Hammond to ORL: Confirmed by ownership

[buckboy]

I mean Maggette/Jackson cost us Klay Thompson. Seems like a big deal.

It costs the Bucks the chance to draft Thompson. Big difference.

It's been passed around on this board like it's common knowledge that we would have. idk.

[SupremeHustle]

I mean Maggette/Jackson cost us Klay Thompson. Seems like a big deal.

It costs the Bucks the chance to draft Thompson. Big difference.

We should start using Kawhi Leonard instead of Thompson. It stings more.

[freewhitemoon]

maybe kawhi only becomes LRMAM 2.0 under bucks development

[LUKE23]

Yeah, they were definitely trying to win that 15 win season. To say otherwise is nuts.

[Nowak008]

I would argue that the way he handled the late 1sts, MLE's, et al demonstrate that he's not the guy to manage a team with "limitation of market and circumstance". Maybe he'd be fine in a bigger market, but alas, he was in Milwaukee, and the stench of mediocrity during his reign emanated from his arm pits.

Over Hammond's tenure, the only way they Bucks could have been worse is if they tried, which ironically would have been preferable. And I know you agree with that.

Yea there is more to building a team than closing your eyes and taking the highest upside guy at your draft slot. I agree that we couldn't have done worse under Hammond

[Nowak008]

Do people not remember us raising $5,000 for a billboard because the team was so badly mismanaged?

[Steve210]

We could probably debate the job John Hammond did forever, now let's turn the page, and the question is, who the heck is Justin Zanik? Ok we know he came from Utah, he use to be an agent, other than that, has anyone even seen the guy or talked to him? John Hammond was extremely accessible and more than willing to talk to just about anyone.

Larry Harris was the definition of a used car salesman, I always felt like he was overselling...everything. Hammond was more humble and mild mannered. I'm curious to see what Zanik is all about? Let's hope he can keep this thing moving in the right direction, because say what you want about Hammond, the table is set pretty nice for Zanik, way better than the trash heap Hammond inherited.

[M-C-G]

I wonder if people realize how stupid it looks to non-Bucks fans when the discussion of Hammond's good vs bad moves come up. Firing him for a MLE or late round pick vs drafting Giannis or trading for Middleton or getting the ROY in the 2nd round.

How about when Hammond went all in on a win now team and we were the worst team in the league? Worse than 6ers team that was trying to lose every single game...and we beat them by 4 games. That was pretty epic badness by Hambone.

That to me is more significant than swinging for the fences with the Giannis pick, when you have built a complete crap of a roster and collection of assets in your 5th year with the team.

I've never really bought into this idea of the Bucks going all-in. They were a 38 win team, moved some contributing vets for young guys and signed *drum roll* OJ Mayo and Zaza Pachulia. What killed the Bucks that season was Sanders being injured and losing his mind. Take away by far the Bucks best player and they weren't gonna be good. I don't blame Hammond for that.

I'll add it looked like our plan was to become Hawks-Midwest and steal their coach, their PG (we offered Teague), their SG (we made a run at Korver) and their center in ZaZa. It's just that all the best "win now" parts of that plan didn't happen, which resulted in a giant mess.

[paulpressey25]

Yeah, they were definitely trying to win that 15 win season. To say otherwise is nuts.

Yep. They were pushing hard to acquire guys like Korver and AK47 that summer but settled for Mayo, ZaZa, etc.

And to contradict Ron's point, Kohl wasn't in the midst of selling the team that summer of 2013. That only started in late December after a month of pounding by the national media after SOB. And Kohl initially tried to just get "new investors" while retaining some ownership and control.

[Badgerlander]

http://www.1057fmthefan.com/media/audio-channel/gery-woelfel-departure-gm-john-hammond

[Gianstoppable]

maybe kawhi only becomes LRMAM 2.0 under bucks development

Still better than SJAX

[ReasonablySober]

Yea, they were absolutely trying to compete. But there's a gulf between that and saying they went "all-in". Just look at Ron's list. Zaza, Mayo, and Knight does not a contender make. It was a team held together by an elite interior defender, and when he fell apart, so did the team.

