering this.
We're going to talk to Dan coming up next right here.
I'll make the call part of the civic media radio network.
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
We're halfway through here on Make the Call, coming up in about 20 minutes.
Mike Clemens will give us a week in review in sports.
Right now, we are joined here on Make the Call myself, Parker Olson, Craig Gunderson.
We are joined by Dan Schaefer of the Recombobulation Area.
Dan.
It's your first time on the show.
Exciting to have you on.
The news this week, I think for a lot of people, maybe not the best of times, I think we all sort of expected this, but I want to say this.
Yannis and Tana Kootball being traded made me very sad.
It made Parker very sad, made Gray very sad.
We've all had our very stages creep this week and we've been talking about it on the show so far.
My stage got so bad that my mom had to text me at 1130 at night to check on me, make sure I was doing all right.
But I want to remark about this.
from the start of this you have had I think the most grounded take in all of this you've been so optimistic and understanding of the situation that
Even at my moments where I wanted to fire off and I wanted to go into shock jock territory with my social media feed regarding the bucks I kept coming back to your post and I'm like, you know what this all makes a lot of sense This is someone whose feet are firmly planted in reality and oh by the way The bucks in fact did win a championship and we should all feel very very good about that back Dan welcome aboard.
Thanks so much for that with for the introduction and Happy to be joining all of you wonderful folks today to talk about
our departed hero, Yannis Adedicumbo.
It is indeed a sad and rather discombobulating week.
And I have been going through it myself, but like you said, I've been optimistic about this and I've been positive about in my reflection of Yannis's remarkable 13 year run in Milwaukee.
And I've just been thinking back to,
about 13 years ago now in almost exactly it will be 13 years on Saturday when the day that Yanis was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 15th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft and at that time here in Milwaukee we didn't really know if the Bucks
We're going to have a future in the city.
I mean, this was right after Senator Herb Cole retired from the Senate.
We didn't really know what was going on in the future of the team in Milwaukee with the arena, who he might sell it to.
But they drafted this, you know, skinny kid from Greece, who you only had grainy footage of to examine in the draft from the Greek Second Division.
And this turns out to be the guy to change everything.
for the Bucks, for Milwaukee.
And just being able to experience it up close and personal here has just been the most rewarding fan experiences I've ever had as a huge NBA fan, as a huge Bucks fan.
And it's, so I'm looking back in these 13 years where we went from not knowing if we were going to have a team to having a parade in downtown Milwaukee, just a remarkable run.
June 27th, the original air date of the show has two very, very significant points for me personally.
One, it's my wedding anniversary, but two, it's a date that Yannis Tatecumbo was drafted to the box.
And what order you want to put those in?
I don't think my wife is listening.
You can put them in any order you want.
I remember though, as you talked about the highlight photos, which I think were actually filmed on a potato, you know, the interviews afterward, you're thinking, well, what are they doing?
Like the bucks were
terrible at that stretch.
You didn't know where things were really heading with them.
There was a chance that they wouldn't even be in Milwaukee at that point, given that the Bradley Center was, you know, the hockey arena that it was, was not really conducive to basketball at that point.
There were a lot of unknowns with the Bucks and then they take a huge swing on a teenager.
from overseas and you wrote about this at the Reconbobulation area already and that's kind of what I'm setting up here, but this this swing for the Fets is I don't think they've gone any better Especially given the fact that they brought a championship and a parade back to Milwaukee for the first time in decades
Yeah, and I just you know reflecting on the whole run.
It was you know, Janice's first season was the Bucks worst season in franchise history
15 wins, and then it was the last day of that season that they held a press conference in Milwaukee to announce that Herb Cole was selling the team to Wes Edens and Mark Lazarie, and I was there as a reporter at the, at the, uh, at BizTimes Milwaukee covering that big deal at the time.
And then I went back to the arena that night, uh, just as a Bucks fan and just the excitement and elation in the building about hope for the future.
was there, and Yanis was there.
And I think that was always part of any hope that people might have for keeping the Bucks in Milwaukee.
And I made the case in my piece.
I think Yanis saved basketball in Milwaukee.
And I don't know what might have happened with the arena deal, with everything else that was happening.
And there's no Pfizer forum.
There's no Deer District.
There's no championship parade.
There's no five year run of a title contention window.
from 2019 to 2023 that the Bucks had with Yanis as the best player in the NBA.
And just for me, just like living in Milwaukee, it's just been in the background for me all the time.
The Bucks are just on all the time at my house.
My kids grew up wearing Bucks gear all the time.
My friends and I will plan, organize our lives around going to see playoff games or whatever it might be.
It's just been such a huge part.
part of everything for us here in Milwaukee, and it's just by far the most rewarding fan experience I've ever had, and probably will ever have.
