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

[Ron Swanson]

Kuzma played more at SF last season than at any point in his career outside of his 3rd season. And then hilariously, 94% of his minutes in the playoffs there according to the lineup data. I commend anyone who believes Doc actually had this epiphany when he yanked him off the floor, but I'll believe it when I see it. I wouldn't even hate the idea of waiting to flip Kuzma at the deadline if we had a coach who actually recognizes how to put his personnel in ideal, modern NBA roles given their limitations and positional archetype, but it's not happening with the oldest, most outdated coach in the league. In the meantime, Kuz is gonna get his 25-30 minutes on the wing, the spacing will suck, and it's gonna cost us wins in a tightly bunched Eastern Conference. He's the actual player we need to just admit "didn't work out" and dump him for any "warm body" that can give you rotation minutes.

[LUKE23]

Small sample size error for Kuz and Giannis. Giannis was sitting out a lot after the trade deadline amd Kuz still was figuring out how to play off him. Need more data

Nah, we don't. Kuzma can't play off ball and he cannot shoot. You can't play two non-3-point shooting forwards together and expect to have a viable offense.

[raferfenix]

Kuzma played more at SF last season than at any point in his career outside of his 3rd season.

You're right that Doc very well might be on track to giving Kuzma another serious shot if only as a 6th man.

But the following from Horst sounds more like GTJ at the 3 than Kuz:

[Giannis] just continues to grow at such a high rate in generating 3-point shots for his teammates. It’s elite. His decision-making is elite. His turnover game is reducing. He truly is becoming a real point guard — or a real point forward, like Doc calls it — so I think that allows us to dive even deeper into it than we have in the past, but I think those have always been some of our most successful lineups and groups. Putting him out there with a bunch of shooters and ball movers and let him just dominate.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6496242/2025/07/16/bucks-jon-horst-myles-turner-giannis-offseason-interview/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nbatw&source=nbatw

[GHOSTofSIKMA]

Kuzma played more at SF last season than at any point in his career outside of his 3rd season. And then hilariously, 94% of his minutes in the playoffs there according to the lineup data. I commend anyone who believes Doc actually had this epiphany when he yanked him off the floor, but I'll believe it when I see it. I wouldn't even hate the idea of waiting to flip Kuzma at the deadline if we had a coach who actually recognizes how to put his personnel in ideal, modern NBA roles given their limitations and positional archetype, but it's not happening with the oldest, most outdated coach in the league. In the meantime, Kuz is gonna get his 25-30 minutes on the wing, the spacing will suck, and it's gonna cost us wins in a tightly bunched Eastern Conference. He's the actual player we need to just admit "didn't work out" and dump him for any "warm body" that can give you rotation minutes.

Unfortunately I think, at least until the deadline..... hes the actual player thats gonna have to be the warm body that gives us a few rotation minutes.

i do not want to blow any assets whatsoever just to "dump him".

whatever we do with him, because of his salary slot.... it needs to be extremely calculated and a straight up WIN. id rather he rots on the bench than hes dumped if he comes back and over the first little run he gets that it becomes apparent theres not an improvement there.

we can play this season without him. you got prince to use a little.....or hell....give livingston minutes or even slide giannis over if we need to go big

[LUKE23]

we can play this season without him. hell....give livingston his minutes

Livingston is terrible. It's very simple, move Kuzma to backup PF, start Green/Trent and give both of those guys around 36 mpg. Kuzma can take all the backup PF minutes and Prince gets backup SF.

[GHOSTofSIKMA]

we can play this season without him. hell....give livingston his minutes

Livingston is terrible. It's very simple, move Kuzma to backup PF, start Green/Trent and give both of those guys around 36 mpg. Kuzma can take all the backup PF minutes and Prince gets backup SF.

i editted it. he may be terrible. id still like to see. we have the smaller lineups that will be our bread and butter......we still have prince and giannis can slide over there. ajax. whoever. i think we need more data on what this lineup actually needs.

my point is that i dont want to blow assets all so we can get the next bum in here. if its a good move obviously id support and upgrade. i was replying to the theory we should dump him for a warm body. i dont support that aspect. to me a warm body...thats what he is

[LUKE23]

i editted it. he may be terrible. id still like to see. we have the smaller lineups that will be our bread and butter......we still have prince and giannis can slide over there. ajax. whoever. i think we need more data on what this lineup actually needs.

my point is that i dont want to blow assets all so we can get the next bum in here. if its a good move obviously id support and upgrade. i was replying to the theory we should dump him for a warm body. i dont support that aspect. to me a warm body...thats what he is

I don't think we need any more data. We have all the 2-man GA net ratings. We have always played much better surrounding him completely with shooting. KPJ, Green, GTJ, and Portis had the top 4 ratings last year. I am guessing Turner will be in the top 2-3 this year.

We need to remove people that cannot shoot and that need to play on-ball from the starting lineup. I'm good with KPJ there because he can create his own shot, distribute, and defend. Guys like Kuzma and Prince are way more suited for a bench role.

Start the shooters, get out and run, and let GA cook.

[raferfenix]

Not much clock for Kuzma at the 4 if Bobby's going to have a bigger role:

To play faster offensively and defensively in transition. And I think Myles adds that, as does Bobby (Portis) in a bigger, more important role for us than I think that he’s ever been in.

