Milwaukee Bucks 2016-17 Season Review: John Hammond
As the Milwaukee Bucks recorded a winning season and returned to the playoffs, how did general manager John Hammond contribute to the team’s success?
It was in 2010 behind Scott Skiles and a Brandon Jennings-led Milwaukee Bucks team that John Hammond first received national recognition as an executive in the NBA. Hammond assembled a rag-tag roster of odds and ends, coupled with a seemingly unearned swagger that took the league by storm.
It was in that year, with injuries to the franchise’s two marquee players, that the Bucks marched to a winning record and the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
It was that year that the “Fear the Deer” Bucks made their debut and Jennings’ fateful “Win in Six” proclamation was a hot topic in national papers and nightly editions of SportsCenter.
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It was that season that John Hammond was awarded the league’s highest honor for a general manager in the league; NBA Executive of the Year.
While the parallels between the 2016-17 season and 2010 are spooky (sixth seed, two injured stars, rookie point guard, trading for a veteran scorer) the latest incarnation might just be Hammond’s magnum opus as GM of the Milwaukee Bucks.
John Hammond (and assistant GM Justin Zanik for that matter) made the necessary and crafty moves to keep the team afloat and push for the playoffs. And while there were missteps by the Bucks front office, overall, they deserve a lot of credit.
Let’s take a look at the front office’s best and worst moves, from the head-scratchers to the season-saving acquisitions.