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Bucks GM John Hammond On Expectations, Monroe and Giannis

By Jordan Treske

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After a very hectic start to this summer’s NBA off-season, it’s gone relatively quiet, for the most part, for the majority of the NBA.

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It’s around this time of year that coaches, GM’s and players (save for the players playing for their respective countries) take some much needed vacation time before the machine starts up again.

It’s also a time where you can catch people with some insider information like we saw a couple of weeks ago with former Bucks player Jared Dudley when he caught up with Grantland writer and podcaster Zach Lowe for an excellent interview.

Well, this week, Bucks GM John Hammond stopped by the The Baseline podcast to give some insight into what’s been a very exciting off-season for the Bucks.

To start things off, when Hammond is broached upon the recent news of the proposed Bucks arena deal going through the state assembly, he gives a great explanation for how the Bucks recent turnaround success could have played a role in the proposed arena deal:

"I do think what we did this past year, the season that we had, I think put some emphasis in getting it approved.  I think it made it easier to have it happen and the getting of Jason Kidd as the team’s coach bares a lot of credit for what happened this past season."

He explained further how the hiring of Kidd was the key factor in turning the team around from 15 wins to 41 wins in just a year, as well as his effect on the players and going through the various ups and downs during this past season:

"I really think, probably the immediate game changer for us was the hiring of Jason Kidd.  I really do believe that.  I think when he came in, he provided great leadership for our team.  We had some veteran guys that really helped us in Zaza Pachulia, Jared Dudley, O.J. Mayo and Jerryd Bayless, those four guys in particular, I think, just did a great job of supporting Jason as coach and helping our young guys.Look a lot of things just went right, you’re right, we went through some adversity.  I mean, losing Larry Sanders was very difficult for us and then Jabari goes down with his injury, you could maybe say our two best players going into the season, so to have a 26 win turnaround season like what we did, that’s almost of historic measures around the NBA to have a turnaround like that so give Jason, his staff and the players an awful lot of credit for what happened."

When questioned about the outlook of the team’s roster and their emphasis on a young core of players, Hammond shed some light on how important the next season is for the Bucks and their future as a whole:

"It’s going to be, hopefully, a very good year for us.  You know, we still have to be in the mode of making sure we have a little bit of patience because we still are such a young team.  You know, we just signed Chris Copeland, who’s been in the league three years.  He’s only 31 years old, but when we signed Chris, we said you’re the oldest player on our roster.  That tells you quite a bit about who we are and how young we actually are."

To coincide with how important next season is for the young Bucks, Hammond elaborated further on how the perception of the Bucks around the league won’t be the same as it was at the start of last season:

"You know, the bar has been raised.  I think that people last year, I’m sure, coaches tried to convince teams playing against us that ‘hey these guys, you know, you’re going to have to play hard, you’re going to have to be ready.’  But I don’t think teams probably believed that until maybe the very end of the season, but that’s not going to be the case this year.When we take the floor against every NBA team this year, when the coach walks in and says ‘hey, you ready to play these guys?’ The players are going to know it, understand it, so with that being said, we’re going to have to raise to another level too, if we expect to have a better year than we did last year."

As far as fit of the team’s big acquisition of Greg Monroe, Hammond discussed how he views Monroe fitting as the team’s starting center, as well as the possibility of Monroe and John Henson sharing minutes together:

"Greg has played both positions.  I think you could see, looking at his numbers, raw numbers or you know, a deeper dive in his analytics and you could see that he’s probably been the most efficient, especially offensively, playing the center position, so I think he knew that’s what we wanted.You know, we do think that at times, you could put he and John Henson on the floor together.  John is, I think, one of the best rim protectors in the NBA, so you could play John at the center position and Greg at the power forward position, if Jason Kidd would ever choose to do that.  I think that’s an option that could possibly be there for us, especially with big lineups."

Probably the most interesting bit of information is how Hammond comments on how vital the NBA experience has been for the young Giannis Antetokounmpo, the growth that he hopes to see in him as soon as next season, as well as a possible new position for him:

"The one thing that Giannis can really do, and really do well is pass the basketball and I think he’s gotten in the league, he’s seen the need to score and how important that is for him to become the player that he wants to become and our team needs the scoring as well.  He’s aggressive trying to get to the free throw line and the basket, but I mean, Giannis hasn’t really shown that yet in the NBA like I think it’s going to come to him.As he gets more experience and the game slows down for him, once that game slows down for him and he can get the pace he needs to be at, I think you’re going to see even more and more of the kind of things we’re discussing now.  His ability to make great basketball plays, his ability to pass the basketball, that no how of how to play, he has all that.You know, he’s 6’11,” and I love the fact that, with our roster moving forward, I love the kind of small ball for us, potentially, if there’s ever a matchup situation that allows it, I think you can play Giannis Antetokounmpo at center, I really do.  You know, he’s 6’11,” so it’s not really small ball per se, but his ball skills and no how, how to play, will give us the ability to do that.  I think that could be a really fun team to watch someday, if you go with that small ball theory."

Other topics that Hammond addresses in the interview are the process of re-signing of Khris Middleton, the difficulty of the Larry Sanders situation, how he views the roster as it stands now and lastly, the unknown of who will fill the void with key veterans in Jared Dudley and Zaza Pachulia on other teams.

Ultimately, the biggest takeaway from this highly informative interview that all Bucks fans should take a listen to is the work the team has done to overhaul their image not only inside the organization, but around the league.

There’s still work yet to be done, as well as growth from the team’s young core of players but it finally looks as though the team that Hammond visualized when he came to Milwaukee a little over a half decade ago could finally be realized.

Next: How The Bucks Compare: An Early Eastern Conference Primer

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