Bucks News, Trade Ideas, Transactions - Livingston Back on a 1 Year Deal - Page 76

[jschligs]

Horst/Doc are making the bet some combo of the hungry kids with potential we’ve stockpiled in the backcourt will hit.

Someone posted Cole will be the second youngest player in the rotation if that’s right?

On the face of it I’m good taking a swing on a young athlete than trotting out the next version of old man Teague/Payne/Wright/Augustin etc.

Especially when you look at the best teams in the league currently. All young and well coached (damn...)

However, we have a Giannis. I love getting younger. It's what we all talked about needing to do 2-3 years ago when we still had Khris and Jrue. Now we're doing it. Finally.

[midranger]

I see Anthony being microwave scorer off the bench. Which, good. We need it. Outside of KPJ we have zero back court options who will consistently create their own offense. Great shooters? Yes. But no one who can break down a defense at all. I’m not saying the Cole Anthony is great shakes by any stretch, but he’s put up 16/5/6 in the NBA. He can probably give us 80% of what Malik Monk could at the cost of an only a roster spot. He also prevents you from being one injury away from 48 minutes of Ryan Rollins as your only back court “ball handler” (if we can even call Rollins that).

I just don’t get the incessant bitching by a few dudes about a minimum contract young guy who fits a glaring need. I get it. His dad played with Doc 3 decades ago yadda yadda fart sound.

If he sucks, it won’t be shocking. He’s a minimum contract guy signed to be like an 11th man on the roster. Most of those guys suck around the league.

[soxperry]

I see Anthony being microwave scorer off the bench. Which, good. We need it. Outside of KPJ we have zero back court options who will consistently create their own offense. Great shooters? Yes. But no one who can break down a defense at all. I’m not saying the Cole Anthony is great shakes by any stretch, but he’s put up 16/5/6 in the NBA. He can probably give us 80% of what Malik Monk could at the cost of an only a roster spot. He also prevents you from being one injury away from 48 minutes of Ryan Rollins as your only back court “ball handler” (if we can even call Rollins that).

I just don’t get the incessant bitching by a few dudes about a minimum contract young guy who fits a glaring need. I get it. His dad played with Doc 3 decades ago yadda yadda fart sound.

yeah, i watched some of his highlight videos and i came to the same conclusion. i know he's not always going to play like the highlights, but at least he has the capacity to do those things.

[Perishable517]

If this roster is any good it'll be in a sizable way because of the development and success of KPJ. He's gotta start.

KPJ is probably our 3rd best player. Certainly our 3rd best talent.

Bucks seem on track for relying on KPJ in a serious way if (big caveat) we aren't making another substantial move for a top guy.

I think the team isn't actively shopping anymore. Watch, of course but I don't think we will see anything happen anymore.

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[Perishable517]

Cole Anthony is a good dude.

A little too emotional and that has impacted his confidence and play on the court, but he is really well liked in the locker room. A legit good guy for team chemistry.

As far as on the court... it's a mixed bag.

He's capable of having legitimately monster games where you're like "holy crap, this dude is awesome!"

Just over the past couple of years he's had...

35-8-9
22-4-9
27-3-4
24-7-4
30-7-7
25-6-5
23-10-9

All with good shooting percentages and all in victories. There will absolutely be two or three games this season that Cole is on fire and straight up wins for you.

He's also a VERY good rebounding guard, one of the better ones in the league.

But those monster games are, unfortunately, few and far between. There's way too many 0-7, 1-9, 3-12 kind of games where he just doesn't have it and really hurts the team when he's out there.

Defensively, he's not very good. His defensive metrics are bit inflated because he's such a good defensive rebounder. He's a one position defender because of his size and he's very grabby which leads to a lot of dumb fouls. He's a great load up and jump off two feet leaper, so he can actually fly in for some blocks out of nowhere, but otherwise he's just not overly helpful on the defensive end.

His 3PT shot is very inconsistent, only one season over 35.3% in his five year career. He takes them, but he just doesn't make enough of them.

He's a guy who really gets down on himself easily and that impacts his play. If Doc and his staff can get him feeling confident, he can be a good bench scorer like he was in 2023 when he averaged 13 PPG off the bench on a .570 TS%. That year earned him the 13M a year contract he got, but he sadly just regressed pretty badly right after that. There were some rumors that he dealt with some stuff in his personal life (break up maybe?) that negatively impacted things for him.

But he's a very likable dude. He's quirky and gives fun postgame interviews when he plays well.

I wish him all the best and hope he does well for your team except when he plays the Magic.

Nice insight. Love you guys from the Orlando board!

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[Perishable517]

I maybe would've liked Brogdon for his ability to guard small 3s but I'm not gonna argue with going with the 25 year old athletic guy instead.

Mom Bod is done with me. Availablity is a skill. Also, his attitude seemed a bit off.

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[-Jragon-]

Horford would have been a fine Brook replacement but signing him at this point wouldn't make a lick of sense for either party. That has to be an old rumor.

