Milwaukee Bucks: Jon Horst shares his thoughts on free agency moves

Speaking on the NBA TV broadcast during the Milwaukee Bucks’ Summer League game on Sunday, Jon Horst spoke about the team’s free agency so far.

While the Milwaukee Bucks battled the Dallas Mavericks in their hotly-contested second game of this year’s NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, the team’s general manager took the opportunity to provide an update on what has been an interesting free agency for the franchise so far.

The Bucks have yet to make any deal official just yet, but Jon Horst was open to talking about the various reports surrounding the team over the past week or so, although there were a couple of minor qualifying terms to be heard in his comments.

Speaking to Greg Anthony and Casey Stern on the NBA TV broadcast, Horst spoke about a wide variety of subjects ranging from the Summer League experience for teams and players, to Milwaukee’s plans under coach Mike Budenholzer.

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Most interesting of all were certainly his comments on the various deals he’s been involved in brokering in recent days, though.

Touching on the reported deal with Brook Lopez, Horst noted:

"“We’re obviously having conversations with Brook and his agent, and I think we’re really close to getting something done and excited about getting him. And if we’re able to add a guy like that, we went into this offseason trying to find interior toughness and size, and skill and IQ, and Brook Lopez has all of those things. He’s got great size, he’s a passer, handler, shooter, even from the big spot. He’s a guy who could really help us.”"

Before commenting on Ersan Ilyasova‘s reported return to the team, Horst spoke about his long-running relationship with the player and his close ties to the organization. He then added:

"“Ersan is a high IQ player, he can shoot the ball so he gives Giannis and the rest of the team space. He’s competitive, and he’s tough, he knows our system, he knows our community, he knows our players. He was a guy we focused on in free agency, and we’ll be excited to add him.”"

Horst also provided some insight on Jabari Parker‘s uncertain future, a subject which has been largely unreported on around the NBA since free agency opened on July 1:

"“Obviously Jabari is a restricted free agent, we qualified him because we value him and wanted to have the ability to keep him and work through that with him and his agent. We’ve had great conversations, we’re in contact every day. I think the market will dictate some of it, but we’ll continue to work on it and we’ll see how it turns out.”"

Next: Win in 6 Podcast #233: Reacting to the Brook Lopez signing

Horst will likely have a chance to comment further on the additions of Ilyasova and Lopez when those deals become official and Milwaukee introduces their new players, but whether a similar press conference will be staged for a Jabari Parker return remains to be seen.

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