MVN - Most Valuable Network

Changing a losing culture

When John Hammond was hired to replace Larry Harris as the Milwaukee Bucks General Manager many people didn’t think it was possible to turn around such a downtrodden franchise so quickly. After his first draft as GM, I’d say Hammond is well on his way to revitalizing a once proud franchise.

Hammond had gone on record and said the most pressing need for the Bucks was to get a small forward that was healthy and could play at both ends of the floor. He accomplished that goal by bringing in Richard Jefferson from the New Jersey Nets for Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons. The trade benefited the Bucks in several ways. First and most importantly, it gave the Bucks that small forward that Hammond’s was seeking. Jefferson averaged a career-high 22.6 points last season for the Nets. He played in all 82 games which is key since both Yi and Simmons missed significant time to injuries. Perhaps most importantly, Jefferson brings playoff experience to a team which is lacking that more than anything else. Jefferson has made the playoffs six times in his career, including two trips to the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003.

Some people might think that Hammond gave up too much to get Jefferson but when you analyze it a bit more, you realize it was in the best interest of the team to pull it off. Although Yi may turn out to be a superstar, he was not Hammond’s pick and he had no interest in Yi long-term. It was also doubtful that Yi would sign a contract with the team in a few years when he became a free agent. Trading Bobby Simmons was nothing more than a salary dump. He was a bad contract on a team filled with them. Along with Simmons, Dan Gadzuric, Mo Williams and to a degree Michael Redd had all bogged the Bucks down with outrageous contracts. Jefferson has 3 years and about 42 million left on his contract but this move shows that the Bucks are trying to compete in the Eastern Conference immediately and not waiting out bad contracts or for young players to mature.

There are still several more moves yet to be made and I will cover that over the summer. For now, it’s nice to see the team bringing in quality talent and trying to change the fortunes of the Bucks.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 29th, 2008 at 7:11 pm and is filed under Bobby Simmons, Dan Gadzuric, Michael Redd, Richard Jefferson, Yi Jianlian, Milwaukee Bucks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.