Bucks News, Trade Ideas, Transactions

[raferfenix]

Richards would make way more sense if Bobby or Brook are heading out.

Either certainly could go to another team for a package including draft capital that'd be relayed to the Charlotte.

Nic makes $5M. Plenty of salary space for us to be bringing in another piece in the transaction.

[DingleJerry]

Yea this would have to be kicking the tires on him if we need him after trading Brook or bobby in a different deal. We've all said that in most trade proposals after moving one of the bigs for wing help that we'd have to get a different backup somehow, guys like this would be it. Can't say I watch enough to know much on him, but I'd be curious how he is in the PnR rimrunner role where could pair well with Dame when Giannis is off the court. Playing with Ball for a few years you'd think thats a part of his game, but thankfully I don't watch much Cha.

Sidenote, Cha has their own pick this year which should be top 3. Ball/Miller/Williams/Bridges (seems to been arrested in over a year) + top 5 pick is not a bad starting point. I'd guess as soon as the younger guys get better though will be about when Ball is demanding his way out. And the cycle will continue there

[Frank Nova]

Nick Richards for Pat and the 2031 2nd is okay as long as that means a bigger trade for a needle mover is coming afterwards. Give Tyler Smith some run as a 4th big and save your assets. Let Prince and Middleton play small 4s. There’s multiple avenues of in house solutions to back up bigs before you send out the 2031 1st for Nick Richards. Horst would be an absolute goof for that.

[fansinceforever]

Green and GTJ both need to start and play 25+ mpg. They're our most active and best on ball defenders and most consistent shooters. Ajax comes in off the bench alongside Middleton and Bobby.

Taurean Prince can be phased into 10-15 minute a night role.

We know who our best players are at this point. If we play our best offensive players and allow Giannis and Dame to QB everything, we'll probably be a top 1/3 offense or better. If we stay where we are defensively then maybe we've got something.

The roster seems to kinda be what it will be.

I disagree with benching Prince right now. He makes a lot of the swing passes to keep this offense flowing. I love what the other two are doing but the other shooters have the green light on all the time. That's not a bad thing either but you need players who knows it's okay to turn down a shot so my teammate can get a look.

Sure but I don't think Green or GTJ have a problem doing that.

[fansinceforever]

To your point:

Dame-Ajax-Prince-Giannis-Lopez: +1 net in 395 possessions

Dame-Green-Prince-Giannis-Lopez: +29.4 in 104 possessions

Move Green into the starting lineup. I said bench Prince, who we've gotten diminishing returns from. But maybe just remove Ajax & use him in the 2nd unit when Giannis is off the floor. Or they both could come off. The Trent-Green lineups have put up gaudy #s

Exactly. Start them both and play them 25+ minutes.

[raferfenix]

Keon has done well for himself since Brown got axed so this might no longer be a reasonable fake trade.

If this would require our 2031 first (even protected) of course very different.

We could also send them Taurean Prince (via the minimum if we don't want to take another player back) for a different approach.

Bucks trade: Bobby, 2031 second
Bucks receive: Keon, Nic Richards, $5.5M in cap relief (need $6.5M to duck apron)

Hornets trade: Nic Richards
Hornets receive: Tyler Lyles, 2031 second, Kings 2nd of some kind

Kings trade: Keon Ellis, Tyler Lyles, 2nd of some kind
Kings receive: Bobby Portis,

After six straight losses, the Sacramento Kings are back on the upswing with five consecutive wins. While Domantas Sabonis has continued his career-best season, Malik Monk continues to get better and better, and DeMar DeRozan hits contested clutch buckets, one player stands out for the Kings' recent surge up the standings: Keon Ellis.

https://www.si.com/nba/kings/sacramento-kings-news/nba-media-reacts-to-sacramento-kings-breakout-guard-01jh3zbvdtj4

[yb90]

Green and GTJ both need to start and play 25+ mpg. They're our most active and best on ball defenders and most consistent shooters. Ajax comes in off the bench alongside Middleton and Bobby.

Taurean Prince can be phased into 10-15 minute a night role.

We know who our best players are at this point. If we play our best offensive players and allow Giannis and Dame to QB everything, we'll probably be a top 1/3 offense or better. If we stay where we are defensively then maybe we've got something.

The roster seems to kinda be what it will be.

I disagree with benching Prince right now. He makes a lot of the swing passes to keep this offense flowing. I love what the other two are doing but the other shooters have the green light on all the time. That's not a bad thing either but you need players who knows it's okay to turn down a shot so my teammate can get a look.

Sure but I don't think Green or GTJ have a problem doing that.

If AJ is open its going up and GTjr is the same. I don't fault them at all because that's what makes them valuable.

[yannisk]

Green and GTJ both need to start and play 25+ mpg.

