INQUIRER Sports

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin -- John Hammond, vice president of basketball operations for the Detroit Pistons for the past seven seasons, was named general manager of the National Basketball Association's Milwaukee Bucks.

Hammond hopes to boost the Pistons, who have made five trips in a row to the NBA semi-finals, to an NBA crown.

"We are pleased to have John Hammond assume leadership of our basketball operations," Bucks owner Herb Kohl said. "He is a proven NBA talent who has played an essential role in a winning NBA organization."

The Bucks fired general manager Larry Harris this season. The club has not won a playoff series since reaching the 2001 Eastern Conference finals.

"The Bucks are a history-rich franchise with amazing fans, and I look forward to the challenge of bringing a championship back to Milwaukee," Hammond said.