Milwaukee Bucks name John Horst new general manager
The Milwaukee Bucks have finally named a new general manager, promoting John Horst internally after a long, sometimes surprising search.
The Milwaukee Bucks have finally settled on a new general manager, promoting John Horst from director of basketball operations on Friday.
Horst had been the team’s director of basketball operations since 2008. The 34-year-old executive was part of all aspects of the basketball operations, helping the team evaluate prospects and manage the salary cap.
He was part of John Hammond’s team that drafted Giannis Antetokounmpo with the 15th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. They built the promising group that finished 42-40 and earned the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference this past season. The Bucks took the Toronto Raptors to six games before being eliminated in the 2017 NBA Playoffs.
The Bucks appear to want to have some continuity with their front office to continue this growth with their young team.
"“Our No. 1 priority is building a championship-caliber organization and we believe Jon is the right person to be our General Manager,” Bucks owners Wes Edens, Marc Lasry and Jamie Dinan said in a press release on the team’s Web site. “He has been an integral part of basketball operations for the last nine years, and has helped advise us on every major basketball decision since we purchased the team. Jon is very talented, capable, organized and someone we have leaned on for his strategic thinking and ability to execute our vision.”"
The team had to quickly shift gears this summer when general manager John Hammond left the team to take the same role with the Orlando Magic in May.
That part was a bit surprising, but largely seen as part of the plan for the Bucks. Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press reported in July 2016 the Bucks had extended Hammond through the 2018 season with the idea he would be grooming assistant general manager Justin Zanik to replace him after that contract concluded.
It was surprising when Hammond left the team before that contract ended, joining his former assistant general manager in Milwaukee Jeff Weltman, who became the Orlando Magic’s president of basketball operations.
It was then equally surprising when the Bucks announced they would open up the search to other candidates outside of Zanik. The team ended up interviewing Zanik but also showed interest in Denver Nuggets assistant general manager Arturas Karnisovas.
The Nuggets promoted Karnisovas this week to general manager, bumping up Tim Connelly to president of basketball operations, in an apparent effort to keep the Bucks from hiring Karnisovas.
Milwaukee has clearly quickly moved on to make an internal hire and keep things going in the right direction.
Horst will have a lot to work with. He has a talented, young roster with one of the league’s budding stars in Giannis Antetokounmpo to build with. He will also have the 17th overall pick in a loaded NBA Draft and the promise of a new stadium opening for the 2019 season.
Things are looking up for the Bucks as a franchise. They can now get to the work of improving their roster and taking the next steps on the court.