Milwaukee Bucks: Jon Horst, front office getting creative with end of roster

The Milwaukee Bucks have made a number of creative moves in recent days to maximize their opportunities despite limited roster and salary cap flexibility.

The NBA is a star-driven league, where a team’s best players are those getting the attention and accolades. The Milwaukee Bucks are no different from the rest of the league, as their popularity and success is driven by Giannis Antetokounmpo, their MVP candidate.

Most of a head coach’s reputation comes from how he manages the rotation, finding the right mix of minutes and rest for starters, evaluating how and when to insert backups into the rotation. Day-to-day, his purview is the top 8-10 players on the roster.

But basketball teams have 15 roster spots, more players than would ever reasonably play in one game. That is in part due to the possibilities of injuries or unavailability, and also the idea that a team may want to hold onto a player who is not yet ready to play but may one day in the future. A team’s 16th and 17th roster spots, a new addition this season, serve as two-way contracts between the G League with a similar intention.

The back end of the roster is largely overseen by the team’s front office, out of the spotlight and largely out of the notice of casual fans and national media. But that doesn’t mean those spots are unimportant. A team like the Houston Rockets, a national title contender, is struggling to field a full rotation because of a lack of depth on their deep bench.

More from Milwaukee Bucks

• NBA Rumors: 3 teams emerge as most-likely Giannis destinations
• 7 players the Milwaukee Bucks gave up on far too soon
• Report: Bucks, 76ers, and Suns all vying to land this championship coach 
• 5 potential candidates for Bucks’ head coach
• NBA Rumors: Milwaukee may overhaul roster after early playoff exit

Milwaukee has needed to draw deep into its bench at times this season, with a combination of injuries and players not ready for prime time. Mirza Teletovic continues to be on the shelf for the forseeable future, and talented young forward Jabari Parker has missed the entire season. 2017 first round pick D.J. Wilson has been unable to crack the rotation and spent much of his time assigned to the G League affiliate Wisconsin Herd.

General manager Jon Horst and the Milwaukee front office have kept a rotating collection of players available to Jason Kidd to make use of as needed. DeAndre Liggins was signed to a non-guaranteed contract earlier in the season to fill in while Tony Snell and Matthew Dellavedova missed time due to minor injuries. Two-way contract players Joel Bolomboy and Gary Payton II saw time in the rotation as needed. In mid-December, Payton was let go and former Brooklyn guard Sean Kilpatrick was signed to a two-way contract.

Jan 7 marked a trigger point in back-end roster machinations. All non-guaranteed contracts would at that point be completely guaranteed, decreasing flexibility in adding and cutting such players. That was especially important for the Bucks, a team unwilling to stray into the luxury tax but leaning on the non-guaranteed contract of Liggins.

Horst’s solution to the deadline? Get creative. On Sunday, Jan 7 Milwaukee triggered a series of moves to maximize the availability of that 15th slot while not sacrificing control of their most promising back-end assets. That began with the release of Liggins, a player who gave the Bucks significantly more minutes than expected, but without any real positive impact.

That freed up a roster spot for the team. Ultimately Horst decided he wanted Sean Kilpatrick to fill that roster spot, which made sense. Kilpatrick has significant NBA experience and the scoring chops to help a bench unit that’s struggled to create offense. Signed to a two-way contract, Kilpatrick was limited to 45 days with the Bucks before being relegated to the Wisconsin Herd — or cut, as Payton was.

However the front office had also decided that center Joel Bolomboy was not how they wanted to use one of their two-way contracts. They could have simply cut him, then hoped to re-sign him to the Herd roster. But that would have left him more easily picked up by another G League squad off of waivers.

Horst got creative in leveraging the resources available to him in order to maximize the Bucks’ gain. After cutting Liggins to free up the roster spot, the Bucks then signed Bolomboy off of his two-way contract. This opened up a two-way contract slot, which the Herd then used to sign point guard Xavier Munford; we’ll circle back to Munford in a moment.

Live Feed

Behind the Buck Pass

Bolomoboy was then waived by the team, again freeing up that same 15th roster spot. Now on waivers from a full NBA contract, he would be more costly to be snagged off of waivers by another team. For his troubles, Bolomboy received three days of pay at the NBA-level.

Munford has been one of the G League’s standout players over the past two seasons. He pushed the Greensboro Swarm to a number of victories in their first season in 2016-17, and this year has been a dynamic two-way threat for the Wisconsin Herd. Munford ranks fourth in the G League in scoring at 24.1 points per game, and ninth in steals with 2.0 per game.

If the Bucks had not signed Munford to a two-way contract, increasing both his NBA exposure and expected salary, he would likely have sought greener pastures elsewhere — either on a two-way contract with another team, or overseas; Munford took the second option last season midway through the year.

With Bolomboy on waivers and that 15th spot open again, Horst made the move he initially meant to all along, signing Kilpatrick to a fully-guaranteed contract for the rest of the season. Perhaps with no restrictions on time with the team, Jason Kidd is now willing to use Kilpatrick more, as he found minutes Monday night and was a team-high +12 on the evening.

In the end, the Bucks’ front office was shuffling the deck on a low-upside roster spot. There is no guarantee, and in fact a slim possibility, that Sean Kilpatrick or Xavier Munford or whoever the team signs to their second two-way slot will end up cracking the playoff rotation, or developing into a star. The highest expected outcome will be rotation minutes during the regular season.

But not using all of the resources available to him would be a waste of opportunity and a failure for Jon Horst and his team. He cannot — and should not — be on the court guarding LeBron James, or hitting an open shot. He is not on the sideline calling out plays. Rather he is in his office studying the CBA, making phone calls, and doing everything he can to give this roster the tools to win.

Next: Milwaukee Bucks: 5 New Year’s resolutions for 2018

Rather than maintain the status quo or make the easy move, Horst is working hard for his team. His creativity, knowledge of the CBA, and willingness to stay busy on a Sunday to maximize his team’s assets shows well for the first-year general manager. From the Eric Bledsoe trade to his back-roster hustling, Horst is proving to be worth the trust the team has placed in him.