What Went Into Myles Turner’s Shocking Move to Milwaukee: Is It A Game-Changer for Both Teams?

What Went Into Myles Turner’s Shocking Move to Milwaukee: Is It A Game-Changer for Both Teams?

What are the Bucks getting in Miles Turner and where does this rivalry rank? We check in on the Pacers side with Tony East coming up after this on today’s Locked on Bucks. You are locked on Bucks, your daily Milwaukee Bucks podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome into Locked on Bucks. I’m Justin Garcia. You can hear me throughout the course of the season on the Bucks Radio Network. Joined today with a Pacers perspective from Tony East who you can find on Locked on Pacers covering the Pacers and the Fever for Forbes. You can find Tony uh everywhere. Today’s episode is brought to you by our friends at FanDuel. And right now, it’s time football season around the corner. Visit FanDuel and their app today and start planning your future bets now. So, uh, already what over a month ago now, Tony, time flies. Wow. Miles Turner, um, the big shocker in the off season going to the Bucks. So, I I guess let’s start uh game seven for the Pacers. The reporting that came out beforehand that hey, the Pacers are ready to go into the tax. They’re prepared to pay upwards of $30 million for Miles Turner and it doesn’t happen. I think obviously what happened a few minutes into game seven probably had something to say there. I would agree with that. I think that as Kevin Pritchard, their president has said that they were willing, I believe him that they were willing to go into the tax because maybe this year it would have been yucky because it wouldn’t be that great without Tyresce Hallebertton. that two years from now, yeah, you want the team that made the finals and has that sort of ceiling to be intact. They haven’t paid the tax in ages. But he he talked about the apron restrictions being what they would have been concerned about more so than the tax. Obviously though, when the ceiling of your team drops immensely, right? You have to at least reconsider what your spending is. And I think that led them to maybe more negotiation than they would have had if Halbertton did not get hurt, if they had won the game. Any sorts of directions you could you could point that arrow because there’s a big change in their reality. And you know, as the Bucks have kind of danced around, honestly, in the honest era, the tax is like one thing. The repeater is when it gets dicey. And so you want to start the tax clock if you’re going to pay it at a smart time. Is it a really smart time to go way into the tax when there’s new spending rules this year if Halurn gets hurt? Like they still should have to be clear, but no, it’s it’s at least a different consideration. So, I think game seven changed things. That said, I still think they would have uh preferred to have Miles Turner on their team and not their current biggest rival. Well, and I think we Camille and I talked about this early into the process, too. How much of it um I mean, I suppose do you know or is the speculation? How much of it was also, you know, you look at the landscape of free agency and if you’re the Pacers, there was no murmurss or rumblings that the Bucks were going to do this and you observe the landscape and say, “Well, it’s maybe the Pistons can create cap space. I don’t think they’re going to be in the market for Miles Turner. The Nets do, but I don’t know if he’s going to want to go there unless they blow him away.” That realistically, who else can really offer him this? So, this is what we’re going to come in with our offer. Detroit was like a murmur nause team for a second, right? And then the Malik Beasley thing happened and they stayed over the cap. And so the first day of free agency and like front officers know this 10 million years before us. But like even us in the public found out Nikl Alexander Walker is taking that Atlanta trade exception, the Nets used a bunch of their cap space on Michael Porter Jr. and the Pistons got Carris, which meant they either were using cap space or staying over the cap. And in my head, I’m like, it’s over, right? There’s nowhere else. Yeah, for Miles Turner to get even close to his market value. And so again, obviously spending was a factor in or excuse me, the the tax and the injuries were a factor in the Pacers thinking of starting negotiations where they did. And I wonder and I bet they would say they regret it a little bit now. But I also think they they said and Pritchard talked about in his press conference that they look around for shadow cap space teams that could if they do something dramatic do that. So I maybe the Bucks they like knew it was a possibility but I mean I don’t think you expected this like no one expected no that to be on the table. And so I think after those first three moves were set in stone. It was like yep it’s over. There’s nowhere else for him to go. They maybe are ironing out some details. It’ll be fine. I even did a podcast the first night. The pitchers did nothing. I was like, “Yeah, it’s probably just some negotiating thing.” You know, it’s a weird scenario where they kind of both have leverage and then we saw what happened. So, um, yes, I think that the dynamics of free agency also were a big factor in this because nobody thought, especially after that first day, it was even possible for him to leave. No, when we saw the the report come through that Oh, I immediately was like, is this a Koozma signing trade? What? Like, how is this possible? That’s where we immediately went to when you see Miles Turner is coming to the Bucks. Our immediate thought was, who are they trading in this sign and trade here to to bring him over? And then as you it was probably 5 minutes later, you see the report that Damen Lillard is is waved and stretched. I mean, it it stunned all of us that were on the Buck side of things to see him come over. It’s funny, too, because, you know, we’ll get into the player that the Bucks are getting and and somebody that you obviously know very well and and having covered him the last handful of years. Um, it’s a name that would come up all the time from Bucks fans of, well, just go get Miles Turner. And obviously, there was a feeling about Brook Lopez and Brook Lopez was clearly not the guy that he once was anymore, but Miles Turner is the name that would come up all the time of just go get Miles Turner. He’s the perfect Brook Lopez replacement. And I I think you know Camille and I and Frank and everybody else that would get that question would say, “Yeah, he is. But how are the Bucks going to do this? There’s no route to doing that.” Um, so to see it come to fruition, I I guess look, you got me. I I was wrong. There was a way to do it. Yeah, that certainly true. like and I think that we’ll get to this but the whole aspect the Pacers have said and I believe this to be true about not getting a chance to match it some of