Milwaukee Bucks Blog - The Bob Boozer Jinx : Kelvin Sampson

Brandon Jennings blazes trail in New York Times feature

J.D. Mo — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:19:00 GMT

I picked up the midwest edition of the New York Times today to have something to look at while having my morning coffee and was hit with the unexpected. There it was, sports, page one, lower fold, under the saga about ol' Brett's 4th quarter adventures...(read more)

Pot busts and other NBA goings on, some of them Bucks related

J.D. Mo — Mon, 26 May 2008 12:29:00 GMT

This was some mighty fine police work down in Gainesville, Florida:

"Do ya think the tall kid with the crazy hair is holdin?"

"Prolly. And look, he's violatin our municipal open container law. The gall of it awl. I bet he's one of them stoned NBA-ers."

"He is too. Ain't that that Noah kid who won us two straight titles?"

"Shore is. We could just write him a ticket for the open container. He ain't doin' nuthin', just drinking a beer."

"Nahh, let's run him down to the station. I don't want to stay out here 'til shift change."

"Alright. You got yer game on?"

"Let's git 'er done."

##########################

The Charlie Villanueva damage patrol: With half of Ohio clamoring for the Cleveland Cavs to trade for Michael Redd and Racine Journal Times' Gery Woelfel reporting that, yes, John Hammond is scouting around for trades with Redd's name featured prominently, what does the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel do?

The daily floats Charlie Villanueva trade talk in its Saturday edition (Friday online).

True, Charlie's was the other name mentioned in the "Woelfel World of Sports" report on Hammond's trade discussions, but how can the big name in Woelfel's story be ignored? It should be noted that Charlie's name came up as a player "other teams were interested in" not as a player Hammond was dangling out there, though by telling Woelfel Hammond might as well have dangled him out there.

Here's where I make excuses for the daily and wonder why Charlie V gave JS reporter Charles Gardner this story. With the team in flux this offseason and only Andrew Bogut and Yi Jianlian on the virtually "untouchable" keeper list, Redd has been smart enough not to talk to reporters. In fact, he's been media silent since fired coach Larry Krystkowiak went public about Redd's season-long disregard for his team -- in story that appeared on JSOnline the day before the Bucks announced the hiring of Scott Skiles (pay no attention to Krystkowiak's pal, Skiles, pulling strings behind the curtain to make that story happen).

Charlie V? Not so smart -- although he did take the opportunity to give JS the obligatory kiss-up-to-the-new-coach quotes. Charlie played at UConn with two of Skiles' Bulls players, Ben Gordon and Luol Deng, who've given Charlie the skinny on his new coach: "They say he's a good coach. I think he's a very defensive-minded coach; he's a tough coach. It's exciting [for Charlie] for [Skiles] to be with the Bucks. He has won before, and we'll see what he can do this year." Get a media coach, Charlie.

Fans, though not surprised, have been somewhat caught off guard by the Charlie trade talk. How could we not be? Charlie will be a free agent after next season -- unless Hammond offers him an extension -- and his trade value is weirdly undefined at this point in his career. In response to this, Brett at the Bratwurst blog has proposed a number of impossible "dumb" Charlie V trades.

##########################

October 2006, Gordon commits to Indiana ... And all heck broke loose on the Chicago Sun Times fanblogs. I don't pay too much attention to college basketball unless a Badger or Marquette game is on the toob, or during tournament time, and stories like the Eric Gordon recruitment story are part of the reason.

The fuss between Illinois and Indiana over Gordon, who would only play one year at Indiana before entering the NBA draft, painted the NCAA and the schools in shade after shade of ridiculous. The Alice in Wonderland set-up that the NCAA and the NBA has created for the best young players (the one-year rule) leaves everyone involved looking foolish, including the fans for caring too much about too little.

Gordon reversed his verbal commitment to Illinois to play for Bucks assistant Kelvin Sampson, who had taken the Indiana job in March 2006. Gordon's change of schools occurred when Sampson was barred from leaving the university on recruiting trips or making recruiting calls, sanctions that stemmed from Sampson's "impermissable phone call" violations while coaching at Oklahoma. Investigators later charged that Sampson had made 100 calls during this initial year of sanctions. One has to wonder how many were calls from/to Gordon or Gordon's father.

