The Milwaukee Bucks are facing several important issues this off-season. The first is to fill in the position left by general manager John Hammond in the front-office. Then, there’s the upcoming free-agency of Tony Snell, who emerged as a sold 3-and-D player for the team last season. The Bucks will also have to make a decision whether or not injury-prone wingman Jabari Parker is worth keeping for more years to come.
GM Position search
The Bucks have already narrowed down the list of candidates for the GM position to three, per Adrian Wojnarowski of the Vertical of Yahoo Sports.
Nuggets assistant GM Arturas Karnisovas, Hawks advisor Wes Wilcox, and Bucks assistant GM Justin Zanik have emerged as the top-three candidates for the Bucks’ GM position after several rounds of interviews. According to Wojnarowski, these three applicants will go through another set of interviews before the Bucks management announced their pick for the job.
Wojnarowski added Zanik has been getting strong support from several people inside the Bucks organization, but co-owners Jamie Dinan, Marc Lasry and Wes Edens have different views on the best candidates for the GM search. David Griffin, whom the Bucks pursued the moment Hammond left his seat in the front-office, will likely stay with the Cavs on a much higher base salary.
Money issues for Tony Snell
Snell, whom the Bucks acquired in a late offseason trade with the Chicago Bulls to fill in the void by then injured wingman Khris Middleton, is bound to get a significant raise in his next contract, although it won’t be as lucrative as the 5-year, $70 million contracts Kent Bazemore, Allen Crabbe and Even Turner signed last season.
Hoops rumors analyst Luke Adams believes teams will still field offer sheets for Snell once he hits the open market, but the Bucks will ultimately retain his service.
Snell blossomed into a reliable rotation player for the Bucks last season after averaging 8.5 points on 45 percent FG shooting and 40 percent from the free-throw line.
His defensive acumen stood out in the Bucks’ first round series vs. the Toronto Raptors, where he had several outstanding defensive moments against prolific scorer DeMar DeRozan.
Jabari Parker contract extension
According to Adams, the Bucks should determine if Parker is worth of a max contract extension. The former Duke Blue Devils standout averaged 20.1 points and 6.2 rebounds last season before suffering a second ACL tear last February. Instead of regressing, the Bucks thrived without Parker as they went on to post the regular-season on a 20-11 finish. Adams stressed that strong second half surge the Bucks had without Parker will play a factor in the extension talks over the coming months.
