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

[Profound23]

I hadn't seen those Khris quotes until just now:

Nehm: From your perspective, did you feel like by the time the playoffs hit in mid-April you would be ready to play at least 30 minutes per game?

Yeah, that was the plan. I can sit here and confidently say that I definitely think by the time the playoffs started, I would be playing 30 minutes. I was close a couple times. We had to back it off, but I was 24, 25, 26 minutes. It’s only four to seven more minutes, somewhere in that range, during playoff time, I think I could handle that, for sure.

Nehm: Was it frustrating to you that you didn’t get to see that through? You had the ramp-up plan for the postseason, and you didn’t get to see it through. After all you’ve done for the franchise, that had to be frustrating for you.

I’ve had many opportunities. I mean, that’s the way I’ve kind of looked at it. My time ran out. Simple as that. I mean, I could say my time could have ran out a long time ago. They held onto me, believed in the potential, believed in the work that they saw. But I think this time, it was just, we think a different route is better for our team going forward. And I can’t do nothing but respect that.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6152732/2025/02/22/khris-middleton-wizards-bucks-giannis/

I appreciate the honesty from Middleton...you don't see that often. Glad he didn't go the Bakhtiari route of trying to blame the organization for everything.

[-Jragon-]

Knicks aren't going to hold the 3rd seed... they just aren't... 3rd seed will be Bucks or Pacers. Bucks are 4.5 games out of the 3rd seed and that lead is going to evaporate pretty quickly.

[fansinceforever]

Start Kpj at 2 and GTJ at 3 if you're worried about spacing. It's not like Prince's inch or two in height is making a difference defensively or on the boards.

[jute2003]

Start Kpj at 2 and GTJ at 3 if you're worried about spacing. It's not like Prince's inch or two in height is making a difference defensively or on the boards.

Sooo..bench the newly acquired kuzma for undersized gtj.

[SirChurros]

KPJ is definitely best-suited off the bench for this team. The second unit needs his playmaking and shot creation. Start Green or Trent.

[German Athens]

Spacing with the current composition has much less to do with pulling guys out of the paint for Giannis to feast, but more to do with making the open shot that comes to the shooter.

Teams aren’t going to opt to cover the perimeter over covering the interior when Giannis is in the game. The focus will always be about making Giannis work for his, and then just recover the best you can to the perimeter.

Green may be somewhat of an exception to this which I think is a big part of people advocating for him to be in the game with Dame and Giannis, because Dame is also a guy teams won’t let get open.

Beyond those two guys, I don’t think there’s ever been a shooter Giannis has ever played with that a team wouldn’t hedge off of to stop Giannis at the rim, and if Giannis is on, teams will end up helping off Dame and Green, too.

[EasyE31]

Knicks aren't going to hold the 3rd seed... they just aren't... 3rd seed will be Bucks or Pacers. Bucks are 4.5 games out of the 3rd seed and that lead is going to evaporate pretty quickly.

I think I'd rather the Bucks stay on the 4 line. Cleveland is a much better match up for us than either Boston or NY. The perfect scenario is:

R1: Indy
R2: Cleveland
ECF: Boston/NY coming off a brutal 7 game series

[fansinceforever]

Start Kpj at 2 and GTJ at 3 if you're worried about spacing. It's not like Prince's inch or two in height is making a difference defensively or on the boards.

Sooo..bench the newly acquired kuzma for undersized gtj.

In the playoffs, bench Brook.

But no, I flubbed, still start Kuzma. Id still start Kpj regardless though.

[pifhluk23]

We really need to make a serious run at Naz Reid (who said he's declining his po) this Summer. He's a perfect fit to replace Brook.

Reid
Giannis
Kuzma
Green/GTJ
Dame

That's a scary long boi switchable quick defensive lineup.

[tedbrogen]

We really need to make a serious run at Naz Reid (who said he's declining his po) this Summer. He's a perfect fit to replace Brook.

Reid
Giannis
Kuzma
Green/GTJ
Dame

That's a scary long boi switchable quick defensive lineup.

