The Bucks know that Scott Skiles will demand consistent effort and accountability from his players this season. (Getty)

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October 9, 2008

MILWAUKEE -- When John Hammond pursued and eventually hired Scott Skiles as the 11th head coach in Milwaukee Bucks history, one of the factors that swayed him was Skiles' ability to engineer turnarounds of the two previous National Basketball Association teams he coached.

Skiles received his first NBA head coaching assignment with Phoenix on Dec 13, 1999, after Danny Ainge resigned, and he promptly guided the Suns to a 40-22 record over the remainder of the season, posting the 12th-best first-year coaching record in NBA history.

The Suns twice made the playoffs with Skiles at the helm and won a first-round series over the defending world champion San Antonio Spurs in 2000. During his one full season in charge in Phoenix, the Suns went 51-31 (.622).

Following a two-year absence from the game, Skiles returned to the NBA as head coach of the Chicago Bulls on Nov. 28, 2003, and inherited a 4-12 team. Under his direction, the Bulls ended a six-year playoff drought the following season and made the first of three consecutive postseason trips.

Hammond didn't need to hire a private investigator to uncover the secrets to Skiles' success. They did not include daily games of H-O-R-S-E with prizes for the winners, home-baked cookies from the coach for practice hustle, or days at the beach once the wins began rolling in.

No, when Skiles came to Milwaukee, his reputation preceded him. In each of his previous stops, he coached with the same intensity he displayed as a state champion in high school, an All-American in college and a 10-year pro's pro.

Bucks guard Charlie Bell was only 7 years old when Skiles was a senior starring at Michigan State University, so Bell can be forgiven if he doesn't vividly remember his coach's heyday in East Lansing.

But Bell became familiar with Skiles' legend when he followed in his footsteps as a guard with the Spartans.

"I've seen highlights of him," Bell said. "The thing about it is you hear about him going so hard on the court. He left it all on the court in every game.

"Seeing him play and watching him make a pass and seeing somebody finish one of his passes, and seeing the excitement that he had, with his fist pumpin' ...

"He's just one of those guys that you would love to play with, because he would do anything for you. You have to respect that, and want to do anything for him."

During his first week of camp with the Bucks, Skiles didn't leave any expectations unfulfilled.

If any of the Bucks wanted a sneak preview of what playing for Skiles would be like, they had at least one teammate to consult who could provide first-hand testimony.

Malik Allen, a 6-foot-10-inch, 255-pound forward/center whom the Bucks signed as a free agent July 17, played for Skiles in Chicago in 2005 and '06.

When asked on the eve of the Bucks' first day of camp what his new teammates could expect from their new coach, Allen proceeded to tell it like it is.

"It is what it is," he said. "He's demanding. It's not like we're going to be playing for Bobby Knight or anything, but in this day and age of pro coaches, he is demanding.

"I think some people misconstrue what he's about. It's not like we're going to be running 50 17s in practice. He's a reasonable coach."

And when the games begin?

"He expects you to play a certain way," Allen replied. "Guys are going to have to realize, as camp goes on, that his system works, but we have to play hard in order for us to be successful."

Center Andrew Bogut welcomed the prospect of playing for a demanding coach.

"He's an intense, no-nonsense type of guy, and that's what we need," Bogut said of Skiles. "I can guarantee every player on this team that if you're not working hard, you're going to hear about it, and that's what we really need.

"I think you come to work each day trying to be professional. Some guys might try to take a day off. But he'll be there to remind them. It's nothing personal and it's nothing against the individual, but it's your job to be professional, and he's being paid to make you better."

Under Skiles' direction, both the Suns and the Bulls became substantially better than they were before.

Though Bucks guard Michael Redd scored his NBA career high -- a Bucks single-game record of 57 points -- against a Skiles-coached Bulls team, he did not look forward to games against Chicago.

"I hated to play Chicago when he was there," Redd said. "But he's with us now, and I'm excited about that."

Point guard Luke Ridnour, in his first camp with Milwaukee and under Skiles, is excited at both of those prospects.

"Playing for a demanding coach makes you accountable and it makes you prepare yourself to be ready to go every day," Ridnour said. "I had a coach in Seattle, Nate McMillan, who was like that. He pushed us hard and he made us better.

"So I'm excited to get started under Coach Skiles, get after it and keep going hard."

Bell knows that will be a requirement.

"You want guys who are going to go out and play hard every night ... bring it ... be accountable," he said. "And know that if you're not doing your job, somebody else will, and the coach is going to give that chance to that somebody else.

"You've got to be ready on a night-in, night-out basis, and you've got to play hard, because he's going to coach that way and he wants his players to play that way."

Sounds like a mission statement.