Bucks will spend camp in Madison
Kidd, Hammond shoot down report
Madison — Milwaukee Bucks coach Jason Kidd responded to a published report that said he would take over as the club’s head of basketball operations this week and general manager John Hammond would be reassigned or leave the organization.
“I think sometimes sources can be wrong, media can be wrong, coaches can be wrong,” Kidd said. “With this report that came out yesterday, it was totally wrong. Hammond has been in the league I think a little bit longer than I have, so this is another source for me to learn.
“This is a great opportunity for me to be the best coach I can be, being surrounded with Hammond and his staff.”
Hammond is in the final year of his con-
tract, while Kidd has two years remaining on the threeyear, $15 million contract he received last summer after leaving the Brooklyn Nets.
“There is no friction; there is no announcement,” Kidd said. “Maybe the source was saying this (the Madison news conference) was the announcement, got it wrong. There are no problems in Milwaukee. Sometimes with the good, there’s always someone shooting to say there’s a problem.”
Kidd was hired without Hammond’s knowledge a year ago when new Bucks owners Wes Edens and Marc Lasry interviewed the former star point guard and landed him to replace Larry Drew. Reports said Kidd wanted more authority with the Nets but was rebuffed.
Kidd led the Bucks to a 41-41 record and sixth-seeded position in the Eastern Conference last season, a 26-game improvement over the previous year.
“We’ve had a chance to be together a year now, and I can tell you how much I enjoy working with Jason,” Hammond said. “I think we have a good camaraderie in how we work. We have a good relationship in how we do our jobs.
“Look it’s a special thing. There’s nothing like winning. I give our guys the credit for playing above their level, taking the willingness to be coached. And give Jason and his staff so much credit for what happened. We had a real young team. We had some leadership from some of our veteran guys, but the true leadership came from this guy (Kidd) sitting right next to me.
“He did a great job putting that team together and making them want to compete every night.”
The report also mentioned a possible disagreement among staff on the Bucks' first-round draft choice. Milwaukee selected Nevada-Las Vegas freshman Rashad Vaughn, a shooting guard and a player who moved up the draft charts in the last few weeks. The Bucks had him in for a workout only a few days before the draft but also had seen him in a Los Angeles workout.
“This is my first draft with John,” Kidd said. “They get to see the guys all year. I’m just there watching in the meetings. They have a system. Then when it’s our turn to pick, John has a healthy discussion, a quick debate, and then we go.
“John did a great job throughout the year, not just in the draft but being able to get Michael (Carter-Williams), Miles (Plumlee). Being able to get Tyler (Ennis). That was something when we were playing our best basketball, to be able to make a change.
“Some people could be afraid to do that, but John was on board and we made a change.”
Kidd referred to the trade deadline deal in February when the Bucks sent point guard Brandon Knight to Phoenix as part of a threeteam deal, with Carter-Williams arriving from Philadelphia and Plumlee and Ennis coming from Phoenix.
The Bucks landed one of the top players in free agency last week with a two-year deal for center Greg Monroe, beating out bids from the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers.
“Again, our teamwork is as good as ever,” Kidd said of working with Hammond. “We’re very confident with one another. And there’s nothing wrong with talking and communicating. And there could be a disagreement, right?
“But at the end of the day, John makes the call, he goes to the owners and we go from there.”
The Bucks owners, through senior vice president of communications Jake Suski, said the report of an imminent change in the status of Kidd or Hammond was “unequivocally not true.”