Is there any world where Naz is getting MLE or less?

[pifhluk23]

We really need to make a serious run at Naz Reid (who said he's declining his po) this Summer. He's a perfect fit to replace Brook.

Reid
Giannis
Kuzma
Green/GTJ
Dame

That's a scary long boi switchable quick defensive lineup.

Is there any world where Naz is getting MLE or less?

No, is that all we have without Brook and if Bobby opts out? What if we trade Pat too?

[ILC]

We really need to make a serious run at Naz Reid (who said he's declining his po) this Summer. He's a perfect fit to replace Brook.

Reid
Giannis
Kuzma
Green/GTJ
Dame

That's a scary long boi switchable quick defensive lineup.

Naz is not leaving. No one other than BKN can offer him anything close to what he'll get from MIN. 150/5 is the most likely IMO.

The whole point of the KAT trade was to re-sign Naz. He's opting out because he's re-signing for more money for more years, not because he's leaving.

[slos]

Jackson was for a long time a 14 mpg starting SG playing all his minutes next to Dame, most of them in the beggining of the 1st and 3rd period. There was already that role set in the rotation. Just give it to Porter and add on top of that the 10 mpg that Dame sits.

I get it if Doc is trying to slow things down for him by starting Prince. But this isn't sustainable. This process needs to speed up.

[pifhluk23]

Just looked it up in case anyone is interested. If Brook retires or leaves, Bobby opts out and we trade Pat it's feasible we could have ~18M+ in cap space depending on the cap which is currently projected as 170.

[Ron Swanson]

Just looked it up in case anyone is interested. If Brook retires or leaves, Bobby opts out and we trade Pat it's feasible we could have ~18M+ in cap space depending on the cap which is currently projected as 170.

So we'd have enough to sign a *checks notes*... Bobby Portis level player. The modern CBA environment has made building a team through free agency all but impossible, so it's always weird when I see people think expirings/cap space have any meaningful value anymore.

[slos]

Just looked it up in case anyone is interested. If Brook retires or leaves, Bobby opts out and we trade Pat it's feasible we could have ~18M+ in cap space depending on the cap which is currently projected as 170.

That's just 4 mil above the MLE. I'm not letting Bobby walk for nothing and then pay to clear Pat for that priviledge.

[Profound23]

We really need to make a serious run at Naz Reid (who said he's declining his po) this Summer. He's a perfect fit to replace Brook.

Reid
Giannis
Kuzma
Green/GTJ
Dame

That's a scary long boi switchable quick defensive lineup.

Naz is not leaving. No one other than BKN can offer him anything close to what he'll get from MIN. 150/5 is the most likely IMO.

The whole point of the KAT trade was to re-sign Naz. He's opting out because he's re-signing for more money for more years, not because he's leaving.

Phew, I like Naz but 30 mil per no thank you

[paulpressey25]

Midds comments make it sound like a guy who knows he's done. wouldn't be shocked if he opts in, never dresses next year and is a buyout come Feb if not needed as salary for a trade

At the end of his deal next year, Midds will have made $290 million in aggregate salary. Won a ring and ended up all over the Bucks leaderboards. Hell of a career, but yes, he knows he’s essentially done.

[Bernman]

Jim Owczarski on KPJ: "I am curious about the NBA investigation. They could definitely hammer him if they want. Or they could go the way they did w/ Bridges, & say you were out of the NBA for a yr, so we'll suspend you for x games. But I imagine the Bucks would like to have that settled before the postseason."

So from that, KPJ finishing his treatment protocol w/ the law didn't clear him as far as the league goes (it was already true when he was w/ the Clips, at which pt it was reported the NBA investigation was ongoing). A guy that's become valuable to the team could become suddenly available & change the season narrative quite a bit.

[soxperry]

I know KPJ is only playing 20 minutes per game, so who knows if it can scale up, but he's averaging 21/6/6 with 3.4 steals per 36 in 5 games with us.