Hammond to ORL: Confirmed by ownership

[worthlessBucks]

If I were Hammond, I would take the ORL job. He has been marginalized since the LED takeover and Kidd thinks he's in charge. He would be able to call all the shots and hire his own staff without having to battle a power hungry head coach trying to do your job too. And he would likely get a minimum of 4 years which would be more than he's guaranteed here and would take him right into retirement. Florida is a beautiful place November through April!

If I was a GM, that's all I would do and that's typical of most people. One challenge done, on to the next chapter and take the lessons you learned with you. Regardless of how rocky and brutal most of his tenure was here, his mission was ultimately successful with Giannis, even if he did his very best to avoid that outcome entirely (Josh Smith). Who knows what John wants though, but that's the beauty of NBA GMs, you get opportunity after opportunity. Retreads.

[Karsenmitsche]

I think Hammond has gotten so much hate for no reason through the years. As the reigns have been unleashed out from under Kohl he has been great at assembling talent. That being said, moving on with a new GM who is better at the roster construction and managing payroll side of things makes sense. Something Hammond seems to struggle at.

[worthlessBucks]

Oh settle down. Hinkie absolutely should have been allowed to see it through. It's just funny because in that same time frame (2013-16), we've put together a better core with less assets than the Sixers have, yet nobody really wants to admit it. But yeah, whatever, "assets" and stuff.

There is the element of pride to watch from a far as well. Hammond gets to watch Giannis for hopefully 20 years. "Yep, that's me and my staff". Same thinking applies to Hinkie, Hennigan, or whomever.

[Cooleyo47]

It doesn't fly with me to give credit to someone when things go well (Hammond is great, he drafted Giannis, Brogdon, etc..) and give him no blame for the crap (Hammond was forced into all the bad, horrible contracts).

his worst deal was an mle deal to drew gooden. that's literally the ONLY deal in 9 years he couldn't move. to have just one bad mle deal and literally not a single other immoveable deal in a decade is a amazing. the idea he made a bunch of bad horrible contracts is just a straight up mistelling

The problem isn't just the signings, it's the collective inability to gain positive value on any moves he has made.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/executives/hammojo99x.html

It's been 9 years, they haven't won a playoff series. Outside of (maybe) 4 moves in 9 years, what has he done to move the time in the correct direction?

He essentially traded Klay Thompson for Tobias Harris and Stephen **** Jackson. I mean, COME ON.

The truth is, he's been pretty darn good with trades too (equivalent of Klay for Tobias and Stephen Jackson and Tobias for Redick notwithstanding). But those moves seem so out of character that I imagine they were Kohl-driven, who we all know loved him some middling "name" vets.

[Iheartfootball]

I feel like without all the behind the scenes information on who signed what free agent, who made the trade, and who drafted who, it's hard to fairly judge Hammond. I mean I would hold him accountable when it's clear he made the decision but with Kohl and Kidd and Co. I'm not sure how much rope he really gets to hang himself.

[Wooderson]

If I were Hammond, I would take the ORL job. He has been marginalized since the LED takeover and Kidd thinks he's in charge. He would be able to call all the shots and hire his own staff without having to battle a power hungry head coach trying to do your job too. And he would likely get a minimum of 4 years which would be more than he's guaranteed here and would take him right into retirement. Florida is a beautiful place November through April!

Alex Martins disagrees. He has the final say in Orlando since he has the ears of the DeVos family.

Read on Twitter

http://orlandomagicdaily.com/2016/05/15/scott-skiles-and-consequences-of-quitting/

Spoiler:

The buck stops with the man at the top. And Martins cannot be fully without blame for this sudden and surprising departure.

Throughout Skiles’ yearlong tenure as coach with the team he once played for, Martins publicly tried to distance himself. He was insistent at the press conference last summer the hiring decision was general manager Rob Hennigan’s and Hennigan’s alone. Hennigan repeated Thursday as Skiles resigned the decision still rested from him.

Smarter minds knew and have suggested otherwise however, despite Martins’ repeated denials of his role in Skiles’ hiring.

When Jacque Vaughn was dismissed midway through the 2015 season, there was no question Skiles used the outlets he was familiar with to express interest in the position. Skiles’ name quickly emerged as a rumored candidate seemingly the moment Vaughn was fired.