it is just that you you’ve been around a bunch of free agencies like even with way less good players than Miles Turner teams are like we have this offer but you have like five minutes right to decide Caner talked about that being the case with Portland years ago I never will forget that right so I think that’s part of it anyway because they don’t want teams to be able to match their offers for an unrestricted guy but the other part of this is because like if it gets out that they considered waving a stretching dame and didn’t and didn’t get the player they were going to get from it. Like they look terrible. Terrible. And they’re currently not courting but like keeping up their PR with their star as you know and have talked about a million times. So which one is that? Yeah. Yeah. Right. So it had to happen like that. Like if they’re going to get Miles to be like look you have to you have to accept this on this phone call. Right. And like that is another factor that that made this the case I think. Yeah. I mean, you you just even if even if it would have come out that the Bucks, hey, the Bucks were in discussions with Miles Turner and nothing else came from that. At some point, you have to try to unwind this and if you’re Dame’s agent or somebody else, you’re thinking, right, how are you going to make cap space for that? I don’t think that the Pacers were going to do a sign and trade for Kyle Kosma or something else. So, how was this going to be the case? And at some point it would start to come out of this is what the Bucks were going to do to uh to bring in Miles Turner. So in that sense I get it that it was the same thing they did when they traded for Dayton. Basically telling the Suns um or telling the Blazers you can tell Phoenix it’s this position and it’s this salary range. You cannot go any further than that. Otherwise you can imply that it’s Grayson Allen but you cannot say you know what’s funny is like say he went to an ACC school but that’s it. No, but I was I was doing this joke with somebody years ago like how many ways could you describe Grayson Allen where they’re like, “Is it Pat Coneton?” Like, it would have it would have got pretty far down the line before they realized which one it was. Uh, all right. So, that’s what led us to here with with Miles Turner leaving the Pacers and and coming to the Bucks in one of the more stunning moves we’ve seen here in free agency. But, what are the Bucks getting and what’s the outlook for the Pacers and this rivalry? We’ll get into those questions coming up after this. Well, August 26th is officially FanDuel Futures Day, a brand new holiday for football fans who live for bold predictions and preseason hunches. For just 24 hours, FanDuel is giving you deals on NFL season predictions. So whether you’re calling your MVP, eyeing a long shot division winner, or ready to crown your Super Bowl champ before week one even kicks off, this is your moment. Take a flyer on the Jordan Love MVP race to crown your champion Green Bay Packers to win the Super Bowl in August or parlay your division winner Darkh horses. Visit the FanDuel app today and start playing your futures bets now because futures day is one day and one day only. FanDuel, play your game. So, the the guy that the Bucks are getting, Miles Turner, we’ve I I mean, I think everybody has said, “Hey, you got a better, younger version of Brook Lopez.” I first and foremost, how accurate is that? Yeah, the stuff that Brook Lopez, especially in his head, was the best at, Turner is very good. I mean, look, Bucks fans actually know Miles Turner pretty well, right? They played him four times a year plus playoff serieses for years. Like this isn’t they don’t have to speculate and be like pretend they watched the bacers. Like they actually did. So he is I would say peak Brook Lopez was maybe a better defender than Turner was the last couple years but Turner’s a better shooter. I think the difference is that Turner has way more toward the rim pressure, right? He can actually shot fake, put it on the floor, score, turn around, derkish shot. Like you don’t want him taking a bunch of those. Like yeah, he can make that, right? like he got a lot better especially playing with Halbertton the last couple years at not just being a pop big and bro Lopez was like a good postup guy to end last season a little bit but Turner is much more of a threelevel guy but to answer the question specifically like high level yes like better in in recent years much better Lopez in terms of good defender really nice shooter space it out and that kind of player is basically additive to any other four players around Um, yeah, I agree with the offensive assessment. I mean, I think Brooke is obviously a better post player than Miles Turner, but Miles better shooter. He took a higher volume of threes than Brooke did last year even. And the mid-range, I mean, that’s where he he killed the Bucks in that series and rolling to the rim. uh where you know Brooks game he could be a very streaky three-point shooter and had that post presence but anything in between was just always a work in progress. He had that kind of one-handed floater shot he was working on. Um everybody everybody would cite his foot speed which is fair at 37 years old. I don’t know what the expectations are. Um, I I I think Miles Turner is certainly much more athletic and quicker at this point than Brook Lopez is, but he’s probably closer to Brook Lopez than like a Jericho Sims type, right? Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I He’s not like not athletic, you know? He has this like kind of goofy gate. Um, but yeah, I think that’s probably true, I would say. Uh, but he he’s just so like he’s kind of mastered his movements, if that makes sense. Like I I I actually think the Bucks series two years ago is the biggest highlight of their differences. Like Pascal Seakum goes crazy in games one and two and the Bucks are like crap, we have to switch that matchup and Mile young Miles Turner could not have done well with a four on him. Like he could not have found ways to score differently than just being a stretch big. But in that in that series when he was being guarded by the Portises and I why can’t I remember who was starting next to Lopez in that series because Yiannis was out. um regardless their other front court player like he just scored like in the mid-range like you’re saying in the post sometimes like he was a ve they used him as a screener more than Seakum because that front court match up was switched and it worked very well and so that it’s not like oh my gosh he’s so fast or jumping out of the gym athleticism but he has like a lot of function to the stuff that he can do which is enough to create his own space or get by guys he’s not a great screener but because he has those weapons he can’t be ignored all the time just as a shooter. No, I mean, not a great screener. He’s going to fit in well in the front