Bucks News, Transactions, Trade Ideas - Sign Pete Nance to 2-way

[soxperry]

Dalano Banton with 22 points and 6 assists last night. He can do everything Kuzma can, plus make 3s. Instead Horst gave up the sun and moon to get Kuzma. Gross.

Do you assume he was available? Do you also assume that they wanted Khris and a player picked late first round in one if the worst drafts in recent memory who is only scoring 13 ppg in the g league?

Ive got no problem w people not liking the move. It irritates me though when people assume that a functioning adult who gets paid to make nba decisions and has big skin in the game would just take a worse option when better ones existed.

The trade we got? Almost certainly the best available option. He didnt pull a Nico. He was looking for better options since November.

Lol, bad GMs make bad moves. Horst has no idea what a good player is. Does Horst make the best draft picks? Absolutely not. Why would you think he pursues the best trades?

Well for one, he traded for PJ Tucker, practically for free, when most here thought he was washed. That was a title clinching move. Clearly he understood what we needed.

I dont know how Horat stacks up to the rest i just think hes probably a little smarter than youre assuming

[pifhluk23]

I think every poster needs to read the Journal interview with Horst. There's some stuff Horst says that's hard to believe:

1) KM's injury had nothing to do with being traded-he really emphasizes that.
2) He thinks Kuzma will be much better here as long as he takes quality shots
3) Bucks were playing tremendous ball leading up to deadline, but wanted more front court depth against playoff teams.
4) Thinks things are changing and that playoffs, unlike the past, may become more fast break action
5)The apron had nothing to do with the trades, although it gave them more flexibiliy after.

1. BS Wiz would have shipped him out if that were the case.
2. Huge risk, if Butler or LaVine were available those moves were way better.
3. Does he not watch games?
4. 1st round sure but each round will get slower and slower.
5. Some more BS

[pifhluk23]

Did anyone see when they were playing Curry on Lopez last night? That's a little playoff preview for everyone. We have to let him walk this off-season or s&t.

[raferfenix]

Horst was pretty adamant he didn’t clear the Khris trade with Giannis beforehand.

I kind of believe it since I strongly suspect Giannis was pulling strings (if not making threats) behind the scenes to get Dame the whole time which Jrue caught wind of, and this go around it was easier to give him plausible deniability.

[raferfenix]

More from Horst:

So why are you a better team this year now than before the deadline?

Horst: I just think collectively, we’re deeper in the spots we needed to be deeper.

This gave us an opportunity to diversify a little bit, to kind of put money and talent and roster spots in other places where I thought we needed help, mainly in our frontcourt depth and to put a fourth player that can really contribute for us, maybe not every night, maybe not big minutes, but someone who’s definitely different than what we have in terms of athletically and physicality and offensive rebound focus and mindset.

Added to our guard kind of depth and athleticism and size in KPJ. And we still have a roster spot. And so, and then Kyle truly is a versatile, we look at him as a Swiss Army knife. Can offensively play at least four, if not five positions. Defensively probably three. He just plays with a pace and a speed and athleticism that we think will really help us against the teams we have to beat in the playoffs. And there’s really good teams in our conference. We felt like we’ve given ourselves more depth in the right spaces and more opportunities.

You watch [Kuzma] go from guarding Maxey to Embiid in a game and I would say pretty effectively, I think that shows some of his defensive versatility. Coming over on a weak-side shot block, he's a good rim protector. Not always as your primary first rim protector, but as a secondary rim protector coming over and making plays like that, he's very good. Rebounding in traffic, pushing the ball in transition, he's up there in Giannis-like in effectiveness and efficiency and frequency in transition.

There's a big gap between Giannis and the rest of our team in that statistic and so, we still think – and it's harder to do in the playoffs, I get it – but teams are starting to play in transition more in the playoffs. We're at our best or at least one of our best versions of itself is playing fast and so another player that can get out and go with the ball.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/nba/bucks/2025/02/10/milwaukee-bucks-gm-jon-horst-trading-khris-middleton-kyle-kuzma-kevin-porter/78393707007/

[JayMKE]

If they think Kuzma can play 1-5 on offense and guard Maxey and Embiid they are dumber than I thought

[soxperry]

If they think Kuzma can play 1-5 on offense and guard Maxey and Embiid they are dumber than I thought

Youre on quite a heater lately

Keep going, push it to the limit

[Wonka]

Horst knows way more ball than me but I just do not agree or care about what he has to say about this team. He’s not improved this team at all imo.

I don’t think there’s any evidence to support this statement. Would give you the job in a heartbeat.

[Ron Swanson]

I never understand why people care about what a GM says in press conferences or interviews like this. It's 100% PR spin. I don't need quotes and transcripts to tell me that Horst is one of the most risk averse GM's out there, and that's a big reason why we're sitting here with Kyle Kuzma and another pissed away 1st round pick instead of Jimmy Butler or picks/prospects.

