Evaluating a busy offseason
The Bucks’ offseason was filled with a number of high-profile additions, aimed at improving the team’s depth and retaining many of the core pieces that contributed to the Bucks’ 60-win season last year.
Of course, Malcolm Brogdon was the lone piece the Bucks didn’t retain and Horst answered why he and the front office were comfortable with letting the 2017 NBA Rookie of the Year go:
"“Obviously, a tough decision and Malcolm is a great player and we wish him well and he will be missed. There’s no way around it. A lot of that has to do with some of the questions and conversations we’ve had so far. We believe in our player development, we believe in the young talent we have in our roster. We’ve got a lot of good guards, we’ve got great depth at the guard spot. And at the end of the day, we had to weigh and measure the assets that we could acquire in a trade versus the market value that we knew was out there for Malcolm Brogdon, and make a decision. Really, the decision was to continue to be in a position where we could build a team and sustain our success over a long period of time. Have flexibility, be mobile and pivot if we need to and acquire some assets. So, it’s really more of a statement of believing in Sterling, believing in Donte and the ability to acquire Wes Matthews. George Hill, bringing him back. We believe we’re going to be fine without Malcolm and he’s a great player and we wish him well.”"
That naturally led to touching on the luxury tax and Horst broke down how that played into their decision to let Brogdon go and how it may inform their decisions in the future:
"“I want to be really clear with this. We’re sitting in this area, we’re looking at that arena, the practice facility is across the street. We have an ownership group that will stop at no expense to bring a championship to the state of Wisconsin, this city of Milwaukee. And the luxury tax only factors in terms of how it limits our flexibility, our ability to continue to build this team and be in a position to capitalize on opportunities. So, we’re not afraid to spend. We’re not going to spend just to spend, we’re going to spend intentionally. We’re going to spend some more and do that at the right time. We’re going to invest in this time when we need to.”"
On the veteran sharpshooting duo the Bucks brought in over the summer between Kyle Korver and Wes Matthews, Budenholzer reiterated how much both players will fit in with the team’s ‘let it fly’ mantra as well as Robin Lopez:
"“I think they’re going to help us (to laughter). I don’t think they need a whole lot of encouragement to let it fly. It’s basically what they’ve been doing their whole careers. We’ll still hopefully find some opportunities for them and I couldn’t be more excited about them as shooters. The more we surround Giannis, Bled, Khris and our whole crew with shooting, it’s critical to our success. Both those guys and I think Robin will surprise you a little bit.”"
Speaking more on Lopez and the reality of having both Lopez brothers, Budenholzer had this to say about that big man duo and their competitive nature with one another:
"“I think most importantly, Robin and Brook are so excited about playing with each other. What brothers don’t dream about playing together in the NBA. Getting to know both of them a little bit this summer, they have warned me that it could get a little testy at times and Darvin Ham will be the one breaking them up, not me. It’s good to have a little of that testiness in practice and competitiveness. I think the physicality that Robin brings to the game is, we’ve been seeing it in open gym these last couple of weeks. We’ve played against it a lot over the last however many seasons. I think it’s something that we’re really going to appreciate, he’s a great add to our roster and I think he’s going to adjust to us a little bit and do some of the things that we’ve been accustomed to what our bigs are doing and he’s excited about that. So really all three of them and Robin, I couldn’t be more excited about the additions.”"
When asked about the possibility that both Lopez brothers could share the floor together for stretches, Budenholzer was open to the idea:
"“As a coaching staff, the summer is great. You kind of consider everything. You throw everything at the wall and it’s including can we play Brook and Robin together. And it’s certainly something to consider and we’ll try it. One of the great things about last year is we played some unique lineups, unusual lineups. The lineup in Utah that one night was very different. So playing Robin and Brook, if there’s opportunity, if we feel like they can help us win and we could be good defensively, we’re going to try it.”"