No.
I know that since the team has been such a failure on the court, it reflects poorly on everyone involved in the organization. I understand that we fans are all frustrated by the results of having a poor team — the waste of both money and time from watching them. But of all the criticism levied at Herb Kohl recently, I cannot understand where most of it comes from. More than in any other sport, it takes an immense amount of luck to build a winning basketball team.
The small roster size means that the good fortune of having one great player fall into your lap on draft night changes the direction of franchises for 8-10 years at a time. The salary structure makes it almost impossible to sway good free agents to change teams. Once teams get good players, they stay put — it’s impossible to get fair value for a star in a trade, so they almost never occur.
The fact is, only luck is what stands in the way of Herb Kohl being lauded as one of the best owners in sports. If Atlanta had won the draft lottery in 2003, sending LeBron James to Milwaukee, or if Dwight Howard had gone to college for one year and been available in the 2005 draft then the Bucks would have gotten a player of a stature which they otherwise have no chance of finding elsewhere. But that’s not what happened.
What are the criticisms of Kohl? What is the truth about them?
He’s a meddler. I could never understand this one. He owns the team. It belongs to him. Shouldn’t the owner have a say in how his own team is run? It seems like this criticism stems from a couple of areas. Kohl has frequently been known to look over the shoulders of his management team with regards to the draft. However, in the last few years, Kohl has had very good reason for this. Look at the Bucks’ draft history since 1996:
1996: Traded Stephon Marbury (#4) for Ray Allen (#5) and a future pick
1997: Traded Danny Fortson (#10) and others for Ervin Johnson (wrong Ervin)
1998: Traded Dirk Nowitzki (#9) and Pat Garrity (#19) for Robert Traylor (#6)
1999: No Pick (This was a convoluted deal that I can’t figure out, but somehow Denver took James Posey)
2000: Traded Jason Collier (#15) and 2001 pick for Joel Pryzbilla (#9)
2001: No Pick (Pryzbilla trade)
2002: Selected and actually kept Marcus Haislip. He’s having a nice season in Italy.
2003: Selected TJ Ford (Glenn Robinson trade)
2003: Traded away own pick in Ray Allen/Gary Payton trade
2004: No pick (traded to clear cap room in 2000, Atlanta selected Josh Smith)
2005: Selected Andrew Bogut
2006: No pick (Jamaal Magloire trade)
2007: Selected Yi Jianlian
So since Kohl went almost 10 years with his crack staff screwing up almost every single draft, why wouldn’t he become more hands-on? Besides, his political sway turned out to be necessary once Yi came along.
He has also been criticized for impeding Larry Harris’ attempts to do anything this season, but that comes with very good reason. The last time he allowed a GM to have free reign at the end of his contract, Ernie Grunfeld managed to trade away Ray Allen AND a first rounder for three months of Gary Payton (highlights of tenure included getting arrested in a strip club, saying he hated Milwaukee, and losing in the first round), and trading Sam Cassell for Joe Smith. Four days after the Cassell trade, and after having dumped the Bucks’ picks for the two following seasons, Grunfeld quit as GM of the Bucks and was named GM of Washington the very next day. Grunfeld may as well have kicked Kohl in the nuts on his way out.
Don’t you think that Kohl has gotten screwed enough by his management team? There was no reason to fire Harris before the start of the season — he had to see what this team would be able to do when healthy — but once it turned out the answer was “not much”, he had to but the reigns on Harris to make sure that he didn’t pull another team-killing debacle like Grunfeld (you know, like trading for Zach Randolph — adding long term salary and a guy with character questions who plays the same position as your first round pick).
He’s cheap. Come on. Obviously the payroll isn’t going to go cruising into luxury tax territory, but it is always within a few million dollars of the league average. Considering that three of the Bucks’ top six players are on their rookie contracts, this payroll is well within reason (above the salary cap and $4 million below the league average). How quickly people forget that Kohl “won” a bidding war to get Mike Dunleavy, hired Grunfeld away from the Knicks and made George Karl the highest paid coach in the NBA. After getting in bed with that bunch of lunatics, why would Kohl spend the big money in 2003, when he promoted Harris, especially since the teams’ future had been mortgaged by Grunfeld and Karl anyway?