court with the the Bucks then is is basically what you’re saying. Is there any So, you brought up the how he played off of and how he really excelled playing next to Hallebertton and really all the guys that the Pacers can throw out there handling the ball and running the offense. Do you look at that and have any concern and say, I think he needs a strong point guard to set him up in those spots and there’s there’s questions there with the Bucks. Yeah, Hallebertton made him a lot better, right? That’s very obvious. Um, and and even Tyrese has talked about, which it’s very funny because, you know, he’s being honest because of the specific players he references. He thought in Sacramento his perfect pick and roll partner would be Rashawn Holmes. And I’m like, the fact that you’d admit that means you’re telling the truth. Not that Rashad Holmes sucks or anything, but you know, he’s like, but then having Miles, a guy who can pop and roll and just knows the spacing and geometry of where to go after a screen is very helpful to him. And so obviously Tai is a brilliant get off the ball quickly, set up his teammates passer. Giannis is a good passer. Like it has stuck with me for forever that Giannis described himself as a pass first player in that series against the Pacers two years ago when they were forming the wall or no it was a regular season game. Yeah. When they were forming the wall against him all the time. I think they specifically will have a nice partnership. But they certainly no one of the Bucks is as good as a passer of Tyres Halurn. Honestly, unless your name’s Nico. Nobody in the NBA is as good of a passer as Tyrese Halurn. might be number one, right? So, that will be different in that he will know what space to get to or how to get himself open on plays. It’s can the Bucks get him the ball. Giannis probably will be able to, especially because he draws a bunch of gravity. The other guys is where the questions will come. But yes, Hallebertton specifically certainly played a part in in his improvements. And I think specifically where you see that is not even the shooting, it’s the rim finishing. He wasn’t ever a bad finisher and he really kind of crescendoed his in the lane ability the year that Hallebertton got to Indiana. But you he was like high 60s low 70s at the rim his first five years and then with Hallebertton it was uh almost 80 78 76 75 right that really changed a lot for him is being more threatening there. And so that’s where I think him and whoever the passing is going to need to help him is for him to continue to be more than a shooter. He’s got to get good chances at the at or near the basket. And that’s where the passing will help him the most. Going back to to what we were talking about before with that series two years ago, I mean, how how dare you forget the names of Denilo Gallinari and J Puerto Rican champion Justin. How did we forget? I did forget. What a makeup that that team was two years ago. I love Gallow, but in that like this is the slowest good player I’ve ever seen. Oh yeah. Uh I think when the Bucks signed him, it was okay. Well, we’ll we’ll see here because I think there was a lot of memories from Galla was okay in that Eastern Conference Final Series against the Bucks in 2021. So people looking at that like I remember him hitting some shots against us and then you just saw like, yep, this is it. Uh thank you for your service goes in. Don’t ask about the rest of the stuff. Um, you mentioned though some of the the changes we’ve seen from Miles Turner. So, I think the one thing if you are quick to criticize and the the fiscal responsibility for the Bucks and say I don’t know if this is going to be enough to make him good. The one thing I’ve seen everybody point to is the rim protection and saying I don’t think Miles Turner is as good of a defender or rim protector as he was a handful of years ago. Um, is that scheme? Is it Miles Turner regressing? Is it accurate? Is Miles Was Miles Turner never at that level? How would you assess that? No, he was a he was truly awesome in the past. Um his like so in the past the his biggest problem his biggest problem his whole career from an accolades perspective is that his peak defensively came at the same time as Rio Bar and Joel Embiids and that was in the era where positions mattered for all defense. So, he finished fifth in defensive player of the year one year and didn’t make an alldefense team because there were two centers better than it, right? He has multiple top 10 finishes in defensive player of the year and couldn’t get on any accolade list for it. Like, he was legitimately that good of a defender for a while. Nate McMillan, when he was the coach of the Pacers, they did a lot of drop and Miles Turner is awesome, awesome in drop. And, uh, hey, the Bucks do do some drop coverage, so uh maybe too much. Um, but that will be good. He is very good at that. Like when he has to turn his hips to corral the guard and stay with the big and keep them both in front of him and like do this little drop step block thing. He was very good at that as recently as I’d say like 2020 2021ish. He finished ninth in defensive player of the year the year after the bubble, right? Like he was legitimately a good defender as recently as then. Since then the Pacers have changed coaches and he has not so one it is part it’s not all scheme. It’s partially scheme, but he has lost a step on that end of the floor certainly since then and they don’t under Borcan and Carile they do not run those coverages. So he’s still a very good pick and roll defender in other coverages like he can recover from the top of the key. He’s good at like people talk about chemistry. They always talk about offense like he’s good at getting chemistry with other defenders if that makes sense to guard actions well. Like I think him and Yiannis will be a really good pairing defensively certainly but yeah he’s not what he used to be on that end of the floor. I still think he’s an above average defensive center outside of the whole rebounding thing which we will certainly get to but uh he you know he’s a deterrent at the basket in the 2018 19 playoffs. Kyrie Irving was like oh dude our eyes light up when he goes off the floor like we’re psyched about the opportunity that comes at the rim. Like that’s what he was at his peak that Kyrie Irving was excited when Miles Turner left the floor. But more recently, he’s, you know, switching is more prevalent. You know, goofy defenses are more prevalent, cross matching is more prevalent. He’s not that. He’s still a good defensive player. Like, he’ll be an additive defender, but he’s more like in the 60 to 70th percentile as a defender as opposed to the like this is a top 15 to 10 defender in the NBA he used to be. So, you you you brought that up, the rebounding part, and it was um it was a familiar cry with the Bucks, too, that I think a lot of Bucks fans would look at Brook Lopez’s