Michael Redd, Andrew Bogut and Richard Jefferson are all smiles on Media Day. (Getty)

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October 1, 2008

MILWAUKEE -- Just a couple of months ago, the eyes of millions were on Michael Redd, Andrew Bogut and thousands of other world-class athletes from across the globe as they went head-to-head, representing their countries in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

Redd and Bogut were 100-percent committed to their respective Olympic teams' causes. But at the same time, you couldn't blame them for allowing their thoughts to drift toward Milwaukee every once in awhile.

After all, a lot had transpired there since they made their last appearances in Milwaukee Bucks uniforms.

New General Manager John Hammond had already moved into team headquarters, and he wasted little team assembling his executive staff.

Five days after the Bucks finished a 26-56 season with their eighth consecutive loss, Hammond introduced Scott Skiles, who has turned two other NBA teams in a winning direction, as the 11th head coach in the franchise's history.

Within less than three weeks, the team announced the hiring of Jim Boylan, Lionel Hollins, Kelvin Sampson and Joe Wolf as Skiles' assistant coaches, joining the lone holdover from last year's staff, Bill Peterson.

Then the wheeling and dealing began.

Beginning June 26, the entrance to the Bucks Training Center could have used a revolving door.

Within the following month and a half, veterans Richard Jefferson, Malik Allen, Tyronn Lue, Adrian Griffin, Luke Ridnour, Damon Jones and Francisco Elson and 2008 draft picks Joe Alexander and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute entered the building.

Yi Jianlian, Bobby Simmons, Mo Williams and Desmond Mason exited with their bags packed, headed for new homes.

Bogut signed a multiyear contract extension before jetting off to join Australia's Olympic team. He eventually met Redd in China, where Team USA made some golden memories.

Back in Milwaukee for the start of training camp this week, both players admitted to monitoring the developments of the compelling offseason with more than just a casual glance.

When asked for his reaction to them, Redd raised his eyebrows and replied, "Wow! It's a new team, new coaches, a fresh start. We'll try to establish something in training camp, and get better."

The magnitude of the roster overhaul surprised Bogut.

"You knew there were going to be some changes," he said, "but this extensive? No. But from the front office to the coach to the players to the janitor, there are a lot of new people."

And Bogut did not endorse change simply for the sake of change. He is excited about the direction in which Hammond has begun steering the franchise.

"I think the moves were great," he said. "Luke (Ridnour) is a guy who has come in here and worked hard. He had an injury last year that held him back, and I think confidence became an issue with him. I think this year, he's going to surprise people. He can really play.

"The two rookies that we brought in are great. Mbah a Moute's a great defender and very, very athletic, and Joe can really shoot the ball and is very athletic as well."

Bogut said he was thrilled to learn that Jefferson would become his teammate, too.

"Jefferson obviously gives us a guy who can get us 20 every night," the fourth-year center said. "He plays at an All-Star level every year, and I think that's something that's very important to us. He also works very hard defensively. He brings it on defense as well as on offense."

Redd will most certainly miss Mason, who became one of his closest friends. And he made it clear that he enjoyed watching Mo Williams develop alongside him and expects him to enjoy success in Cleveland.

Then Redd applied his stamp of approval on the changes, too.

"Richard obviously brings a level of championship experience," he said. "He went to the Finals twice, and he understands what it takes to win.

"Luke has been a guy that everybody respects in the NBA since he stepped into the NBA. In fact, he was on the U.S. roster a couple years back. He knows how to play."

"Joe gives us fresh legs. He's a guy who plays hard and had a great career at West Virginia.

"All of the guys they brought in are guys who can help us. It's going to be interesting to see what happens."

For their part, the newcomers are happy to be on board.

The 6-foot-7-inch, 225-pound Jefferson, a seven-year NBA veteran, is the most statistically accomplished of the newcomers. He has averaged 17.4 points and 5.4 rebounds over the course of his career, and is coming off a year in which he averaged a career-best 22.6 ppg. for the New Jersey Nets.

More importantly, as Jefferson joins the Bucks mix, he has played in two NBA Finals and a total of 78 playoff games. That is 47 more than the combined total of the holdovers from last year's Milwaukee squad.

“I’m excited," Jefferson said. "I like how they’ve built this team.

"I know Coach Skiles’ history as a coach and what he brings to the table. Luke Ridnour, I’ve been playing against since college, and I know how he likes to push and pass the ball. Malik Allen, I was a teammate with last year. Michael, I’ve always been very cool with.

"So I’m looking forward to this opportunity and I’m excited. I know we have talent, but every team in this league has talent. I know we have a great coach, but a lot of teams in this league have great coaches. It’s a matter of us all putting it together and believing in his system and how quickly we can get our chemistry right.”

Ridnour, too, expressed excitement as he stood on the threshold of his first camp in Milwaukee. For various reasons, the 6-2, 175 five-year pro played only 61 games and averaged 20 minutes per outing -- both career lows -- with Seattle last season.

Ridnour was ready for a change of scenery, and when informed that he might be headed for Milwaukee, his reply was, "Perfect."

"I'm excited about it," he said. "It's a fresh start, a new beginning, with the guys on this team and what's going on here. I'm just excited to get started."

Because Ridnour is known as a pure, pass-first point guard, his statistics will probably never reflect his value to the team as much as the win- and loss-column numbers do.

"Yep," agreed Bogut. "But to a certain extent, I think that's going to be the case with everybody. That's how everybody should be judged.

"I'd love to play on a team where you don't look at the stats; all you look at are those two columns. If we can do that, we should be much more successful.

"I'd much rather be playing basketball to get that win column filled than all of those other columns."

Such words have to be music to Skiles' ears. He hopes that over the next few weeks, he sees the actions to accompany them -- from everyone on the roster Hammond has put together for him.

“One of the things I liked about the job, in talking to John about the job before I even accepted it, is that we felt like some personnel needed to be changed," Skiles said. "We agreed on that right away. John did an unbelievable job in changing our personnel and at the same time not costing us financially, and gaining some financial flexibility.

“I like the personnel. It’s just a matter now of having to move quickly. We have 20 of 33 on the road to start the season. It’s great to say, ‘We have a new staff, we have new players, we like everybody’ – which we do, but we’ve got to hang in there during that stretch. We’ve got to play some pretty good basketball early in the season.”

Skiles knows, too, that none of his players can afford to rest on any laurels -- not that he has ever allowed a team he coached to do that.

"In the last two seasons, the Bucks won 28 and 26 games," he said. "I don’t want to keep saying the same thing over and over, but I guess I am. We’ve got to become competitive. It’s an envrionment we have to create right here, and it’s got to be the way we go to work every day.

"We’ve got some habits, maybe, from some guys that have been here that we have to change. And then, fortunately, we have a lot of new guys that have come from other places that are here and eager to win.”

The eyes of Milwaukee and Wisconsin will be soon be upon them all, because basketball season is officially here.