Behind the Bucks Pass
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Milwaukee Bucks Hire Craig Robinson As VP Of Player And Organizational Development

By Ti Windisch

Apr 23, 2015; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Outside view of the Bradley Center prior to game three of the first round of the NBA Playoffs between the Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 23, 2015; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Outside view of the Bradley Center prior to game three of the first round of the NBA Playoffs between the Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Milwaukee Bucks have added another noteworthy name to their front office. This time it’s former Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson who has been hired.

While everybody is waiting to see which players the Milwaukee Bucks pick for their final roster spots, the Bucks have instead signed a new addition to the team’s front office.

Craig Robinson–no, not the guy from “The Office”–is the newest voice added to Milwaukee’s front office after being hired as VP of Player and Organizational Development according to The Vertical’s Chris Mannix.

As Mannix notes in his tweet there, Robinson is indeed the older brother of America’s First Lady, Michelle Obama. If you were wondering, yes, Robinson does have a Barack Obama story. And it’s elegantly detailed in this Chuck Klosterman piece for Esquire back in 2009.

Robinson was asked by his younger sister to play a game of basketball with the current President of the United States who was then merely the new guy at her law firm, to determine if he was worthy of dating her. According to Robinson, he indeed was.

"When I played basketball with Barack, he was quietly confident, which means he had good self-esteem without being cocky. He was certainly a team player — he wasn’t a pig, he passed when he was supposed to pass, and he cut when he was supposed to cut. To me, that speaks to a lack of selfishness. He had natural leadership ability, because he didn’t just pass me the ball because he was dating my sister. Whenever a player gets tired, he reverts back to the player he truly is. That’s how you tell. And we played for hours. That’s how I could tell.”"

That’s super cool, without a doubt. But enough Obama stories–let’s get back to Robinson. He’s got an interesting enough story on his own, as profiled in the New York Times back in 2007.

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He was a standout player at Princeton back in the early 1980s and was drafted in the fourth round of the 1983 NBA Draft, although he never actually made it to the NBA. He did play some basketball over in Europe, before coming back and serving as an assistant coach for a few years at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

After that Robinson moved out of basketball entirely, and got into the business world. He ended up serving as a partner at a financial firm, but eventually got tired of being in that industry. So he quit.

Robinson accepted an assistant coaching gig at Northwestern that paid him a tenth of his former salary, but he didn’t take the job for the money, according to that great New York Times profile.

"“I’m thinking, ‘I’ve got all this stuff, and it hasn’t made my life any better,'” said the 44-year-old Robinson, who was remarried this summer. “You have the nice house, nice car, all this stuff. It didn’t save my marriage.”"

Robinson moved from Northwestern to Brown and eventually Oregon State, serving as a head coach in both of the last stops. He enjoyed some successful seasons and some rough ones with the Beavers, eventually being fired in 2014.

Since then he’s been a college basketball analyst with ESPN, and apparently wanted to be the NBPA Executive Director at one point. Now he’s a member of the Milwaukee Bucks front office. So what exactly is a VP of Player and Organizational Development?

According to the Bucks.com press release, Robinson will serve as a mentor to the young Bucks. Wes Edens sure sounds excited about it.

"“Player development is instrumental to the success of our players on the court and their valuable impact in the community,” said Bucks co-owner Wes Edens. “We strive to equip every member of our organization with the tools they need to find personal success beyond basketball. As we continue to build a world-class franchise, we’re thrilled to have someone with Craig’s experience and character join our team and help our players reach their full potential on and off the court.”"

The Bucks released a lot of information about Robinson’s role will look like. In addition to working with players, he’ll have a lot of impact on the front office side of things as well. His experience in both finance and basketball probably appealed to the Bucks ownership, who also have backgrounds in both areas.

"Robinson will oversee the development and implementation of programs that support the professional and personal growth of players through education, mentorship, business and community efforts that align with the mission and goals of the Bucks organization."

His experience in both finance and basketball probably appealed to the Bucks ownership, who also have backgrounds in both areas.

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It’ll be interesting to see if Robinson tries to implement his “tough love” coaching style with the Milwaukee Bucks. It seems doubtful that he could use the same kind of language he used with his Oregon State team with the Bucks.

According to that Klosterman piece, Robinson wasn’t one to pull any verbal punches as a basketball coach in his time with the Beavers:

"The tall bald man stands at midcourt and watches his squad run through the reverse phase of its half-court offense. It’s repetitive and draconian. The bald man is sarcastic but not playful. He accuses his players of being con artists and makes them run penalty sprints. Whenever he addresses anyone on the roster, he refers to him only by jersey number. He tells a point guard to “sit the f*ck down,” because said point guard is “demoralizing practice.” When a small forward cuts to the wrong space on the floor and grows confused, the bald man asks, “So you’re dumb enough to run over there, but you’re too dumb to go back to where you came from?”One of the better players keeps offering excuses as to why he made the same mistake two times in a row. This is the wrong diplomatic tack. “If I hadn’t made you run so much already,” the bald man responds, “I’d make you run more, because you are too stupid to shut your f*cking mouth. We all love you here. We love guys who can make shots. But shut your f*cking mouth!”"

That kind of attitude isn’t one that’s typically worked in the NBA. Players are worth more to teams than coaches–outside of guys like Gregg Popovich, of course–and it’s not that close. Just look at the annual salaries of both positions to determine that.

Next: Would Ray Allen Be Productive in 2016-17?

It’s of course possible that Robinson was only using that particular philosophy knowing that he was coaching Beavers, not Bucks. Still, it’ll be interesting to monitor how players react to Craig Robinson as he begins his new job with the Milwaukee Bucks.

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