They should play 25 mpg, but if you start them alongside Dame you will have a tiny backcourt. Maybe it won't be a problem against everybody but imagine you play them against Boston and you have Green and CTJ defending Tatum and Brown.

[Fotis St]

This current version of Middleton coming off the bench being compared to Manu Ginobli or Ricky Pierce is blasphemous.

Yes it blasphemous for Manu's legacy to be compared with Khris

[slos]

FWIW I did some math about a simple trade for Jimmy. It's something that you don't need a third team to eat Pat's 2/19 contract.

Bucks in Butler
Bucks out Middleton, Portis, Connaughton, 2031 FRP and SRP

Miami in Middleton, Portis, Connaughton, MIL 2031 FRP
Miami out Butler, Richardson, Burks

Third team in Richardson (waive), Burks (waive), MIL 2031 SRP
Third team out nada

- Bucks keep 705K under the 2nd apron to convert Rollins into a standard contract and reach the 14 player limit. I guess moving forward they can unload Wright too just with cash and grab a couple of buyout vets.

Lillard.......Wright......Johnson
Jackson.....Green.......Rollins
Butler........Trent.......Beauchamp
Giannis......Prince......Livingston
Lopez........Smith

- Heat keep 512K under the 2nd apron to convert Smith into a standard contract and complete their roster as well. They seem interested about their 2026 cap space, so Pat won't hurt them.

Rozier.........Robinson.....Smith
Herro.........Jaquez........Larsson
Middleton....Highsmith....Connaughton
Portis.........Jovic..........Johnson
Adebayo......Ware..........Love

- 5 mil expirings for a future 2nd + some cash happen all the time, so I didn't even bother finding that team. Horst can easily figure it out. It's definitely easier than finding a 3rd team for Pat.

[ShootingtheJ]

This current version of Middleton coming off the bench being compared to Manu Ginobli or Ricky Pierce is blasphemous.

Yes it blasphemous for Manu's legacy to be compared with Khris

Unless you can read stats or watch games.

Middleton has been the better player throughout his career, especially in the playoffs.

[drone3]

FWIW I did some math about a simple trade for Jimmy. It's something that you don't need a third team to eat Pat's 2/19 contract.

Bucks in Butler
Bucks out Middleton, Portis, Connaughton, 2031 FRP and SRP

Miami in Middleton, Portis, Connaughton, MIL 2031 FRP
Miami out Butler, Richardson, Burks

Third team in Richardson (waive), Burks (waive), MIL 2031 SRP
Third team out nada

- Bucks keep 705K under the 2nd apron to convert Rollins into a standard contract and reach the 14 player limit. I guess moving forward they can unload Wright too just with cash and grab a couple of buyout vets.

Lillard.......Wright......Johnson
Jackson.....Green.......Rollins
Butler........Trent.......Beauchamp
Giannis......Prince......Livingston
Lopez........Smith

- Heat keep 512K under the 2nd apron to convert Smith into a standard contract and complete their roster as well. They seem interested about their 2026 cap space, so Pat won't hurt them.

Rozier.........Robinson.....Smith
Herro.........Jaquez........Larsson
Middleton....Highsmith....Connaughton
Portis.........Jovic..........Johnson
Adebayo......Ware..........Love

- 5 mil expirings for a future 2nd + some cash happen all the time, so I didn't even bother finding that team. Horst can easily figure it out. It's definitely easier than finding a 3rd team for Pat.

Great calculations... Let's go! Get it done Horst

[Bernman]

Exactly. Start them both and play them 25+ minutes.

I thought about it afterward, and there could be some tough match-ups for them. In 2 games we play the Knicks. Trent-Green would be marking OG & Bridges, who'd have a lot of size on them. If Bridges is hitting, not much they could do about it.

I still might want Prince for plenty of those match-ups. Which means that's where the Bucks could/should fortify before the deadline. Though if Middleton comes around, he reenters & the problem's largely solved. If the acquisition doubles as a small ball 4 they could play together in those lineups, so maybe still worth it.

Trent-Green match up better w/ Orlando, for example. Never understood why starters couldn't be game-to-game.

[M-C-G]

I get a lot of you guys proxy ‘starting’ with minute distribution. I could not care less who starts as long as our closer unit is who is ending games.

Get me some kind of 4/5 switchable big that we have all been looking for years and this team could pull it all together when the time is right.

This team doesn’t have coaching but has ego management that is kind of working. We aren’t going to outsmart anyone but if the guys we have play hard, we could win it, just need that one missing piece and that doesn’t need to be a Jimmy Butler guy. We need a Scott Williams type (dirty work) more than anything

[jakecronus8]

FWIW I did some math about a simple trade for Jimmy. It's something that you don't need a third team to eat Pat's 2/19 contract.

