Milwaukee Bucks are a mess. It’s been awhile since that’s sentence has been brought out to play. They’re a mess because the mismanagement of the General Manager position is an utter nightmare. A year ago, Bucks stuck the shovels into a groundbreaking new arena that would revitalize part of downtown, and spirits couldn’t have been higher. This summer, everyone in the front office hates each other, and a general manager is being hired that doesn’t truly have full ownership support. This is not progressing forward, rather, they’re looking like Herb Kohl’s team again.

Things hit DEFCON 1 when it was announced yesterday that Wes Edens will be the only owner at the press conference this morning to introduce Jon Horst as the new General Manager. From all we read from ESPN’s Marc Stein and Yahoo! Adrian Wojciechowski, these owners hate each other and developed bad blood over the summer. Marc Lasry and Jamie Dinan wanted Justin Zanik to take over the team. It’s likely that Zanik leaves at some point even though he would receive whatever Horst makes this year. The fact Lasry and Dinan are not attending is a bit childish but shows the dysfunction going on in Bucks front office.

These three want to stay on until the arena is built because the money will not be all there yet, but these are significant growing pains for new ownership. We do see this from time to time, where teams turn into dumpster fires because of the owners who don’t know how to run a franchise. Bucks are still looking for a veteran executive to pair with Horst, and let’s hope it’s no one like Ed Stefanski or Rod Thorn for that matter. There are many talented names that could be brought in that would be great for the organization to help steady the waters a little bit and avoid things from becoming toxic.

Due to this early summer shitshow, Horst will have more pressure on him than he should this year. This is a big offseason with big decisions to be made about Jabari Parker as well as how to construct this roster for an emerging Bucks team. The best thing about having a bad start is you can have a good finish and even things out. Let’s hope that happens with Milwaukee.

Charlie.