Andrew Bogut had gone through coaches and systems and teammates, leaving the Milwaukee Bucks’ lost savior confused, confounded and finding himself forever buried beneath the burden as the No 1 pick in the 2005 NBA draft. They pass judgment fast in the NBA, dismiss the chance for greatness when it doesn’t happen rapidly and there were times that the franchise center felt like a lost cause for a lost organization.
“I didn’t handle the pressure of going No. 1 very well,” Bogut said. “I was running away from it, hiding.”
All around Bogut, something changed this season. The parts started to fit together. Coach Scott Skiles had installed structure, a program of accountability. General manager John Hammond drafted him a point guard, Brandon Jennings(notes). They kept cap space for the summer of 2011, adding hungry players who had been on the fringe of the league, bouncing between Europe and the NBDL. Milwaukee was one of the small-market franchises that felt like it was dying, like it would wither away from incompetence and indifference.
“What we have here are a bunch of guys with a chip on their shoulders, with something to prove,” Bogut said. “We’re a bunch of underdog guys, in an underdog city. Milwaukee is the butt of a lot of jokes and on TV and the movies, but we’ve got a bunch of hard-workings and that suits this city, the people here.”
This is a proud, old NBA town, with winning and history and the most loyal of fan, and suddenly Milwaukee has a throwback of a team. Suddenly, the Bucks have risen out of the rubble. No one saw it coming. They’ve won 12 of 13 games, holding firmly to the East’s fifth seed at 36-29. This is a franchise balancing a long-term vision with short-term success, the hardest trick in the league now.
Milwaukee has the two most important jobs on the floor covered for a long, long time: the center and the point guard, Bogut and Brandon Jennings.
As much as anything, here’s the part of the revival that Hammond loves: The way these Bucks fans seem to identify with his team. They come to him at the Bradley Center and say simply they love the way the team competes for them. That was a start for the Bucks this season, but they’ve gone so much further.
Bogut had been considered something of a bust, and suddenly he’s the East’s best center besides Dwight Howard(notes). Everyone wanted to believe Jennings had gone to Europe over college and got lost, but he had toughened up. Skiles was the coach who wore out teams, who clashed with stars, who left Phoenix and Chicago exhausted in his wake. Hammond had a marvelous pedigree under Joe Dumars in Detroit, but his first draft pick as Bucks GM – Joe Alexander – turned into a disaster.
Perhaps Hammond missed with his first lottery pick, but he made three important decisions that’ll shape this franchise for years to come: hiring Skiles; extending Bogut with a reasonable $60 million extension that includes an additional $12 million in possible bonuses; and drafting Jennings.
Bogut had struggled through injury and inconsistency, but Hammond signed him two summers ago to an extension that suddenly feels like a bargain. Bogut has become a force – averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds – and an absolute anchor for the franchise. He’s a gifted, passing big man with skills that used Skiles’ structure to blossom.
“People told me that I should just wait it out and leave here,” Bogut said, “but I love this place and really wanted to see it through here.”
