Bucks News, Transactions, Trade Ideas - Jon Horst the Wizard

[RogerMurdock]

Id love us to acquire a player not covered in warts

It's always possible if you have the money, which the Bucks don't.

[MikeIsGood]

There's a lot of that going on. Agents feeding media "these teams are interested in my client".

Bucks can offer Ayton more money than the Lakers can.

I don't think money will be the issue. He's most likely looking for a 1+1 deal so he can get another big contract next summer.

Us having more money still doesn't preclude him from using us as leverage, either. If Lakers only have 10 mil (making this up) and they're offering him 7, he can say Milwaukee will give me double that - I want to be here (LA), but you gotta give me all 10.

[machu46]

Where's this Ayton stuff coming from? Is there even smoke?

This and only this.

Read on Twitter

Nah it isn't just him. Lakers writer from The Athletic, Bobby Marks, and maybe one of the guys on Marc Stein's blog all mentioned us as a potential suitor. I'm still skeptical though.

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[BucksFanSD]

I've decided on Ayton. He asked for the buyout to go to a winning team. My impression of the situation is he can't take being on a losing team all that well. I love seeing mobile bigs on this team. Sims in games makes me enjoy the brand so much better and Ayton is much more skilled. Sadly, I think the Lakers are the front runners still although wouldn't a deal already be done by now if so? Yeah, the Bucks may just being used for leverage. Who knows.

[Licensed to Il]

Call Dumars while he's still drunk and get Trey Murphy.

Or Herb Jones for a couple 2nds.

Those are the two names that have made multiple appearances on this board that I am the most excited about. Jones would be such a fun, switchable forward to lock guys down. Murphy would stress defensive schemes without taking a ton off the table. Both are strong, agile, and impactful. Some of the names we talk about acquiring here (Barrett, Wiggins) would become despised by most of the posters here by the third week of the season. Guys like Herb Jones and Tre Murphy would (IMO) be board darlings. And I'm crossing my fingers we can land a guy like that. I get that there aren't a lot of those out there, and it requires either a guy who is quirky and underrated or just a great scheme fit.

[Ron Swanson]

Herb might be gettable but I just don't see any way outside of tossing in that 2031 unprotected 1st. No idea why people think Murphy is on the market, let alone with our meager assets. New Orleans just inked him to that extension after a breakout season and even traded Ingram to clear the way for him as the full-time starter. He's not going anywhere.

[SirChurros]

Murphy, Jones, Grimes, Yabusele. I’d take any of those guys.

[MickeyDavis]

Ayton makes me nervous. It sounds like Portland was just tired of dealing with him.

As was Phoenix

[Prez]

There’s a clearer pathway to a starting role for Ayton on the Lakers whereas here he’d be competing with Bobby, and the Lakers have an elite ballhandler/playmaker known for making good use of athletic bigs offensively. That + the LA thing, I’d be pretty surprised if Ayton came here and the money was comparable to what LA was offering.

I still want Yabusele.

[buckboy]

Herb might be gettable but I just don't see any way outside of tossing in that 2031 unprotected 1st. No idea why people think Murphy is on the market, let alone with our meager assets. New Orleans just inked him to that extension after a breakout season and even traded Ingram to clear the way for him as the full-time starter. He's not going anywhere.

Wishcasting/Dumars.

[MikeIsGood]

Where's this Ayton stuff coming from? Is there even smoke?

This and only this.

Read on Twitter

Nah it isn't just him. Lakers writer from The Athletic, Bobby Marks, and maybe one of the guys on Marc Stein's blog all mentioned us as a potential suitor. I'm still skeptical though.

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Those others may be right and I missed it, but the piece in The Athletic created no actual link between us and Ayton - I just made my morning rounds on Athletic an hour ago and saw it, too. It is pure speculation that we're trying to "remain competitive" and have more money than the Lakers.