I’d take him and let him sit until Feb then use him 10-15mpg in the playoffs if Turner is off or Bobby is getting exposed on switches.

Preparing ahead for Portis deadline trade for a real wing maybe... 3D chess of we pull this off.. Horford is a much better 2 way player

[stillgotgame]

Cole Anthony is a good dude.

A little too emotional and that has impacted his confidence and play on the court, but he is really well liked in the locker room. A legit good guy for team chemistry.

As far as on the court... it's a mixed bag.

He's capable of having legitimately monster games where you're like "holy crap, this dude is awesome!"

Just over the past couple of years he's had...

35-8-9
22-4-9
27-3-4
24-7-4
30-7-7
25-6-5
23-10-9

All with good shooting percentages and all in victories. There will absolutely be two or three games this season that Cole is on fire and straight up wins for you.

He's also a VERY good rebounding guard, one of the better ones in the league.

But those monster games are, unfortunately, few and far between. There's way too many 0-7, 1-9, 3-12 kind of games where he just doesn't have it and really hurts the team when he's out there.

Defensively, he's not very good. His defensive metrics are bit inflated because he's such a good defensive rebounder. He's a one position defender because of his size and he's very grabby which leads to a lot of dumb fouls. He's a great load up and jump off two feet leaper, so he can actually fly in for some blocks out of nowhere, but otherwise he's just not overly helpful on the defensive end.

His 3PT shot is very inconsistent, only one season over 35.3% in his five year career. He takes them, but he just doesn't make enough of them.

He's a guy who really gets down on himself easily and that impacts his play. If Doc and his staff can get him feeling confident, he can be a good bench scorer like he was in 2023 when he averaged 13 PPG off the bench on a .570 TS%. That year earned him the 13M a year contract he got, but he sadly just regressed pretty badly right after that. There were some rumors that he dealt with some stuff in his personal life (break up maybe?) that negatively impacted things for him.

But he's a very likable dude. He's quirky and gives fun postgame interviews when he plays well.

I wish him all the best and hope he does well for your team except when he plays the Magic.

Nice insight. Love you guys from the Orlando board!

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Yep, thrilled to have him.

25 years old, microwave scorer on a min contract. 3rd string point so of course he's not perfect. Amazing get by us!

[-Jragon-]

Including the play-in, Anthony had 9 20-point games last year. I think between him, Trent, Green, etc. you are just hoping that you get a hot hand from at least one of them each night.

Right, we are adding this level of talent/youth/2 way player with potential for a minimum contract and not trading anyone --- yet we complain... this is an easy cut/trade later if it doesn't work out

[-Jragon-]

Adding more about getting Horford... a few of us, at least, think we mainly resigned Portis because we couldn't use that money for anything else anyways (correct me if I'm wrong) .. so why let him walk for nothing when he's an asset that either melds with the new version of this team and carves out a useful role or his contract is very tradable

[-Jragon-]

I'm sure Portis will get every shot to stay in the rotation but due to defense/athleticism/jumper breaks/etc maybe he pulls a Pat C and fades out on favor of Sims/Horford/heck even Kuz if he's on fire somehow

[-Jragon-]

From Horfords standpoint, he likely sees himself as the 2nd best C on the roster and he gets another shot in the weaker East to compete for a ring

[ShootingtheJ]

The Magic poster gave a pretty damning account of Anthony and you take it as a positive?

KPJ, besides being much taller and thicker than Anthony (which is a big advantage), is great at attacking the basket and in numerous other ways.

Anyone looking at the two players, rather than hunting stats to prove a point, would never say they have the same skillset or upside.

Having said that, counting on KPJ is still a risk, but one worth it, I just don't trust Doc to tell the difference.

To be fair to Cole, I was absolutely in favor of the extension he got at the time he signed it.

He was a very capable bench scorer in the 2022-2023 season and the Magic took off when he returned from injury (he missed the first like 20 games).

But he just regressed in a really rough way immediately after signing the extension. 2023-2024 he was terrible even though the Magic were quite good.

If the Bucks can get him back playing like he did in 2023, he will be worth the minimum contract (I’m assuming he got the minimum) they’re paying him.

But if he plays more like the last two years, probably not a guy you want playing too much outside of the 4-5 eruptions games he’ll have once a month.

There's no doubt 22-23 was his high point. But his high point is when he shot a career high 36% on threes.

And in case anyone forgets, defense is half the game and nothing Cole can do will make him taller than 6'2" (that's generous).

Again, all of this is immaterial if Doc plays the best players. Ain't gonna happen. Doc doesn't want Cole's dad calling him up.

Anthony will also likely be more efficient here. In Orlando, their coach, Mosley, spends all their practice time on defense, and that has lead to one of the NBAs worst offenses.

[th87]

Horford would have been a fine Brook replacement but signing him at this point wouldn't make a lick of sense for either party. That has to be an old rumor.

