FanHouse

Bill Simmons dream of running an NBA franchise may have hit a little speed bump today. And by "speed bump" I mean it has been totally derailed. The Milwaukee Bucks, according to Marc Stein, have reached an agreement to "lure" John Hammond away from the Detroit Pistons to run their front office.

Hammond's first task in Milwaukee, according to sources, will be hiring a veteran coach to help the Bucks make a firm assessment of their talent after a group expected to compete for a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference woefully underachieved in Larry Krystkowiak's first full season on the bench.

Sources say Hammond is expected to make a strong push to hire former Pistons coach Rick Carlisle. Working as an ESPN analyst this season after leaving the Indiana Pacers, Carlisle is also widely considered as a strong candidate to coach the Chicago Bulls next season.

If you are a Bucks fan -- even one that was staunchly behind the potential of the Sports Guy experiment -- you have to be thrilled right now. Hammond has resisted overtures for quite a while now -- and it appeared he was resisting Milwaukee's as well -- and in case you don't watch basketball, he and Joe Dumars put together a decent team in Detroit for the past few years.

Maybe it's just me, but assuming that nothing else changes (which it probably will) and Hammond and Carlisle get hired (I don't see why not) but the Bucks are immediately about 10 times more respectable than they were yesterday. Or would have been if they'd let the Sports Guy run the team. It will be interesting, of course, to see how much leeway Herb Kohl will give Hammond, but you have to think that if he agreed to move to a rebuilding project of his own, he's at least getting more or less carte-b to make the Bucks decent again.

HT: JCM, Esq.