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The Milwaukee Bucks are Seriously Planning on “Owning The Future”

By Ti Windisch

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If you hadn’t heard, the Milwaukee Bucks just handed general manager John Hammond a one-year extension, meaning his contract will end after the 2016-17 NBA season. This has generally been a celebrated move, and for good reason–Hammond is a good GM who deserves his job.

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One aspect of it that was noted by almost all but explored by hardly any was the fact that Hammond and head coach Jason Kidd now are both under contract until after the 2017 season. I feel like that’s a lot more purposeful than just having them come up for extensions at the same time–in fact, I think it’s pretty damn serious.

That offseason is now a deadline for success in Milwaukee.

I believe that ownership will 100 percent be willing to blow up a lot of the current core the Bucks have assembled and go in an entirely different direction if the Bucks aren’t at least close to contending after the next two seasons. I don’t have any inside information on this, but it just seems kind of obvious.

Here’s why: this is a list of players, coaches and general managers who have money guaranteed to them after that offseason: Khris Middleton and Larry Sanders. That’s it. Every single other person working for the Milwaukee Bucks could be jettisoned for no extra cost that offseason, and of course Larry isn’t actually on the roster.

Granted Jabari Parker, Tyler Ennis and Rashad Vaughn will be on team-friendly team options and at least two of them will probably still be on the team at that point (sorry, T-Dot). But as for players besides Parker, Middleton and probably Vaughn? I wouldn’t bet money on any of them remaining Bucks if the team struggles through the next two seasons.

Yes, that does include Giannis Antetokounmpo. Unless he takes a leap to be an absolute superstar by then, there is a chance that the organization does not feel like maxing him out is the best option. And I’d be surprised if some team out there doesn’t throw Giannis a max offer sheet.

And let’s get one thing clear–I’m not advocating for this or saying it’s the right call. But the Bucks new ownership has shown that they’re taking their business sense and applying it to running the team.

Would most teams have unceremoniously fired Larry Drew and somewhat shadily brought over Jason Kidd in the middle of his ugly power struggle with Brooklyn?

Probably not. Maybe some would have, but it was seen as sort of a snake move around the NBA when it went down. But it was good business, and it made the Bucks better. If dealing Giannis for draft picks and struggling for another year or three is seen as good business and something that will make the Bucks better, then that’s what they’ll do.

I don’t think things will be that drastic, but I would definitely expect big changes in the 2017 offseason. This roster is set up so that the team can pick and choose the pieces it likes and swap out the rest to build a better basketball team.

Everything except the Middleton signing this offseason has pointed towards that timetable, by the way. Dealing the second-round pick to not have to worry about another guy eating roster space, signing Monroe to a deal he’ll surely opt out of by then (although that may have been his choice as well), and also conveniently not re-signing John Henson yet.

If Henson ends up taking the qualifying offer much like his new teammate Greg Monroe did, then the Bucks will have until the summer of 2017 to decide if they wish to keep him or not as well (although he’ll be an unrestricted free agent should he sign the qualifying offer, meaning he could leave Milwaukee if he wanted to).

Like I said earlier, the team has the option to literally punt on any and every player on this roster that summer–except Middleton. And really, Middleton too. He’s on what’s going to be an easily trade-able contract in 2017, and if his defense and three-point shooting even stays as it is now with no improvement he’ll easily be worth that much.

I don’t think the team will go into a complete rebuild in 2017, but I would expect a big-time retooling. If the Bucks aren’t as high on guys like Henson or Giannis as some other teams are, they may let them go, especially if the 2016-17 season doesn’t go well for the Bucks.

The franchise doesn’t have anything to worry about should this core not work out and tanking is the only option–the Bucks are staying in Milwaukee and the new arena should be completely done around that summer.

But every other detail of this franchise–the head coach, the general manager, and essentially every player on the roster–has no guarantee that they’ll be around to play in that new arena.

Do I think that we’ll have a new coaching staff, front office and entirely different roster for the 2017-18 season? No. But it’s an option at this point, and we won’t know for sure what happens until the now-drastically important summer of 2017. The deadline approaches for title contention in Milwaukee.

Next: What We Learned About Giannis In Eurobasket

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