The masked man, Andrew Bogut, gets a lot of dough

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It is a big pile of money. Bigger than you will see in your lifetime of slaving at a regular job.

Andrew Bogut will sign a 5 year extension for 72 million bucks.

The signing should also silence critics who feel the team hasn’t shown a commitment to winning, Bauman said. The hiring of Scott Skiles as coach and the trade for Richard Jefferson demonstrated to Bogut that the team was making a push to be competitive.

“These moves show Andrew this team is committed to winning now,” Bauman said.

The extension does not affect the nearly $7 million Bogut is owed for the upcoming season, the final year of his rookie contract.

Despite the Bucks’ struggles in the past two seasons, Bogut indicated he wanted to stay with the team.

He played in 78 games last season, averaging 14.3 points and 9.8 rebounds.
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Ordinarily, you would find me critical of a signing like this, but this is not the ordinary. John Hammond helped Joe Dumars build the Pistons and now he is trying to do the same with the Bucks. Think it over; they now have Michael Redd at shooting guard, Andrew Bogut at center, and Richard Jefferson at small forward. That is a pretty powerful nucleus. Throw in Scott Skiles at coach and this team is ready to move up the ladder!

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It had to happen sooner rather than later.

John Hammond has signed on to be the General Manager of the Milwaukee Bucks. John has been right there with Joe Dumars for 7 years. He is ready for his own team.

The Milwaukee Bucks have hired John Hammond as their new general manager, hoping the former Detroit vice president can bring some of the Pistons’ success to a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2001.

“He is a proven NBA talent who has played an essential role in a winning NBA organization,” Bucks owner Herb Kohl said in a release distributed Friday night during the third quarter a 102-86 loss to Boston that dropped the Bucks to 26-53.

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Oh, the Bucks just don’t realize how lucky they are to get this guy. Having heard him speak numerous times on the Piston pregame show, John worked closely with Joe Dumars to build and keep the Pistons strong. The man knows basketball.

John Hammond will be missed by Coach Flip Saunders and President and GM Joe Dumars

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John turned down jobs at Toronto and Portland already, just waiting for the right opportunity. Joe Dumars and John can usually be seen sitting together at every game. It seemed like every sentence out of John’s mouth was “Joe and myself have been talking about…”.

You can expect John to assemble a strong team around himself, perhaps stealing some personnel from the Pistons.

As for who will step into Hammond’s spot in Detroit, there’s no talk yet of front-runners — but there are several internal staff members who could become candidates. George David, the director of player personnel, has been with the Pistons for 11 years. Director of basketball administration Jeff Weltman joined the team last summer but has 20 years of NBA experience; he was assistant general manager in Denver for five seasons and spent 13 years with the Los Angeles Clippers.
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An interesting speculation by ESPN has John letting Coach Larry Krystkowiak go and hiring Rick Carlisle. Coach Carlisle was fired by the Pistons so they could hire Larry Brown. Rick is an excellent coach that preaches individual responsibility and calls all the plays from the bench. He runs a very tight ship, in fact often too tight and upsets many people around him. They could win with Rick, but he would not last long. He would be the coach to put the seriousness back into the franchise.

There will not be much talent to begin with, but Rick Carlisle has never let that stop him before.

Hammond inherits a roster made up of one star – shooting guard Michael Redd – and a smattering of young talent – Mo Williams, Charlie Villenueva, Andrew Bogut and Yi Jianlian and a top-10 lottery pick in June’s draft.

This should be a very interesting hire.

NBA Basketball special comment John will turn things around in Milwaukee, but there is a long ways to go. Will he be given enough time?

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