Rumors after Skiles’ resignation certainly shed light on just how that pursuit went, as NBA SiriusXM host Justin Termine outlined this week:

That job-campaigning effort led him to Martins, a man who was one of the team’s original employees much like Skiles was one of their first notable players. The coach who had had stops in Phoenix, Chicago and Milwaukee needed a powerful voice to convince Hennigan to make the hire.

After all, nothing in his basketball background would suggest Skiles would be the coach Hennigan would target.

Hennigan is an apple that does not fall far from the San Antonio Spurs tree. That means always looking for the next big thing, both on the court and on the bench.

A coach that had proven himself as a league-average coach during each of his stints while also wearing his players patience thin certainly would not fit that bill. Skiles always had a ceiling — even if that ceiling was someplace the Magic needed to stop first in their rebuild.

Fortunately for Skiles, Hennigan answers directly to Martins. All that was needed for a decision to be made in direct opposition with his ideology of innovation was some carefully placed nudging.

Who can ignore directives from their boss? Or even a well-placed recommendation?

This is why it does not make sense for those rabid fans seeking to pin this failure on Hennigan. Even Hennigan’s sharpest critics recognize how Hennigan was hamstrung. Most of them in their real jobs would also take a boss’ suggestions in stride.

They might even follow them to such a point that it puts their own career in peril. That is where Hennigan stands now, destined to see his constructed roster either make the playoffs or be out of a job.

[Jimmmycrackcorn]

It doesn't fly with me to give credit to someone when things go well (Hammond is great, he drafted Giannis, Brogdon, etc..) and give him no blame for the crap (Hammond was forced into all the bad, horrible contracts).

like I said, even if you want to pin blame on him for the bad moves, he's done a tremendous job getting rid of those contracts, instead of seeing them play out their entirety

What? Other than Plumlee, what other bad contract has he managed to shed? Henson's contract is still here. So it Telly's. Salmons contract was moved in a deal that was absolutely terrible. IIRC, we only ended up saving a few million on the terrible Ersan contract by the end of it. Larrry's contract blew up in his face (though that's not entirely on Hammond).

So what are you talking about, exactly?

Bobby Simmons
Dan Gadzuric
John Salmons

[Wooderson]

I think Hammond's legacy comes down to Thon. If he becomes a solid starter or better he'll be looked upon pretty favorably, even by many like myself who think he's done a poor job overall. However if Thon ends up being just a guy off the bench, the team is screwed. I have no idea how we fill that spot otherwise.

[Jimmmycrackcorn]

his worst move in a decade is signing drew gooden to an mle deal. that's a pretty good bullet point compared to a lot of other gms in this league.

Valued MCW over LAL's pick in this upcoming draft.

that was Kidd's choice...Kidd wanted MCW

[chonestown]

his worst move in a decade is signing drew gooden to an mle deal. that's a pretty good bullet point compared to a lot of other gms in this league.

Valued MCW over LAL's pick in this upcoming draft.

that was Kidd's choice...Kidd wanted MCW

And Hammond's responsible for the switching defense.

[Jimmmycrackcorn]

Valued MCW over LAL's pick in this upcoming draft.

that was Kidd's choice...Kidd wanted MCW

And Hammond's responsible for the switching defense.

are you serious right now?!

[Jimmmycrackcorn]

Kohl meddled every single year...with the directive to make the playoffs. Never let Hammond tank...until the year they lost enough games to get Jabari.

Then an ownership change....and what is the very first thing they do? They literally go over Hammond's head to hire a coach who Hammond didn't want.

Dude has never really had a fair shake to run the organization by himself. How can anyone call him a failure if the dude never was allowed to do what he wanted?

[Jimmmycrackcorn]

I feel like without all the behind the scenes information on who signed what free agent, who made the trade, and who drafted who, it's hard to fairly judge Hammond. I mean I would hold him accountable when it's clear he made the decision but with Kohl and Kidd and Co. I'm not sure how much rope he really gets to hang himself.

that's very rational thinking

bottom line, he's never been given the power to fully build this teams roster, or coaching staff

[Ron Swanson]

I give zero **** about the "It's been 9 YEARS" pity-party when we're currently sitting with arguably the best under-25 core in the league. If/when Hammond leaves, he can be proud at what he accomplished here and sit back in retirement watching us compete for championships for years.

If we aren't, then yeah, he **** sucked as a GM.

