Bucks News, Transactions and Trade Ideas - 2025 Off-season

[Bernman]

Is there any reality where we get the best shooting coach for Kuz and park him in the corner 3 spot... If we are stuck with him we gotta get him right

In '23-24 he shot 40% from 3 in the corners. 39% in '22-23. That's decent. This season he shot 30%. Fell off a cliff. So he doesn't need to learn how to shoot, per se. Just get that back. And make that & cuts his shot diet. It's the same thing at the basket. Look at his charts.
https://3stepsbasket.com/player/kyle-kuzma/shooting?season=nba23

[tedbrogen]

Read on Twitter

That's great and all, but man, if the best piece we get out of a Giannis trade is Stephon Castle, I might have to take a break from the NBA.

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I take it more optimistically, if the Spurs win the lotto they’d likely trade Flagg for Giannis because they want to start winning now.

The slight issue is the Spurs might have a “clean cap” but they are only $12M or so under next year’s cap without a full roster. So they have to send out at least something close to Giannis’ salary.
I’m assuming they would want to keep Vassell and Fox, so they almost have to send out Keldon, Barnes, and Castle to make it work salary wise.

So I’d ask for Castle/Keldon/Barnes/and both their and Atlanta’s pick in this draft assuming one of them is #1 overall. If they were dead set on not including Castle, they can sub in Sochan and a bunch of extra picks if the financials work since Sochan is an awful fit with Giannis. Flagg is the prize here.

[paulpressey25]

Spurs are only in this game if they get the Flagg pick.

Houston not only has good 21-22 y/o players but really juicy draft picks from PHX and BKN.

The 2025 Phoenix pick they own *could* land in the 1-4 zone.

[tedbrogen]

Is there any reality where we get the best shooting coach for Kuz and park him in the corner 3 spot... If we are stuck with him we gotta get him right

In '23-24 he shot 40% from 3 in the corners. 39% in '22-23. That's decent. This season he shot 30%. Fell off a cliff. So he doesn't need to learn how to shoot, per se. Just get that back. And make that & cuts his shot diet. It's the same thing at the basket. Look at his charts.
https://3stepsbasket.com/player/kyle-kuzma/shooting?season=nba23

He’s too dumb to realize he should only shoot corners threes and after cuts to the basket. He should never shoot above the break or after driving. He also needs a coach to put him in the right spots. Doc is not that coach. LeBron was.

[Dick Tate]

The (insert any team name) are “expected to ask about Giannis".

You don't say.

[ReasonablySober]

Spurs have a good package.

Giannis and Kuzma
for
Barnes, Vassell, Castle, Sochan, '25 first, '25 first via ATL, '26 ATL swap, '27 first via ATL

[tedbrogen]

Spurs are only in this game if they get the Flagg pick.

Houston not only has good 21-22 y/o players but really juicy draft picks from PHX and BKN.

The 2025 Phoenix pick they own *could* land in the 1-4 zone.

I’m convinced if Houston loses and gets the top pick via the Phoenix pick, it’s almost a done deal of Flagg+salary+future PHX picks to the Bucks. Houston can’t wait around and pay everyone hoping Flagg becomes a top five player. They need one now while they have a cost controlled supporting cast.

Bucks need someone like Flagg if they move Giannis so they have hope for the future.

[Bernman]

Is there any reality where we get the best shooting coach for Kuz and park him in the corner 3 spot... If we are stuck with him we gotta get him right

In '23-24 he shot 40% from 3 in the corners. 39% in '22-23. That's decent. This season he shot 30%. Fell off a cliff. So he doesn't need to learn how to shoot, per se. Just get that back. And make that & cuts his shot diet. It's the same thing at the basket. Look at his charts.
https://3stepsbasket.com/player/kyle-kuzma/shooting?season=nba23

He’s too dumb to realize he should only shoot corners threes and after cuts to the basket. He should never shoot above the break or after driving. He also needs a coach to put him in the right spots. Doc is not that coach. LeBron was.

Maybe, but that data shows he didn't really have the option this year. Just wasn't a shooting threat, unlike year's past from the corners, catch & shoots, etc.

[German Athens]

So far, none of the national media have talked about us having 3 firsts available next off-season, and a swap.

They haven’t talked about the lineup that had us in position to win on the road against a 50 win team in the playoffs, all being currently in their 20’s outside Giannis.

We have work to do this off-season, but I think we have the right template. Build on it.

[Bernman]

I'd say we have more stake in who gets the 1st pick than most teams in the lotto, if I was under any illusion this FO had the sense to jump on Flagg & friends if they had the chance. Flagg would be a huge draw here from the beginning due to advanced hype if that's what they're worried about.

[paulpressey25]

Spurs have a good package.