Actually, by trying the inexpensive coach/GM route for a while, I think Kohl made a wise move. I’m convinced that coaching and personell decision are more about lucking into great players than anything else. It’s telling that only two NBA coaches have ever won titles with two teams — Phil Jackson and Pat Riley — and they have Shaquille O’Neal in common. I remember the reaction when the Bulls hired Jackson (”What? Who? But Doug Collins is great!”) and I’m sure the reaction in LA was similar when Magic Johnson ran off Paul Westhead and forced the Lakers to promote Riley. How many high-profile college coaches have tried and failed in the NBA (answer: nearly all of them). What is the common thread about every big-name NBA coach? They started off as a small name. So why wouldn’t Kohl give it a shot with cheaper coaches?
He chose the wrong ones, that’s for sure. But that’s besides the point.
He doesn’t care about winning. I don’t know how anyone could own a professional team for this long, regularly take operating losses, see your initial investment increase by a factor of 10, and not sell out if they don’t care. I understand why people would be frustrated by the teams’ inaction this season and see that as a sign of not being interested in improving the team, but it’s not that easy to just start making moves. For starters, if you propose a trade the other team has to accept it — and they aren’t going to do so unless they are giving back something they don’t want. This isn’t baseball, where you can trade a couple of utility infielders and setup men at any time — a two-for-two player trade in the NBA means changing 15% of your roster. It’s a big deal.
Kohl owns a team that wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him. He pays them plenty, he has paid plenty for management in the past (with disasterous results), he oversaw a team that nearly made the finals a few years ago. He clearly cares about putting a winner on the floor. That’s why I find the theatrics of some fans recently wearing bags on their heads and cleverly parading past Kohl at a recent game to be quite distasteful.
The fans are frustrated and want changes, I understand and agree with that. But they don’t happen overnight — especially after the trade deadline! There is nothing the Bucks can do until June to change anything (except fire Harris and/or Krystkowiak).
There is no comparison between Herb Kohl and Donald Sterling. But some people seem to like to think there is.
The team management structure is convoluted. This one is a valid point. A few weeks ago, Gery Woefel brought up the fact that the Bucks are the only team in the league, besides the Clippers, who use a contract negotiation committee instead of letting the GM handle it himself (usually along with a cap guru who knows the CBA and makes sure the numbers work). I can see how this must be frustrating — agents negotiate a contract and have to wait for it to get “approved”, the GM loses face with the agents and players because he needs permission to do his job. But every team has a budget, and with long-term ramifications to every deal, those budgets have to be flexible. I’m sure that almost every GM, while not having a contract committee, has to speak directly with the owner on any major deal. I have a feeling that this committee exists because Kohl, being a Senator and all, usually has more pressing business to deal with than to give his okay to extend a contract offer to a fifth season.
This “committee” is in bad form, though.
Kohl listens too closely to a small circle of “basketball friends”. This is definitely a valid complaint. It seems like Rick Majerus’ name always pops up around Kohl, and it is really frustrating when every hire seems to come from the same “networking tree” (Karl is a friend of Majerus, Harris is Del Harris’ son, Stotts was an assistant under Karl, Krystkowiak was a Bucks player, Rick Sund — rumored future GM — once worked for the Bucks). But this is how business and politics work — you stick around who you know, or risk getting stabbed in the back by who you don’t. You know, sort of like what happened with Ernie Grunfeld.
If the results on the floor were better then Kohl would be a genius for surrounding himself with a small circle of “experts”. But they haven’t, so Kohl is close-minded.
It’s a shame — and unlucky — that this team hasn’t come together in the way everyone would like it to have. It’s annoying when we invest financially and emotionally in a product that doesn’t deliver. If Bucks tickets for this season were a gallon of milk we would have returned them because they were spoiled.
