2023-2024 NBA Thread: Knicks Chat....PLAYOFFS
Apr 29, 2024 13:39:27 GMT -5
The Foreigner™: OffSZN likes this
Post by Rudy Gobert Fadeaway on Apr 29, 2024 13:39:27 GMT -5
Ringer article today about Sixers/Milwaukee rumors has some incredibly interesting bits about Bucks GM Jon Horst, specifically why him leaving to go to Detroit might be a real possibility.
tl;dr: Horst didn't want Adrian Griffin or Doc Rivers coaching the team.
Two weeks ago, Marc Stein reported that the Detroit Pistons have interest in hiring Bucks general manager Jon Horst to lead their basketball operations. Stein’s scoop didn’t get much traction. The playoffs had yet to begin, and the report didn’t exactly predict that anything will happen. But league sources tell me there’s a real possibility that Horst will take the gig in Detroit.
Now, why would Horst leave the Bucks for the league’s worst team? He is a Michigan native who got his start working in the NBA as a front office assistant with the Pistons. In his 16 years with the Bucks, he’s risen up the ranks, but his power has dwindled in recent years. Giannis Antetokounmpo was more or less able to choose Adrian Griffin to be the Bucks head coach last summer, even though Horst wanted Nick Nurse. Then ownership chose Doc Rivers, though Horst wanted Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson. And after years of bolstering the roster around Giannis, the Bucks now have the second-oldest team in the league, have suffered major injuries in three straight postseasons, and don’t have the rights to any of their firsts until 2031. This confluence of circumstances might make the prospect of a fresh, malleable start appealing.
It’s easy to see why Horst never wanted Griffin, who turned out to be one of the worst NBA head coaches in recent memory, or Rivers, whose teams have underperformed in the playoffs in nearly every season other than 2008, when his Celtics won the title. Rivers has longevity and respect from players, but he has historically given playing time to declining veterans over deserving young talent. That’s happening again this postseason, when Rivers has leaned too heavily on Jae Crowder, Pat Connaughton, and Malik Beasley. Anytime AJ Green or Andre Jackson was inserted into the game, good things tended to happen, but they received little investment from Doc during the season and virtually none in the playoffs until it was too late.
Now, why would Horst leave the Bucks for the league’s worst team? He is a Michigan native who got his start working in the NBA as a front office assistant with the Pistons. In his 16 years with the Bucks, he’s risen up the ranks, but his power has dwindled in recent years. Giannis Antetokounmpo was more or less able to choose Adrian Griffin to be the Bucks head coach last summer, even though Horst wanted Nick Nurse. Then ownership chose Doc Rivers, though Horst wanted Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson. And after years of bolstering the roster around Giannis, the Bucks now have the second-oldest team in the league, have suffered major injuries in three straight postseasons, and don’t have the rights to any of their firsts until 2031. This confluence of circumstances might make the prospect of a fresh, malleable start appealing.
It’s easy to see why Horst never wanted Griffin, who turned out to be one of the worst NBA head coaches in recent memory, or Rivers, whose teams have underperformed in the playoffs in nearly every season other than 2008, when his Celtics won the title. Rivers has longevity and respect from players, but he has historically given playing time to declining veterans over deserving young talent. That’s happening again this postseason, when Rivers has leaned too heavily on Jae Crowder, Pat Connaughton, and Malik Beasley. Anytime AJ Green or Andre Jackson was inserted into the game, good things tended to happen, but they received little investment from Doc during the season and virtually none in the playoffs until it was too late.