[GHOSTofSIKMA]

It doesn't fly with me to give credit to someone when things go well (Hammond is great, he drafted Giannis, Brogdon, etc..) and give him no blame for the crap (Hammond was forced into all the bad, horrible contracts).

his worst deal was an mle deal to drew gooden. that's literally the ONLY deal in 9 years he couldn't move. to have just one bad mle deal and literally not a single other immoveable deal in a decade is a amazing. the idea he made a bunch of bad horrible contracts is just a straight up mistelling

The problem isn't just the signings, it's the collective inability to gain positive value on any moves he has made.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/executives/hammojo99x.html

It's been 9 years, they haven't won a playoff series. Outside of (maybe) 4 moves in 9 years, what has he done to move the time in the correct direction?

He essentially traded Klay Thompson for Tobias Harris and Stephen **** Jackson. I mean, COME ON.

obviously being the worst free agent destination in the league hasn't helped..... but meddling owners and coaches for all 9 years has made it worse. even besides all that he STILL would have had perennial playoff teams if not for redd, bogut, sanders, parker, and middleton being lost for seasons at a time if not their careers.

the guy has drafted well. hes made virtually no mistakes with our money. but his most defining bummer beyond all that is simply injuries. how many allstar caliber players can one team lose in a decade and expect to win many playoff series. how much talent do you have to have to take the hit this franchise has and then go win in the playoffs. the answer? not many

[Wooderson]

Kohl meddled every single year...with the directive to make the playoffs. Never let Hammond tank... until the year they lost enough games to get Jabari.

Oh boy, not this again. The Bucks were in no way tanking in 2014. They just had a horribly constructed roster with little talent. In fact, they made moves during the season that indicated they were still trying to compete.

Trading for Sessions midseason and then playing him 33 minutes per game (he was probably the best guard on the team). They also rushed Ersan back from injury and he basically played the entire year with a not yet healed high ankle sprain. A tanking team would have sat him out, instead he played and it killed his value.

[Baddy Chuck]

Take him.

[humanrefutation]

like I said, even if you want to pin blame on him for the bad moves, he's done a tremendous job getting rid of those contracts, instead of seeing them play out their entirety

What? Other than Plumlee, what other bad contract has he managed to shed? Henson's contract is still here. So it Telly's. Salmons contract was moved in a deal that was absolutely terrible. IIRC, we only ended up saving a few million on the terrible Ersan contract by the end of it. Larrry's contract blew up in his face (though that's not entirely on Hammond).

So what are you talking about, exactly?

Bobby Simmons
Dan Gadzuric
John Salmons

You obviously don't know what you're talking about.

We traded Dan Gadzuric for an even worse contract in Corey Maggette, who had three years and $31 million left on his deal, when the Bucks only owed $11 million to Gadz and Bell. So, no, that wasn't a good trade at all.

And the mistakes we made with Salmons, Gadz, Bell, and Maggette ended up leading to the horrendous CHA-SAC-MIL trade in 2011, in which the Bucks essentially moved from the 10th pick down to the 19th and had to swallow Stephen Jackson in order to extricate themselves from the Salmons and Maggette mistakes. So, no, that wasn't "tremendous" at all.

And we essentially took on an extra $8 million by agreeing to move Simmons for Richard Jefferson, who we later had to dump.

[humanrefutation]

please, no

not sure why Hammond gets as much hate as he does......dude needs to stay a few years and see the fruit of his labor

I found this funny, cuz if John Hammond's name was Sam Hinkie, this is exactly what people would be saying.

If Hammond had the same approach as Hinkie, this might be a worthwhile comparison.

[chonestown]

that was Kidd's choice...Kidd wanted MCW

And Hammond's responsible for the switching defense.

are you serious right now?!

Yes and no. I get that Kidd has outsize influence, but one of Hammond's greatest talents is evading accountability. He's the GM. It's like absolving Kidd of Sweeney's defense.

If JH had reservations on swapping out the LAL pick for MCW, that's on Hammond for failing to make his case. If he didn't have reservations on that swap, that's on Hammond for poorly judging value.

He's a middling GM, who's secured one generational talent - which is a big deal!, made some shrewd trades, got taken in some others and has generally been hampered by poor free agency decisions. Probably best suited as a scout and cannot navigate the salary cap.