But that’s not Herb Kohl’s fault. Most of all, he’s been screwed over by the people he’s hired.
You want bad owners? Here are some bad owners:
Donald Sterling
Glen Taylor
George Shinn
Howard Schultz/Clay Bennett
The truth is that there is only one way to win in the NBA: get lucky and draft a superstar.
15 responses so far ↓
1 Adam // Mar 24, 2008 at 5:10 am
I think it is wrong of you to focus the issue on whether it is Kohl’s “right” to meddle with the team. Of course it’s his right. It’s also a recipe for disaster. Successful businesses are run by brilliant managers who have complete autonomy. It is Warren Buffett’s right to meddle with all the operating businesses that Berkshire owns, but the reason he’s the world’s richest man is because he’s smart enough to higher people who can run those businesses better and give them freedom.
If Kohl were to admit that there are individuals in this world who understand basketball better than he does and give them complete autonomy, the team would be better. It’s his right to not do this, but we have 20 years of data as to how this approach works. You act like incompetent management botching the job is an unfortunate coincidence, but you’re smarter than that, aren’t you?
Brilliant managers won’t accept a job where they aren’t given the freedom to excell. Thus, Kohl doesn’t hire them, and gets the results he deserves from second rate managers.
Lastly, if you’re going to mention the Zach Randolph trade which Kohl smartly vetoed, you should also mention the Boozer and Marion trades that he ought not to have vetoed. In sum, all these vetoes prevent great managers from coming to Milwaukee.
2 Brett Boyer // Mar 24, 2008 at 7:26 am
Funny you would bring up Warren Buffett. He doesn’t own a professional sports team because he likes to buy businesses where success is dependent on economic fundamentals and management skill, not luck.
You can’t just hire a “great GM” and get guaranteed success. There are plenty of GM’s and coaches who were geniuses with one team and idiots with the next (like Scott Layden, for example). The difference is that they were lucky at one place (in Layden’s case, lucky to have Stockton and Malone) .
Nobody knows the truth about the Boozer rumors (which came at the same time as a possible Troy Murphy trade) and I can’t imagine that a Marion trade was ever that close. You can’t blame that on Kohl withough any confirmation. On balance, the Bucks have been a very active team in the last 10 years.
3 Sylvan Zarwell // Mar 24, 2008 at 8:13 am
Can you please send this article to Michael Hunt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel?
4 Doug // Mar 24, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Brett, usually your analysis of the Bucks is on the mark, but, are you a Herb Kohl apologist? I mean, in the 23 plus seasons Kohl has owned the team, how many of those have been winning seasons? Ten? The Don Nelson regime was already in place when Kohl bought the team. Really, George Karl was about the only coach with a proven record of winning that Kohl ever hired. Sure, Karl and Grunfeld screwed up the team pretty bad, but they led the Bucks to their first 50 win season and division title in years, so what do you want? Something that used to happen with regularity during the Costello and Nelson era’s. Kohl’s main problem is that he’s meek. I don’t hear a commitment to winning in both his voice and his words. I know he can’t help the Bradley Center issue. But if the Bucks don’t start winning soon (records consistently over .500, first round playoff bids) no taxpayer in Wisconsin is going to want to subsidize a new arena. You were correct in pointing out his bone-headed “advisorsâ€. But how many other professional sports franchise owners do you know of have settled for mediocrity for this long?
5 Brian // Mar 24, 2008 at 2:10 pm
You both bring up a number of things here that are spot on. Much better analysis than fans can find thru the usual outlets.
One thing we all can agree on is that ego is a major player here, otherwise Nellie might well still be here. When he came out and said “I am the Milwaukee Bucks”, I was fine with that… Hey, at least I’ll get a Kareem bobblehead Friday…
6 Brett Boyer // Mar 24, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Thanks for all the well-reasoned comments, everybody. I knew this post would get some responses, but I was afraid they would all be of the “Kohl sucks and so do you” variety.
