Overpaid and Underworked
The John Hammond era has had its ups and downs.
Mostly downs.
But there are some bright spots to pick from.
The franchise is now worse than it was before he took over. The Bucks are still middling with good enough to start, starters, but not good enough to lead anyone, anywhere. We've tried many eras and many different players to build around: Bogut, Salmons, Maggette, Jefferson, Gooden, Jackson, Ellis, Jennings...the list goes on and on. And on.
To give Hammond the slightest of credits however, he has been a good drafter in recent years.
2008 1st round-Joe Alexander-to be fair, Joe was known as the eight pick in a seven man draft. Little did we know the draft was really 3 deep.
2008 2nd round-Luc Mbah A Moute-he drives me nuts, but is a tenacious defender of those 1-4 and isn't utilized properly at all
2009 1st round-Brandon Jennings-Jennings has kept us somewhat afloat, brought some excitement and amid all of his ups and downs, was far and away the best pick to make at the time. Nobody really thought
2009 2nd round-Jodie Meeks-a fair second round value, turned out to be a fine player off the bench who can shoot
2010 1st round-Larry Sanders-so far, the best pick in the Hammond era. And he picked him out of almost zero talent within 10 picks of him
2010 2nd round-Darington Hobson-a shot in the dark for a 2nd rounder, never stuck in the league for a minute, missed on Lance Stephenson
2010 2nd round-Tiny Gallon-he was comedic gold for about 9 months! Nobody after Gallon has stuck in the league, so no loss, no blame
2011 1st round-Tobias Harris-a moment of silence for all the "Tobias is Superman" supporters, please.
2011 2nd round-John Leuer-played well for the Bucks, hasn't been utilized since being stuck behind a glut of bigs in both Houston and Memphis
2012 1st round-John Henson-this is just the beginning for Henson. If he's coached up and not included in a trade as an asset for anything short of a James Harden type deal, he'll be a cornerstone for the franchise
2012 2nd round-Doron Lamb-another moment of silence for those "Tobias is Superman" supporters since anything Tobias, trade or Magic related will spark sheer hatred.
He's been a fantastic drafter! And it has been glanced over so badly because of the dumb trades in between all the picks. I'm looking forward to the 2013 draft where he has the 15th pick (where he took Sanders) in a draft full of unknowns.
As for his contract signings, outside of the eye-popping 5 yr, $32 million contract to Drew Gooden, his other contracts have been rather fair. The Salmons contract now isn't the most favorable, but for a 5/39 contract where he was averaging nearly 20 points per game for the Bucks, it wasn't atrocious at the time. Bogut got a 5/60. 12 mill for a guy of his caliber in 2008 was on the high end, but he had some unbelievable potential and hadn't shown how injury prone he was yet. The real show will be when he finds a guy like Rudy Gay, third tier type of guy, will he recognize this and not sign him to a max and cripple the cap.
It is the irreparable trade after trade of crap for crap and trying to make up ground for the last pick that has kept the Bucks franchise down for the 8 count in the 7th round before staggering to their feet before getting knocked right back into the ropes. And every time they land a punch, they take two right-hooks. These trades have all been circumstance of attempted pushes at the playoffs. Is this really the work of John Hammond or are Herb Kohl's creepy little fingers pushing the buttons?
A complete re-build seems to be on the horizon. Now is a better time than ever. They have all of their draft picks in the coming years, they have a few pieces to work with (potential of John Henson, productivity and breakthrough of Larry Sanders, the cool hand of Arson), and a butt load of cap space on the way if they don't blow out on another middling overpaid swing man this summer, or trying to re-tool and overpay to jeep Jennings or Ellis. This all seems so sensible, but can the Bucks franchise handle a 25 win season? Can Herb Kohl's deep pockets afford it? Can the brand hold off greedy buyers of Seattle from prying away the Bucks from Milwaukee? The latter seems to be the biggest question. Suddenly and stunningly, the Seattle buyers were given a no-vote by owners to move the team, so they may be swinging for another fence soon.
Whether we like it or not, John Hammond is with us for a few more years after his 3 year contract extension goes into effect this summer. If the mistakes of past can be learned from, the Bucks aren't headed down as dark of a road as previously seemed.
