Bucks News, Transactions, Trade Ideas - Horst Given Extension

[MickeyDavis]

A former executive of Milwaukee Bucks player Pat Connaughton's company is suing, claiming he was retaliated against by Connaughton and others at the company after attempting to increase financial transparency.

Derek Taylor, former chief operating officer at Three Leaf Partners, filed the complaint in late February. His attorney, Jesse Kibort, claims in a complaint that Taylor left a lucrative law practice to join Three Leaf Partners after "promises of creating generational wealth."

The complaint says Taylor tapped into his network and built a team that executed significant real estate, private equity and numerous other business ventures for the company. "As a result, Taylor brought millions of dollars of profit to the firm," the complaint says.

But, Taylor's attorney argues that once he tried to "increase the financial performance" of the company, he encountered a lack of financial transparency at the company, including that Connaughton and another executive, Matthew Burow, were using company resources for their non-company business and personal purposes.

"When Taylor made efforts to increase financial transparency at the company and sought to hold Burow and Connaughton for their non-TLV uses to TLV resources, Burow and Connaughton started to freeze Taylor out of TLV," the complaint says.

Burow and Connaughton removed Taylor as COO without any notice or explanation, locked him out of the company, and denied him access to the company's books and records, contrary to the written operating agreement, according to the complaint.

"They even denied Taylor access to his own personal files and records, including information that Taylor needs to update and renew his law licenses," the complaint says.

According to the complaint, Connaughton and Burow were "persistent" in getting Taylor to join the firm and offered him a little more than 5% in ownership of the company. In December 2024, Connaughton posted on social media that his real estate development firm already had amassed more than $550 million in assets.

In 2023, Taylor began to organize the company's finances, according to the complaint, and reached an understanding that bonuses should be given to the company employees, but Burow and Connaughton rejected the idea.

"Taylor did not understand at the time why bonuses would not be given despite TLV's success in 2023," the complaint says.

Taylor's attorney argues that Burow and Connaughton began engaging in "accounting practices when necessary to satisfy their need to show profitability by overstating project costs," which Taylor objected to. According to the complaint, Connaughton was using company resources in the construction of his private residence and employee time for the Pat ConnaughtonFoundation, among other actions.

When Taylor opposed the practices, Connaughton and Burow "secretly engaged lawyers to begin the process of forcing Taylor out," the complaint says.

On Jan. 24, Taylor went to a meeting with Connaughton, Burow and attorneys. He believed it was an annual compensation review but instead was told he had been removed as COO of the company and his laptop was confiscated, the complaint says. Shortly thereafter, he was removed from the Three Leaf Partners website.

Taylor seeks access to his personal files and compensation for the "defendants' wrongful actions," the complaint says. His attorney didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on April 18.

A spokesperson for Three Leaf Partners released a statement April 18:

"We have reviewed Mr. Taylor’s complaint, and it is without merit. While we dispute his allegations, we will address them — and our counterclaims — through the proper legal process.

"This issue will not impact and further solidifies our longstanding commitment to putting culture first and delivering value to our investors, team members, and partners."

Connaughton, Burow and other defendants have until May 20 to respond in court to the allegations.

[TroyD92]

Lol. wasnt pat the one who got a wink wink deal from Lasry or Edens

[emunney]

There goes Pat's trade value

[TroyD92]

How did Pat score 40. Makes zero sense

[mattg]

Pat C gonna have a super fun time with this lawsuit. Getting sued by a former partner of a big law top 100 firm, not the fight you want.

[yb90]

In his 30 games as a Buck, KPJ has a per 36 line of 21, 7 and 6.7. That is rare, especially so for a guard. How rare?

First of all, there is not a guard in the league who has a per 36 of at least 20/7/6. If you relax the requirements to 20/6/6, you get:

Cade Cunningham
Desmond Bane

To get some more names involved, i relaxed it to 20/5/5. Then you get:

SGA
Steph
D Mitch
Cade
Herro
Jalen Williams
Harden
Bane

Those are all well established names. Granted, most of those players score a lot more points than KPJ. But it's very clear that he provides a rare package of talents as I've said here many times. Here's the kicker: He's also doing it with efficiency at a .494/.408/.871 clip and he is not a liability on defense. Obviously, there is a difference between a 30 game stretch and doing it over a full season. But KPJ has only improved as he has gotten more comfortable with his new team and as his minutes have increased. His last 7 games, per 36, are 22.7/7.5/6.9 with 2.7 steals and only 1.7 TO on 27 min per game. Here's the second kicker: he's still only 24.

