"This was an interesting situation to me," Skiles said. "John Hammond getting the job [as Bucks general manager] … he's a guy with a definite philosophy and he's going to try to stick to it. That's appealing. They have a good young center [Andrew Bogut] and those are hard to come by. It's a town I'm familiar with and a conference and a division I'm familiar with.

"I don't look at it as a total rebuilding project—they've got some nice pieces. Michael Redd can score and Mo Williams can score. And there are some prospects. It can be an up-and-coming team.

"They have been a very poor defensive team and they don't pass the ball well," Skiles conceded. "Those are two kind of glaring things. We need to share the ball and we need to play solid defense. Those are a couple of things we'll be working on."

I'm going to give Hammond the benefit of the doubt. I am going to assume he's just putting lipstick on the pig he will probably have to sell at public auction next season. It may very well be that Hammond realizes it will take him a couple of years at least to get rid of some of the past regimes long-term mistakes.

Indeed, that is the view espoused by Bucks announcer Ted Davis. He believes there really isn't much Hammond can do immediately to revamp the roster. He will have to wait until some of the more foolish contract obligations the Bucks made finally expire. Davis believes, however, that either Michael Redd or Mo Williams will be traded before next season, with Redd being the more saleable commodity (even with his massive contract).

One of the nation’s leading small business owners, Robertson presently heads companies active in the fields of document and facilities management (OR Solutions), processed foods (OR Foods), publishing (Oscar Robertson Media Ventures), and specialty chemicals (Orchem). The latter company recently expanded into the consumer product arena with an enzyme-based, environmentally-friendly line of stain remover wipes under the product name "FadeAway." The Big O is also a board member of Countrywide Financial Corporation, the nation’s leading mortgage lender.

Robertson graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1960 with a degree in business. He was recently awarded a Doctorate of Humane Letters by his alma mater. Robertson and his wife Yvonne are co-chairs of the University’s current $800 million capital campaign.