CC 5/13
Mostly downs.
But there are some bright spots to pick from.
The franchise is now worse than it was before he took over. The Bucks are still middling with good enough to start, starters, but not good enough to lead anyone, anywhere. We've tried many eras and many different players to build around: Bogut, Salmons, Maggette, Jefferson, Gooden, Jackson, Ellis, Jennings...the list goes on and on. And on.
To give Hammond the slightest of credits however, he has been a good drafter in recent years.
2008 1st round-Joe Alexander-to be fair, Joe was known as the eight pick in a seven man draft. Little did we know the draft was really 3 deep.
2008 2nd round-Luc Mbah A Moute-he drives me nuts, but is a tenacious defender of those 1-4 and isn't utilized properly at all
2009 1st round-Brandon Jennings-Jennings has kept us somewhat afloat, brought some excitement and amid all of his ups and downs, was far and away the best pick to make at the time. Nobody really thought
2009 2nd round-Jodie Meeks-a fair second round value, turned out to be a fine player off the bench who can shoot
2010 1st round-Larry Sanders-so far, the best pick in the Hammond era. And he picked him out of almost zero talent within 10 picks of him
2010 2nd round-Darington Hobson-a shot in the dark for a 2nd rounder, never stuck in the league for a minute, missed on Lance Stephenson
2010 2nd round-Tiny Gallon-he was comedic gold for about 9 months! Nobody after Gallon has stuck in the league, so no loss, no blame
2011 1st round-Tobias Harris-a moment of silence for all the "Tobias is Superman" supporters, please.
2011 2nd round-John Leuer-played well for the Bucks, hasn't been utilized since being stuck behind a glut of bigs in both Houston and Memphis
2012 1st round-John Henson-this is just the beginning for Henson. If he's coached up and not included in a trade as an asset for anything short of a James Harden type deal, he'll be a cornerstone for the franchise
2012 2nd round-Doron Lamb-another moment of silence for those "Tobias is Superman" supporters since anything Tobias, trade or Magic related will spark sheer hatred.
He's been a fantastic drafter! And it has been glanced over so badly because of the dumb trades in between all the picks. I'm looking forward to the 2013 draft where he has the 15th pick (where he took Sanders) in a draft full of unknowns.
As for his contract signings, outside of the eye-popping 5 yr, $32 million contract to Drew Gooden, his other contracts have been rather fair. The Salmons contract now isn't the most favorable, but for a 5/39 contract where he was averaging nearly 20 points per game for the Bucks, it wasn't atrocious at the time. Bogut got a 5/60. 12 mill for a guy of his caliber in 2008 was on the high end, but he had some unbelievable potential and hadn't shown how injury prone he was yet. The real show will be when he finds a guy like Rudy Gay, third tier type of guy, will he recognize this and not sign him to a max and cripple the cap.
It is the irreparable trade after trade of crap for crap and trying to make up ground for the last pick that has kept the Bucks franchise down for the 8 count in the 7th round before staggering to their feet before getting knocked right back into the ropes. And every time they land a punch, they take two right-hooks. These trades have all been circumstance of attempted pushes at the playoffs. Is this really the work of John Hammond or are Herb Kohl's creepy little fingers pushing the buttons?
A complete re-build seems to be on the horizon. Now is a better time than ever. They have all of their draft picks in the coming years, they have a few pieces to work with (potential of John Henson, productivity and breakthrough of Larry Sanders, the cool hand of Arson), and a butt load of cap space on the way if they don't blow out on another middling overpaid swing man this summer, or trying to re-tool and overpay to jeep Jennings or Ellis. This all seems so sensible, but can the Bucks franchise handle a 25 win season? Can Herb Kohl's deep pockets afford it? Can the brand hold off greedy buyers of Seattle from prying away the Bucks from Milwaukee? The latter seems to be the biggest question. Suddenly and stunningly, the Seattle buyers were given a no-vote by owners to move the team, so they may be swinging for another fence soon.
Whether we like it or not, John Hammond is with us for a few more years after his 3 year contract extension goes into effect this summer. If the mistakes of past can be learned from, the Bucks aren't headed down as dark of a road as previously seemed.
CC 5/13