JS: Bucks failures come to light

[SugarRay34]

Grading the Bucks
Season of woe leaves Bucks with another rebuilding task
By TOM ENLUND
tenlund@journalsentinel.com
Posted: April 19, 2008
The seeds of discontent were sown fairly early in the Milwaukee Bucks' season.

While there were any number of defining moments in a 26-56 season that will go down as one of the worst in the 40-year history of the franchise, a New Year's Eve matinee in Detroit stands out as one of the first instances when cracks in the armor surfaced. And that day provided a chilling warning of the calamity that would occur in the months ahead.

The Bucks were destroyed by the Pistons that day, 114-69. It was Milwaukee's fourth straight loss and seventh in eight games, and it culminated a 4-12 December. It would go down as the Bucks' largest margin of defeat of the season.

But more significant than the numbers was the dour mood in the cramped visitors' locker room in the Palace of Auburn Hills after that 45-point flogging. Center Andrew Bogut stated that the team had been more concerned about flying to Miami - the site of the next game - that evening for New Year's Eve than it was about the game. Others around him wondered more privately about the level of commitment in the room.

The Bucks went on to win four of their next five games after the New Year's Eve Massacre, only to fall back into the rut that would carry on throughout the season.

Where and how did it all go wrong?

"You could point to the start (of the season) or to the end. . . . There are a lot of factors that came into play," Bogut said. "Some obviously can't be disclosed and (will be) kept behind closed doors, and some were on the court."
Said guard Michael Redd, "I had more fun as a rookie when I didn't play. Because we were winning."

It was a nightmarish season that cost general manager Larry Harris and coach Larry Krystkowiak their jobs, eroded the team's fan base to a new low, and led to an outcry from fans about how owner Herb Kohl has been directing the franchise.

The hope now is that things will improve under new general manager John Hammond.

Not ready
Part of the problem was that Kohl allowed himself to be held hostage by the University of Utah and hired a first-year coach before he was ready, and Krystkowiak did not shy away from taking his share of the blame.

On the other hand, this was one of the most dysfunctional groups of players to share a Bucks locker room in a long time. It was a soft group that was horribly inconsistent, did not play hard or together consistently, and underachieved badly on the court.

"In the beginning of the year there was a lot of talk about how good we were going to be, not how good we could potentially be," forward Desmond Mason said. "Early in the season, I said we're either going to be really good or really bad. There's no gray area. We had to go out and play hard every single night. There's no room for error for us, and obviously we did the latter."

Harris was generally the front man when it came to putting a public face on personnel decisions, but every move that this franchise makes - good, bad or indifferent - begins and ends with Kohl and his advisors. There should be no mistake about that.

Not "basketball" men
Who are the advisors?

In two late-season news conferences - one announcing the firing of Harris and the other introducing Hammond - Kohl identified team alternate governor Ron Walter, chief financial officer Mike Burr and vice-president of business operations John Steinmiller as the three whom he consulted with while making basketball decisions.

All are competent individuals in their own particular areas, but what many - inside the organization as well as outside - found unsettling was there was not a true "basketball" man in the group.

The contention now is that Hammond will have freedom to run the basketball operation.

Interestingly, there were few complaints last summer after Harris had re-signed free agents Mo Williams and Charlie Bell, drafted Ramon Sessions in the second round, added free agent Royal Ivey and ignored the heavy-handed tactics of first-round draft choice Yi Jianlian's handlers and traveled halfway around the world to get Yi in the fold.

The lucrative free-agent contracts presented Dan Gadzuric and Bobby Simmons in 2005, though, continued to hang heavily over the franchise.

Going into the season, the roster looked solid on paper, and optimism abounded about a return to the playoffs. A 7-4 start that included victories over Dallas, Cleveland and the Los Angeles Lakers only bolstered those hopes. But the mood quickly changed during the 4-12 December.

"It was disappointing," Bogut said. "We blew ourselves up in the off-season and then we fell flat on our face. Hopefully this off-season we'll learn from our mistakes and we won't come in and try to tell the world (how good we are).

"We're in a rebuilding process, obviously with a new GM coming in. We should take things slowly. Work hard. But we can't come in again (next season) saying, 'Oh, we're going to be a playoff contender for sure.' We need to earn that right, not just say it."

On a personal basis, these players were nice guys. They were not hell-raisers off the court and were professional and often entertaining when dealing with reporters. But this group never meshed on the court.

Chemistry lacking
Early in the season, when the players gathered after a practice or a game to raise their arms together in the air, they chanted, "One-two-three-family." As the season wore on, that somehow changed to "One-two-three-Bucks."

"The one thing that will completely turn all this around is chemistry," veteran center Jake Voskuhl said. "We have a lot of very good basketball players. I just think if we had better chemistry, we'd be marching to the playoffs right now."

Said Bogut, "There were a lot of reports of guys fighting and so on. I didn't see much of that. But could we have been closer? Definitely."