[M-C-G]

**** it man, I am excited. I'm happy John left the team in a good position and I think he will do fine working with an actual structure, maybe some autonomy and hopefully Weltman double checking the number of zeroes on those free agency/extension offers before they get sent out.

[Matches Malone]

Wonder if they promote Babcock or Mckinney to assistant GM?

[Ron Swanson]

What RS said. I'm not gonna constantly crucify a GM for hypotheticals, having a contingency plan, and things that "almost happen". It's like some refuse to believe a team is actually rebuilding unless it's some full scale, Sam Hinkie 76ers tear down. Gary Neal, a rookie Nate Wolters, and a 21-year old Brandon Knight are moves that were supposed to comprise half of a theoretical playoff backcourt? If you believe that then one of two things are true:

1) Hammond saw an opportunity to re-build on the fly and inject some youth (Giannis, Knight, Middleton) under the guise of "remaining competitive", and acquiring a couple token journey-man vets to keep ownership content.

2) John Hammond is the dumbest **** GM in the history of basketball, for actually believing that roster had the talent to win ~40 games.

[M-C-G]

Wonder if they promote Babcock or Mckinney to assistant GM?

Guessing Zanik will want to bring in his own guy, but would love to keep one of those two guys around just in case they were the brains behind the operation

[0BobLobLaw0]

http://www.1057fmthefan.com/media/audio-channel/gery-woelfel-departure-gm-john-hammond

So gery claims Zanik will have complete control, including getting rid of Kidd, but still thinks Kidd will be back? I don't see that being complete control, a new GM would want his own coach I would imagine.

[Iheartfootball]

Spoiler:

Can you or someone retell the Hammond Penny story? I can't remember exactly how that happened.

Gather 'round children and let me tell the tale of Trader John.

John was born in the faraway land of Zion, Illinois. Not only does part of its border touch Wisconsin but it's also really close to Six Flags Great America. When John retires from basketball he will be the old Six Flags dancing guy but that's not why we're here today.

*throws cocaine on the fire and tells children it's magic dust*

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away called Detroit John got a phone call from a mysterious number. It turns out it was Herb Kohl. Herb had just fired a snake that was in the grass that he had named Larry Harris. Larry Harris was a bad snake because he kept killing all the rodents that were eating the bags of oats that Herb left for them. Herb needed a nicer snake and heard that John Hammond was getting rave reviews and could also run his floundering basketball team.

Hammond, excited to get out of Detroit decided to accept the job and worked hard to not only build a basketball team but also build a home where all rodents could come and stay rent free away from the dangers of those dastardly coyotes and harassing hawks.

While the basketball team continued to flounder, the construction of Mouse House was going up in record time. By 2010, nearly one million mice had taken up occupancy with hopes of adding a million more mice per year, which is no problem with how much they ****.

As the years went on the Mouse House continued to boom while the Bucks continued to languish in mediocrity. Finally, Trader John came up with an idea to help the team. A combination of black magic, voodoo and deceit. John had known for years that Herb wanted his basketball team to be competitive, to make as many playoff appearances as possible. Hammond knew in order to improve the team, they would need to be at the top of the lottery and despite being in the lottery several times, John was far too talented to bring the team near the top.

John put a voodoo spell on Herb in the beginning of the season guaranteeing his job security no matter how many losses piled up. John used black magic to make a ball that was 3 feet off target by Spencer Hawes curve back and into the basket.

The black magic and voodoo was used at various times throughout the year, though wasn't needed as much as John thought as he had assembled a truly awful team. They were the Monstars before they stole the NBA players' talent except without the ray guns.

By the end of the season his Bucks had finished with the worst record in the NBA! The best odds at winning the lottery but only 25%? "That's not enough!" shouted John. Fearing he had used up everything he knew in regards to voodoo and black magic, John had to search high and low for a new advantage. What could that be? Who knew more? How would he get in contact with this person?

