Jon Horst Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Latest On Bucks’ Coaching Situation

January 23rd, 2024 at 10:59pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Bucks have reached out to Doc Rivers to discuss having him take over their head coaching job, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski confirms.

As reported earlier in the day, Rivers is the top choice to replace first-year coach Adrian Griffin, who was abruptly fired on Tuesday.

CNN Sports, as relayed by the NBA on TNT, reported on Tuesday night that Rivers had accepted the position (video link). However, that report has yet to be corroborated by other media outlets.

Rivers already has a connection to the Bucks, having informally served as a consultant for Griffin this season at the behest of the club.

Here’s more on the Bucks’ coaching situation:

Griffin offered a diplomatic answer to Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report regarding his dismissal: “I appreciate the opportunity the Bucks gave me. You can’t control everything,” Griffin said in a phone interview. “I feel good about the job we did. I appreciate my coaching staff for all their hard work. I always wanted to be a head coach in this league. I couldn’t have asked for a better roster. I got to coach Giannis (Antetokounpo), Dame (Lillard), Khris (Middleton), Brook (Lopez). Dream come true. Hopefully, I get another shot at it, but overall, I’m just thankful.”
Bucks general manager Jon Horst and assistant GM Milt Newton began closely observing practices and shootarounds in the last 10 days or so, Haynes reports in the same story. That began raising the eyebrows of the coaching staff and players. If they don’t land Rivers, the Bucks also have Jeff Van Gundy and Nate McMillan on their short list of candidates, Haynes adds.
Griffin met with his top four players after the team’s loss to Indiana during the in-season tournament last month and they all spoke about what was working, what wasn’t working and how they could best be utilized. Griffin told the players that sacrifices were required, but bickering in the locker room continued shortly thereafter.
Griffin was hired at the endorsement of Antetokounmpo, but that endorsement had more to do with whom the two-time MVP didn’t want as head coach, writes Marc Stein at Substack. Nick Nurse was high on the Bucks’ list of candidates before he was hired by the Sixers, according to Stein, who says Antetokounmpo wanted the franchise to go in a different direction and chose to back Griffin. Moving on from Griffin now was a far easier move than finding a difference-making trade, given Milwaukee’s limited assets, Stein adds.
When Lillard’s former head coach, Terry Stotts, chose to resign from the Bucks’ staff just prior to the season opener, the reason was that Griffin felt that he was being undermined by Stotts, according to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer. Stotts was brought in to mentor Griffin but they clashed on scheme and philosophy.

Bucks Notes: Antetokounmpo, Lillard, Horst, First Game

October 28th, 2023 at 8:04am CST by Tristan Tucker

Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo responded to the team’s all-in push and the acquisition of Damian Lillard by signing a three-year, $186MM contract extension. It’s a quick turnaround for Antetokounmpo who, in August, said he wouldn’t sign a new deal with Milwaukee unless he felt everyone was on the same page as him.

The Bucks’ acquisition of Lillard proved to Antetokounmpo just how serious the franchise was about winning, and it’s the second time in three years general manager Jon Horst directly responded to uncertainty about Antetokounmpo’s future in Milwaukee by pulling off a blockbuster trade, Sam Amick of The Athletic writes.

The last time Horst and the Bucks made such a move in the offseason following a lackluster playoff showing, acquiring Jrue Holiday from New Orleans, Milwaukee won the title. And with rival superstars reaching out to Antetokounmpo, rival teams gearing up for a bidding war for his services, and the Bucks lacking resources to meaningfully improve in free agency, Horst knew he was on the clock to make another big move, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN writes.

Antetokounmpo had no idea Horst and the Bucks were in serious talks for Lillard until the trade happened, both Amick and Shelburne explain. As detailed previously, the Bucks kept everything under wraps so as to not compromise the contending team they already felt they had with Holiday running the point in case things soured. With Milwaukee swinging for the fences, Antetokounmpo made the decision to give more of his prime to the franchise that drafted him in 2013.

