Bucks GM Not Obsessed With PG Purity

Recently, the myth of point guard purity has been a bit of a personal bleating issue for me. Consider me thrilled, then, to see new Bucks general manager John Hammond address it head-on in a wide-ranging interview with BrewHoop. Hammond takes issue with the assertion shooting PG Mo Williams isn't a good match for wing scorers Michael Redd and Richard Jefferson.

"To be an NBA effective player, you have to be able to make shots. If you don't have a guy that can shoot the ball like Mo or make plays like Mo, then guys like Jefferson or Michael aren't going to get open as easily. So anytime you have a scorer on the floor I think he can complement other people. Everyone's looking for the consummate point guard, but there are just so few of those."

And, as we've learned with Jason Kidd, being the "consummate point guard" isn't necessarily a boon. Assists and "pointguardness" are severely misunderstood concepts in the NBA; that many recent championship teams have lacked a top-flight point guard (Derek Fisher, Jason Williams, Rajon Rondo?) seems to be lost on pundits as we all search for the next Steve Nash (who has actually shot a lot more the past couple years).

Jefferson and Redd have been very efficient scorers in the recent past. If Williams and the frontcourt can also score efficiently, there will be little problem overall with Milwaukee's offense. And there shouldn't be -- this is a talented offensive team. The real consternation regarding the Buck backcourt should come on the other end, where neither Williams nor Redd have shown they can be consistently stout defenders.

(Be sure to check out the first two parts [I, II] of BrewHoop's Hammond interview as well.)