So much for my Scott-Skiles-to-the-Hawks theory.
It appears the taskmaster has a new home, as per this press release:
MILWAUKEE -- General Manager John Hammond announced today that Scott Skiles has agreed to a multi-year contract to become the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. Skiles becomes the 11th head coach in the history of the franchise and comes to Milwaukee with eight seasons of NBA head coaching experience.
"Scott is a proven NBA head coach who has shown an ability to win," said Hammond. "He was a passionate player at all levels of the game and that thirst for success has served him well as a coach. We look forward to what he will bring to this franchise and we welcome him and his family to Milwaukee."
Fair enough. It's hard to argue with this hiring.
As we've discussed here before, Skiles specializes in getting young teams to play defense and push the tempo. The Bucks had a middle-of-the-pack pace this season (15th overall) and didn't guard anyone. Nobody. Ever. They were dead last in basketball with 114.4 points allowed per 100 possessions.
This is a team that had injuries as an excuse two seasons ago and had much less of an out this time around. The Bucks just weren't very good at all. Bringing in Skiles should help those problems to some extent, and it should allow the Bucks to figure out once and for all whether or not this is a team that can get somewhere while built around players -- particularly Michael Redd and Mo Williams -- known as poor defenders.