Monday Notes: Villanueva rumors, Redd for Gold, Luc in Vegas, and more on Jumpin' Joe
by Frank Madden
on Jun 30, 2008 12:03 AM CDT
in Daily Notes
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- Check out the video above and get to know Bucks second rounder Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. Given Luc's native Cameroon is fighting for a spot in Beijing, Jill Painter of InsideSoCal.com asked him about his Olympic plans:
``I don't know about that,'' Mbah a Moute said. ``Right now, I'm just trying to focus on making the team and getting accustomed to the team. I'll think about Olympic stuff after that.''
Makes sense. Given the Bucks' crowded small forward position he'll no doubt want to get off on the right foot with the coaching staff, so expect him to be in Vegas with the Bucks' summer league squad in a couple weeks. And as much as I love that name, I'm going to be using a lot of "Luc" and "LRMaM" from here on out. - Few expected Charlie Villanueva would outlast Yi Jianlian as a member of the Bucks (myself included), but Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News writes that Villanueva is likely to be shipped out soon as well.
No surprise that the Bucks are looking to send Charlie Villanueva to the first place they can find. He'll never last with Scott Skiles.
Not many people would argue with that last point, though the problem is that Villanueva is now the only true power forward currently on the Bucks' roster. Given their lack of cap space and the threat of luxury tax issues in 09/10, the Bucks are unlikely to find more than a stop-gap solution to their power forward problem in free agency this summer. Especially given that Joe Alexander is expected to sign within the next week or so, thus making him untradable for 30 days, that leaves John Hammond with Villanueva, Mo Williams and Desmond Mason as assets he can use to solve his PF shortage (yes, I'll assume Redd is unlikely to be moved at this point). Trading Mo for a PF leaves the Bucks a bit short at the point, so in simplest terms Hammond would probably have to pull off a pair of trades (Mo for a PF and CV for a PG), and even then he'd still likely need another PF. I'm less optimistic that Desmond Mason's expiring $5.4 million deal would fetch a quality 4. - How about bringing back Michael Ruffin on another minimum-level deal? No, he can't do anything offensively and you don't want him playing a lot of minutes, but he still provided enough rebounding and defense to be a very good value last year. In fact, Ruffin led the Bucks in net +/-, and his lack of offensive ambition isn't as problematic with the likes of Redd, Jefferson, Bogut and Williams (if he's around) on the roster. You don't want to sign him with the intent of making him a starter, but the Bucks don't have that many options right now.
- Michael Hunt writes that Mike Redd and his fellow Olympians have only one option: gold.
- Joe Alexander's rise from probable first rounder to mid-lottery pick has been well-chronicled, but if you have ESPN Insider be sure to take a look at Chad Ford's report on Alexander's pre-draft work with Joe Abunassar. Given the debate about whether he can play PF, I found it interesting that Alexander measured 6'7.25" without shoes and 6'8.25" with shoes in Orlando, yet Ford reports that he measured 6'7.75" in socks and 6'9" in shoes during his pre-draft training. Why am I not surprised? And aside from some nice workout video, Ford also does his part to add to the legend of Joe:
Steve said that Alexander would spend hours in the basement dribbling a basketball with headphones on. One time, he and his wife left to go shopping. He yelled at Alexander in the basement and told him they'd be right back. Three hours later they returned and Alexander was still in the basement, dripping with sweat, still dribbling the basketball.
"Joe didn't really have a girlfriend in school," Steve said. "If he could've dated his basketball, then I guess, he would have dated. Basketball has always been his one true love."
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