An anonymous tip led him to a mysterious number. While John doesn't know how to make outgoing calls, he was able to find someone on the street to help. An answer! On the other line was a man telling him to meet at an abandoned warehouse. "Don't bring anyone", said the mysterious voice as he hung up.

Intrigued and slightly turned on, John met later that week at the abandoned warehouse, just like the mysterious voice said. Not wanting to be rude, John made an apple pie, hoping that if they weren't going to eat it, he would at least get the chance to **** it.

This voice was familiar but the stranger was dressed with sunglasses, a ski mask and a trench coat. John could not identify the man. "You will find out who I am in due time."

The stranger called an Uber. Both he and John got in. A short 5 minute ride and they arrived at a quaint diner in a gritty part of town. The took a corner table away from the lunch rush and sat. "I'll have the cheeseburger!" John excitedly shouted. The stranger asked if they put a spicy or dijon mustard on the cheeseburger. The waitress said no. The stranger replied "Thanks, Obama! I'll have the BLT then."

During the two hour lunch, the stranger taught John more black magic and voodoo the likes of which he never knew existed. The #1 pick was a certainty at this point in John's mind.

Walking out the door the stranger stumbled upon a penny. "Just to guarantee it. Why don't you grab that lucky penny?" Needing every ounce of luck he could get, John quickly snapped up the penny. "Good boy. Until we meet again, John." The stranger then quickly took off his sunglasses revealing his cold, steely eyes. The ski mask came next to reveal the face of one Tony La Russa, the biggest cock bag in MLB. "Of course!" Hammond exclaimed. "Who else could it have been other than the biggest **** stain in professional sports." La Russa, proud of being able to keep his identity sealed ripped off his trench coat to reveal the goatse'd **** stretched to its limit through years of self abuse.

John rubbed the penny and then his nipples every day until the lottery. When the day finally came John himself was not on stage. That was a new owner's daughter. John was furiously trying to work his voodoo and black magic on the new owners so he could keep his job while simultaneously rubbing the penny. John was worried the owners would notice the fidgeting of his hand. His solution was to wear the tightest briefs he could find and take a whole bottle of Viagra. The raging erection would be flexed up and down forcing the penny to rub against his long, smooth, rock hard shaft.

The moment had arrived. Down to the top two picks, the Bucks and the Cavaliers. No way they were going to get the #1 pick again. The card is revealed. The unholy concoction of wine and gold. Possibly the ugliest color combo in the world had just shown up. Not only was John going to have an erection for way longer than 4 hours, Tony La Russa had deceived him. He thought they were friends but realized he had just been taken for a ride and not just by the Uber driver.

My favorite line (and there were many) was "Intrigued and slightly turned on". You're narrative made me wee-wee in my big boy pants a little. Bravo!

[M-C-G]

What RS said. I'm not gonna constantly crucify a GM for hypotheticals, having a contingency plan, and things that "almost happen". It's like some refuse to believe a team is actually rebuilding unless it's some full scale, Sam Hinkie 76ers tear down. Gary Neal, a rookie Nate Wolters, and a 21-year old Brandon Knight are moves that were supposed to comprise half of a theoretical playoff backcourt? If you believe that then one of two things are true:

1) Hammond saw an opportunity to re-build on the fly and inject some youth (Giannis, Knight, Middleton) under the guise of "remaining competitive", and acquiring a couple token journey-man vets to keep ownership content.

2) John Hammond is the dumbest **** GM in the history of basketball, for actually believing that roster had the talent to win ~40 games.

Hammonds plan was to obtain all the Atlanta Hawks he could get, unfortunately, that ended up only being Zaza. So Plan A failed and I think he filled out the roster to keep Kohl happy, as you suggested in point 1. It is the one year it felt like we had an actual plan for FA, but it just didn't work out.

[Nowak008]

What RS said. I'm not gonna constantly crucify a GM for hypotheticals,.

OK no hypotheticals... do you think it's acceptable to have 2 winnings seasons (45 wins and 42 wins) in 9 years in the pathetic Eastern Conference? Or do you think it's acceptable that we have the longest drought in the NBA for a playoff series win?