I love the Milwaukee Bucks. Yes I know they suck. They have for almost twenty years now (except for one eastern conference final). Hope springs eternal. The team has a new GM and is searching for a new coach.
NEW GM:
John Hammond is the new GM. Considered to be the top GM prospect in the league. Comes from the Detroit Pistons where he had been Joe Dumars right hand man for 7 years. Has a wide array of experience in the league from being an assistant coach, scouting director, and VP of player personnel. He has spent all of his professional time with the Pistons save for a two year stint with the L.A. Clippers. His resume is top notch and he has turned down GM offers before.
One questions if Hammond has managed to contractually guarantee himself power to dissuade owner Herb Kohl from his notorious meddling. Hammond is obviously aware of the Bucks in house power struggles that have plagued the team since Kohl bought the team in the 80’s. From the press conference it seemed pretty clear that Hammond did not receive the President of Basketball Operations title (currently held by Kohl) which would guarantee him a level of power in the organization due to NBA bylaws. Senator Kohl will give Hammond a lot of latitude to do his job within the next two years but you have to question if the Senator will be able to leave Hammond alone for longer than that. Hammond needs to build a winner here in Milwaukee and have them contending for the Eastern Conference Finals within two years to gain full respect within the organization. He has a tough task ahead of him.
New Coach:
With Larry Krystkowiak predictably being fired the day after the season ended the Bucks are now in a coaching search. Rumors are pointing at either Rick Carlisle or Scott Skiles as the future Buck coach. Carlisle is the more desirable of the two. He is linked to Hammond by his years coach Detroit. His teams have only finished under .500 once (his last season in Indiana). His career winning percentage is .571. For most of the Bucks hardcore fan base he is the number one choice.
Scott Skiles on the other hand is not nearly as popular a choice. Skiles recent history is dicey. He presided over the debacle known as the start of the Bulls 07-08 season. Skiles “quit” after 25 games into the 07-08 season. Leading a team that was considered a dark horse for the NBA title to that kind of start puts you in a popularity hole. His reluctance to play Jokim Noah over a rapidly aging Ben Wallace was one of the highlights of why Chicago fans wanted him out. One could argue that the terrible Bulls start was not his fault. There was the constant distraction of trading for Kobe in the beginning of the season. This either led to or aided in the bad starts to the season by several of his key players. In short Chicago imploded this season and I’m not sure there is anything that could have been done about it. Skiles has had three seasons of sub .500 records (shortened “seasons” with the Bulls and the Suns and his first full year with the Bulls) and brings a career winning percentage of .528 to the table.
As a longtime Bucks fan I can tell you that both of these guys are massive upgrades over Terry Porter, Terry Stotts, and Larry Krystkowiak. All of these guys brought little to no experience in the head coaching ranks to the position. Even worse their signings as head coach indicated that Herb Kohl was working on the cheap again. When the Senator works on the cheap he feels that he can and should meddle in the teams on court affairs. When he gives above average contracts to his GM and Coach he tends to get out of the way (until the have a year under expectation). With this upcoming coaching decision it looks to me like Herb is getting out of the way again. There is a small ray of hope now.