“The city shows me a lot of love,” Antetokounmpo said. “And also whenever I go out there and have time with my family, they also give me space. When they see me on the street, they give me space. They respect me, who I am as a person, what I’ve done for the city of Milwaukee. And for that, I can’t turn my back. Not now, not in the future, not never. I want to be committed. I want to give back to the city of Milwaukee. We won one championship, but I believe that we can win a second one.”

Waiting a year to sign an extension with the Bucks would have given Antetokounmpo to sign for an extra year and $65MM, but with Lillard on board, Horst still sent the franchise player an official offer letter for an extension the first day he was permitted to, Shelburne details. Horst and his team pitched Giannis on the idea of signing a three-year extension now, which would allow him to sign two more maximum extensions before the age-38 rule in the CBA would limit his flexibility.

“When we took the long-term view of how this decision gave him the best ability to maximize earnings over the next 10 years, it began to make more sense,” Antetokounmpo’s agent Alex Saratsis said.

We have more from the Bucks:

Milwaukee’s decision to trade for Lillard paid immediate dividends in the team’s opener against the Sixers on Thursday. The Bucks’ new point guard dropped 39 points, a team record for most points in a debut game, including the final 11 points scored by the club in the 118-117 victory, ESPN’s Jamal Collier notes. “At the end of the day, he had the hot hand and you’ve got to keep on feeding it. You’ve got to keep going with what works,” Antetokounmpo said.
Lillard and Antetokounmpo have had extensive conversations about closing games out, and Lillard gave some insight into those talks following Thursday’s game. “They trust my judgment and they trust me making decisions,” Lillard said via Gabe Stoltz of Brew Hoop (Twitter link). “All the way down to the very last play where I got fouled and I went to the free throw line, they inbounded it to Giannis and I was just kind of reading him like, “What do you want to do?” And he was like “Come get the ball.” … He wanted me to make that final decision. For a player of his level to respect me in that way, it means a lot to me but I think it just shows that his No. 1 priority is to be the best we can be and win games.“
Lillard delivered the ultimate first impression to his teammates in his 39-point debut, CBS Sports’ Jack Maloney writes. “It was tough man, he was hooping,” Cameron Payne said. “It was crazy, we really ain’t got to see that Dame yet. That was our first time seeing him go crazy on our team, because in preseason he was getting trapped. We really didn’t get to see that. But he put on a show tonight. I know he’s gonna keep that going. The boy looked good.“

More Details On The Three-Team Lillard Blockbuster

September 30th, 2023 at 1:47pm CST by Rory Maher

The Bucks were interested in acquiring Damian Lillard immediately after he made his trade request on July 1, but the deal didn’t start to come together until this past Sunday.

As Adrian Wojnarowski writes in an in-depth story for ESPN (Insider link), Bucks general manager Jon Horst told Trail Blazers GM Joe Cronin from the outset that their talks had to remain a secret or Milwaukee would withdraw from negotiations.

According to Wojnarowski, Horst didn’t want Jrue Holiday to be involved in any trade rumors, or used as leverage by Cronin with other teams to increase offers for Lillard. The Bucks didn’t want to disrupt their chemistry and hold Holiday in very high regard. That meant Cronin was unable to gauge Holiday’s market value before agreeing to the trade.

As Wojnarowski details, Horst told Cronin that the only way a deal would work is if the Blazers took their time fielding offers and eventually circled back to Milwaukee for one-on-one talks. That started Sunday evening, with both sides feeling like they had reached a breakthrough.

Cronin was determined to say patient and accept the best possible offer, per Woj, and kept details of Lillard negotiations hidden from prying eyes. Lillard’s agent, Aaron Goodwin, was determined to steer him to Miami, but Lillard didn’t have much leverage. Wojnarowski strongly suggests Cronin felt the need to keep things private from Goodwin in case he tried to tank trade talks with non-Heat teams.

