MILWAUKEE - Fans caught up in week after week of Brett Favre drama and CC Sabathia hype may not have noticed, but new Milwaukee Bucks general manager John Hammond quietly is taking a sledgehammer to his underachieving team's roster. Hammond is hoping a largely new cast of characters will play defense, rebound and, above all, win -- all fairly foreign concepts to recent Milwaukee teams. Once the Bucks get their time in the spotlight, Hammond figures fans will like what they see. "We're kind of under the radar screen a little bit," said Hammond, a former right-hand man to Joe Dumars in Detroit. "But I do think once training camp rolls around and the exhibition season rolls around and more importantly, when the regular season rolls around, I think our fans are going to look out on the floor and I think they're going to see a team that they like." Gone are coach Larry Krystkowiak and four key players from last year's disappointing team: guard Mo Williams and forward Desmond Mason in a three-team trade with Cleveland and Oklahoma City this week, and forwards Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons in a deal with New Jersey in June. Backup guard Royal Ivey left through free agency. Arriving are coach Scott Skiles and a pair of veteran players who are expected to start, forward Richard Jefferson from New Jersey and guard Luke Ridnour from Oklahoma City. The Bucks also added draft picks Joe Alexander and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, along with several potential role players: Tyronn Lue, Malik Allen, Damon Jones, Adrian Griffin and Francisco Elson. In introducing Ridnour on Friday, Skiles emphasized his ability to distribute the ball and play defense. That stands in sharp contrast to Williams, a score-first guard who couldn't necessarily be counted on to lock down an opponent on defense and seemed to have trouble coexisting with shooting guard Michael Redd on offense. "We are going to be, one way or another, a much better defensive team," Skiles said. "Right behind that, we want to be a good rebounding team. Then we want to push the ball -- in that order." Ridnour said all the right things. "I'm excited about just the toughness factor that you get from your head coach, and excited just to carry that over to the court," Ridnour said. "I think that's the way teams win, and something that I know is definitely going to be good for me and this team." Shedding the sizable contracts of Williams and Simmons also gives the Bucks some financial flexibility down the road. "It helps us maybe next season and the following season, if we want to make moves," Hammond said. "It can give us the opportunity to do some things that we may not have been able to do." But for all the new faces Hammond has brought in, his most significant move might have been to lock up center Andrew Bogut to a five-year, $72.5 million contract extension. Is this Bogut's chance to make the Bucks his team? "No question," Hammond said. "He's locked himself in now as a real cornerstone piece with the long-term extension that he was given." Hammond spoke to several players this week, including Redd by telephone from China after Team USA's Olympic victory over Greece this week. "I think he feels like we all do -- that we've changed for the better," Hammond said. "The end result will be what it is, but I think we're going to compete every night." Many wondered whether Redd would end up on the trading block, but Hammond figures he's done making major moves. "I would assume, sitting here today, that this is probably the roster that we would probably go to camp with," Hammond said. "But the job continues. It never changes. You continue to work the phones, talk to teams. That never stops. They never stop, we never stop. And if an opportunity would present itself to make us better, we're always going to consider things. But right now, I suppose, if you looked at it, you would probably say this is our group." Now Hammond must wait to see if his plan works out. "Joe Dumars and I used to talk about this all the time," Hammond said. "As Joe said, any major decisions you go through in a position like this, you go through them and you work them and then you complete it. And usually you get in your car, and you drive home by yourself, and this overwhelming feeling comes inside of you: Now you hope it works." (Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)