I’m glad to see reasonable counter-arguments instead.
7 Doug // Mar 24, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Brett, don’t get me wrong. I appreciate the fact that there’s still Bucks fans out there like yourself who actually give a rat’s ass. I enjoy reading your blog. I had to weigh in one more time today, because I’m very passionate about this issue. The first comment, from Adam, sumed it up pretty nicely. Although, I will say this about Kohl, he does seem to be a rare owner in sports with some loyalty to his home state. I supposed he has to, being a senator here and all. I appreciate that he didn’t sell the team to Jordan or some other outside usurpers. But I believe Kohl thinks of himself as having more basketball knowledge than he really has, hence leading to the Bucks’ fortunes with him as their owner. If could only apply the same business acumen that made his family’s grocery and department stores successful to the Bucks, that would be great. But unfortunately, for whatever reason, that has happened. His biggest failures have been misjudging his potential GM/coaching candidates. Look at all of the garbage that has come down the pike since Del Harris left. Dunleavy, Chris Ford, and now Krystkowiak? Herb Kohl has to start hiring compentent people with EXPERIENCE in the NBA with proven records of winning. I know that they’re not easy to find, but please, no more college coaches! The Bucks need veteran coaches. Also, I take issue with your statement, “The truth is that there is only one way to win in the NBA: get lucky and draft a superstar.” Well, if you’re talking playoffs and championships, then maybe. But Don Nelson’s teams relied on defense for years, with some great players, but no superstars per se. Winning in the regular season is a whole different beast. You really don’t need superstars to win in the regular season, although the Bucks had Bob Lanier (hall of famer) and Sidney Moncrief (should be a hall of famer), among others. If you can get these players to buy into a coach’s system, and stress teamwork, they can be successful in the regular season. But yeah, for the most part you do need superstars/hall of famers to win championships. Just look at the ‘71 Bucks.
8 Doug // Mar 24, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Geez. I need to get a life. My third posting today. But I was up watching ESPN tonight, and apparently the Knicks have already nabbed Walsh. Whose left? Sund? Collins? What do you think, Brett?
9 Brian // Mar 25, 2008 at 12:25 am
Nice to see we all actually care about what’s going on. We don’t need a SuperStar, we need a team…I’m all for getting Bob Lanier involved somehow, someway. If you saw his speech at the BC, how could you not buy in to what he’s all about? That was the finest moment of the year so far….compared to the current product on the floor….
10 Brett Boyer // Mar 25, 2008 at 4:16 am
I’ve been trying for weeks to put together a good list of candidates, and it’s very difficult because if you don’t know these guys personally, you really don’t know anything about them. One thing I will say about Donnie Walsh — when I worked in sports radio, he was always one of the friendliest, easiest and best guys to book for an interview. He was just about everybody’s “go to” guy — if you couldn’t book anyone else, it was guaranteed that you could get Walsh (or the Magic’s John Gabriel).
Here’s one name, though: John Hammond, who has been Joe Dumars’ right hand man with the Pistons since 2001. Like all assistants of successful GM’s, he’s got the rep of “the guy who really does all the work”, whatever that’s worth.
11 Jeramey Jannene // Mar 25, 2008 at 6:58 am
Having met Bob Lanier, judging by his attitude I doubt he would jump at a GM role. He’s serving as an international ambassador with the league right now, and seemed to enjoy the low-key nature of that role.
I can’t see him wanting to be coaching or general manager, but maybe I got the wrong read?
Definitely a super great guy though regardless of whether he has front office aspirations or not.
12 paulpressey25 // Mar 26, 2008 at 8:12 pm
This is a nice blog….just found it from FAM’s link.
The problem with your defense is that all these crummy GM’s, coaches and player personnel guys that are holding Kohl back from NBA success were hired by……Herb Kohl.
