Should Milwaukee Trade For Enes Kanter?
By Ti Windisch
Feb 11, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki (41) defends against Utah Jazz center Enes Kanter (0) during the first quarter at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Short answer?
Yes. Here’s why.
First off, the trade offer being circulated is a very good one for the Bucks. Now who knows if that is the offer that’d be accepted, but if it was this offer (or even relatively close) Milwaukee would make out like a bandit. Ersan Ilyasova and a first round pick (either the Bucks’ pick or the Clippers’. Either way the pick will be in the bottom half of the first round thanks to the Bucks’ success this season) for Kanter is a great deal.
More from Bucks Rumors
- Bucks’ Thanasis Antetokounmpo reveals he nearly joined a different team
- NBA Rumors: Bucks eyeing young combo guard with one roster spot left
- NBA Rumors: Bucks attended a workout for former first round draft pick
- NBA Free Agency Rumors: Milwaukee Bucks targeting sharpshooting wing
- Important Milwaukee Bucks’ rumors on day 2 of 2023 NBA Free Agency
Just getting Ilyasova’s fat contract off of Milwaukee’s books would be great (he’s owed the same salary next season that he’s making this season, a whopping $7.9 million). Getting him and Larry Sanders off of the Buck’s salary cap within three days would open up a lot of room to sign players with in the offseason. The Bucks would have somewhere around $33 million (out of a $66 million expected cap).
That means before restructuring/trading anyone else who happens to use a lot of the Bucks’ salary cap (here’s looking at you, OJ Mayo and Zaza Pachulia) the Bucks would have $10 million each to throw at Knight, Middleton and Kanter. Middleton might not even ask for that much, which should leave more than enough to get all three of these players locked down. Having Knight, Middleton, Giannis, Parker, Henson and Kanter locked down for the foreseeable future would be a great young core to have in Milwaukee.
Now that we’ve looked at why the trade makes sense, let’s take a closer look at who Milwaukee would be trading for.
Enes Kanter is a Turkish center who went third overall in the 2011 NBA Draft. He’s 22 years old right now and has played all four years of his NBA career with the Utah Jazz. He’s been quite good this far in his career, offensively at least. Kanter is averaging just about 14 points and eight rebounds per game this season, but that’s in just 27 minutes per game (although Kanter has started every game except one that he played in this season for the Jazz).
If you look at Kanter’s per 36 numbers instead, he shows even more promise. Kanter averages over 18 points and ten rebounds per 36 this season, meaning that he would average a double-double if given enough minutes. The inside scoring would be wonderful to have on the Bucks, but Kanter’s rebounding is even more important to Milwaukee. Out of the three best rebounders on the Bucks right now, only one of them touches ten rebounds per game per each 36 minutes, Zaza Pachulia.
The difference between Pachulia and Kanter is that Zaza couldn’t hold up for 36 minutes a night. He’s just too old. So his per 36 is not quite as useful because there’s no way he’s going to play that much for Milwaukee in a single game. Kanter could though. He’s young. He could develop into an even better rebounder as his career continues too.
Plus there’s the part about Kanter shooting over 49 percent and Zaza shooting just under 44 percent, even though Kanter shoots more threes than Zaza (and makes a decent 31 percent of them). He’s not going to win a three-point contest anytime soon, but his ability to make the occasional three at least keeps the defense honest. A starting five of Knight, Middleton, Giannis, Parker and Kanter would be very dangerous because it would present a defense with five different players that can score inside or outside at any time, making them a matchup nightmare.
Now of course that lineup probably offends quite a few Bucks fans for one reason; it leaves John Henson as the odd man out. There’s two reasons for this. The first is that Henson is just too small to be the Bucks’ starting center. Kanter is fairly athletic for a center, and weighs 260 lbs. Henson comes in at 220 lbs even though they’re both 6’11”. He gets punished by opposing bigs constantly. Even if Kanter’s defense isn’t ideal right now, Milwaukee’s scheme would probably help with that plus he’s big enough to at least slow down a charging Carlos Boozer.
I like Henson as much as the next guy and think he has a bright future, but not at the center position. He doesn’t rebound nearly well enough (8.6 boards per 36 this season but just 4.3 per game in his 18 nightly minutes) or defend other bigs. He put up the best season of his career at the power forward position his rookie season, managing 16.5 points and 12.9 rebounds per 36 (Henson only played about 13 minutes a game that season, but still). He wouldn’t be a bad forward at all, although it doesn’t help his case that he can’t shoot threes.
The problem with Henson at power forward is Jabari Parker. Parker is the future of the Bucks, and also just happens to play power forward (and a bit of small forward too, but he will likely stay at the four to accommodate Giannis Antetokounmpo. Although depending on the matchup they might switch which position they play on a nightly basis. It must be fun to coach these guys). There’s just no way Henson will take Jabari’s spot. But having him to come off the bench and play the four or the five in a pinch would be ideal for Milwaukee.
That just about wraps up my argument for the Bucks acquiring Kanter, but I just have to add one last thing and give credit where it’s due. Fellow BTBP writer Antony Ludwig wrote an article calling for the Bucks to trade for Kanter about three weeks ago (Bobby Shmurda voice). Way to see the future on that one, Tony.