Giannis and Kuzma
for
Barnes, Vassell, Castle, Sochan, '25 first, '25 first via ATL, '26 ATL swap, '27 first via ATL

Think those players coming back generally suck. And while Castle has potential to be a Westbrook type guy, he’s a long way from it. Those shooting percentages are not good.

Other question I’d pose to the board. When do the Spurs lose on trades? We’re matching them up against Horst and Doc.

[German Athens]

Also, with KPJ, I think there’s been some talk about this playoff series being who he is, and I’d like to pushback on that.

Yes, we typically look at 24 yr olds as just about cresting into who they are at that point, but playoffs have a completely different ascent.

Look at Khris’s stats in the playoffs when he was 25. We even saw a giant change from Khris between 2019 and 2021, and those were his age 27-29 seasons.

Playoff experience matters a hell of a lot.

I’d like to see KPJ work on finding his spots in the half court. I think that’s the big thing that held him back in the playoffs, and I think that’ll come with more reps just like it did with Khris.

[Bernman]

Doc in the front office just made one of the worst trades the bucks have ever done.

I don’t want him with the org in any capacity. Get rid of him.

To wit, I'm scared of his influence over personnel moves even if he doesn't transition to the FO. He's too much of a deluded egomaniac to not stop meddling, thinking he'll get it right eventually.

The one cause for optimism is free agency, having a little $ actually to play w/ this time. This is Horst's 1 strong-suit. But if Doc's sabotaging then so much for that route to get better either. We'll see how it all plays out. 1 week into FA is the crossroads for this franchise.

[ShootingtheJ]

Spurs have a good package.

Giannis and Kuzma
for
Barnes, Vassell, Castle, Sochan, '25 first, '25 first via ATL, '26 ATL swap, '27 first via ATL

Think those players coming back generally suck. And while Castle has potential to be a Westbrook type guy, he’s a long way from it. Those shooting percentages are not good.

Other question I’d pose to the board. When do the Spurs lose on trades? We’re matching them up against Horst and Doc.

The Spurs are presently a terribly run franchise, but they lucked into Wemby.

[Rstuedes24]

I would feel a lot better about the future of the team if we got rid of Doc completely and we hired a coach that Horst picks, not the ownership or Giannis.
Horst wanted Nurse and Atkinson, both of which would be way better than what we have now.

We need a coach that can maximize the talent we have and elevate middle of the pack players, kind of like Bud had done for some of his time here, and guys like Spo.

[bucksfansince88]

So nobody has took the time to make a KPJ bucks highlights tape? I know we have some creatives here, give me something please

[ReasonablySober]

So nobody has took the time to make a KPJ bucks highlights tape? I know we have some creatives here, give me something please

He'll just sign somewhere else.

[Dick Tate]

These Flagg-centric posts coming from all angles are pretty funny but I am looking forward to the lottery being over and done with so y’all can dial it in a bit.

[tedbrogen]

So far, none of the national media have talked about us having 3 firsts available next off-season, and a swap.

They haven’t talked about the lineup that had us in position to win on the road against a 50 win team in the playoffs, all being currently in their 20’s outside Giannis.

We have work to do this off-season, but I think we have the right template. Build on it.

Three of the four players in that lineup are or can be free agents. The rest of the roster consisted of two playable dudes in Sims (also a free agent) and Rollins, the corpse of Pat, three very unplayable guys in Brook/Prince/Kuz, and a bunch of youngsters that likely are never rotational guys. Or and it sounds like the owners like the head coach who needed 86 games to stumble on the right lineup.

Oh, and to retain or bring in anyone the absolute best case scenario is having access to the NTPMLE by letting Brook and Bobby walk and getting a one year DPE. That’s the best case.

But yeah, they can definitely get out of this hole by continuing to dig down deeper and trade more picks.

[th87]

Alright, I don't even know if I like this but it would work:

Bucks trade:
Giannis

Bucks receive:
Trey Murphy III
DeJounte Murray
NOP 2025 #1
NOP 2026 MIL Swap Rights
NOP 2027 MIL Swap Rights
HOU 2025 #1 (via Phoenix)
HOU 2027 #1 (via Phoenix)
HOU 2028 #1

Houston trades:
Fred VanVleet
Amen Thompson
HOU 2025 #1 (via Phoenix)
HOU 2027 #1 (via Phoenix)
HOU 2028 #1

Houston receives:
Giannis

New Orleans trades:
Trey Murphy III
DeJounte Murray
NOP 2025 #1
NOP 2026 MIL Swap Rights
NOP 2027 MIL Swap Rights

New Orleans Receives:
Fred VanVleet
Amen Thompson

Milwaukee gets the motherload of picks. Houston gets the second best player in the world. New Orleans gets a young star and off a bad contract.