Let's be honest.
Dan, can you even think of someone who has been so impactful on not just a team but a city, right?
You said it, he saved basketball in Milwaukee.
I don't think that's an exaggeration really at all.
Um, is there anyone in any sport, Wisconsin sports, obviously it would be ideal, but I don't think there's a comparison anywhere.
Is there?
I mean, the closest you can probably get is Brett Favre with the Packers, just like after so many years of being bad in the, in the eighties and.
Whatever else but the Packers and being able to turn around the franchise and lead them to their first Super Bowl and forever So I think that's probably the closest but the Packers were not at risk of like not being a team At that time either So I think you know with what Yanis has has delivered to Milwaukee throughout his time and just like you know It's just such a special connection that he has had with the city and with the team and like even going back to those that first season it was you know
It was a unique thing that you had a U.S.
Senator as the owner and he was able to help bring Yanis's family over to the United States and like work with the State Department and things like that.
And just like there's so many of those little stories.
One that I highlighted in the piece that has always been one that's been hilarious to me is when Yanis before his family made it to Milwaukee.
He was at this Western Union that's on Brady Street in Milwaukee, and you'd know it if you've been to Brady Street in Milwaukee.
And he was wiring money home to his family to get them to be able to come to the United States, come to Milwaukee.
And then he realized that he didn't have any money, and he had wired everything back, and his credit card wasn't working and whatever, and he starts running down Brady Street.
which is like a busy street with lots of light bars and restaurants and other stuff going on.
And a Bucks fan sees him and calls out the window and said, where are you going?
And he's like, I'm going to the arena.
And this is a couple of miles away.
And so that person offers to give him a ride and give some a ride to the arena and makes it whatever he needs to go.
And I just think that's just such a perfect.
Milwaukee Yanis story that shows like the relationship that he has had and always had With the city going back to his first year here, and it's just been you know He's talked about it eloquently too and you know his dad is buried here his kids were born here like it is a very unique and special relationship that he's had with the city
We're talking to Dan Schaefer the recombobulation area here on make the call in the civic media radio network myself along with Greg Gunderson and
Parker Olson.
There are so many anecdotes in the biography that was done on Yacht by Muir and Vader, who went to Greece to get background on him to his time as early years in Milwaukee, leading up to the championship.
I some of the stories as you talked about, that's a really famous one with him.
I think there's a combination here.
It's not just basketball, with the honest.
And it's not just what he did for the city.
It's just the unique personality he brought.
The smoothie tweet still stands out as like top maybe top the best tweet ever.
made maybe on that platform.
There's so much about this, an overwhelmingly positive force for good in the sports realm in Wisconsin and especially.
in Milwaukee in southeastern Wisconsin.
I don't think it really syncs into people like, Dan, you're in Milwaukee.
The rest of us are upstate more, but I think the impact of Milwaukee when I go there and I see the murals and I just see, I mean, there is a very real impact.
And as you said, the very real impact being that, you know, physically, you know, having Pfizer form doesn't really happen without it.
Right.
And I think too, you know, there is this kind of pecking order in the state for the professional sports franchises, right?
Like the Packers are Green Bay's team, but they're also the statewide number one by far team.
I think the Brewers.
are more like they have the statewide appeal, of course, but I feel like they're more of a regional team.
Like the stadium isn't in the city.
You have a lot of people who are just like coming into tailgate and going and like not necessarily spending time, you know, in and around that part of Milwaukee or whatever.
But I since I moved to I like I grew up in Waukesha County, grew up in the suburbs, but I moved to the city of Milwaukee in 2009.
And I think once you're in the city and living here, like the box have a different resonance for people who are just specifically fans.
of the team in the city.
So I feel like the Packers of the States team, the Brewers of the Regions team, but the Bucks are really Milwaukee's team as a city.
And I think...
I spent so many years before Yanis got here, going to the bar and being like, hey, can you guys put the Bucks game on?
We have a professional basketball franchise in this city.
I'd like to watch their game.
And not just that they weren't top billing with the Bucks or with the Packers and the Brewers.
It's Wisconsin Badgers, even Marquette.
Bucks were way, way down there in 2013 when Yanis arrived.
And then it's just like a few years later, everybody in the city is wearing Bucks gear.
everybody is filling the Deer District, the Yanis jerseys are everywhere, and then obviously culminating with the remarkable championship run in 2021 where I spent a lot of time in the Deer District, you know, and just, it was just a completely unique experience and the greatest.
finals performance that you could possibly hope for with Yanis scoring 40 points twice and 50 points once and bringing it home from Milwaukee.
Dan, the blueprint seems to be, the blueprint for success that is seems to be acquire the superstar
And then find some complimentary pieces, too.
