The Bucks and GM John Hammond have agreed to a one-year contract extension, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reports (Twitter links). The extension will run through the 2017/18 campaign, notes Wojnarowski. The dollar value of the arrangement is not yet known.
Milwaukee hired Justin Zanik as GM-in-waiting earlier this month and this extension will allow Hammond to work alongside the new executive and smooth the transition, Wojnarowski writes. Hammond will remain with the organization as a consultant after he steps down as GM, the scribe adds. The Bucks recently signed coach Jason Kidd to a three-year, $16.5MM extension of his own.
Hammond has been GM of the Bucks since 2008 and the franchise has gone 273-367 under his watch in the regular season and 5-12 in the postseason. During his tenure he won the 2009/10 Executive of the Year award, which was the only season under Hammond that the team has finished the year over .500.
I will be very disappointed if we don’t make significant moves this offseason. There’s no reason to keep Monroe around (clearly wasn’t a fit) plus he can opt out after next season so why not trade him now to get something back? Plus we could really use a starting PG, a 3pt shooter and a defensive minded center and we have the money to do it. If he just add “average veterans” to help the young guys we won’t go anywhere.
You want three players, not average veterans with the money we have? we have a little over $20 mil, not going to be able to get anything over average
Make a move? This team hasn’t been worthwhile of attention since the Ray Allen days.
what player should they go get?
Agreed, there’s no reason to keep Monroe around but I don’t think the Bucks would be getting anything worthwhile for him considering the depth of big men in this free agent market. At best, they’re probably getting a backup big, some cap relief after some guys sign, or take on a bad contract that expires after this year. And as “Surprisingly a Bucks Fan” said, they don’t have enough cap room to add league average guys at those spots. Barring a trade, a starting point guard is going to cost upwards of $10 million a year. A rim protector is going to cost upwards of $8 million. And a 3point shooter will also cost a couple of million depending on position.
The way the bucks used him, and how badly they made it public, plus like you said available bigs, it almost be better just to keep him and use him off the bench
You want three players, not average veterans with the money we have? we have a little over $20 mil, not going to be able to get anything over average
Why would you keep someone who clearly doesn’t fit on the team and will be leaving after next season? Pay him 17mil to backup Plumlee and play terrible defense? Plus with the amount of teams that are looking for bigs this offseason some teams are going to miss out. NY, ATL, GS, CHI, MIA, BOS are all teams just off the top of my head that will be looking to add a big if they miss out on the top 4-5 free agents. You can easily trade Monroe for a guard and probably clear a little cap too then all the sudden you have 20-25mil to spend on a rim protector and shooter.
Perfect example would be Rubio/bench player for Monroe. T-Wolves move Rubio and add a big to play along with Towns and the Bucks get a guard who can split time with MCW and put up 12pts – 8assists in 30 mins a game and you clear a little cap doing so
That’d be a terrible trade for the T-Wolves. The Bucks would have to send back MCW (with another piece or two going from Minny to Milwaukee) or the Bucks would have to take a bum or two back. The Bucks don’t have any leverage in a deal because everyone knows the Bucks want to get rid of Monroe, so I don’t imagine a team giving up one of their starters and cap space for him. On top of that, they have less leverage because of how deep the market for big men is. Brandon Bass could do almost the exact same thing Monroe will give you but at a cheaper rate.
I agree that teams know the Bucks want to move Monroe but the Wolves have also said they are “shopping Rubio hard”. I’m just throwing out there that there will be teams that miss out on bigs in free agency that will need one and at 17mil for a guy who can still put up 15-10 in 30 mins in today’s NBA that’s actually pretty cheap as bad as it is to say..