counting numbers and say, “He’s a terrible rebounder.” And we would always point out, well, look at the Bucks defensive rebounding rate and look at the rebounding success overall when Brooke is on the floor because he creates those opport benefited the most from it to have Brook Lopez next to him. Um the numbers are pretty comparable if we just look at the counting stats. Yes. Is the rest of it similar or not? It is. So like he’ll force misses the teams. The Pacers rebound rate was always better with turn on the floor. Like he’ll have a have a lot of games where he’ll finish with five rebounds where like he’ll be boxing out his man and someone else will get it and everybody’s like five rebounds for your center. I’m like that’s still good. Like he did a good thing. He’s not a good rebounder. Like there will be a lot of like oh man like he’s got to get that one or just like how did he not he was in position like how did he not get that one? So like against the Bucks it never popped up which is maybe why fans don’t know because he’s going against Lopez who has similar issues but yeah like that he missed a lot of shots in the finals two obviously but that was a very souring moment in in the last two rounds of the playoffs really is like they’re turning to Tony Bradley to get a rebound against the Knicks. They’re turning to Tony Bradley to play against Isaiah Hardenstein because Turner is not a good rebounding player. The finals were not like the the the face of that and he should they should not have not kept him because of the finals. That would have been stupid but he did not play well in that series and rebounding was a big part of that. Like game log finals Miles Turner total rebounds their starting center nine in game one. Good start. Then 422644 like that is little on the low side certainly for a player playing in the upper 20 minutes every night. That is certainly the of the look it the NBA is changing constantly but of the traditional center skills that is by far his worst one I would say. Pretty similar to uh Brook Lopez numbers there that we would see. Um, but yeah, I think that’s that’s going to be the most interesting thing thing for me to to follow this year is the Bucks rebounding because Brook Lopez made them a good rebounding team and Bobby Poris for that matter, especially when those two are on the floor together. You’d have Brook boxing out. Bobby is good at going to get the ball. So, I’m curious to see how that evolves this season for the um the Bucks, the the overall feeling between these two sides, the fan bases, the organizations, and some of the back and forth. We heard even Miles Turner’s press conference. You were there in Vegas and one of the few people that got a shout out by name from Miles Turner. So, we’ll get into that and just the guy that the Bucks are are bringing to the community here and the team coming up after this. So, um, it seemed like there was a lot of obviously shock when Miles Turner left for the the reasons we went into earlier in the show on both sides that we were shocked. The Bucks got him. I’m sure Pacers fans were shocked like he went where? Um, yeah, it’s both that he left and that he left for Well, how much the fact that if he left was the fan base mostly, you know what, he gave us a decade of pretty strong play. We loved him. Best of luck, Miles. But then the fact that he went there is where it changed things. Well, dude, a decade is such an odd spot, too, because he’s been a starter basically his whole career, like halfway through his rookie year. Like the Pacers are very, and I think this is a good thing, they’re strict about like jersey retirements and all that stuff, but like I don’t know how far you have to get as a longtime starter for a good team that makes a like that the Pacers just had their best season ever. Like how close is he to like legendary status with a franchise and then it’s like just like that, no chance that’s happening, right? Like that’s that’s over. And so that that was part of it too is just like it felt maybe I was a little too bullish on this myself, but it felt like almost fatal comply. It’s like yeah, he’ll be back. All right, there’s no space for him. He fits very well here. Oh yikes, that didn’t go well. So it was kind of a weird slow play from the Pacers of like, hey, maybe we didn’t negotiate great. And also like, holy crap, we were stunned that the Bucks did this and this came out of nowhere. Like I think both of those paths have some truth to them certainly. So yeah, yeah, it’s it’s both that he is gone because again 2015 he was starting games for the Pacers like that picture of how long he’s been playing that everybody always points to. It’s like him against Tim Duncan on the Spurs like it’s been and he’s on the Pacers in these pictures like it’s been that long, right? And now he’s on the it’s going to be weird for a lot of fans. Um and now the Pacers have no idea what to do at center. I think that’s part of it too is like they have it’s not like they could just turn around and be like great we have cap space instead of Turner to go get someone else like they didn’t they can’t it’s Isaiah Jackson and Jay Huff. So it’s just it it it was weird. It was very strange given what his career could have been. And he talked so much about in the last couple years which you kind of alluded to off court stuff. We’ll get to that. like he talked about after he signed his his re most recent extension with the Pacers realizing how much indie was a part of him right he grew up in Texas he played at Texas for you know 17 18 years then he spent 10 years in Indie like a third over a third of his life and he started to kind of realize that and how much it changed him and who he was and that kind of made me realize like too he’s warming up to the city and then then and then it’s over right so he did a lot of good stuff here because of that especially when he had those realizations to talk about it was wild. I mean, in many way it’s it’s we’re not quite there yet, but it’s very similar to Bobby Poris. And like if if Bobby Portoris leaves to join the Pacers as a free agent in a year or two would kind of be the most comparable feeling where, you know, Bobby’s been here since the year the Bucks won the championship, but he really after searching long and hard for an NBA home found it here in Milwaukee with the way that the community embraced him and and he back as well. So in that sense, like think about that of Bobby Port is leaving to go to the team that you hate the most, at least on the Bucks side. I think that’s the other interesting part is is it as much of a rivalry for the Pacers as it is for the Bucks? I mean, I think so a little bit. Like the reason being one, they’ve played a ton of big games, like a ton of big games, right? The inseason tournament two years in a row and then two playoff series. You know, I get why you’re asking because the Pacers keep winning the important