Middleton/Johnson to Wash for Kuzma/Baldwin

[neiLz]

Of Course Giannis gave this a thumbs up. He is going to ask out next.

[fansinceforever]

I assume we had to add AJJ because Washington knew we desperately needed to get under the 2nd apron for something else. The something else will be the final data point I use in my opinion of Jon Horst. The guy is a clown. We'll find out if he's a complete clown.

Then you use MarJon. Not the 19 year old rookie who just flashed significant upside.

Oh, I'm not justifying the trade. I'm just trying to piece together how we got here. I'm assuming Washington knew they were negotiating with an advantage and they probably demanded AJJ to get it done.

[M-C-G]

Theoretically Brook, Kuzma, Pat, Bobby make 68M and we have the 31 1st. I guess let’s see what happens but this tells me they didn’t want to be on the hook for Khris to opt in and giving up AJJ was the price to do that and get below the second apron.

[RogerMurdock]

I wouldn't get worked up about the supposed Giannis stamp of approval for Kuzma. I'm sure Horst already had the deal in place, told Giannis, and Giannis gave him the thumbs up on Kooz. I highly, highly doubt Horst asked Giannis what to do and Giannis was like, "Trade my best friend on the team of the last decade and GO GET ME KUZMA!"

[crkone]

Also making this a Khris appreciation thread. He deserves it and no sense having 2 threads discussing him.

Think appreciating Khris and wishing eternal damnation on Horst should be two diff threads

In theory yes but the appreciation thread would just end up duplicating this one.

Nah. There should be a thread where we can post clips and **** and not get bogged down by the trash in here.

[Garbs_7]

I guess this is partly incomplete until we see what the follow up move is now being under the 2nd apron. If it's just this and it's cost cutting / asset move for Kuz, then it's complete garbage. If we have something else lined up now to trade Bobby / Pat / Marjon for another rotation player that really helps us, then maybe...

[Prez]

Again, this is who we traded for:

- Wizards have a -21.0 net rating with Kuzma on the floor
- Literally the worst net rating on the Wizards roster among guys who've played 20+ games and 10+mpg for them
- 42% FG/28% 3PT/60% FT shooting splits
- 48.8% TS
- 10.7 PER, -5.6 BPM, -0.069 WS/48

And for that guy, we traded not only a dude whose jersey will be retired for the Bucks, a dude who was instrumental in us getting a title and been with Giannis for the entire build...but we also tossed in our 1st round pick who was the only prospect on the roster with a modicum of upside, AND a pick swap.

**** Jon Horst forever.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Somehow I don't think Giannis told Horst, "you know what Jon, get me Kyle Kuzma for Khris." Sounds like nonsense.

horst: Giannis will you leave if we traded midds for KD?
Giannis: Nah, it's cool, man
horst: alright, I'll go get Kuzma

[jimmybones]

Khris' medicals must have also been a mess.

I want to say something really badly but I can't

[TGW]

The secondary pick swap is whatever. It's a fake "asset", so who cares. But we just paid a premium for Kyle Kuzma in the midst of the worst season of his career. There's zero positive spin for this.

This was a cost saving move for the Bucks. Something like $35MM according to my boy doclinkin on the Wizards board. That's nothing to sneeze at.

[soxperry]

The secondary pick swap is whatever. It's a fake "asset", so who cares. But we just paid a premium for Kyle Kuzma in the midst of the worst season of his career. There's zero positive spin for this.

We paid for Kuzma, who is younger and more healthy, AND the cap savings of around 10+ per year. If you thought Khris was cooked athletically, thats not bad

[Wonka]

Im going to assume we dont do this unless we know we have something lined up that requires aggregation.

Only after that happens or doesn't happen can this be judged.

Btw guys, AJ Johnson was a massive longshot. The value here was not bad all things considered

How is trading AJ who could turn into anything potentially for a known failure in Patrick Baldwin “good value” at all?

[brewbucks]

Can’t wait to get a cheap Khris jersey on clearance

[Turk Nowitzki]

I actually think there's a decent chance that this makes us better this year, but it's still not good. At all.

I love Khris so it's hard to be impartial, and being 6'8" with his jumper and chemistry with Giannis means he still had some value to us, but in all honesty he was physically cooked. He can't move. He was playing reduced minutes to try and keep him functional. It was a dangerous game that could've blown up in our faces for good if we kept him. A 2nd swap on a pick that's already swapped is nothing, I'm not sure people are caught up on that part yet, so I'm a little off the ledge there even if I don't think AJ Johnson should be in this.

I honestly can't speak on Kuzma outside of seeing his awful numbers on paper but I really do hope he can help. I'll give him a fair chance.

[LUKE23]

Think this is the worst Bucks trade since 1st rounder for Vazquez. Would need to look though.

I cannot believe we included Johnson when we were already giving the pick swap and the better player on a shorter contract. This is legitimately a fireable offense trade.

[ReasonablySober]

Athetic:

The 6-9 Kuzma goes to a Bucks team with an established pecking order, with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard in the key roles. A league source told The Athletic that the Bucks did extensive research on Kuzma in recent days, and team officials believe Kuzma can help them play fast on offense and be more effective in transition.

Article makes no mention of a swap and that they were still "discussing" 2nd round picks. Could just be the Athletic is late with the info Haynes already has.

[CharityStripe34]

Theoretically, Kuzmza could potentially give us a pretty good small-ball lineup if he commits to at least putting effort on team defense.

Something tells me there is more brewing.

[midranger]

Khris' medicals must have also been a mess.

I want to say something really badly but I can't

Do not do it, my guy. Not worth impressing message board posters.

[StickeeFingaz]

Kuzma had a quote some weeks ago basically alluding to the fact that he was just doing his own thing on the floor because he didn’t agree with how the Wiz were treating the season.

I think he’ll be different in a “winning” culture.

[MickeyDavis]

Think appreciating Khris and wishing eternal damnation on Horst should be two diff threads

In theory yes but the appreciation thread would just end up duplicating this one.

Nah. There should be a thread where we can post clips and **** and not get bogged down by the trash in here.

Agreed