https://youtu.be/SM1FBE2vq_g
The Bucks made a lot of moves during the offseason. Some of them major, like trading a whole bunch of everything for Jrue Holiday, some of them minor, like signing Mamadi Diakite to a two-way deal, and some of them middling, like giving Bryn Forbes a two-year, 5-million dollar deal. If you disagree with my assertion that the acquisition of Forbes qualifies as “middling”, than I honor you for your dedication to the cause of the role-player, and I sympathize with your misplaced hype for Forbes, but you are wrong. Forbes is the definition of middling.
Forbes is a shooter. Every team needs shooters, especially teams who are possibly hoping to compete for a championship. Simple. In a vacuum, the signing of Forbes by the Bucks makes perfect sense. But we aren’t in a vacuum (remember, if a section of the universe accidentally formed as a “true vacuum”, all matter in the universe would quickly be annihilated, the fundamental nature of the universe would be changed, and I’d probably have to stop making highlight videos), we’re in a place with things like “considerations” and “factors”, and there maybe Forbes isn’t a perfect signing.
Because here’s the deal: all he does is score. Middlingly. He doesn’t do ANYTHING else. At all. Defense? No. But we knew that. Rebounding? No. Too short. Playmaking? No. Not his job. He has negative intangibles. The value he provides is solely based on how many buckets he can pour in, and maybe how much floor spacing he can provide for Giannis.
Was it this bad (poor choice of words maybe) while he was with the Spurs? I know that Spurs fans were not super high on him for much of his tenure in San Antonio, and I always wondered why. Because from my point of view, he was like a budget undrafted Steph Curry. This is the blindspot I have always had; I only see the buckets of all these role-players, and it overinflates my sense of how good they are.
Not saying I dislike Forbes. I like Forbes. It’s just that if he’s not scoring, it’s like he’s not even on the court. He did manage 20 in this game, and the fact that you get a highlight video for it shows that I’m not supremely confident that he will manage to better this mark at any point during the season.