The only reason I'm recounting all this is to wonder whether Sampson would still be at Indiana if Gordon hadn't changed his mind -- which was completely within his rights, obviously, as long as his dad said it was OK. The indignation spewed over Eric Gordon's one year of basketball (led by Illinois coach Bruce Weber) was not only an embarassment, it probably put Indiana on edge about Sampson. It certainly didn't help the coach's situation.

There's something very wrong about all of it, but nothing moreso than the realization that the shame felt by the parties involved was probably minimal. Why be embarassed by the ridiculousness of it all when you can just fire the coach?

The Bucks and Gordon? Sampson being a Milwaukee assistant does have some bearing on whether the Bucks draft Gordon. How could it not? Sampson's not likely keeping his high opinion of Gordon to himself, and Milwaukee becomes the place to be for Gordon -- if he's still available when the Bucks pick 8th. Almost every mock draft out there has Gordon going no later than the Bucks pick. If the Bucks are lucky, Gordon'll be the best player available when the Bucks pick.

The driving factor on whether Gordon becomes a Buck, however, will be what Hammond finds on the trade market. The pick itself and/or the player the Bucks select is on the table and could be in motion -- even if the player in motion is Eric Gordon.

Skiles's Bucks staff set - Hollins a coaching coups

J.D. Mo — Fri, 09 May 2008 10:58:00 GMT

With the good fortune he's had in putting together an impressive staff of assistants, Scott Skiles may want to head to the casino. Better yet, Skiles should head for New Jersey May 20 to represent the Bucks in the NBA draft lottery.

Not only did Skiles hire all four of his top choices in less than two weeks, he was lucky that two of them -- Kelvin Sampson and Memphis assistant Lionel Hollins - were available at all. (Consider this one likely reason Skiles has moved so quickly to hire them.)

Tom Enlund yesterday confirmed that, no, Skiles' assistant search hadn't hit any snags, reporting at JSOnline that Jim Boylan, Sampson, Hollins and Joe Wolf are hired. The Bucks are waiting only for the signatures on the contracts. Add to those four Bill Peterson, guru to Ramon Sessions, retained from Larry Krystkowiak's crew, and the Bucks have their new coaching staff.

Boylan was Skiles right hand man in Chicago and took over when Skiles was let go last December. Boylan was canned by the Bulls when the season ended (Bulls GM John Paxson wants a marquee coaching name); it was no surprise that he followed Skiles to Milwaukee.

Wolf has been earning attention as a winning coach in the NBA Development League with the Colorado 14ers (what's a 14er?) and Skiles simply hired Wolf before someone else did. For what it's worth, Wolf comes highly recommended by Denver's George Karl.

Kelvin Sampson, I wrote about last week on the BBJ. Were it not for Sampson's heavily scrutinized ... err, what should his time at Indiana be labelled? Situation, bad career move? -- he wouldn't be in the market for a job, much less a jump to the pros. Stroke of luck #1 for Skiles, who was quick to offer Sampson a job, which Sampson accepted before the end of Skiles' first week. Sampson's been one of the best coaches in the college ranks for about 15 years, and has experience with pro players coaching under George Karl in the 2002 World Championships. After he lost the Indiana job, Sampson joined George Popovich's Spurs bench in San Antonio as a consultant, which sheds some light on how highly regarded Sampson is in coaching circles. A great hire by Skiles.

As lucky as Skiles was that Sampson was in the market, he was even luckier that Lionel Hollins, a 20-year NBA coaching veteran, was ready for a change. Through the 2007-08 season, Hollins had been a Grizzlies coach for every game of the franchise's history, dating back to 1995 when the Grizz were in Vancouver and Bucks great Brian Winters was the team's inaugural head coach. More than any other figure but the mascot, Hollins is Mr. Grizzlie, twice filling in as head coach as other coaches came and went, always retaining his job -- I wonder why Marc Iavaroni and not Hollins is now the head coach in Memphis now?