I’d take him and let him sit until Feb then use him 10-15mpg in the playoffs if Turner is off or Bobby is getting exposed on switches.

Preparing ahead for Portis deadline trade for a real wing maybe... 3D chess of we pull this off.. Horford is a much better 2 way player

Would take Horford to keep him away from rivals.

[raferfenix]

Horford would have such a small role here it’s hard to see it not being either dated info or agent posturing.

Sure, if the Bucks are about to trade Kuzma, Al could take all the backup 5 mins with Bobby exclusively at the 4 and Sims relegated to injury emergency guy.

But that’s a far cry from starting in a glamour market like Golden State or having a bigger role with the Lakers.

“Golden State obviously expected him to sign last week, he didn’t [sign],” Spears said on ESPN’s NBA Today Monday. “Lakers, Milwaukee, and Atlanta, I believe are also interested in a nearly 40-year-old guy who also has retirement on the table. He’s still considering retiring, he’s not in any hurry. He’s got a sixth kid coming on the way, he lives in Atlanta and Boston in the offseason. I’m hearing that whether it’s Golden State and a lesser extent to the Lakers, being away from the family that far isn’t going to be in that decision.”

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2025/07/2-new-teams-showing-interest-in-al-horford-in-free-agency-report.html

[pifhluk23]

Horford would have such a small role here at the moment it’s hard to see it not being either dated info or agent posturing.

Sure, if the Bucks are about to trade Kuzma — Al could take all the backup 5 mins with Bobby exclusively at the 4 and Sims relegated to injury emergency guy.

But that’s a far cry from starting in a glamour market like Golden State or having a bigger role with the Lakers.

“Golden State obviously expected him to sign last week, he didn’t [sign],” Spears said on ESPN’s NBA Today Monday. “Lakers, Milwaukee, and Atlanta, I believe are also interested in a nearly 40-year-old guy who also has retirement on the table. He’s still considering retiring, he’s not in any hurry. He’s got a sixth kid coming on the way, he lives in Atlanta and Boston in the offseason. I’m hearing that whether it’s Golden State and a lesser extent to the Lakers, being away from the family that far isn’t going to be in that decision.”

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2025/07/2-new-teams-showing-interest-in-al-horford-in-free-agency-report.html

Seems like the super obvious move for him is ATL. He already lives there, played there, East weaker and they are better than us. It would be great to have him here as a locker room presence but we run into the same old issue we will face all season... Would Doc play him 20mpg and then he's unplayable in the playoffs.

[GHOSTofSIKMA]

Again, all of this is immaterial if Doc plays the best players. Ain't gonna happen. Doc doesn't want Cole's dad calling him up.

Always read your posts in the voice of Barry Weiss (compliment). And this one was a gem. 100% accurate. So many times on this board we talk about players and coaches in a vacuum. But they are real people who see each other every day. And normal human reactions and politics abound aplenty.

I’m still not necessarily opposed to the signing because we’re so damn desperate at PG. But yes, I’m sure Doc and Greg Anthony are text/golf buddies. Even Brawl Brothers from their days on the Knicks. Watch that clip. Anthony comes off the bench in street clothes to punch KJ to defend Doc’s honor.

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If anthonys issues are fit and confidence at this level after a storied high school and college career.....than as a young high upside developmental guard his fathers relationship with doc will be worth its weight in gold and trimmed out in rubies and diamonds.

I for one am extremely excited to get a young explosive high pedigree guard on this roster. Hes a chucker because he was once the highest rated pg in the nation and an all acc selection as a freshman and a lotto pick....all for his "chucking". We dont have any chuckers that can occasionally look good. Maybe he ends up being prime brandon jennings 2.0 but even that would help a bit with this current cast coming off the bench with a great head on him. This thing is all gonna be confidence for him moving forwrd imo.

How this board can twist his dads relationship with Doc into somehow a bad thing here I just smh. Its probably why we targeted the young man and Im all for it. This entire year is going to be about development. The idea we need to put the ball in KPJ, Rollins hands to take our lumps but somehow at the same developmental stage we mock Anthony is insanity to me

[midranger]

Absent some great deal for a wing upgrade, at this point I think I’d just keep Kuz around as a tradeable salary for when/if we sustain an injury and/or a position group disappoints.

If Doc can limit him to 18-22 minutes as a backup PF when Giannis is off the floor/resting, he won’t actively hurt the team imo. He and Giannis can never play together though.

[Badgerlander]

Hornets waiving Josh Okogie

[Daver]

The more I hear about Cole Anthony, the more I believe that he's not really moving the needle at all for this team except for that one game a month where he really shows out. I can see many games where Kuz, TP and Cole all crap the bed together because of their inconsistency.

This is going to be a frustrating rollercoaster of a season.

Jfc dudes on a minimum cet contract wtf you expecting who you exoecting them to sign at a minimum whose better tbis was a great signing especialky if he finds his mojo again.
Moving the needle you fu... kiddng me your not finding anyone to "move the needke" for you at a vet minimum