Do we feel like, as the most grounded person with a buck's take as Jimmy introduced you, do we feel like one of those complimentary pieces is there perhaps?
Because, you know, when Yanis was almost gone, you can't attract other players to the team because they know Yanis is leaving.
So, I mean, you can't tell the story of Karim Abdul-Jabbar without Oscar Robertson.
You can't tell the Yanis Championship story without maybe Bobby Portis or even one of a couple other players.
That that's almost it feels like we're two players away from the level of success that it seems you might Expect to be happening sooner than it came back around You know is it gonna be another 40 years and why don't you think so?
Well, I think it's gonna be a little while for the bucks I don't think this is going to be a quick turnaround rebuild or anything like that You know that the trade they got back what they did from Miami no real like
you know, immediate standout stars.
I'm not a huge Tyler Harrow fan.
It doesn't matter to me that much that he's from Greenfield.
So I think this is going to be a multi-year rebuild that's going to take us a while.
And just like, I do wonder if, you know, before Yannis arrived, the Bucks were in kind of the dregs of the league with like the Kings and the Hornets and the Pelicans and
you know, the wizards and like these also ran teams that there were always in the lottery.
I do worry we're headed back there for sure.
But, you know, you're right.
It took, you know, surrounding Yanis with guys like Chris Middleton and Drew Holiday and Brooke Lopez and Bobby Portis and shout out Bobby Portis also departing this week, you know, he's getting like the kind of second billing, of course, with all of this, but he was huge.
He's been a huge part of Milwaukee.
He's going to be in like Milwaukee commercials.
through for the rest of his life.
So I'm not worried about us missing too much of Bobby Portis.
But yeah, I think, you know, the Bucks had their had their draft this week, too.
I really liked the Brayden Burry's pick, the guard out of Arizona.
I'm excited about that one.
But, you know, it's going to be a while.
It's going to be a while.
Dan Schaefer, Reconbobulation Area, where you can find his work, including a piece reflecting on the Bucks and Janice Denicunpo in the NBA championship that he brought here in 2021.
Appreciate you joining us.
Knuckleheads, it's Oxfam Sports at offering us a taken reality on what's all trends.
fired here with Jonathan in the box.
Thanks so much, Nat, for joining us.
Thanks for having me.
Mike Lemons gets us a week in review in sports next year on Make the Call, part of the Civic Media radio network.
Welcome back to Make the Call on Civic Media.
One final time here on Make the Call, part of the Civic Media Radio Network, my comment standing by with a week in review in sports.
Guys, I want to give us a final opportunity here for this program anyway.
We have a lot more to say about this, of course, in the future.
Kind of a one-word or one-phrase response to everything that's transpired with Yana Satenakun while being traded from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Miami Heat.
So I'm gonna send it to you guys for your response here.
We're gonna start with Gray.
I'm gonna go back all the way a hundred years ago, guys, because the quote that comes to mind for me, it's existed for that long.
Everybody's heard it.
Oh, Jimmy, don't even give me that.
Don't tell me you've never heard of the American actress Ethel Barrymore, who famously rebuffed curtain calls.
They asked for encores and you know what she said?
That's all there is.
There isn't any more.
And if you've ever seen the TV show Madeline, you know, every episode ended that way.
And I think of it every time.
And it's just a good way to remind myself that, hey, we've made it through, whether it's better on this side or not, we've made it through.
And so that's all there is.
There isn't any more.
All right, Parker.
Now you got a top 100 year callback.
I'm just going to come up with some.
Baloney on my own here.
I don't have quotes.
Come on.
Come on, Gray.
No, I'm just, I think I am relieved to have new worries is kind of the best way to put it.
I am very relieved to be out of this situation.
It was very tiring to hear Yanis wanting out and then to hear the national media saying he's out.
a couple of times as a fake out and now he's actually out.
It's kind of exciting to now have to worry about, are we gonna suck for another 40 years?
These are very freeing thoughts, Jimmy.
Well, you know, that was almost as eloquent as the 100 year callback there.
You're welcome.
I'm fantastic.
I'll be here all week.
Thank you very much, Jimmy.
Yep.
We'll see if that gets quoted at the end of a TV show here in the near future.
While we step aside from like Clemens here, I want to wrap the show by thanking our guest today, Jordan Treske, author of Building the Milwaukee Bucks, takes a deep dive into the Bucks first championship in the 1970s.
And then of course, Dan Schaefer of the Recon Bobulation Area to give us a grounded take on everything that has transpired.
week.
Guys, thank you as well.
I appreciate having you guys.
Thank you, Jimmy.
Thanks, Jimmy.
We will step aside now for my Clements with a week in review in sports.