[paulpressey25]

We still don’t know how much influence Doc or the owners have.

It was a great six year run.

[soxperry]

I never understand why people care about what a GM says in press conferences or interviews like this. It's 100% PR spin. I don't need quotes and transcripts to tell me that Horst is one of the most risk averse GM's out there, and that's a big reason why we're sitting here with Kyle Kuzma and another pissed away 1st round pick instead of Jimmy Butler or picks/prospects.

Possible reasons we didnt get Jimmy:

1. Heat preferred the Golden State package regardless of whether we were willing to add the 31 1st.

2. Giannis said no to Jimmy.

3. Heat would have taken our deal w the 31 1st but we said no.

Two of those are not up to Horst.

If I ever find out we held that pick back and we could have had Jimmy im going to lose my mind

[Ron Swanson]

I think it's safe to say a lot of us already have one eye towards the offseason. What front office/POBO types could we get to come here? I could see Masai finally leaving Toronto if he sees his dream opportunity of building a roster around Giannis. Ownership needs to throw the bag at him and let him hire a new coach. Coax Bob Meyers out of retirement? Mike Zarren (VP of Basketball Ops for the Celtics)? I mean hell, at this point I might even begrudgingly accept Doc moving to a front office role if it at least meant that we'd get a new coach.

[soxperry]

I think it's safe to say a lot of us already have one eye towards the offseason. What front office/POBO types could we get to come here? I could see Masai finally leaving Toronto if he sees his dream opportunity of building a roster around Giannis. Ownership needs to throw the bag at him and let him hire a new coach. Coax Bob Meyers out of retirement? Mike Zarren (VP of Basketball Ops for the Celtics)? I mean hell, at this point I might even begrudgingly accept Doc moving to a front office role if it at least meant that we'd get a new coach.

Masai is cooked. Toronto is a clown show.

[Ron Swanson]

I think it's safe to say a lot of us already have one eye towards the offseason. What front office/POBO types could we get to come here? I could see Masai finally leaving Toronto if he sees his dream opportunity of building a roster around Giannis. Ownership needs to throw the bag at him and let him hire a new coach. Coax Bob Meyers out of retirement? Mike Zarren (VP of Basketball Ops for the Celtics)? I mean hell, at this point I might even begrudgingly accept Doc moving to a front office role if it at least meant that we'd get a new coach.

Masai is cooked. Toronto is a clown show.

Masai's been dicking around for the past 4-years in Toronto because Kawhi decided it was better for his brand to be in LA. Give him a player like Giannis to work with/build around, and he'll do wonders on the margins. Something we've been sorely lacking throughout the entire Giannis era.

[midranger]

I think Horst knows about ball in a similar way to a guy wearing a Female Body Inspector t-shirt at the bar knows about law enforcement.

[raferfenix]

How Kuzma does may be determinative for Horst's future and very possibly the Dame-Giannis duo in Milwaukee.

This line stood out to me from the interview:

He just plays with a pace and a speed and athleticism that we think will really help us against the teams we have to beat in the playoffs.

The Bucks have looked like mummies this whole season. That's no longer the case.

[soxperry]

How Kuzma does may be determinative for Horst's future and very possibly the Dame-Giannis duo in Milwaukee.

This line stood out to me from the interview:

He just plays with a pace and a speed and athleticism that we think will really help us against the teams we have to beat in the playoffs.

The Bucks have looked like mummies this whole season. That's no longer the case.

If you look at our likely path to the ECF its Indiana then Cleveland. So yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

[midranger]

How Kuzma does may be determinative for Horst's future and very possibly the Dame-Giannis duo in Milwaukee.

This line stood out to me from the interview:

He just plays with a pace and a speed and athleticism that we think will really help us against the teams we have to beat in the playoffs.

The Bucks have looked like mummies this whole season. That's no longer the case.

Sure. But we also kept Brook/Portis/Prince in the main rotation. These are not transition dudes.

[pifhluk23]

We still don’t know how much influence Doc or the owners have.

It was a great six year run.

I mean I'm grateful for the chip but Giannis prime has been squandered by Giannis meddling, Horst and owners. We should be on year 7 of Butler right now and at least 2-3 championships.

[BigO]

The only way getting Kuzma is a positive is if Kuzma changes into something he's not been.

1) Can he start taking good shots and being efficient? He doesn't need to be KM efficient, but much better than he has been historically.

2) Keep his rebounding to close to 7 a game, which isn't asking a lot for him, but more than recent history.

3) Keep his assist to turnover ratio to 2 to 1 rather than his inefficent history in that area.

4) Be a reliable defender of mobile bigs. I don't know how good of a defender he is. We'll see.