Prior to going to work for Winters and the Grizz, Hollins was an assistant in Phoenix for seven years (think KJ and Sir Charles), and coached at Arizona State, his alma mater, when his playing days ended in 1985. As a player, Hollins was the point guard on the Bill Walton 1977championship Trailblazers, before moving on to Dr. J's Sixer teams, where he played shooting guard to Mo Cheeks' point.

Into the recesses of time ... Yes, Hollins was on those Philly teams that broke Bucks fans' hearts in the 1981 and 1982 playoffs. Hollins and Winters guarded each other in those playoff matchups, which makes then-Grizzlie GM Stu Jackson and head coach Winters' hiring of Hollins to help coach the expansion Grizzlies interesting, oddly appropriate, even poetic. Da#!! those guys were good, and they could shoot. Those were the last 60-win Bucks teams, but they couldn't beat Philly in the playoffs ...

Back to the present: In most any other offseason, like so many before, Hollins would not be looking to change jobs. Stroke of luck #2 for Skiles, who again acted quickly in offering Hollins a position. Perfect timing.

Why was this year different? For a good chunk of the Grizzlies season, Marc Iavaroni (another guy on those Sixers team the Bucks couldn't beat in the early 1980's), the coach/GM in Memphis was on the hot seat. First, Iavaroni stepped down from his GM duties, and rumors were flying that the team owner was dancing with Larry Brown, and that Brown was interested in becoming the new coach/GM. Look what's happened in the last three weeks:

Week #1 - Larry Krystkowiak is fired in Milwaukee, Skiles is hired to replace him four days later, and is somehow aware that Hollins might be available. Skiles immediately offers Hollins a job.

Week #2 - Larry Brown is hired by Michael Jordan to coach the Charlotte Hornets, removing him from the Grizz's picture (Memphis owner Michael Heisley denies Brown was ever in the picture, but I wouldn't believe him). By week's end, Iavaroni had kept his job as Grizzlies coach after a tense meeting with Heisley. With Skiles' job offer to Hollins pending, there's still no word on whether Hollins has accepted (Boylan and Sampson were already on board).

Week #3 - Still no word on Hollins (or Wolf) until Enlund's story yesterday, leading to speculation (on my part at least) that maybe Hollins had decided to stay in Memphis. Lucky for the Bucks, Skiles and Bucks fans, this was not the case. I'm speculating that if Skiles had wasted any time in offering Hollins a job, Hollins would still be an assistant in Memphis, working with Iavaroni to rebuild after the Pau Gasol trade.

Beyond the overall experience that Hollins' four decades in the NBA brings, the important thing about Hollins for the Bucks is the type of player he coached with the Grizzlies. Because the Grizz are a young franchise, much of Hollins work has been with lottery-drafted young players. The Grizzlies coaches have never had an established, veteran star, working instead to compete by developing and establishing their own: Sharif Abdur-Rahim, Gasol, Mike Miller, and now Rudy Gay. Hollins also helped develop Mike Bibby into a quality, playoffs point guard, before the Grizz shipped him to Sacremento for Jason Williams in 2001 (a point guard swap that never made any sense to me, and didn't really improve either team all that much).

Here's that Grizzlies basketball-reference.com link again. Memphis was a 50-win team not so long ago.

Considering where the Bucks find themselves -- with a rookie point guard and young talent like Yi, Bogut and, yes, Charlie Villanueva too, and looking to commit the team focus toward developing these players -- How is Lionel Hollins not the perfect assistant coach for the Bucks? Of the five assistants, Hollins is Skiles' coups de grace.

What I haven't been able to figure out is what Skiles' connection to Hollins is? They haven't worked together before (Hollins preceded Skiles in Phoenix in the 1990's). Does there have to be a connection? I would think so, considering that Hollins is leaving a franchise where he worked for 13 years.

Does anybody have the goods on Skiles-Hollins? The comment part of this blog does, in fact, work.