One of the most fascinating and “delicate” parts of the deal was Phoenix’s involvement. According to Wojnarowski, the Blazers and Suns had the outline of a trade together for months — Deandre Ayton to Portland for Jusuf Nurkic. Cronin wanted to tie that agreement into any Lillard trade, so throughout the offseason he kept circling back to the Suns.

However, as Wojnarowski writes, due to Milwaukee’s insistence on secrecy, Cronin was unable to tell Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein the final details until the last minute. According to Woj, Phoenix knew it was getting Nurkic, Nassir Little and Keon Johnson from the Blazers in a three-team deal, but the Suns wanted another asset in return.

Cronin was unable to tell the Suns who that player was — or who he played for. Cronin did tell the Suns the mystery player’s position and gave an approximation of his salary, and Phoenix was able to deduce it was either Thunder guard Victor Oladipo or Bucks guard Grayson Allen.

Only on Wednesday afternoon — just before the trade was made public — did Cronin confirm that it was Allen, whom the Suns had reportedly been interested in for several months. According to Wojnarowski, Bartelstein, GM James Jones and owner Mat Ishbia quickly discussed and then agreed to the deal.

The Blazers were happy and relieved to have completed the deal, per Woj, and believed they did right by Lillard by sending him to a contender, even if it wasn’t his preferred destination. Shortly thereafter, Cronin was bombarded by calls inquiring about Holiday, who is now the hottest name on the trade block.

Wojnarowki’s full story is definitely worth reading in full if you subscribe to ESPN+.

Kings’ Monte McNair Named Executive Of The Year

May 3rd, 2023 at 11:11am CST by Luke Adams

Having constructed the roster that snapped a record-setting 16-year playoff drought, Kings general manager Monte McNair has been named the NBA’s Executive of the Year for the 2022/23 season, the league announced today.

McNair, who controversially sent ascendant guard Tyrese Haliburton to Indiana in a blockbuster deal for Domantas Sabonis at last season’s trade deadline, supplemented the star duo of Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox this past offseason by drafting Keegan Murray, signing Malik Monk, and trading for Kevin Huerter.

Perhaps most importantly, McNair hired Mike Brown as the Kings’ new head coach after parting ways with Alvin Gentry. Brown won Coach of the Year honors after leading Sacramento to a 48-34 record and its first postseason berth since 2006.

Unlike most of the NBA’s other major postseason awards, the Executive of the Year is voted on by the league’s 30 general managers instead of 100 media members.

McNair received 16 first-place votes and showed up on 24 ballots, earning 98 total points. He beat out runner-up Koby Altman of the Cavaliers, who got seven first-place votes and was included on 21 ballots, finishing with 63 total points.

No other executive received more than two first-place votes or 20 total points. Jazz GM Justin Zanik, Nuggets GM Calvin Booth, and Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens rounded out the top five vote-getters, while sixth-place finisher Bucks general manager Jon Horst joined Stevens as the other executives who received two first-place votes. Nine additional execs received at least one vote.

Eastern Notes: Antetokounmpo, Banchero, Yurtseven, Caruso

January 30th, 2023 at 9:35pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo has full faith in general manager Jon Horst’s decision-making as the trade deadline approaches, he told Eric Nehm of The Athletic in a wide-ranging interview.

“I feel really good about this team,” Antetokounmpo said. “I feel this team has a chance to win a championship and that’s all you can ask for. Now, what Jon’s going to do, that’s in his hands. He’s really good at his job. GM of the Year in 2019. He’s made incredible trades, some of those trades helped us win a championship. We’ve just got to trust him. We’ve got to trust his judgment and what he sees and what he feels.”

