Memo to John Hammond, the new general manager of the Milwaukee Bucks:

Congratulations on the new job, John. Now get to work. Despite that five-year contract, there's no time for toasts.

Your resume, especially the part about being Joe Dumars' right-hand man in Detroit for seven years, is impressive, but you've got a lot of work to do to make a winner out of Sen. Herb Kohl's team.

Remember, this is a franchise that has had one shining moment in 20 years.

Some will tell you the Bucks are close to being a contender. Trust me, they're not.

The parts assembled by your predecessor, Larry Harris, look good enough on paper, but they've never added up to a complete team. Major changes are necessary.

Go ahead, bring in a demanding coach from your past like Rick Carlisle or Larry Brown; just don't expect miracles with this roster.

The current coach, Larry Krystkowiak, is a good guy, but the players quit listening to him, oh, about Thanksgiving. Of course, they didn't respect previous coaches Terry Stotts and Terry Porter, either.

The point is, this team needs more than a hard-line coach who will demand that the players pass the ball and play defense. It needs players who will do more than pay lip-service to playing basketball the right way. It needs players who will go out on the floor and do it for more than two or three games in a row.

Problem is, you're inheriting some bad contracts along with those hard heads.

Harris' master plan was to acquire as many talented players as possible and hope his coach could mold them into a team. Partly because the coaches were low-paid, learn-on-the-job types, it never happened.

Now, you'll have to make some moves despite having Michael Redd, Mo Williams, Dan Gadzuric, Bobby Simmons and Charlie Bell with long-term contracts. Good luck moving any of them.

Fortunately, you know all of this.

As the vice president of basketball operations for Central Division rival Detroit, you've seen the Bucks up close for years. And you still took the job? Wow, either you're a brave man or you have a foolproof plan to turn the Bucks into the Pistons West. Hopefully, that plan doesn't include drafting Darko Milicic ahead of Dwyane Wade, but, hey, you can blame that one on Dumars.

What you might not know is that the Senator can be, um, a bit meddlesome.

Given your NBA experience, I'm assuming you extracted a promise from Kohl giving you the autonomy to reshape the team as you see fit. You said Saturday you think you'll have the freedom to operate without interference. Good luck with that.

For years, the media and fans have urged Kohl to follow the blueprint of the Green Bay Packers, which is to hire a general manager, give him the resources he needs and get out of his way.

On occasion, the Senator even tries to adopt that plan. Unfortunately, he just can't help himself. If things don't happen quickly, he will get involved.

All is not bleak, however.

Andrew Bogut and Yi Jianlian are promising young big men you can build a team around, the Senator once again appears serious about winning and the fans are loyal beyond reason.

You appear to be a good catch. Now go out and prove it.