The team lacked solid lines of communication - among the players, between the coaches and players and even among the coaches.

On the court, if Player A missed Player B on a mismatch or an obvious scoring opportunity, they were not adept at relaying their concerns in a constructive manner.

No communication
Not that there was no communication at all. For example, when Denver visited the Bradley Center on Feb. 23 and the Nuggets were killing the Bucks on fast-break points in building a 23-point lead in the first half, Bogut barked at Redd during a timeout to quit jacking up quick shots and get back on defense. The Bucks went on to stage one of the more impressive come-from-behind victories of the year.

The players did not view Krystkowiak as a strong X's and O's man and did not think he reacted quickly enough to in-game situations. That was reflected in how they related to him as the season wore on. During one game, Krystkowiak was trying to convey a point to Mo Williams on the sideline, and Williams responded by only staring blankly ahead with no response. That prompted Krystkowiak to ask, "Are you with me Mo?"
Krystkowiak lost some players to a certain degree because of his handling of Redd. The pre-season message was that all players would be treated equally, but as the season wore on, some wondered if Redd wasn't getting preferential treatment when he was not benched after questionable shot selection or defensive breakdowns.

Making matters even worse was the fact Redd and Krystkowiak were not on the same page. Redd admitted after the season that there was no chemistry between them.

That was never more obvious than after a home loss to New Orleans on Feb. 13, when Redd fired up a quick and ill-advised three-point shot in the closing seconds when a two-point basket would have tied the game. Afterward, Redd laid the defeat at Krystkowiak's feet, saying the Bucks had been going for the victory and he was only following the game plan by taking a three-pointer. It would later come to light that that was not necessarily the plan.

The team did not have a strong leadership base from either the coaching staff or the players. Redd is the franchise player salary-wise but is not a rah-rah type. There were times when Redd would attempt to gather the troops and raise arms together before they took the court, only to be joined by a portion of his teammates while others wandered aimlessly in the corridor.

It was not a close-knit coaching staff.

Strange arrangement
Causing considerable consternation was the fact assistant Jarinn Akana had not been a Krystkowiak hire but instead had joined the team as part of a package deal with rookie Yi Jianlian, since Akana is associated with Yi's agents, handlers and the Chinese team. Veteran league observers viewed the arrangement as highly unusual, if not unprecedented.

Yi worked almost exclusively with Akana, even though some felt Yi could have benefited more from working with some of the more veteran assistants, such as Tony Brown, Jim Todd or Brian James. Being constantly in Akana's company alienated Yi a bit from his teammates, who got the impression Yi was being "managed."

On the court, "inconsistency" was the byword as the Bucks were done in by different things in different games. Bogut may have expressed it best after a late-season loss in Atlanta when he said the Bucks might as well just flip a coin to see if it would be the offense or the defense that would falter on any particular night.

Kohl has now assigned Hammond the task of returning the Bucks to respectability, and after what could be an active summer, the Bucks will start over next season.

Again.

[SugarRay34]

Some good info in there. Not sure why it didnt come out mid season or when it actually happened but anyways it is out so lets talk about it. Discuss

[Captain Erv]

[trwi7]

Krystkowiak lost some players to a certain degree because of his handling of Redd. The pre-season message was that all players would be treated equally, but as the season wore on, some wondered if Redd wasn't getting preferential treatment when he was not benched after questionable shot selection or defensive breakdowns.

Very interesting.

[carmelbrownqueen]

-= original quote snipped =-



Very interesting.

Not really because that was already alluded to from what I recall by Bucksskinfan a while ago.. most notably it was Simmons that wasn't pleased.

[bango_the_buck]

Very interesting.

More like very obvious... but I did find this very interesting:

Causing considerable consternation was the fact assistant Jarinn Akana had not been a Krystkowiak hire but instead had joined the team as part of a package deal with rookie Yi Jianlian, since Akana is associated with Yi's agents, handlers and the Chinese team. Veteran league observers viewed the arrangement as highly unusual, if not unprecedented.

Yi worked almost exclusively with Akana, even though some felt Yi could have benefited more from working with some of the more veteran assistants, such as Tony Brown, Jim Todd or Brian James. Being constantly in Akana's company alienated Yi a bit from his teammates, who got the impression Yi was being "managed."

I want Akana shown the door with the Larrys, regardless of who we get as coach...

[mcfromage]

This is the best and most comprehensive article on this season I've read to date. I've gotta say it: well done JS and Tom Enlund. I agree with the earlier post re: why didn't some of this stuff come out earlier, but it's nice to have it now. Very interesting article. Thank God Hammond is the head dog and is starting to form a real front office (i.e. Weltman). We need a total overhaul, and really Bogut is the only player I feel any allegiance toward.