Bucks in Butler
Bucks out Middleton, Portis, Connaughton, 2031 FRP and SRP

Miami in Middleton, Portis, Connaughton, MIL 2031 FRP
Miami out Butler, Richardson, Burks

Third team in Richardson (waive), Burks (waive), MIL 2031 SRP
Third team out nada

- Bucks keep 705K under the 2nd apron to convert Rollins into a standard contract and reach the 14 player limit. I guess moving forward they can unload Wright too just with cash and grab a couple of buyout vets.

Lillard.......Wright......Johnson
Jackson.....Green.......Rollins
Butler........Trent.......Beauchamp
Giannis......Prince......Livingston
Lopez........Smith

- Heat keep 512K under the 2nd apron to convert Smith into a standard contract and complete their roster as well. They seem interested about their 2026 cap space, so Pat won't hurt them.

Rozier.........Robinson.....Smith
Herro.........Jaquez........Larsson
Middleton....Highsmith....Connaughton
Portis.........Jovic..........Johnson
Adebayo......Ware..........Love

- 5 mil expirings for a future 2nd + some cash happen all the time, so I didn't even bother finding that team. Horst can easily figure it out. It's definitely easier than finding a 3rd team for Pat.

Gary Payton trade 2.0

Also not legal

[Bernman]

FWIW I did some math about a simple trade for Jimmy. It's something that you don't need a third team to eat Pat's 2/19 contract.

Bucks in Butler
Bucks out Middleton, Portis, Connaughton, 2031 FRP and SRP

Miami in Middleton, Portis, Connaughton, MIL 2031 FRP
Miami out Butler, Richardson, Burks

Third team in Richardson (waive), Burks (waive), MIL 2031 SRP
Third team out nada

- Bucks keep 705K under the 2nd apron to convert Rollins into a standard contract and reach the 14 player limit. I guess moving forward they can unload Wright too just with cash and grab a couple of buyout vets.

Lillard.......Wright......Johnson
Jackson.....Green.......Rollins
Butler........Trent.......Beauchamp
Giannis......Prince......Livingston
Lopez........Smith

- Heat keep 512K under the 2nd apron to convert Smith into a standard contract and complete their roster as well. They seem interested about their 2026 cap space, so Pat won't hurt them.

Rozier.........Robinson.....Smith
Herro.........Jaquez........Larsson
Middleton....Highsmith....Connaughton
Portis.........Jovic..........Johnson
Adebayo......Ware..........Love

- 5 mil expirings for a future 2nd + some cash happen all the time, so I didn't even bother finding that team. Horst can easily figure it out. It's definitely easier than finding a 3rd team for Pat.

Gary Payton trade 2.0

Also not legal

It is legal because that gets the Bucks under the 2nd apron.

And while it's excessive cost for a rental who may be a malcontent, the difference here is the Bucks clear enough cap + have the lure in Giannis/Dame to possibly draw a good (not great) replacement free agent. Heck, the Bucks could re-sign Middleton, if he bounces back. Tell him on the way out it's not personal, but they invested a lot in this season, & don't trust his body, yet.

[fansinceforever]

Green and GTJ both need to start and play 25+ mpg.

They should play 25 mpg, but if you start them alongside Dame you will have a tiny backcourt. Maybe it won't be a problem against everybody but imagine you play them against Boston and you have Green and CTJ defending Tatum and Brown.

Those are our best options. Swap in Prince for that game if you're worried but the outcome is probably worse overall.

[fansinceforever]

I disagree with benching Prince right now. He makes a lot of the swing passes to keep this offense flowing. I love what the other two are doing but the other shooters have the green light on all the time. That's not a bad thing either but you need players who knows it's okay to turn down a shot so my teammate can get a look.

Sure but I don't think Green or GTJ have a problem doing that.

If AJ is open its going up and GTjr is the same. I don't fault them at all because that's what makes them valuable.

Eh, I think that's a consequence of their current roles. In the starting line up, I think both players are smart enough to pick their spots and shoot when appropriate.

[SupremeHustle]

Was scrolling through some old files and found this.

[Bernman]

Nick Richards has a bad defensive rep & can't shoot. So why not just stick w/ Bobby in that case? Otherwise it would be a matter of the grass being greener on the side. If he were added also, it'd be redundant. Doesn't solve our woes.

And Tyler Smith can't be any sort of a 4th big, if we need one, so stop that talk, please. He's not even an average g-leaguer. In fact, he's who I'd most be inclined to move, as a "prospect", to address our rotational needs.

TRADES
Connaughton + '31 2nd/Tyler Smith for Jalen Smith
Bobby + '31 1st (top 5 protected) for Keegan Murray

Brook/Jalen
Giannis/Prince
Murray(4 in the small ball)/Midds
Green/Trent/Ajax
Lillard/Rollins/Terence Davis

I tried to think of shot creators to trade for, but we don't have the assets we're willing to unload to net us someone better than Terence Davis, so just promote him to a 2-way, after converting Rollins.