Game 82: Pistons at Bucks - 4/13/25 - Noon - ESPN/FDSWI

[rilamann]

This might be our best half of ball movement of the season.

And Pete Nance looks like a legit NBA player.

[Prez]

It's pretty obvious the trio of guards (KPJ/GTJ/Green) make more sense next to Giannis in the starting 5 and Kuzma would be better used as a 4 in non-Giannis lineups. Maximize the Giannis minutes and put Kuzma in a better position as a 6th/7th man with more freedom to do his thing.

[German Athens]

This game is awesome

if we did do a true allout rebuild...the nature of the league now i dont think it would be as bad as those types of years were historically for us. the recipe of speed, defense, and shooting devalues the 2-3 iso superstar models of years gone by. teams with capspace can actually "get a guy" with the new cap rules as well.

imo we need to keep giannis but go full on rebuild around him. dump salary and really try and get some multi positional different size aj green types all over the court

There’s a couple points in here that I strongly agree with:

1) due to Giannis being sensational and as versatile as he is, there’s a ton of different ways you could build a really good team around him

2) when we talk about future assets, and how limited we are, we almost never talk about cap space as one at some point in the future - if you have Giannis some really good players will still want to play along side him, and with the cap being more punitive, there should be more difference makers coming free than would typically be

If you want to do a full rebuild where we get rid of Giannis, then I think things would be bad. There are still plenty of teams who’ve had multiple high picks and have been stuck in suck - cha, was, etc. and that’s before considering the point of playing the game - winning a chip - and how long it would take to get back to that point.

[Bernman]

It's pretty obvious the trio of guards (KPJ/GTJ/Green) make more sense next to Giannis in the starting 5 and Kuzma would be better used as a 4 in non-Giannis lineups. Maximize the Giannis minutes and put Kuzma in a better position as a 6th/7th man with more freedom to do his thing.

Also, Kuzma as a 4, Giannis at the 5, in some of the Giannis lineups. Which you could deploy easier if you brought Kuz off the bench.

[German Athens]

I'm not hating these Pete Nance minutes. Very solid and fundamental player with good strength despite his slimmer frame for a big.

Kinda like his bro

[yannisk]

It is obvious Giannis is holding the team back

[German Athens]

Really really simple, but I loved how quickly nance passed that ball ahead after grabbing the d-board

[Matches Malone]

Nance with some good defense to go with a couple of blocks that quarter.

[rilamann]

Jimmy Butler in a commercial talking to a piece of cheese.

See, he was always meant to be a Buck....lol.

[rilamann]

If people were impressed by what AJ Johnson could do against 15th men, they've gotta think we've got a future HOFer with Nance.

One good thing about the regular season coming to end, is that we no longer have to watch half the board go into full panic mode because AJ Johnson scored 12pts in 40 minutes on a tanking team.

[soxperry]

If people were impressed by what AJ Johnson could do against 15th men, they've gotta think we've got a future HOFer with Nance.

One good thing about the regular season coming to end, is that we no longer have to watch half the board go into full panic mode because AJ Johnson scored 12pts in 40 minutes on a tanking team.

If you give me the option of AJ Johnson or KPJ with the guarantee he stays long term, im smashing the kpj button.

I realize that we could have had both, but if youre going to knock horst for losing aj you need to be on your knees offering the whole shebang for getting kpj for marjon

[chonestown]

Bucks should play drop zone in the 2nd half yes i am referring to the Wesley Snips/Gary Boozy vehicle

[nagawicka]

If Beas plays and makes a 3 everyone on our bench should do the beas shake. Lol

They should do it when he misses a 3

He's hit 6 two minutes into the 3rd

[rilamann]

If people were impressed by what AJ Johnson could do against 15th men, they've gotta think we've got a future HOFer with Nance.

One good thing about the regular season coming to end, is that we no longer have to watch half the board go into full panic mode because AJ Johnson scored 12pts in 40 minutes on a tanking team.

If you give me the option of AJ Johnson or KPJ with the guarantee he stays long term, im smashing the kpj button.

I realize that we could have had both, but if youre going to knock horst for losing aj you need to be on your knees offering the whole shebang for getting kpj for marjon

I agree, KPJ has kind of saved our season as far as at least having a real shot of getting out of the first round and maybe going on a long playoff run. Especially with Dame out.

KPJ has down flashes of looking like an all star when Doc has given him decent minutes. I don't think that is an overreaction. And the fact we got him for Marjon is crazy. Definitely have to give Horst a ton of credit for that one.

AJJ might end up being a nice player and it would have been nice to keep him around as a young prospect. But until he puts up numbers on a decent team in meaningful games, I'm not going to get worked up about it.

Most guys who are capable of making an NBA roster would put up some numbers if you put them on a bad team and threw them out there for 35+ minutes in the final 2 months of the season when they are in full tank mode.

[nagawicka]

Pete Nance actively going for rebounds is a refreshing sight.

If he was a high level shooter instead just a tollerable shooter, he'd be something.

Nance *promptly sinks 3*

[rilamann]

Steph Smith.

[German Athens]

Oooo jamaree

[yb90]

It's pretty obvious the trio of guards (KPJ/GTJ/Green) make more sense next to Giannis in the starting 5 and Kuzma would be better used as a 4 in non-Giannis lineups. Maximize the Giannis minutes and put Kuzma in a better position as a 6th/7th man with more freedom to do his thing.

It does and it doesn't. While it makes sense because how well the pieces fit on offense and at times defensively but I doubt it would work against the Pacers. Giannis has to conserve energy until crunch time because you don't want Giannis to cover Siakim all game. That means 6'4 guys matched up against Siakim which would be a problem.

[rilamann]

Kuzma might be the first player who started a game and was in street clothes by the end of the 3rd quarter not due to injury lol.

[soxperry]

like it or not, we really need Kuzma's defense. he needs to be treated as a PJ Tucker: Guard the other team's best player and hit corner threes. Anything beyond that is a bonus. He's not a lockdown guy but her certainly provides more resistance to elite wings than anyone we have other than Giannis.

So as someone said above, he helps get us to the 4th quarter when Giannis can then step in and guard the Siakam.