[jerrod]

but I did find this very interesting:

that's what stuck out to me also

[heynow]

First where was this article weeks, months.... how about years ago.
This mess took more then one season to make and is not because of the actions of Larry Harris or Coach K.
I am not a fan of either but neither should be blamed for this mess.

Second, again the Redd apologist don't get it.
Here is an example by a baskeball writer. The guy who covers the team...
"The team did not have a strong leadership base from either the coaching staff or the players. Redd is the franchise player salary-wise but is not a rah-rah type. There were times when Redd would attempt to gather the troops and raise arms together before they took the court, only to be joined by a portion of his teammates while others wandered aimlessly in the corridor."

Rah-rah isn't the problem. Jordan wasn't a Rah-rah leader. Neither is Kobe or Chris Paul.
he problem with Redd is his style of play. He refuse to lead by example. Yes he gets his points but he refuses to work at guarding his man. He is selfish and jacks up ill-advised shots and when he takes a bad shot he ignores the consequences and starts making excuse.
When he doesn't perform he makes up excuses.

At the top of the list of things Hammond needs to do is trade him.

My suggestion is to Washington for someone like Caron Butler (plus any retread they have to make it work salary cap wise)... Someone like that who plays as hard on the defensive end (if not harder) as he does at the offensive end of the floor would be refreshing.

[jerrod]

My suggestion is to Washington for someone like Caron Butler (plus any retread they have to make it work salary cap wise)... Someone like that who plays as hard on the defensive end (if not harder) as he does at the offensive end of the floor would be refreshing.

why on earth would the wizards even consider that?

[jimmy_n13]

No communication
Not that there was no communication at all. For example, when Denver visited the Bradley Center on Feb. 23 and the Nuggets were killing the Bucks on fast-break points in building a 23-point lead in the first half, Bogut barked at Redd during a timeout to quit jacking up quick shots and get back on defense. The Bucks went on to stage one of the more impressive come-from-behind victories of the year.

I found that interesting. Maybe Bogut is going to be the leader

[ReasonablySober]

Easily the most damning Redd article written to date.

[emunney]

The Akana thing is unnerving. I had really hoped Yi would put in a lot of time with Peterson.

Apart from that, this reads sort of like the PR groundwork to ship Redd out of town...

[jeremyd236]

We'll never move on if we continue to look back. The Larry Harris / novice coach era is over.

[paul]

We'll never move on if we continue to look back. The Larry Harris / novice coach era is over.

I disagree with that, the only way this franchise can move forward is to recognize it's mistakes from the past, acknowledge them, and correct them. The first two steps towards recovery have been taken with the GM and coach being moved on, however one of this organization's biggest mistakes must be corrected, Redd must be moved. We all know he isn't a max player, but his 'me' attitude and alpha dog mentality have clearly hurt the teams chemistry, it appears he's the only one who believes that he is deserving of his max contract. He absolutely MUST go this offseason.

Good article from the JS, but I agree with others questioning why we have to wait until the end of the season to hear this stuff. It's like the season ends and they decide to suddenly report on the bucks rather than just giving us the boxscore highlights and trotting out the company line.

[midranger]

My favorite part was that Redd pulled a Max shot to lose us a ball game, and then sold his coach out by lying to the media and saying that had been the play designed.

If anyone can present a single reason that Redd should be kept, I'd love to hear it.

[tyland]

My favorite part was that Redd pulled a Max shot to lose us a ball game, and then sold his coach out by lying to the media and saying that had been the play designed.

If anyone can present a single reason that Redd should be kept, I'd love to hear it.

My sentiments exactly. I've been swinging back and forth who I'd prefer to go (if we have to keep one), after that I'm all for shipping Redd out. Utterly pathetic if he, essentially, through a game like that.

[Dags]

It's nice to have some specific examples (although these should have come out during the season, not now), but there isn't much news in it. We already know the dysfunction in the team and hierarchy. We already know that players phased out Larry K and played selfishly.

What I'm more anxious to know is how the Bucks are going to deal with it all. Which is why the next few months are going to be more interesting than most of the season.

[LISTEN2JAZZ]

I had no idea about that Yi/Akana dynamic. That's just insane, like Yi never tried to be "one of the guys" and was always off doing his own thing with his own coach. We brought in the coach who helped Bosh develop, but Yi almost never worked with him?

[unklchuk]

Over years, I've developed very low expectations for the JS and for the reporting of Tom Enlund - but this article impresses me. May not be much news, but there's persuasive detail. Much is familiar to readers here, but I think it constructive to see it presented to the general public. In part, because it goes past the standard mealy-mouthed wimping out phrases like "some think" or "observers speculate" and that kind of equivocation. This article, on first reading, seems to actually take a position, to say this is the way it is.

Folks I respect who are close to the team get rather indignant at the notion that Kohl and his "cronies" meddle with what should be basketball decisions. This article says they do, which seems to fit the team behavior for years. I'd have to see good evidence before I'll believe they don't. Maybe we'll see that with the new regime.