I think that is one of the things that’s a little bit undertold is keeping Bobby and letting Bobby play in the way he played near the end of the season. He’s really increased his shot speed. I mean, he really gets rid of the ball quicker. His shot quality has really improved. He understands he can dominate around the rim, rebound the basketball, shoot the ball on the perimeter.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6496242/2025/07/16/bucks-jon-horst-myles-turner-giannis-offseason-interview/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nbatw&source=nbatw

[raferfenix]

i do not want to blow any assets whatsoever just to "dump him".

whatever we do with him, because of his salary slot.... it needs to be extremely calculated and a straight up WIN. id rather he rots on the bench

Agreed we can't afford to waste Kuzma's salary slot whatever the situation is on the court.

Even if he's entirely on the bench his contract becomes more valuable the closer it gets to it's descending final season.

In theory we could make a move with the idea of positioning for another trade later but Horst/Doc could just as easily value an athlete with size at the 3 and want to give Kuz another shot -- bball IQ and shooting be damned.

[crowhead76]

Bucks in: Vassell, 2028 2nd round pick
Spurs in: Kuzma, Smith, 2032 1st swap

Porter Jr | Anthony
Rollins | Green | Harris
Vassell | Trent Jr | AJJ
Giannis | Bobby | Prince
Turner | Sims

[GHOSTofSIKMA]

i editted it. he may be terrible. id still like to see. we have the smaller lineups that will be our bread and butter......we still have prince and giannis can slide over there. ajax. whoever. i think we need more data on what this lineup actually needs.

my point is that i dont want to blow assets all so we can get the next bum in here. if its a good move obviously id support and upgrade. i was replying to the theory we should dump him for a warm body. i dont support that aspect. to me a warm body...thats what he is

I don't think we need any more data. We have all the 2-man GA net ratings. We have always played much better surrounding him completely with shooting. KPJ, Green, GTJ, and Portis had the top 4 ratings last year. I am guessing Turner will be in the top 2-3 this year.

We need to remove people that cannot shoot and that need to play on-ball from the starting lineup. I'm good with KPJ there because he can create his own shot, distribute, and defend. Guys like Kuzma and Prince are way more suited for a bench role.

Start the shooters, get out and run, and let GA cook.

100% agree with everything you said and the approach we should take.

only trying to make a point as it relates to when or who we trade kuzma for. if we have to go big and away from that small lineup we can slide giannis to the 3 and pair him with shooters in portis and turner. that lineup will defend the rim and bang and rebound at least. teams would have to shoot us out of it.

sims i really like in the 3 guard lineups with portis as well. i love how he moves. hes basically giannis defensively. he screens well. if he ever developed any set shot whatsoever hed be great

[Bernman]

Bucks in: Vassell, 2028 2nd round pick
Spurs in: Kuzma, Smith, 2032 1st swap

Porter Jr | Anthony
Rollins | Green | Harris
Vassell | Trent Jr | AJJ
Giannis | Bobby | Prince
Turner | Sims

Horst has said he's not doing something like this, thankfully. He's keeping his powder try until the deadline. So come up w/ hypothetical deals for then, when hopefully Kuz' value is not as low, & we can probably use our ability to take on 25% more salary to get teams under aprons/tax.

[GHOSTofSIKMA]

i do not want to blow any assets whatsoever just to "dump him".

whatever we do with him, because of his salary slot.... it needs to be extremely calculated and a straight up WIN. id rather he rots on the bench

Agreed we can't afford to waste Kuzma's salary slot whatever the situation is on the court.

Even if he's entirely on the bench his contract becomes more valuable the closer it gets to it's descending final season.

In theory we could make a move with the idea of positioning for another trade later but Horst/Doc could just as easily value an athlete with size at the 3 and want to give Kuz another shot -- bball IQ and shooting be damned.

id say if we trade assets with him then we get an actual asset back. that to me is the barometer of whether its a good deal for us or not. basically hang on to him until he has neutral value to whoever were dealing with

[soxperry]

I just want one of those trades where we get a good but not great player and everyone is like, "thats it? Thats all they paid??" I see other teams do it. Id like that for us.

[FrieAaron]

I just want one of those trades where we get a good but not great player and everyone is like, "thats it? Thats all they paid??" I see other teams do it. Id like that for us.

I feel like we've done this multiple times this year.

[Bernman]

I just want one of those trades where we get a good but not great player and everyone is like, "thats it? Thats all they paid??" I see other teams do it. Id like that for us.

I feel like we've done this multiple times this year.

But those deals were very minor ones, one of the players it's still unclear if he helps us, & the other had off the court issues suppressing value.

It's fair to ask why he can't make a significant deal at the time where we make out well. We're always the ones getting fleeced - Crowder for 5 2nds, DiVo for Ibaka's corpse, Kuzma for Middleton/AJJ/1st pick swap, 4 1sts + good players for Jrue, Jrue & 3 1sts for Dame, etc.

[KendallMarshall]

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.

Are they though?

[KendallMarshall]

Watch on YouTube

This is all amazing. Beas......JEEZ.

That's a really long video.

Cliff notes?

[Daver]

Besl 2 yr 11 million with clips well Ffs that was the worse kept secret in basketbsll

[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.



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.

Are they though?

As of right now yes on paper the Hawks are definitely better than us. +900 vs +1400 to win East.