Is Donald Sterling unlucky? What about Bill Bidwell of the Cardinals? What about William Ford and the Detroit Lions? The common pattern here are owners who hire the wrong people, are impatient and follow “one year plans” without the discipline to commit to any philosophy. That is Kohl in a nutshell.
Don’t put George Shinn in there. He moved a team, but his teams are always competitive.
13 Brett Boyer // Mar 27, 2008 at 4:30 am
PaulPressey, welcome to the blog.
I understand that there is a “chicken vs. egg” argument here, but it seems to me that NBA success mostly depends on the marketplace.
It was bad luck that the Bucks had their cap room in 2005, when every single free agent was a bust at least as bad as Bobby Simmons. It’s not like they could have held over the cap space to the next season — Redd’s contract would have filled it.
A GM can propose the 1000 greatest trades in NBA history, but that doesn’t mean anything if no other team accepts the deal.
There are bad owners, and Sterling, Bidwell and Ford are great examples. George Shinn is definitely one of them, too. The Hornets led the league in attendance for years before Shinn’s constant stumping for tax breaks and a new stadium soured the city on the NBA so badly that Charlotte has ignored the Bobcats since day one. Now it appears that Hurricane Katrina and Chris Paul are the only things keeping the Hornets in New Orleans.
Meanwhile, the Hornets (who before this season missed the playoffs for 3 years and were eliminated in the first round in the previous two) have gotten lucky for their entire draft history.
Gettting Mourning with the #2 pick in 1992 –when there were two hall-of-fame centers available — was luck, and having the #3 pick when Baron Davis was available was luck (the 1999 draft was pretty much stacked).
What are the odds that David West (#18 pick) would become the most underrated star in the game? Kudos to them for taking him, but that’s still luck that he has paid off like that.
Having Chris Paul fall to them was the biggest stroke of luck of all. Where would the Hornets be if the Bucks or Hawks had taken Paul and the Hornets had wound up with Marvin Williams or Raymond Felton in 2005?
14 paulpressey25 // Mar 27, 2008 at 9:13 pm
I used to think that Herb Kohl was unlucky. And I think he is to the extent that we haven’t gotten the #1 overall in a year when LeBron, Duncan or Shaq came out.
But Kohl has had 20-years of draft picks and hasn’t been able to pick the right guy. George Shinn ends up with the right guys on that team. I don’t think he even has anything to do with it….he just hires good front office people and good coaches.
Sure Paul was luck, but he would have gotten Deron Williams there anyway. Then he made a bold trade to get Tyson Chandler. And paid a ton of money to get Peja…..and he sold Magloire high…..and used Desmond for attendance in OKC for two years but let him go at the right time.
I can blame luck on the fact we haven’t gotten another Jabbar to win a title. But I can’t blame luck for only one season with more than 42-wins in almost 20-years.
15 Alex // Mar 31, 2008 at 2:05 pm
When Herb Kohl hired Terry Stotts, he kept calling him “Terry Stott” during the press conference. Maybe it’s a small thing, but I would think you would know the name of the guy who you just handed the keys to the team.
When he hired Larry Harris, was there another team in the NBA (or WNBA) who would have hired him as their GM? Or even seriously considered it?
Was there any other NBA (or WNBA) team seriously considering hiring Krystkowiak as their head coach when Kohl hired him?
I don’t mean to sound like a childish name-caller, but I think Kohl is dumb, and fish rot from the head down. Kohl is a fish head, and the organization is the fish body.
On the other hand, I can’t blame him for giving total control to Dunleavy. I probably would have done the same. But that turned out to be a disaster.
I haven’t been to a game in years, but I still follow the team, despite my general disinterest in the NBA today. I don’t think this team will be in Milwaukee in ten years because there is ZERO interest in spending one dime of taxpayer money in a new or renovated arena.
Back to my point…….
Kohl needs to hire a GM and let the GM pick the next head coach (and yes, there will be a next head coach, as there is NO WAY this organization can bring Larry K. back next year and expect to sell more than 500 season tickets).
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