A look back at John Hammonds tenure as Bucks GM

I can’t lie it hurts a little bit that John Hammond chose to leave for the Orlando Magic for the same position he had in Milwaukee. Coming off debatably the most exciting Bucks season in a decade it doesn’t feel good losing the guy who built this team. Drafting Giannis when no one saw it coming and finding 2nd round gem and possible ROTY Malcolm Brogdon, not to mention Kevin Garnets favorite future MVP Thon Maker were franchise saving moves. But before we go jumping off a bridge thinking we lost the all time greatest GM let’s take a look back at his tenure here in Milwaukee.

• 2008: 8th overall pick Joe Alexander and 37th overall pick Luc Richard Mbah a Moute
• 2009: 10th overall Brandon Jennings and 41st overall Jodie Meeks
• 2010: 15th overall Larry Sanders 37th overall Darington Hobson 44th overall Jerome Jordan and 47th overall Tiny Gallon
• 2011: 10th overall Jimmie Freddette (Immediately traded for veteran players including Stephan Jackson and Beno Udrih) and 40th overall John Leuer.
• 2012: 14th overall John Henson and 42nd overall Doron Lamb
• 2013: 15th overall Giannis Antetokounmpo and 43rd overall Ricky Ledo
• 2014: 2nd overall Jabari Parker 31st overall Damien Inglis and 36th overall Johnny O Bryant
• 2015: 17th overall Rashas Vaughn and 46th overall Norman Powel (Immediately traded to Toronto for Grieves Vasquez) 
• 2016: 10th overall Thon Maker and 36th overall Malcolm Brogdon. 

Now you take away last years super haul and that list isn’t nearly as impressive. It would take too long and it’s not a healthy exercise to go over all the players we could have had instead of these guys. Please don’t get me wrong and think I’m saying he’s a bad drafter but maybe pump the brakes thinking he’s Bulletproof. Ill always be in Mr. Hammonds debt for giving us Giannis but the good news is Giannis doesn’t leave with him. We get to keep him.

Next, because I love lists, let’s look at some of the biggest trades he made in his tenure and see how we came out.

• First move is sending Mo Williams to the Cavs in a three team trade. We ended up getting Luke Ridnour and a few veterans. Personal Grade: B- Mo went on to continue his success and Ridnour got beat out by Brandon Jennings soon after but we had the best season in 10 years after this move so it’s hard to complain. 
• Second Traded Joe Alexander, Hakim Warrick and a 2010 1st round draft pick (Kevin Seraphin was later selected) to the Chicago Bulls for John Salmons, a 2010 1st round draft pick (Larry Sanders was later selected), a 2011 2nd round draft pick (Isaiah Thomas was later selected) and a 2012 2nd round draft pick (Robert Sacre was later selected). Personal Grade: C+ Yes the name Isiah Thomas stands out but you can’t blame a man for a 2nd runs talent working out. Salmons played some solid basketball for us and overall nothing to exciting.
• Next was trading Dan Gadzuric and Charlie Bell for an aging Corey Maggete. Personal Grade: D+. This seems like the move of someone trying to hold on to the success of the 09-10 season any way he can. Long story short… didn’t work out.
• December 10th 2011: Signs Mike Dunleavy…. Personal Grade: F for Fuck Mike Dunleavy 
• March 13, 2012: Traded Andrew Bogut and Stephen Jackson to the Golden State Warriors for Kwame Brown, Monta Ellis and Ekpe Udoh. Personal Grade: C+. Another move of a man staying afloat. Monty was fun when he was here I’ll give him that.
• February 21, 2013: Traded Tobias Harris, Doron Lamb, Beno Udrih and cash to the Orlando Magic for Gustavo Ayon, J.J. Redick and Ishmael Smith. Personal Grade: D-. Tobias Harris has become a solid NBA talent JJ didn’t last in Milwaukee long.
• July 31, 2013: Traded Brandon Jennings to the Detroit Pistons for Brandon Knight, Viacheslav Kravtsov and Khris Middleton. Personal Grade: A. Jennings wasn’t leading us to any championships that was clear, and we got Khash Money Middleton. Great move
• 2014 Trades two future 2nd round picks for HC Jason Kidd. Personal Grade: B+. Not 100% sold on Kidd yet but he’s shown improvement.
• February 19, 2015: As part of a 3-team trade, the Milwaukee Bucks traded Brandon Knight and Kendall Marshall to the Phoenix Suns; the Philadelphia 76ers traded Michael Carter-Williams to the Milwaukee Bucks; the Phoenix Suns traded Tyler Ennis and Miles Plumlee to the Bucks. Personal Grade: C-. I was initially super excited to get ROTY winner MCW for Knight because I didn’t see Knight as a long term leader of the team. Those hopes were dashed tho when I saw what an incredibly poor shooter MCW turned out to be. 
• And lastly and most recently the Bucks swapped MCW for Tony Snell. Personal Grade: B+. Snell was exactly what we needed. His 3 and D style filled in for injured Middleton perfectly this year and he turned out to be one of our most efficient scorers. MCW had an injury plagued year and still can’t shoot.

John Hammond overall did an excellent job in turning around the Milwaukee Bucks franchise, but they’re not losing what he’s already given them. I didn’t even get into some of the odd, to put it lightly, free agent signings he had… cough* Kenyon Martin and OJ Mayo cough*. The Bucks are on the rise and fast and losing a GM won’t stop their momentum. 

It’s an amazing time to be a Bucks fan so let’s get on the Zanik hype train and ride it to the NBA finals. Bucks in 6.