After months of speculation and at least one interview for a head coaching job, Kelvin Sampson has officially moved on from the Milwaukee Bucks.

Sampson has signed on to become the associate head coach on Kevin McHale’s Houston Rockets staff, a step up from his position in Milwaukee behind recently retained Jim Boylan on Scott Skiles’s staff. According to Gery Woelful, Sampson impressed the Rockets brass when interviewing for the top job there and reports say he will have an out clause if another head coaching job becomes available.

Having spent the majority of his carer in college, Sampson seemed to naturally gravitate to younger Bucks over his two season’s in Milwaukee. He earned much praise from Milwaukee’s younger players like Brandon Jennings and Larry Sanders. Sampson could often be found hours before games on the court feeding Jennings passes as he worked his way around the perimeter.

It remains to be seen how much his departure will impact the Bucks. It probably depends a lot on who the Bucks bring in to replace him. Milwaukee’s offensive struggles of last season have been well documented, so while many teams are bringing in defensive specialists (Woelful reported Phoenix was looking to bring in Boylan to fill that position before he re-upped with the Bucks), perhaps the Bucks will look to bring in a coach with a history of offensive success and creativity. Or maybe Milwaukee will look to bring in an assistant with a strong history of developing younger players.

No matter what they do, Milwaukee will probably suffer a net loss. Sampson was an incredibly hard worker and appeared to set a great example as a coach. Not that it required much to do so, but he’s more than restored his reputation in his couple of years in Milwaukee after a nasty end to his college career.

I met with Coach Sampson nearly a year ago at the Las Vegas summer league and talked with him about working with young players. I was going to try and pick out a quote or two for this story, but all of them were so good and seemed so honest that I’ll just toss the link in here and let you revisit. If there’s anyone who gets working with younger players, it’s Sampson.

Jeremy Schmidt writes the Milwaukee Bucks blog Bucksketball.com. Follow him on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

At some point this season, Larry Sanders and Tiny Gallon are going to look like they were put on this Earth to play basketball in the NBA. Times will be good. At some point this season, they’ll be glued to the bench, saddled with foul trouble or fighting inconsistency. Times will be bad. Even the very best rookie seasons are a mixed bag.

For assistant coach Kelvin Sampson, it’s keeping them on an even keel that’s most important.

“Rookie years are tough for these guys,” said Coach Sampson. “At some point they’re going to to go through a tough patch. With the kids here, it’s making sure they handle success and failure in the same vein. Don’t get too high, don’t get too low. Understand work is the answer to most of your problems.”

The development of young players is a crucial ingredient in the success of any NBA team and Milwaukee has one of the best in the business on their staff in Sampson. Within the last week, Gallon has Tweeted about the immediate positive influence Sampson has had on him. Gallon’s words should come as no surprise as repeatedly last season Brandon Jennings was quick to note how helpful Coach Sampson was in helping him develop. Keeping Jennings on an even keel during a roller coaster rookie season was a focus for Sampson.

“That was a big thing with Brandon,” he said. “The night he scored 55, I remember he was texting me later that night, and one of the things I said to him was don’t allow a 55-point night on a night in November define who you are. That’s part of being able to handle success.” Read more…

Winning organizations don’t last in the NBA. Professional sports leagues are copycat clubs, and the NBA is no different. The Bucks dove into Detroit’s annual conference champion organization to get general manager John Hammond. Successful organizations lose key members all of the time, it’s the price they pay for their success.

So perhaps Milwaukee should see it as a compliment that rumors have placed Kelvin Sampson in both Cleveland and Los Angeles.

From Adrian Wojnarowski at Yahoo! Sports:

As the Cleveland Cavaliers sift potential coaching candidates, general manager Danny Ferry has made calls checking on Milwaukee Bucks assistant Kelvin Sampson, sources tell Yahoo! Sports.

and

The Clippers are also showing an interest in Bucks assistant Kelvin Sampson, sources tell Y! Sampson has relationship with Blake Griffin.

At this stage, it’s not clear how sincere or how high up on the Cavaliers and Clippers lists Sampson may be, but it was only a matter of time before the Bucks assistant coaches started getting feelers. With the exception of Adrian Griffin, every assistant on the Bucks staff has been a head coach at some level (Joe Wolf was a D-League head coach, Sampson college and Jim Boylan in the NBA). Sampson’s work with Brandon Jennings in particular seemed to garner him much notoriety, starting with Jennings’ surprisingly effective summer league performance under Sampson’s tutelage as head coach. But if Sampson were to get his first NBA head honcho gig of his career, I’d expect it to be Cleveland before the Clippers.

His relationship with Blake Griffin in cited by Wojnarowski on Twitter, but his connections in Cleveland run deeper.

After his dismissal at Indiana, Sampson worked as an adviser to the San Antonio Spurs, getting his feet wet in the NBA and bracing himself for a career after college. There are few betters ways to rehabilitate one’s career than with the San Antonio Spurs and their uber-respected organization. In fact, where did Cleveland’s last coach, Mike Brown, spend time as an assistant before his head job with Cleveland? You guessed it, San Antonio. General manager Danny Ferry spent the last three years of his playing career in San Antonio before working in their front office prior to taking the job as Cleveland’s general manager.

The roots are there for this deal to go down.

But the catch would be that Sampson may not be the big name coach Cleveland is looking to bring in to appease Lebron James. Sampson’s experience at multiple levels and impressive pedigree could be enough to persuade James that he can get the job done. This one bears watching as it develops.

Two games, two disappointing losses, two completely different ways.  A blowout in San Antonio and a nail biter that slipped away like it was covered in butter.

There is no easy way to digest this one.  The Bucks were up five with 50 seconds to go in regulation.  A few jumpers, some free throw retaliations by Brandon Jennings and a Darren Collison three-point shot later, the game was tied with seven seconds to play.  But the Bucks had the ball and it was Brandon Jennings’ game to be had, Bucks fans had to feel good, right?  I certainly did.  I mean, Jennings had been struggling all game, but he’s still Brandon Jennings.  But regulation was not meant to be.  Jennings turned it over on a pick and roll initiated deep behind the three-point line on some good defense by David West.

No matter, overtime was a chance for redemption.  For a lot of guys.  Michael Redd had been struggling all game, so had Jennings and the song was the same for Ersan Ilyasova. Surely one of them would be able to get it going in the fifth stanza.  But it never came.  Redd hit a shot and then missed a couple more, including the game tying attempt at the horn.  Jennings had a crucial turnover in the back court and Ilyasova barely sniffed the court.

It’s hard to feel good about any of this game.  But … it’s Thanksgiving.  And in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I’ll give thanks about some things, rather than harp on another disappointing Bucks loss. Read more…