ones, right? Except for the inseason tournament game last year. Yeah. And so, in some ways, it’s what the what’s the meme? It’s like the NBA Cup, Tony. Come on. Show respect to the NBA. When the Pacers won the East, it was the NC tournament. When the Bucks won the whole thing, it was the NBA Cup. I have to be careful. Both both teams think about this fondly for different seasons. Um, so in some ways because the Pacers have won a lot of the important ones. I get how I forget exactly the memes phrasing ones like I think about you all the time. I don’t think about you at all. Right. But it’s not that it is legitimately a thing. And I think it’s because of I mean almost every game you you’ve been to all of them. Right. There’s extracurriculars all the time. Like it’s so obvious these teams hate each other, right? It’s because they played they’ve played 20 times in two seasons. It’s crazy. It’s like unprecedented number of games against one team. I I’m glad you said I’m I agree. Uh it just the first time I had to question like huh wait because I think Packers fans are guilty of the same thing too. Like yeah I get it’s a rivalry but come on the Bears suck. We beat them all the time is kind of the feeling. But I remember we asked last year before uh it must have been game three. Uh we were talking with Mark Bole and talking about the rivalry who’s the longtime, you know, voice of the Pacers for what over 30 years now. And he kind of said no. He’s like, “Well, for it to really be a rivalry, you got to like we’ve done this twice, but you got to play in the playoffs more than that. You got to play deeper in the playoffs.” Like when we were playing the Knicks in the 90s, a lot of times it was at least the semi-finals, the conference finals, what once or twice that you had that. That was a rivalry. We’re not quite there yet. And that was the one thing that made me think like, huh, do the Bucks just have this intense and Bucks fans have this intense hatred for the Pacers and Pacers fans are more kind of like we find them annoying. So, I would agree with that if there was like no in-game tension between the team, if that makes sense. But there is, you know what I mean? But, you know what the through line is? The starter of it all, the Jordan Wara trade. That’s where this began. Obviously, oh man, what could have been on both sides for both of us. He was the like Jordan War is a fine player, but I felt bad being like every time I had a Pacers Bucks question, I was like, well, I have to talk to poor Jordan Moa because he’s played for both teams. All right, guy, come over here. He um I think we all the Bucks fans have been and I don’t mean this as a bad thing. It’s mostly a product of where they’ve been drafting, but they’ve been guilty of really throwing all their hopes into any young guy that comes along. Like really the mo the one that made the most sense was Dante Evansenzo, but you would have DJ Wilson and just waiting for him to develop into something. Ryan Rollins. Yeah, Ryan Rollins became that guy last year and that’s paying off. But for a short period of time, Jordan Wara was one of those guys. And um I was guilty of it, too. Like, all right, the guy can he’s got a weird shooting motion, but he can score, so all right. But then you saw the defensive side of things. And his family was uh very active on social media because we did a pregame during the COVID year. did a pregame show before the TV pregame show that we just did on the Bucks app and we started doing play interviews and one of them was with Jordan Wara and I talked with him for like 10 minutes. The most retweets and like comments and mentions of it. I started looking at it and then like started digging down the rabbit hole of who is this person and one I think was his sister, one was his dad would retweet everything. If you mentioned Jordan Wara, it was getting retweeted and commented on. So, it started to become this thing of be careful what you say about Jordan Wara, even if you’re using stats to back it up because his family is going to come after you. He when he got traded in that Jay Crowder trade, he only played like 25 games for the pitch. He averaged like 14 points a game. It was like, whoa, this is a guy they should look at. And then they got Obie Topphen and Jarus and he barely played. But like he for a second there, everybody was like, oh, okay, like keep this guy in mind. He’s kind of young and decent. And then it never really stuck. when I mean really the rivalry the the seeds of the rivalry were planted when Malcolm Brogton signed as a restricted free agent because like that was I not remember that that was like the handshake ownership signing trade that get the got the Bucks uh I forget what pick that became uh but yeah that was very early in the choose your side because that was the summer that uh the Bucks had already extended Drew Drew Bledsoe Eric Bledsoe leading into the off season. Oh yeah. So the writing was kind of on the wall. Chris Middleton was a free agent and that’s where we started to see the divide of is Chris Middleton really worth this and you had people like how can you let Malcolm Brogden walk away? Progdton was a good player. Certainly very weird how that all happened but Brogd was Yeah. Um we I mean we mentioned the press conference took place in Vegas. There was no local welcoming from Miles Turner. There was only, I believe, Eric name the only local reporter that was there during summer league and you were there for it. Um, it was interesting because it kind of coincided with Pacers players specifically going out of their way to not mention him and make some interesting social media posts. Miles Turner kind of danced around some things as well. So, just what was the tone and vibe like in that room? Yeah, he did tiptoe around. Uh certainly. I mean, I think that kind of is revealing, right, about just kind of like the shock seems so extreme. Like it’s he’s an unrestricted free agent. It’s not like, oh my god, what? But like it’s a he’s the best player to switch teams as a free agent, right? I think you’d agree with that. So like that that’s somewhat shocking. Um that Yeah, it was just kind of different. And I was like, wait, this is like that’s Miles Turner and Doc Rivers the same the same podium. What? Uh, that was kind of that was a little shocking. And like the day after was funny because the Bucks were playing in Cox Pavilion and the Pacers were the game right after and Miles Turner was at the game and I was like oh okay like is he going to stay till right before? Is he going to leave early? Uh, you know that was more of the like what’s going to go on here? He did in fact leave with about six minutes to go in the fourth quarter of the Bucks game. But as for the press conference specifically, yeah, it was like because there was so much national and me even media there, like a lot of questions were about the exit more than the entrance, if that makes