Skiles' assistant hires point to Bucks rebuilding

J.D. Mo — Wed, 07 May 2008 10:10:00 GMT

One of the many big criticisms of the Bucks has been that the organization couldn't decide whether to rebuild or try to win now, so they tried to do both. The results were mediocre, leading to poor, finally colliding this season with terrible -- and Michael Redd's delusion that he is Kobe, Charlie Villanueva's insistence that he is a star, and Mo Williams' attitude that, because he can routinely get himself better shots than the two aforementioned dummies, he might as well shoot it. Fighting through all of this was the development of Andrew Bogut, Yi Jianlian and, once the season was over, Ramon Sessions.

Thankfully, those days appear to be over in Milwaukee. GM John Hammond has hired a coach, Scott Skiles, who proved he can win with young players in Chicago. Now the coach is hiring his staff. Thus far, it is a group wired to develop its own NBA stars, not coach somebody else's.

Nothing's official yet, but as of this week, Jim Boylan and Kelvin Sampson are on board as Skiles' assistants. Skiles announced last week that Bill Peterson, Larry Krystkowiak's player development coach who worked extensively with rookie Ramon Sessions, will stay on.

No word yet on Skiles other top choices for assistants, Memphis assistant Lionel Hollins and Kohler's own Joe Wolf, NBA D-League coach and a Buck for a season in the 1990's. Skiles said his staff would be the typical three assistants on the bench with a development coach behind them.

With Peterson in the development job, it could mean that either Wolf or Hollins is out of the picture, or both. In the last few days, the situation in Memphis changed and Hollins still has his job, now that head coach Marc Iavaroni has kept his. (Memphis had been in the Larry Brown sweepstakes, and when Brown went to the Charlotte Bobcats, the rebuilding Grizz settled on Iavaroni.)

Skiles also said that he expected to have his coaches hired by this week, so the new staff could be finalized any day now.

What do Skiles top choices say about the direction the team is heading? The bent is clearly toward development of younger players (Peterson, Sampson and Wolf) and extreme dedication to ball movement and smart guard play (Skiles, Hollins and Boylan played the point; ball movement was religion for Skiles' Baby Bulls). It's about time.

Jim Boylan, who took over from Skiles in Chicago this season and was let go two weeks ago, is simply the obvious choice to be Skiles' lead assistant in Milwaukee. Boylan was Skiles' lead in Chicago and on Skiles' staff in Phoenix, and as a bonus for Marquette alums and 40-plus fans, Boylan was Al McGuire's starting point guard on the 1977 NCAA championship team -- and he's still Al's point guard, teaching players to "live in the moment." The Zen approach should go over well with Yi, whose personal coach, Jarinn Akana, was not retained by Skiles.

Bill Peterson was the player development coach in Dallas (1998-2000), the early years of Dirk Nowitzki, Michael Finley and Steve Nash. That worked out well, to say the least. Last season, Peterson won rave reviews from Krystkowiak and was credited with the late season splash Ramon Sessions made at the point. Skiles' decision to retain Peterson is great news for Sessions, whom the Bucks have some high hopes for (more on that in a separate post). Retaining Peterson should be taken as a sign that not only will Sessions will be a Buck next season, he is, right now, the starting point guard. Sorry Mo, you've lost the job.

With all that has been said and written about what happened at Kelvin Sampson's previous job, Sampson has been one of the best coaches in the college game for more than a decade. In the 2008 NBA draft, Sampson's shooting guard, Eric Gordon, is slated as a top 10 draft pick - on many boards the player the Bucks would take with the 7th pick if that holds; Sampson's big forward DJ White, is projected going early in the second round. Both players jumped into the draft after Sampson lost his job, something of a players' endorsement. There's no question Sampson brings to the Bucks coaching skills geared toward young, developing players. And Sampson's not the only college coach Skiles was interested in hiring - ESPN reported that Skiles was also looking at New Mexico assistant Craig Neal.