We have more from the Eastern Conference:

Top pick Paolo Banchero says he’s appreciates the tough love approach of his Magic coaches and veteran players, he told Alex Kennedy of Basketball News. “Everyone is here to help me — all of the coaches and a lot of the guys on the team, they all hold me accountable,” Banchero said. “They don’t just let me [do what I want]. If I’m out there making mistakes or not playing up to my abilities, they’re going to let me know about it. They’re going to challenge me, and that’s why I love them. They don’t hand anything to me.”
Heat center Omer Yurtseven‘s surgically repaired ankle has fully healed, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald tweets. Yurtseven is preparing for his season debut, which is expected to come shortly after the All-Star break. He’s been cleared for high impact work and is rehabbing in Miami while the team is on a road trip this week.
The Bulls have put such a high price tag on Alex Caruso that he’s virtually untouchable. His value goes far beyond the stat sheet, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times writes. “He’s one of those classic guys that if you’re watching the game and you really understand the game, then you look at the stat sheet, you’re like, ‘You know what, don’t tell me about the stat sheet. That guy impacts the game, he impacts winning,’” coach Billy Donovan said. “To me, the stat sheet never really tells the story about the guys that are really impacting the outcome of the game with different things they do.’’

Bucks Notes: Hill, Matthews, Horst, Antetokounmpo, Ibaka

May 9th, 2022 at 6:20pm CST by Dana Gauruder

George Hill returned to action in Game 3 of the Bucks’ series against the Celtics and had no setbacks. The veteran guard is not listed on the injury report for Monday’s game, Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tweets. Hill, who hadn’t seen action since April 8 due to an abdominal strain, played 11 scoreless minutes with one assist in Game 3.

We have more on the defending champions:

Wesley Matthews‘ excellent defense and the Bucks’ scheme frustrated Jayson Tatum in Game 3. Tatum now has to figure out how to get to his sweet spots more frequently, Jared Weiss of The Athletic writes. Weiss takes an in-depth on the Bucks’ plan against Tatum and how he might counter in Game 4.
Boston fumed about a no-call in the closing seconds of Game 3. Surprisingly, Bucks GM Jon Horst also felt the officiating wasn’t up to par, as he told Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “I couldn’t do their job. You couldn’t do their job,” Horst said. “Officiating is hard, just like playing is hard and coaching is hard, and I think we all have a standard of trying to get better and improve. And at the end of the day, that’s what stood out to me. We have to improve. That wasn’t a quality playoff basketball game, and I think officiating played a role in that.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo takes all kinds of punishment and doles it out, too. His teammates marvel at his mental toughness with defenses constantly collapsing on him, Steve Aschburner of NBA.com writes. “He’s so good at being mentally strong,” center Brook Lopez said. “He obviously has lots of guys throwing themselves at him when he’s trying to get into his moves and make plays for himself and everyone else. He does a great job of sticking with it, staying in the game, and just keeping his mojo … It can be frustrating at times. He does a great job of just kind of letting it go like water off a duck’s back.”
Serge Ibaka was a late scratch from Monday’s game due to a non-COVID illness, Lily Zhao of FOX6 tweets. Ibaka has made two cameo appearances in the series.

Bucks Sign GM Jon Horst To Contract Extension

October 15th, 2021 at 10:20am CST by Luke Adams

10:20am: The Bucks have officially announced Horst’s extension.

“Jon’s preparedness, decision-making and leadership have been instrumental in the Bucks’ success during his tenure, and he has earned this extension,” Bucks co-owners Marc Lasry, Wes Edens, and Jamie Dinan said in a statement. “We appreciate Jon’s hard work and creativity and are excited that he will continue to lead our basketball operations for years to come.”

10:09am: The Bucks and general manager Jon Horst have reached an agreement on a long-term contract extension, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

As Wojnarowski writes, Horst had been entering the final year of his existing contract. His new deal, which was finalized on Friday morning, will cover “several” years.

Horst first assumed control of the Bucks’ basketball operations department in 2017, receiving a promotion from his role as director of basketball operations to replace John Hammond as general manager. His original contract was for three years, and he had two more years tacked onto it in 2019.

