How John Hammond has made the Bucks better
Bill Simmons did a running diary of the Hawks/Bucks and Thunder/Spurs games last night. Here’s what he had to say about Bucks GM John Hammond…
9:30: Johnson posts up Salmons for two, followed by Carlos Delfino (21 points) draining a 3. Bucks GM John Hammond made three great moves in the past year: The Salmons trade; gambling on Brandon Jennings at No. 10; and signing Delfino for nothing last summer. (Not only does Delfino fill up the stat sheet, play both swing spots and give you solid D, but he has a giant tattoo of a lizard on his left shoulder that looks cool in HD. There’s a lot to like.) Meanwhile, Joe Dumars ran the Pistons into the ground in the 18 months after Hammond bolted Detroit for Milwaukee. Were the two events related? Hmmmmmm.
Hammond also signed Ersan Ilyasova, who first played for the Bucks during a rough 2006-07 season when he was just 19. After a couple of years in Spain, Hammond brought him back and he has played well, averaging 10-6, 44% FG%, 35% 3PT, and playing hard-nosed defense. The signing made Richard Jefferson expendable, so Hammond traded him to the Spurs and ended up with Amir Johnson (from Detroit), whom he shipped to Toronto for Delfino, who is averaging 11-5-3 and is shooting 37% from long range, while playing tough defense on opposing wings.
I criticized the Jefferson trade at the time because I didn’t think that the Bucks got enough for him, but it turns out that with Ilyasova and Delfino, they did. Plus they’ll have significant cap space in the summer of 2011 with Jefferson and Michael Redd off the books. At that point, they’ll have six players under contract — Andrew Bogut, Brandon Jennings, Ilyasova, Delfino, Luc Mbah a Moute and Charlie Bell — and $25 million or more to spend. That’s a nice little nucleus, especially if they can keep Salmons at a reasonable price.
I also thought Hammond should have retained Ramon Sessions, but with Ridnour playing pretty well, he was expendable.
Hammond got off to a rough start in his first draft where he took Joe Alexander at #8, passing on Brook Lopez, Anthony Randolph, D.J. Augustin, Jerryd Bayless and Marreese Speights in the process. Passing on Lopez is somewhat understandable if you’re drafting for need (with Bogut already on the roster), but the team’s future would be even brighter if they had a forward like Randolph or Speights on the roster.
Regardless, Hammond bounced back with the Jennings pick and has made a number of savvy moves to get the Bucks to where they are now. Is Milwaukee a threat to make a Finals appearance? No, but the Bradley Center is hosting some good basketball now and to fans in Milwaukee, that’s all that matters. Hammond seems to understand how to manage a small-market team and has put the franchise in a good position for years to come. That’s all you can ask for out of your general manager.
Follow the Scores Report editors on Twitter @clevelandteams and @bullzeyedotcom.
Paulsen, I gotta hand it to you, you really are a Bucks homer. I think 38% of your NBA coverage is Bucks related.
I’m not knocking you, I’m just saying.
By the way, why in the world are you a Duke fan?
15 wins in the last 17 games, damn straight I’m going to write about them. No one else seems to care.
I grew up watching Johnny Dawkins and loved his game, and like the way Coach K’s kids always play.
I think the question at the end is a little stupid. Hammond has done an amazing job, but suggesting Dumars isn’t capable of running the Pistons without Hammond is a bit much.
Andrew — How has Dumars done since Hammond left?
John and Andrew,
I’m a fan of all Wisconsin sports teams, I’m from Milwaukee, and I currently go to CMU. I’m really glad I found your site on the internet because you guys talk about teams and topics that I really care about.
thanks,
JP
Well this year has been horrible, but it’s a new team. The team was basically overhauled last season. Rip, Prince and Maxiel were the only connection to the “Glory days” (not including Wallace who came back). On going and lingering injuries were a huge part of the downfall (i know, poor excuse) but the pieces are there. The rookies were great pick ups. The (overpaid, i admit) free agents both had inconsistent seasons, but are both young and have their best bball ahead of them. We have valuable trade bait. And we will get a lottery pick. This off season will be a good test for Dumars. And then we’ll see who needs to say “i told you so”.
And also, I wasn’t talking down about Hammond, I was just stating that I’m sure Hammond wasn’t the only reason that the Pistons were so good all these years, Dumars did something.
To me, Dumars has made a mess of that franchise in the last two years. He traded Billups away so he’d have the cap space to sign Ben Gordon and Charlie V, who are two (albeit good) bench players. I think he overpaid for both as well. Plus, he signed Rip to a big, expensive extension.
Granted, the team as it was wasn’t going to go anywhere, but they’d be a top 4 team in the East if they could replace Rasheed on the front line. But trading Billups away so you can sign Gordon and Charlie V doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.
Dumars deserves credit for building the team that won the title, but since then, things haven’t been pretty.
Thats far enough. But look at what was available from last seasons free agents. Dumars got the best he could find. We needed some 3 point shooting, he got Gordon,one of the best shooters in the league. We needed more help up front, he got CV whose very talented offensively and young enough to continue improving.
Also i think it kind of back fired since Boozer didn’t opt out, when most people thought he was going to.
Stuckey is meant to be the future of the team, so he needed to take ownership of the team and he couldn’t do that with Billups around.”Rebuilding” or “retooling” or whatever you call it is always messy with a vet team with strong chemistry.
Even with Boozer not opting out, Dumars could have rolled over his cap space to this season. Had he not signed Gordon or Villanueva last summer, the Pistons would have about $13-$14 million in cap space heading into this summer, and Boozer should be readily available at that price. He could have signed a few players to one year contracts to keep the team somewhat competitive this season.
But look at the amount of teams with cap space this year. Miami, Chicago, New York. Would Boozer like to play with Dwayne Wade in Miami, Lebron in New York or Stuckey in Detroit?? You know what I mean?? With all the teams clearing cap space it would be hard to convince a top level free agent to come to Detroit.
I think the guys he got are going to be good in the long run. I’m not a Gordon fan, but he showed early on when Rip was injured and before he was injured that he could be an effective scorer. And Charlie showed a little early on. Both have had bad seasons, but they have showed in the past they are good players. (I’m interested in your opinion on Charlie V since you would have seen him a lot as a Bucks fan)
Going into the season there was no reason not to be believe they were a playoff team. I’d rather be in the Pistons position, with a promising young core, than the Celtics position as pretend contenders.
I think they could have landed Boozer this summer. He’ll probably go where the money is and where there’s a need. Detroit fits both criteria. Unfortunately for Piston fans, we’ll never know.
Charlie V is okay in spurts, but he’s pretty much a mess defensively and shoots way too many threes given his accuracy. I was happy the Bucks let him go, though I wish they would have gotten something for him.
I admit it would have made this summer a lot more interesting. Boozer would be the perfect fit with this team i think. Well i hope we get a good draft pick. Hopefully they can work out a sign and trade deal for Prince or Rip.
Anyway, I’ll be rooting for the Bucks in the playoffs. It’s good to see my countryman Bogut having such a good year.
He has really come on. I think the fact that he has stayed healthy and Skiles is using him so much offensively (because Redd is out, or finished). He has developed a killer hook with either hand that he can hit with his back to the basket or as he attacks the rim. He has also turned into one of the top two or three defensive centers in the NBA as well.
He’s a lock for the All star game next season if he keeps going this way. He is making such a big impact, it seems funny how people questioned his big contract, now it seems like a bargin.
If only the pistons can get a guy like that. We desperately need a young center. Fingers crossed for the draft.