sense. Like because there’s not a lot of Milwaukee media interested in the entrance part. Eric was there obviously there were some. So it just it was different than a lot of introductory pressors because of that and because he was the best guy who switched teams and then of course Eric as he should to be clear. Good job, Eric Name. Great reporter. Went to the Giannis part of it because it’s a big deal, right? It’s a big question for the Bucks. So, it was just very different than any press conference I’ve been to and that it was like clearly the Pacers were interested in what he said and the Bucks were interested in what he said, but the people there were only a couple people were actually covering the Pacers or Bucks. So, it was just it was just very it was very different than any introductory press like that I’ve ever I’ve ever been to. We’re gonna get the schedule tomorrow. Um, where do you think the first game is between these two teams? Is it in Indie or drama? Indie would be more fun. I think I think Bucks fans would like it to be in Milwaukee so that Miles Turner can I mean the Bucks are on paper or are going to be projected to be better. Vegas has them as better. Pacers fans have made it clear to me many times that they believe the Pacers will be the better team this year. So maybe in Milwaukee, Bucks fans can have their moment. Uh, I I don’t know. That’s a good question. I I mean, well, and that part is interesting, too, because I mean, I realize 40% of the starting lineup that went to the NBA Finals is gone, at least for this year. But I mean, as as we saw, and I think the big message that Bucks fans started to take away from that series last year, and I think you’ve seen John Horst employ that with the roster building this year, is that look, we’re back into the era where you need depth, and you just you can’t have one weakness that teams can pick at. You need multiple guys that can play that style. So, there’s more to it than just losing Miles Turner and losing Tyrese Hallebertton. They they still have very capable guys as down as the Eastern Conference is and with a coach as good as Red Riley. They’re one of the more interesting teams to me to see what path do they take and do they choose to just say full-on gap year, let’s develop young guys and let’s just put everything into next year or do they decide to remain uber competitive in the Eastern Conference? When you look at and you say we know two teams should be really good, we think one is going to be much improved after that. Who knows? Yeah, it’s a goofy I mean this is the worst the east has ever been, right? Like that I can remember. That I can remember certainly. Yeah. I mean I joked with you before like it it would take it probably an injury to a Knicks player, but like the Bucks could get to a two seed, three seed range like very easily this year with the quality of the conference. So yeah, I mean I’ll be very curious how the Pacers go with that reality, too. Like they don’t suck without those two guys, right? And if you want to say like, whoa, they lost both. They should they should be playing their young guys and make that their priority. They’re already doing that. Like those guys already play for them besides like Johnny Fury every game. So like their rotations basically look the same besides Hallebertton and Turner plus Jay Huff and Isaiah Jackson. So well and like Jay Huff was an interesting name too. Like you know what’s funny is like Bucks fans are doing like oh Miles was kind of like Brook Lopez and everybody in Indiana is like Jay Huff’s kind of like Miles Turner. I’m like, I guess that’s what do you get like 50% of 40% of Miles Turner? 50% at best for a fifth of the price basically. Less than a tenth of the price. The price uh a little more than that, but yes. Yeah. Balls. I mean, that’s what the the thought is. His contract is very good. Like that’s the appeal of getting Jay Huff is that if he’s any good, like that contract’s ridiculous. So, yeah, we’ll see. We’ll see. Jay Huff Jay Huff doing a backwards dunk against the Bucks is gonna be the loudest scambridge gets early in the season. I I I suppose we be remiss not to mention this team. So you’ve seen them up close for 20 games the last two years and then prior to that before. Um the group that they closed the season with, you add Miles Turner to that, you take Damen Liard off the floor. We talked about the Eastern Conference. Realistically, where do you think this puts the Bucks? Yeah. Indie native Gary Harris. Let’s go. Love that. That’s basically their rotation editions, right? Everybody else is largely the same. I like So it if they can come to Jesus about who should be playing Cole Anthony, too. Oh, yeah. That’s a big deal, actually. He’s pretty um if they can have a come to Jesus moment about their best lineups and starting games with them, I think the Bucks could be pretty dang good, right? Like but the people have always and I get why I’ve like made the case about like tying the day move to to miles and like technically you have to because one was not possible without the other but people are like why would you do that? I’m like this like they have at least a some percent chance of winning the East like it’s not maybe not high but the Cavs are playoff question marks every year and the Knicks are one injury away from like you and I suiting up. So, um, I I do think the Bucks if they if they get to what I would consider their best starting five, which probably is some combination of for me Ryan Rollins, AJ Green, Gary Trent, Giannis, and Turner would be my five. I I don’t know. If they can like get to that consistently, that’s a good team because then your bench has you’re you’re subbing in constantly. Skill like Portoris has skill. KPJ can score and pass. If Koozma’s in the right role off the bench, he could be helpful. God, that game You’re mentioning Koozma before Cole Anthony. Big believer, huh? Yeah. You know, Cole Anthonyy’s good, but he’s not better than Rollins or KPJ, is he? Right. So, um, God, that Koozma game one was just Okay. We lived through shocking. I can’t like I don’t think he’s good, but he’s better than that. I mean, what? So, anyway, sorry. The I think the Bucks can host certainly host the first round series and if not like and win a round at the East this year for sure. more than that. We’ll see. No, not that anybody was talking themselves into Kyle Kuzman. It’s a totally different conversation behind the trade. Like Kyle Kzman for Chris Middleton, yes, you’d rather have one versus the other, but it was everything else that the trade opened up for them. Um, but most jarring was that I think we were starting to talk ourselves into I think they’re figuring out how to use Koozma here with how they were kind of tweaking some things the last week of the regular season. And the last game, even though it was a garbage game, nobody played. It was the Pacconitan 43-point game. Kyle Kusma had like