[slos]

Sign Ayton
Resign Rollins
Trade Kuz and Pat for MPJ

KPJ/Rollins/Dame
GTJ/Green/Jackson
MPJ/Prince/Livingston
Giannis/XXX/Smith
Ayton/Portis/Markovic

[MKE_Hodag22]

Sign Ayton
Resign Rollins
Trade Kuz and Pat for MPJ

KPJ/Rollins/Dame
GTJ/Green/Jackson
MPJ/Prince/Livingston
Giannis/XXX/Smith
Ayton/Portis/Markovic

That starting 5 with a healthy Dame would be pretty fun to watch.

[Daver]

Id love us to acquire a player not covered in warts

God isnt available

[machu46]

There’s a clearer pathway to a starting role for Ayton on the Lakers whereas here he’d be competing with Bobby, and the Lakers have an elite ballhandler/playmaker known for making good use of athletic bigs offensively. That + the LA thing, I’d be pretty surprised if Ayton came here and the money was comparable to what LA was offering.

I still want Yabusele.

I think Ayton is clearly the highest ceiling center option out there right now (at least in free agency), but I guess I wonder what his mindset is right now.

I remember a big part of him and Phoenix parting ways is that everyone started to love him as a player for how he played with CP3, basically just screening and rolling and being an excellent play finisher/pretty good defender but Ayton himself hated playing that way and wanted an opportunity to have the offense run through him more via postups and stuff.

If that's still the case, idk how interested I am in having him because that just doesn't feel like the best version of Ayton, but given Doc's coaching style vs. JJ's, Ayton is far more likely to get post touches with us IMO. In LA, he'd be going back to the role that everyone loved him for. With us, he'd likely be playing the role that he actually wanted to play.

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[soxperry]

I haven't watched Ayton since he played for the Suns but I remember thinking that most of his offense was Chris Paul making him look really good.

Kpj is no Chris Paul but he knows how to set people up
But I don't remember is if Ayton is a lob threat

[Frank Nova]

What if Ayton takes the Brook Lopez path and starts actively working on his perimeter shooting? Brook came as a traditional big and left as the best shot blocking 3pt shooting center probably ever…. I don’t think Ayton passes up the opportunity to play in LA to come here but it’s certainly worth a thought.

[emunney]

I've decided on Ayton. He asked for the buyout to go to a winning team. My impression of the situation is he can't take being on a losing team all that well. I love seeing mobile bigs on this team. Sims in games makes me enjoy the brand so much better and Ayton is much more skilled. Sadly, I think the Lakers are the front runners still although wouldn't a deal already be done by now if so? Yeah, the Bucks may just being used for leverage. Who knows.

I would think he asked for a buyout at least in part because he's a one-position player and his franchise's decision-makers were bouncing off the ceiling when they drafted a guy who plays his position. He only had to give back 10m and probably figures it'll be easy to recoup. And he's probably right. He basically just got to FA a year early. Not saying he doesn't want to play for a winner, but do want to point out that he wouldn't have to be motivated by that to do this.

My main concerns with Ayton:

-- huge but not forceful
-- skilled but very limited range
-- FT% and FT rate fall off
-- teams who've made huge investments in him have gotten out before they needed to

On the other hand, he's 26 (27 this month, but still) and has shown very good touch at least out to FT line range for his career. It's far from unprecedented for a guy like him to stretch his range moving into his late 20s. You'd just like to have seen some signs of progress. I don't think it's wise to bet on Giannis "rubbing off on him" and seeing him suddenly become a much more aggressive player -- it's not in his personality.

[Profound23]

Thomas Bryant anyone?

[Daver]

There's a lot of that going on. Agents feeding media "these teams are interested in my client".

Bucks can offer Ayton more money than the Lakers can.

I don't think money will be the issue. He's most likely looking for a 1+1 deal so he can get another big contract next summer.

I tbink thats what all this team friendly deals were for.....ayton n think thats exactly what the bucks are offering him 1+1 deal with 10 million or so