RJ drives into SF top five? (SI vault)

• Listen to in-depth, freshly posted interviews with Andrew Bogut and Scott Skiles, courtesy of the 540 ESPN audio library.
• Not like... shooting Buck season almost here. Like, shooting Buck season almost here. Preseason opener is Oct. 6 at the B.C. against Minny. That's inside two weeks.
  
• We were slightly skeptical of the center rankings over at CBS Sportsline after Andrew Bogut checked in at 14th, particularly relative to some others. Maybe we'll call it even after Richard Jefferson rates a rather flattering 5th among NBA small forwards. Oh, but there's more from the Bucks/Nets trade: Tim Povtak slots Yi Jianlian a positively optimistic 20th among small forwards. Without even debating his production, Yi hasn't exactly played small forward in the league. And yet, just two spots behind Gerald Wallace, and trailing Luol Deng by three.
  

  Richard Jefferson: The change will do him good after some frustrating years in New Jersey. It won't be easy playing for coach Scott Skiles in Milwaukee, but the Bucks just might surprise people around the Eastern Conference. While Michael Redd hits the 3s, Jefferson should have room to slash toward the basket, getting his 20 points per game.

• Michael Redd comes in at number 5th eight at shooting guard in the same series of CBS Sportsline rankings.

• Empty The Bench interviews Yahoo basketball scribe Adrian Wojnarowski: part I and part II.

  This program will make the NBA a better league. I think the experience taught these guys a lot of things. For guys like Michael Redd and Carlos Boozer, they found out what it’s like to not be a star for the first time, to sit on the bench and hope they’ll get a chance to play. I think that gives those guys more empathy and understanding of teammates on the Jazz and Bucks, for example. That’s a perspective All-Stars don’t often get in the league.

• In a Central Division preview, FoxSports.com's Erick Blasco writes the Bucks are a year away. He also forecasts Charlie Villanueva and Scott Skiles will clash. We've been debating that possibility too, but one thing that's not debatable is it's John Hammond, not so much Tom.

• Ty at the Bucks Diary, for one, isn't buying CV in 2008-09.
• Who's ready for the NBA this year? Yeah, me too. In town, the Bucks are getting ready as well, writes Bucks.com's Adam Rose.
• Jim Paschke gears up for the season.
• BrewHoop'ers, meet Energee. Energee, meet BrewHoop'ers?
• Truman Reed at Bucks.com scouts the 2008-09 Bucks.
• Check out my interview with TheLakersNation.com for thoughts on the playoff chances of the Bucks (reply hazy, try again) and Lakers (it is decidedly so), how the teams would match up in a seven-game series (outlook not so good), Andrew Bynum (signs point to yes), and Ramon Sessions (as i see it, yes). Or so says the AlexBrewHoop 8-ball.
• The interviews at the top confirm Charles Gardner's report that Andrew Bogut should be healthy for camp. And after the Bucks paid Bogut this offseason, that's refreshing, right, Wizards?