The Bucks couldn’t have asked for much more from Horst during his first four seasons on the job. The team has a 206-103 record (.667) in the regular season during that time and won its first title in 50 years in 2021. Horst was also named Executive of the Year in 2019.

Milwaukee’s championship core remains in place for the next several seasons, with Giannis Antetokounmpo under contract through at least 2025, Jrue Holiday locked up through 2024, and Khris Middleton secured through 2023. While the Bucks may face tough decisions on role players in the next year or two, the team has now locked up its off-court leaders as well, extending both Horst and head coach Mike Budenholzer this offseason.

Bucks Co-Owner Lasry Talks Budenholzer, Jrue, Tax, More

August 31st, 2021 at 9:43am CST by Luke Adams

After watching the Bucks win a championship for the first time in 50 years during the 2020/21 season, co-owner Marc Lasry is confident that the team will remain in the mix for a title again in ’21/22. Lasry told Sam Amick and Anthony Slater of The Athletic that he views the Bucks and Nets as the top two teams in the East entering the fall.

Asked if the Heat – who eliminated the Bucks from the playoffs in 2020 – are in that top tier alongside Milwaukee and Brooklyn, Lasry praised Kyle Lowry, Jimmy Butler, and P.J. Tucker, calling Miami a “really good” team. However, he said he believes the Bucks are better.

“Ultimately at the end of the day I’d rather have our team,” Lasry said. “… If we’re healthy, you know we should go pretty far.

“But I would say the same thing (about other teams). If the Nets are healthy, they should go pretty far. It’s who’s going to be the healthiest when you get there. And it’s been interesting trying to figure out (that part) because I bet you there’s going to be a lot of gaming of this… You want to be the No. 1 seed, but do you want to be the No. 1 seed, or do you want to make sure you’re the healthiest going into the playoffs?”

Lasry’s appearance on The Athletic’s Tampering podcast touched on several other topics of note. The discussion is worth checking out in full, but here are a few highlights from the Bucks’ co-owner, via Amick and Slater:

On head coach Mike Budenholzer getting a contract extension after being on the hot seat:

“Bud is really good. I mean, he is. He does have that quiet confidence, which is nice. So I think you go through all of this, and one of the things that I saw — and I told this to Bud — was I said, ‘Look, there was a huge amount of pressure on us, on him, on all of us, because everybody expects you to win.’ And what he showed us during that time is how well he handled the pressure, how well he prepared the team, and what a great job he did, so that after we won, we were like, ‘Look, it’s not like we want to reward you; we want to keep you.'”

On the 2020 acquisition of Jrue Holiday and how it influenced Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s decision to sign a long-term extension with the Bucks:

“(General manager) Jon Horst felt that (Holiday) was going to be the missing piece, and he was dead right. You know, I remember the first practice and Jrue is covering Giannis. And same thing — Giannis knew Jrue by reputation. After practice that day, Jon says to me, ‘Yeah, Giannis now knows how good he is. (Holiday’s) covering him. He’s good.’ It was actually great. It was. And I think 100 percent it was a huge factor in Giannis re-signing because he saw what we were willing to do.”

On the Bucks becoming a taxpayer in 2020/21 and going further into the tax in ’21/22:

“Look, (the tax) is a big part. I’m not going to tell you it’s not. I mean, it’s just — if you sign somebody for $5MM, you’re not signing him for $5MM, you’re signing him for $25MM, $20MM. You sort of look at that, and you’re trying to figure out, ‘Alright, look, if we’re going to do that, OK, there is a cost to it. Yeah, we want him, but that’s going to cost us $25MM or that’ll cost us $35MM.’ I mean, whatever the numbers are. And I think we’re very focused on that.

“Look, we’re a small-market team. It’s expensive. I mean, for us, this year we’re going to lose quite a bit of money. … But at the end of the day, the goal is that you want to keep winning a championship, so you’re going to spend the money.”