I think it was 19 or 24 in the first quarter and then it was it like all right, he found his shooting stroke and we’re good to go. And then game one happens. there was I don’t want to say sad like that sounds so harsh but like it was it was very shocking that like like he scored points in game two and people were tweeting like oh my god who like like that should not be a thing and and the this I mean you know this you cover the Bucks the tough part now is like I was a Wizards fan as a kid I I tangentially keep up with the Wizards a good amount still a lot of the like rosiest fan huh yeah well a lot of the rosiest outlooks of the trade were well Koozma on a serious team will be more serious Look at that. He was good in the playoffs in the championship year. People forgot about the year after. But still, it’s like I guess I could squint and get that. But now that even that shielding facade is gone, right? The playoffs happened. So unfortunat he he should be better than that in the coming year with an offseason and he got his number back. Um so maybe he’ll be better this year. He did. He got his number back. Um he’s the most interesting guy on this team this year. Yeah. If he’s good, the Bucks could be like kind of awesome, right? Interesting. Yeah. Like I mean obviously let’s see what happens with KPJ and how you send um Ryan Rollins who were both very high on AJ Green and what an increased volume means for him, even Gary Trent. But if Kyle Koosma is even close to the guy he was that season the Lakers won the championship, then it becomes interesting to see, okay, they’ve got a lot more depth than we anticipated now with this uh this Bucks team. I guess that’s the last thing. So Gary Gary Harris, make some threes, man. Keep going. Gary Harris basically taking the uh the Pat Coneton role. Um I mean, is this the ideal spot for Gary Harris when you look at some of the struggles with Orlando and the black hole that was their offense? Could we be talking ourselves into a whoa spot a couple years ago and now he’s in the right spot? I have a very big soft spot for Gary Harris because he’s the only NBA player that I ever guarded in a real game in high school. And it, let me be clear, it did not go well uh at all. Four points on two possessions for Gary Harris. Uh I wondered if his career it wasn’t six. Yeah, true. I wondered if his career would be over. Like he’s barely hanging on in Orlando. So I’m glad he’s on a good team again. But I It’s also good for the Bucks that like the expectations for the Pat Coneton role is now a minimum player who barely emergency a$10 million player who used to be good. Yeah. Um, realistically, like what do you expect from Miles Turner for point because he’s never averaged 20 in a season. I think 19 was his high. That’s not happening. Um, is he going to be the second leading scoreer on this team, man? If he is, is that a problem? Uh, depends how many points Giannis averages, I would say. That’s my answer to that. Uh, yeah, he’ll be a I mean, man, he’ll probably shoot more than he did last year. 12 shots a night, take six threes. Yeah, he could be a 1617 a game guy. I think certainly he he is not he he’s kind of capped at scoring in a way a lot of guys are in that he he can I guess create his own shots if he has the right matchup, but a lot of his baskets are someone else does the work and he finishes the play and he’s good at that. But that that does put a hard cap on like how often you’re involved. You know what I mean? Like there will be some games if you play Miles Turner destroys the Pistons. Like the Pistons sag off of him so much because of their scheme and he takes eight, nine, 10 threes and makes five of them every time, right? In those games you’ll be like, “Wow, this guy could average 28 two a night and then they’ll play a team with Isaiah Hardstein or with, you know, the many strong posty bigs who kick his butt and he’ll have eight points.” And it’s, you know, he he’s kind of hard limited by who he is. He’ll be in that 17ish, I think. But I think he’ll play I don’t know. I think he’ll play about 30 minutes tonight and be about what he was statistically for the Pacers. Maybe a little higher on the totem pole, but different shots because he’s playing with a different star. Well, actually, this is the last last thing here. It’s one thing Camille and I touched on earlier in the um off seasonason when this this move came to fruition. Um expectations for like games played because I know there was a stretch where he missed a decent amount of time. Not the last couple years he’s been pretty durable, but that is the one thing Bucks fans need to be aware of. Brook Lopez was in Iron Man. You could pen him in basically every single game. Is that the expectation with Miles Turner? Yeah. So, be wary that in uh 22 23 let’s say, he probably could have played more than 62 games. Okay. Razers may have had some other incentives, but yeah, there was a stretch like in the late 2020s and or excuse me, late 2010s and early 2020s where he was missing good chunks of time. Um, and so I I wouldn’t call him like injuryprone, especially because of last like he was he probably that year would have played let’s say 70. So he’s had three straight years of 70 games, but there was a time before that where there was that was not the case for him that expectation. I would say you could probably pen him in for 65 to 70 which is but which is not bad but it’s just the expectation of Brook Lopez was playing 80 games a year. I would say that yeah Brook Lopez has certainly probably warped expectations in Milwaukee of games played for centers like centers is the most injured position usually just because of the amount of contact with it. I would I would not say that Turner is any more than normal at the position if that makes sense. And look, I mean, we didn’t touch on Jericho Sims, but you retained him that you have the Bucks have more depth in the front court now than they’ve had because it was always Giannis, Brook Lopez, Bobby Poris. Pray to God we don’t have an injury. And now you got another guy in there. So, look, the games are Miles Turner. That’s what the regular season is for, to tinker and find what lineups work. And they certainly have those abilities now. Um, even to play smaller with guys like Cous playing the four and Doc has even threatened or hinted at, we think Cous could play the five. So they have some options there. Um I mean a very I agree with you. I don’t know what the right word is. We’ve used shocking stunning in the nature of things like grand scheme. Shocking. No, but just relative to what the expectations were. Shocking. I mean I’ll admit that I was like shocked when I saw it. Like I was shocked. Shocked. Were you more shocked that he left for the Bucks or more shocked that this isn’t a sign in trade? Yeah. Yeah. I mean the the the totality of the 10 minutes of like wait what wait what wait like how very memorable day and