So who is his closest comp here for salary projection purposes? That is most definitely Desmond Bane. The numbers are strikingly similar in almost every category and Bane is 26. What does Bane make? He is in the first year of a 5 year 197M deal, and made 34M this year.

Also, look at his Houston per 36 numbers where he avg 19/6.6/5.4 on at age 20-22. The numbers as a Buck are only slight advances. The real question is if he can improve or maintain his shooting efficiency. The second question would be if he does maintain/improve his efficiency can he score at a higher volume if given a bigger work load like SGA or Jalen Brunson did. I don't know if he can do that but I think you have to take the chance to see if he can be a second guy. I personally think his floor at worst is a avg efficient two-way 3rd scorer.

[blazza18]

Hypothetical scenario:

Keep Doc, keep KPJ

Fire Doc, lose KPJ

What are you choosing?

Yeah I am totally fine saying goodbye to both

[MickeyDavis]

Obviously you'd keep KPJ and jettison Doc but in this scenario I keep both

[MissKhriddleton]

If the Bucks win the finals, would you bring Doc back?

[bucksfansince88]

If the Bucks win the finals, would you bring Doc back?

Maybe he retires again or moves to front office if he pulls that off

[ReasonablySober]

If the Bucks win the finals, would you bring Doc back?

Yes, of course.

[ShootingtheJ]

If the Bucks win the finals, would you bring Doc back?

Yes, of course.

It would be an all time great coaching performance to win it with this roster.

[ShootingtheJ]

Doc said all the guards, including Dame, are working on sets where they are off ball. That's a huge development. Dame off ball could give us something we need. There he can compliment Giannis.

[ReasonablySober]

If the Bucks win the finals, would you bring Doc back?

Yes, of course.

It would be an all time great coaching performance to win it with this roster.

Roster is terrible. A team with a top two player in the league, another All-Timer who still fills it up, a perennial candidate for defensive player of the year, a leading candidate for 6th man, and an upstart kid who looks like young Wade.

[Ron Swanson]

If we win the title then Doc likely gets the option to either go for the repeat or gets bumped up to POBO so he can bring in his own guy. And I’m 100% fine with either in that scenario.

[ShootingtheJ]

Yes, of course.

It would be an all time great coaching performance to win it with this roster.

Roster is terrible. A team with a top two player in the league, another All-Timer who still fills it up, a perennial candidate for defensive player of the year, a leading candidate for 6th man, and an upstart kid who looks like young Wade.

We have 2 replacement level players on the floor at all times.

[tydett]

I hate Doc as the coach of this team. I would like him gone yesterday. If the Bucks could win the title this year, I'd extend him 5 more years as a trade off.

[ReasonablySober]

It would be an all time great coaching performance to win it with this roster.

Roster is terrible. A team with a top two player in the league, another All-Timer who still fills it up, a perennial candidate for defensive player of the year, a leading candidate for 6th man, and an upstart kid who looks like young Wade.

We have 2 replacement level players on the floor at all times.

Who?

[Bucksmaniac]

If the Bucks win the finals, would you bring Doc back?

Yes, of course.

It would be an all time great coaching performance to win it with this roster.

Bud didn’t have the league’s best shooting team along with Giannis and two talents alongside him like KPJ and Dame. The team still got it done once under him. Was that an all-time coaching performance?

[ShootingtheJ]

Yes, of course.

It would be an all time great coaching performance to win it with this roster.

Bud didn’t have the league’s best shooting team along with Giannis and two talents alongside him like KPJ and Dame. The team still got it done once under him. Was that an all-time coaching performance?

Dude had prime Middleton plus Jrue. A much younger Brook. The Bucks leading the league in 3 point shooting is a function of the coaching. Taurean Prince was not a great shooter before this year.