Bucks Notes: Portis, Tucker, Horst, 2021/22 Odds

July 21st, 2021 at 7:39pm CST by Arthur Hill

It’s safe to say that nobody is happier with his decision last offseason than Bucks forward Bobby Portis. After helping to bring Milwaukee its first NBA title in 50 years, Portis confirmed that the Knicks made him a better offer than the two-year, $7.5MM deal he signed with the Bucks, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post.

“I knew it was the right place when I made the decision,’’ Portis said. “Fun fact, like fun little quick story. During free agency — actually, before free agency — the Knicks turned down my ($15M) team option and they wanted to sign me to another deal and it was pretty nice money. But I wasn’t really worried about the money. Sometimes money isn’t everything. It’s about happiness. I found happiness here.”

Portis will have another decision in a few days because he has a $3.8MM player option on the second year of his contract. Berman speculated that New York may have interest in a reunion with Portis, especially if Obi Toppin gets moved in a potential Collin Sexton trade, but Portis sounds reluctant to leave Milwaukee.

“When I first got here, I felt welcome and I felt loved,’’ he said. “The guys made me at home and the coaches made me comfortable. I get to be myself every day, just be energetic. Guys on my team, they are kind of quiet guys. There’s not many guys like me that are outgoing and really bring what I bring to the table with energy.’’

There’s more from Milwaukee:

The Bucks will keep their core together with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton, but the $106MM those three players are owed next season will limit the team’s financial flexibility, notes Bobby Marks of ESPN (Instagram link). Milwaukee has Bird rights on P.J. Tucker and would like to bring him back, but that may push the club over the luxury tax.
In Tuesday’s post-game celebration, coach Mike Budenholzer gave credit to general manager Jon Horst for the bold moves he made to assemble a championship team, per Spencer Davies of Basketball News. “What Jon Horst has done to put together a team, he’s the greatest GM in the league,” Budenholzer said. “I’m a little bit biased, but to be his partner, for him to go out and get Jrue Holiday, to have the guts to make that (trade), to recruit guys, to get P.J. Tucker midseason, Bobby Portis in the offseason. Stick with Khris, Giannis and Brook (Lopez) and Pat (Connaughton) and these guys, and you go up and down the roster. Jon has done an amazing job.”
The Bucks are early favorites to win another title next season, according to ESPN, which has the Nets, Suns, Lakers and Sixers rounding out the top five.

Central Notes: Vucevic, Bulls, Antetokounmpo, Horst

April 20th, 2021 at 8:35pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Bulls collected a big road win at Boston on Monday but have generally struggled since trading for Nikola Vucevic. Billy Donovan believes the team’s rotation players were slow to adjust to new roles with the addition of the All-Star center, according to Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic.

“The trade really messed up our team a little,” the Bulls’ head coach said. “I don’t say that in a negative way. What I mean by that is everybody kind of got out of their normal rotation, how they were playing, how they were being used. We lost a little bit of our competitiveness not because we didn’t want to compete and play hard. It was really more of guys had to figure out their roles and what to do in their role.”

We have more from the Central Division:

The Bulls will likely open their doors to fans before the regular season ends, according to Rob Schaefer of NBC Sports Chicago. Mayor Lori Lightfoot expressed optimism that “there will be fans in the United Center” in the very near future. Chicago has seven home games remaining.
Giannis Antetokounmpo missed several games with a knee injury but that’s not why he sat out most of overtime during a loss to Phoenix on Monday, according to Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I just cramped. Got to get more fluids in me. That’s pretty much it,” the Bucks’ franchise player said.
Bucks GM Jon Horst feels he accomplished his mission by trading for forward P.J. Tucker and adding point guard Jeff Teague via the buyout market, he told Eric Nehm of The Athletic in a Q&A session. Horst feels they could be the final pieces to a championship puzzle. “I could not be happier the way that we came out of the trade deadline and the buyout market in terms of how we’ve hopefully finished off this roster,” he said.