You've been listening to Make the Call, part of the Civic Media radio network.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
The Brewers battle the Cubs.
Hi, I'm Mike Clemens with This Week in Wisconsin Sports.
The Brewers and Cubs in Milwaukee this weekend for a three game set at American Family Field.
This series got started Friday night with Jacob Mizorowski setting a new major league record, throwing a pitch 105.5 miles per hour.
The only drawback, Cubs batters drained him, forcing him to throw strikes.
Mizorowski ended up throwing 107 pitches through six innings and a six to two victory over Chicago.
You know, it's always a positive to win a ball game like a team against a team like that.
But I don't know for me, myself felt like I sprayed a little bit.
So, you know, there's always something to work on between the starts.
The Brewers began the week by completing a three game sweep of the Reds at Great American Ballpark.
The crew is now on 24 other last 30 games in Cincinnati.
It's amazing the results the team has been getting from these young pitchers like Kyle Harrison, Brandon Sprote and Mizorowski, along with some veteran leadership from Brandon Woodruff and pitching coach.
Chris Hook, Brewer's manager,
Pat Murphy.
Well, it's our whole pitching staff is like that.
You know, they're all really young and they all understand, quite frankly, that you have to live up to this standard, you know.
And Hook and Henderson and Sandoval, they set that standard of what you do in between and they take into account different people, you know, where they are in their career, all that kind of stuff.
But then you got a guy like Woody and they're watching Woody.
and they're seeing Woody show up every game and be engaged in the game and understand what pitchers need to do every single time out.
They're with Woody in the weight room, our weight coaches are there with them, they understand we're monitoring their intake of fluids, we're monitoring everything in their life and they realize...
This is what I do.
Now the
67 year old Murphy has been dealing with severe back pain this season and on the team's day off Thursday he had back surgery and yet was back on the job the very
next day.
Two and a half hour surgery was great.
Dr. Rebholz, one of the greatest unbelievable men in Appleton, went in there and fixed it.
I had a ruptured disc.
maybe more than one, and they just cleaned it out and they do, I don't know what the procedure is called, but they do something, drill a hole and do something else.
I didn't ask.
Just fix it.
The Cubs have been on a winning streak.
Despite a rash of injuries to their starting pitchers, desperate for help, the Cubs traded away a prospect to the Mets, who they just beat in a four-game sweep in New York to acquire veteran left-hander David Peterson.
I asked Craig Council what Peterson adds to the team.
So, you know, obviously, David has been a long-time starter.
has had a lot of success in the league and he struggled a bit this year.
I mean, I think two things.
Look, one, this is a ground ball pitcher.
We feel like we have a really good infield defense and that can help.
That's one.
And then second.
You know, he's been with the Mets for 10 years.
And there's some aspect of this is a change of scenery.
NBA.
Well, it finally happened.
Milwaukee Bucks traded Yanis and Terecupo to the Miami Heat, along with fan favorite Bobby Portis.
In exchange, they received Tyler Hero, a native of the Milwaukee area, and three other players, and some draft picks.
General Manager John Horst, though, explains that he cannot comment on the trade
that's what we're going to do.
We're going to have to wait until after the 4th of July
holiday weekend until trades are approved by the league.
We're not allowed to comment on anything.
And so there won't be any conversations about that
reactions to the fans that we spoke with about honest leaving for Miami were mixed.
It still doesn't feel real.
You know, the vibe around here is kind of like it's a lot of shock.
There's never been a book like him.
And really, it's just a little thank you know, not just the honest but the whole family is done for this
city.
I was like, no way.
And perhaps the best summary about Yana Santeta-Cupo moving on came from the head basketball coach of the Golden Eagles, Chaka Smart, who spoke at the Alamoguire Gym at Marquette University.
For me, sometimes I run down to the lake.
It's about two miles to the lake from this building.
I go on Wisconsin Avenue.
You know, Wisconsin Avenue, there's this beautiful mural of Giannis, you guys have all seen.
Every time I run by there, I think about what he means to the city because you think about, you know, murals, huge murals up in a city.
That's someone of significance.
That's someone that's impacted people.
I think about 2021, you know, as a coach at the end of the day.
It all comes back to winning.
Very, very few people have brought an NBA championship to the city of Milwaukee.
He's one of them.
Like we had the best thing going in the world.
for basketball for a time.
That's pretty special and and like anything else in life that doesn't last forever, but I'm excited for the bucks too because now no one's going to talk about trades anymore.
You know the trade is done so they have an opportunity to move on and move forward and got some great new guys that they added and it'll be fun to watch what coach Jenkins does with their team.
That's Marquette's head basketball coach, Shaka Smart.
With sports, I'm Mike Clemens.
