This week, we finally touched on the elephant in the room re. Giannis: the notion that Bucks GM Jon Horst waited too long to trade him. This week’s polling results were fascinating because, to me, they showed how being a team fan and having a deeper connection to its players can change how people view the choices the team makes, compared with how an outsider views those choices.
Outside the fanbase, the prevailing view is that Horst messed up by waiting too long and losing much of his leverage when he traded Giannis. But inside the fanbase—while many accept that, in a nutshell, Horst could have done better strategically—most fans (59%) were fine with the Bucks GM waiting because they preferred he try everything to keep Giannis and fail than not exhaust all options. That said, a substantial portion of the fanbase (41%) still thought he waited too long. Each to their own!
Many of the fans who sat in the majority had other critiques of Horst—along with nuances they pointed out—but were ultimately steadfast that he did the right thing in his handling of Giannis, specifically:
BenDranklin3000: I will always stand by the opinion that when you have an absolute generational talent, you do everything you can to try to build around him. Even more so when he is actually a good dude and also actually likes the city of Milwaukee. Watching Giannis get teary-eyed while watching videos of fans thanking him and wishing him well while he is adjusting to his new surroundings is unheard of… And while there were some ugly moments, I will always love him, and that is all the justification I need to say we did the right thing in trying to make things work
LombardiStanleyO’Brian: Looking back at this… 100% yes. But at the present moment of that summer, equally 100% no. The Bucks were coming off a slim playoff exit at the hands of a magical Pacers run. After that, we waived and stretched Dame to steal a massive piece of their team in Myles Turner, and within a weak East, we looked like on paper title contenders. Sadly, a combination of bad Doc Rivers, Giannis’ injury, and just plain poor basketball doomed us. At the moment then, it looked like a great move on the surface, but like so many of Horst’s moves, it didn’t end up panning out.
Now for those who stood more toward the opposing opinion:
Harms: I voted No. I agreed with Sam Vecenie on the Game Theory podcast that Giannis should have been traded a year ago to extract more value. I can’t really fathom, with the benefits of hindsight, why anyone would choose the route we took as being better than potentially getting a better package and a quicker start to moving on. I get the sentimental feelings about it, but had I known that Giannis had been that aggressive with wanting out of Milwaukee, I would have moved him last year.
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