MILWAUKEE — For months, first-year general manager John Hammond offered few clues about the future of the Milwaukee Bucks' roster.

All we knew was that Hammond wanted players who were willing to execute the offense and play hard-nosed defense, something easily deduced after he selected tough guy Scott Skiles to be his coach.

But would Hammond retain the underachieving nucleus he inherited and build on it or would he blow up a selfish, dysfunctional team and start over? If he did trade, would he acquire quality veterans or dump bad contracts for next to nothing?

Until the NBA draft Thursday, no one had any idea where the Bucks, coming off a 26-win season, were headed.

Now we know.

Hammond is trying to corner the market on small forwards.

Sorry, just kidding.

What we did learn after a full day of activity was that Hammond thinks the Bucks can win now and that they can win with leading scorer and No. 1 lightning rod Michael Redd as their centerpiece.

Both conclusions will be hard to sell in Wisconsin. Those who have watched the Bucks flounder will tell you that constructing a team around a shooting guard who doesn't always play well with others is bound to fail because it has failed several times before.

It was thought that Hammond would jettison Redd or point guard Mo Williams or both.

Williams still might go, but by trading second-year power forward Yi Jianlian and small forward Bobby Simmons to New Jersey for small forward Richard Jefferson and drafting West Virginia small forward Joe Alexander (first round) and UCLA small forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (second), Hammond showed there will be no rebuilding period in Milwaukee.

In fact, he put the NBA's eighth and ninth-leading scorers — Redd and Jefferson, respectively — on opposite wings in the Bucks' offense.

"I talked to Michael up in my office a couple nights ago and told him, 'Right now, Michael, our goal is to put quality people around you and better players around you and winning players around you,' " Hammond said. "One thing about Richard, he's won. He's got a lot of experience, he's played in the playoffs and he's won a lot of games. ... To put a piece like Jefferson on the floor with him, I think it only makes Michael better. I don't think you can ever have too many good players. I know it's another 20-point player — Richard averaged 22 a game last year — but I think the more the merrier."

Of Hammond's two key acquisitions Thursday, getting Jefferson in his prime made the most sense.

Jefferson is 28, averaged a career-best 22.6 points per game this season and has been the Nets best perimeter defender. He's a winner, too, having been in the playoffs six times in seven years and in the NBA finals twice. The only downside is that Jefferson has battled ankle problems in recent years.

The only way this trade fails, however, is if Yi turns into a premier player, which, despite the flashes he showed as a rookie, isn't likely to happen. Even if Yi does develop, he probably wouldn't have signed a second contract in Milwaukee, which means the Bucks would miss out on his prime years anyway.

The drafting of Alexander was more curious, if only because his NBA future is at small forward. Hammond and Skiles said Alexander, who stands only 6-foot-8 but has the energy, athleticism and toughness they're seeking, will start out playing mostly power forward.

But even if Alexander is an immediate contributor, Hammond left himself with a potential problem. It is generally believed that Redd and Williams can't exist in the same backcourt and, since it now appears Redd is staying, the Bucks don't have a ready replacement for Williams should they trade him.

When the Bucks picked at the No. 8 spot, two point guards — Texas' D.J. Augustin and Arizona's Jerryd Bayless — were available. Still, Hammond took a pass and took Alexander.

Skiles said the Bucks might not be done dealing, but seemed very satisfied with the changes made Thursday.

"We felt like we went through every scenario to try to improve the team," Skiles said. "It just didn't feel like it was viable to attempt to break the whole thing down. ...We feel like we have a good level of talent and a deal presented itself to add another very talented player and to keep our pick. We feel like we had a very good day today."

At the very least, it was a revealing day.