The book on Joe Wolf, head coach and GM of the NBA D-League Colorado 14ers the last two years, is that he is set to get a shot as an assistant in the NBA soon, whether in Milwaukee or elsewhere. Wolf's been winning in the D-League, and his 14ers are led by one of the D-League's best players, Elton Brown. But winning isn't the only thing in the D-League, where the "D" in development is capitalized. By all accounts, Wolf's doing a great job, and one former player, Nuggets guard Von Wafer, raves that Wolf saved his career. Wolf as a coach has been flying under George Karl's wing, and would probably do well to get broader experience. Any way one looks at Wolf, his appearance as one of Skiles' top candidates is a nod to player development.

Lionel Hollins is Mr. Grizzlie. He's been coaching on the Memphis bench since the franchise began in Vancouver (with Bucks great Brian Winters as its first head coach), and twice held the head coaching reins for the Griz. Prior to the Grizzlies, Hollins was an assistant in Phoenix for seven years, including the Suns' Kevin Johnson and Charles Barkley years. Hiring a coach with the experience of Hollins would have been a great coups for Skiles, but probably depended on whether or not Iavaroni and the Memphis staff would be retained.

With every player on the Bucks roster with the exception of Bogut and Yi on the trading block, the coaching selections do offer some insight into how the Bucks are likely looking at their team.

The Peterson hire means the world for Sessions; it's also no good for Mo Williams or Michael Redd (who quit down the stretch). Because Peterson was only in his first year under Krystkowiak, he's not wed to players like Mo, Simmons or Redd.
Sampson's hiring is about as pro youth as Skiles could get. Sampson does have experience dealing with NBA stars, as a coach under George Karl in the 2002 World Championships, but it's not his skill set. The Bucks have a good draft pick this year, along with a developing Yi (who could benefit from NCAA coaching-style), Sessions and Bogut. Expect the Bucks to get younger to take advantage of Sampson's presence.
No assistant choice of Skiles shouts - "This is good for Michael Redd; this coach will understand where Redd is coming from." That coach is just not there, unless it can be found in Boylan's ability to communicate with players as Skiles' right hand man. The focus of the team is shifting overtly toward developing players, not catering to second/third tier "stars." If a decent deal for Redd comes along this summer, especially if there are young players or draft picks involved, expect GM Hammond to jump at it.
Expect the Bucks to get younger, rather than look for veteran help or stars in trades. Again, as a group, Skiles' coaching choices are wired to develop their own stars rather than coach somebody else's. Next year will likely be a year for development and improvement, not a year to push for the playoffs.
This has become a long post; time to wrap it up.

Skiles set to hire Sampson today

J.D. Mo — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:21:00 GMT

Those anonymous sources of ESPN's have struck again. As of 1:08 Central time Friday, ESPN reports that Kelvin Sampson will get his next job after the Indiana University mess on Scott Skiles' Bucks staff.

Apparently, Bucks owner Herb Kohl's well-deserved reputation for making image-conscious personel decisions does not extend to the new regime of GM John Hammond. In Milwaukee, the basketball people are finally making the basketball decisions. Does that mean Sampson is a good hire? As I wrote in Friday AM's Bob Boozer Jinx post, I think so.

Sampson's resume -- even the one still posted on the official Indiana Basketball site -- is impressive and extends far beyond his stints at the universities of Indiana and Oklahoma. He's been one of the more active US coaches working in international ball, including the assistant coaching job (under George Karl) with the 2002 World Championship team. In 2005-06 he coached in the 8-team Army tournament "Operation Hardwood - Hoops with the Troops" program along with Tom Izzo and others.

Sampson's reputation and coaching career will outlive the Indiana "violations" scandal, which can be interpreted as Part 2 of the NCAA's crackdown on Oklahoma. In other words, what happened at Indiana has more to do with Indiana telling the NCAA "we are not Oklahoma" than it does with Sampson. The most serious charge against Sampson -- dishonesty -- the ousted coach is still fighting.

And for Sampson, the Bucks job comes with perks -- he'll be allowed to use the phones.

What do other Bucks fans think? Good hire or bad move?