like I didn’t tweet very much because I was trying to like processing and trying to figure out what is going on what happened here like how did this happen and people were texting me like are you like are you not on Twitter like you saw this right are you okay I’m like yes I’m good I’m just so I did not very rarely did the PA the Pacers front office I’ve kind of figured out what they do and they’re good they’re they’re smart they built the finals team right so the The history of them made me think too like yes they understand what to do here. I was very surprised personally but then I you figured out what happened and I guess I get it. It’s just surprising. Um okay one more last thing to wrap with this. I mentioned Miles gave you the shout out at the press conference too. The guy that is coming to the community for the Bucks. Good dude. Fun dude. Atypical NBA player and that he loves the rock music aspect. Like I put this in my story about his exit, but I I’ll never forget they won game six. So that’s their biggest game in franchise history in the finals to force the game seven and he comes out of the shower and he’s getting ready to do media and he’s just blasting Kiss from a rose by Seal on his phone, right? He loves like rock music, that kind of era of time. Good dude. He started his own warm foundation in Indie. He did distribution events all the time like in the arena at Dicks, whatever, like with kids. That was always very cool. It just he’s just interesting, right? I can’t wait for him to do his first I don’t play with Legos. I build Legos quote in Milwaukee. That’s always a hoot, too. Yeah, he’s a he’s just enjoyable to be around. Like a fun teammate. No, I’ve never heard of complaints about who he is. And certainly when the Pacers were young had to had to grow as a leader. Like it wasn’t like they asked him to. Like it was just like, dude, it has to be you. You’ve been here the longest. And so he does h he is better now, especially on good teams, at actually having a voice that matters because he’s won stuff now. He’s already been asked about Legos by the Bucks social team. Did he uh did he back the like the fan section in Indie 2? He did. Yeah. They had it was called Turner’s Block. And so I don’t know if it was free or discounted tickets for those people. They’d come be loud. The Bucks have a fan section. You know how it works. Bobby’s right. And then he would cover the rest of the cost. Yeah. Um Yeah. I mean again you’ve heard rave reviews about Miles Turner, the person you you confirmed that. So, a good fit in the community and we’ve talked through the fit next to Giannis and ideally the guy that replaces Brook Lopez. The most interesting part of the job now is to get like Giannis into the Clash or something like that. Something hilarious like that. Uh the I mean the most interesting part of all of it that neither of us have the qu the answer to the question of is Giannis recruiting. the more you started to hear about that recruiting Miles Turner and basically recognizing this is the style of play that works next to me. This is what I need. I need to find somebody younger than Brook Lopez. What does that mean about the future of Giannis in Milwaukee? So, that remains to be seen. Um, is that a big question that people talk about a lot? I don’t think it’s this year. I haven’t seen it yet if it is, but I would imagine at some point it’s going to come. We haven’t gotten a once every four days update about how he’s feeling yet this week. Yeah. Uh well, it’s going to be interesting when we run into each other at the arena. Now, um these four matchups, and if history’s any indication, these hopefully more than five uh matchups in the postseason for these two teams. Again, uh they’re not in the same grouping for the Emirates NBA. Oh, what a what a fail by the league. Yeah. Uh but yeah, all day. Why are they not just using divisions anyway? You have groups of five. just use those. It feels like the Bucks have had at least two teams in their group, the same teams for the hold over here. So, like what do we just just go to divisions at this point? I know that when money is involved, they want it to be fairness, but like okay, some years you have a better chance, some years have a worse chance. Like on balance, shouldn’t it work out? I don’t know. It just seems stupid to me. Uh well, Tony, always great to catch up with you. Thanks for the perspective on Miles Turner and it should make for some very interesting games in Indianapolis and Milwaukee. Finally interesting Pacers game about time. Finally the we needed the juice in the charge for this series and now we’ve we’ve finally gotten it. Uh again, you can find Tony on the Lockdown Pacers show. That’ll do it for today’s show. We’ll take a look at some of the roster rankings for the Bucks coming up on tomorrow’s show. For Tony, I’m Justin. And we’ll talk with you guys once again tomorrow.

Bucks stun NBA with Myles Turner acquisition. Is Milwaukee now the team to beat in the East?

Justin Garcia and Pacers insider Tony East break down the game-changing move that brings Myles Turner to the Milwaukee Bucks. They analyze Turner’s fit alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo, his improved three-level scoring, and potential impact on both ends of the court. The discussion covers how this trade reshapes the Eastern Conference landscape, Turner’s off-court personality, and the evolving Bucks-Pacers rivalry.

Key topics include Turner’s defensive prowess, his community involvement, and how the Bucks’ new-look roster stacks up against conference rivals. East offers insider perspectives on Turner’s leadership growth and locker room presence.

Will Turner’s arrival propel the Bucks to championship contention? Tune in for expert analysis on this blockbuster move and its implications for Milwaukee’s title hopes.

0:00 Intro: Myles Turner joining the Bucks
5:11 Shock of Turner’s move to Milwaukee
10:48 Comparing Turner’s skills to Brook Lopez
16:40 Turner’s defensive abilities and rebounding
22:39 Pacers’ reaction to Turner’s departure
27:53 Impact on Bucks’ roster and competitiveness
33:34 Eastern Conference outlook and Bucks’ potential
38:20 Kyle Kuzma’s role and expectations
43:24 Turner’s durability and games played expectations
46:12 Turner’s personality and community involvement

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOBucks?sid=YouTube

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA

#MilwaukeeBucks #Bucks #GiannisAntetokounmpo #DamianLillard #NBA

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
Monarch Money
Take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNBA at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnba for 50% off your first year

Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.

FanDuel
Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Football season is around the corner, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)