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Kelly Dwyer has written another solid piece on the Milwaukee Bucks in his regular Ball Don’t Lie column over at yahoo! Sports. This one isn’t directly about saveourbucks.com but covers many topics that SOB is all about – including Larry Drew’s role and frustration levels with his team, GM John Hammond’s failings, and the general failure and impatience of the Milwaukee Bucks front office that has led to the catastrophic current Bucks outfit. Continue reading
Most of you are familiar with Bob McGinn, the widely read Packers beat writer for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (MJS). Whether you agree or disagree with his opinions and conclusions, he’s known locally and nationally for excellent coverage of the team.
Due to his skill, he’s highly compensated. A few years ago, Milwaukee Magazine ran a blurb about some dissension in the MJS newsroom over a supposed salary that broke the “six-figure” mark, and had many other reporters at the paper somewhat envious. He earns his money though, as he’s a dogged reporter who loves his assignment, and is always setting the agenda for coverage of the team.
We thought of McGinn as we read Charles Gardner’s recent interview with John Hammond. We’ve talked at length about the lack of critical coverage of the Milwaukee Bucks, and some of the reasons for it. We’re going to use Gardner’s recent interview as guidebook for how he, and other journalists, might be able to cover the Bucks in a manner that would be more productive and interesting for the reader, ala how McGinn covers the Packers. With that as a backdrop, let’s discuss the interview with Hammond, and how it might have been improved upon. Continue reading
The SaveOurBucks.com movement is pleased with the recent pronouncement by General Manager John Hammond, that the team is going to build around some of the young players they currently have on the team, along with future draft picks. We believe that a market like Milwaukee must use this approach to build a consistent winner. We want to add some cautionary guidance, however, before assuming that this new chapter of “Green and Growing,” will be as successful as the original.
A primer on the origin of this phrase may be helpful for some readers. Green and Growing was the name given to a public relations campaign implemented by the Bucks in the late 1970’s. It came with its own catchy theme song that was played frequently during regular game broadcasts. The idea behind the theme, was that fans should embrace the young core of players the team had recently obtained, and follow their progress as they developed into contenders. Continue reading
SaveOurBucks.com has been online now for just over a month. In that time we’ve been fortunate to have coverage from Kelly Dwyer (Yahoo), Bill Simmons (ESPN/Grantland), Matt Moore (CBS), USA Today, Deadspin, The Sporting News, Darren Rovell, The Dan Patrick Show, Fox 6, WTMJ 4, WISN 12 and CBS 58 among others. However, it wasn’t until the other day that we received coverage from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (MJS), the local newspaper of record here in Milwaukee.
You can read the article by Don Walker here. We think the article was well-written and conveys our “tough love” approach as it relates to the organization. There is one point to clarify though. In the article, Walker refers to “a mystery man funding the operation…” There really isn’t a “funder” here for operations, as the costs of creating a website are minimal, and are graciously being donated by our talented webmaster. Continue reading
We were recently asked on Twitter by Bucks play-by-play man, Ted Davis (@Nbated), “What are the goals of SaveOurBucks.com?”
Long-term, we’d hope this site can be an information source and rallying point for fans, as the Milwaukee community debates the merits of a new arena. In the short-term however, our goals are to spark discussion and accountability regarding the franchise’s efforts in producing a compelling product for the fans to rally around. If the Bucks are able to present to the public an exciting team, we believe the fans will return. However, to get to that point Senator Kohl needs to rethink how he has structured his front office and the culture therein.
As we’ve documented here, the front office culture the past twenty years may be contributing to the challenges the team faces. The front office has a number of Executive Vice Presidents who have been with the team for decades. All of these people provide input on basketball related decisions, even though many are not basketball people, but rather attorneys and accountants. Here are some examples of their dysfunctional involvement in basketball decisions, as documented by BrewHoop. Continue reading