Wednesday Notes: Ilyasova stars, Alexander works, De Colo and Adrien visit, draft rumormill

Hey, it's real basketball: Ilyasova leads Barca to a 2-1 edge over Tau

• ACB.com: Ilyasova stars as Barcelona down TAU Ceramica.  The Spanish best-of-five finals continued with Barcelona seizing a 2-1 edge this afternoon in Catalonia.  And after seeing fairly limited PT of late, former and possible future Buck Ersan Ilyasova got back to his best with 19 points (7/11 fg), nine boards and three assists in 25 minutes.  Check out the game highlights above.  Barcelona can clinch the Spanish title on Thursday afternoon at home. Also, Tom Enlund mentioned the other day that the Bucks are expected to make Ilyasova a qualifying offer, but don't read much into it.  Ilyasova's QO is dirt cheap (about a mil) and he'd never take it, so it's purely meant to prevent Ilasyova from becoming an unrestricted free agent.  The Bucks have had to make the QO the previous two summers as well, so it doesn't mean his return is suddenly imminent.  Let's wait to see what happens with the draft and the Sessions situation first.
  

• BUCKS.com: De Colo, Adrien headline potential second rounders.  The Bucks didn't have any big names in on Monday, but two guys with definite second round potential did make it to the Cousins Center--UConn mini-bruiser Jeff Adrien and French point guard Nando De Colo.  Adrien you might know from his four years in the Big East, where he was a poor (and skinny) man's DeJuan Blair--the same height, wingspan and standing reach...except 40 pounds lighter.  If the Bucks go small at #10 then Adrien could certainly make some sense at 41.  Meanwhile, De Colo made his second visit in two weeks, hot on the heels of an excellent showing at the Reebok Eurocamp in Italy.  Dave Babcock, what say ye?

  "He was here a couple of weeks ago. We liked him, but he didn’t have a chance to play against a point guard in that workout. So we brought him in today to go against McAlarney. Nando’s a good player. He’s another potential second round guy, so he’s got a chance."

  I don't know anything about De Colo aside from the Jonathan Givony and Chad Ford scouting reports, but those seem pretty promising.  Both came away very impressed by De Colo's performance in Italy, and we can only assume the Bucks have a more than passing interest given they've had him in twice now.  Ford offers the dirt:

  Scouts love his size and swagger, and he really shot the lights out during camp, making 65 percent from the field. While those who watched him in France all year worry he lacks the lateral quickness to defend the quicker guards in the NBA, he seemed to hold his own against Mills and, to a lesser extent, Beverley. De Colo was the other guy who looked like he could be a legit late-first-round prospect, with a few caveats. First, the word in the camp was that De Colo might have jumped the gun and signed a pro contract in Europe, which could keep him out of the league for a few years. Second, several GMs wanted to go back and take a closer look at his game film from this year. De Colo was up and down all year, and they want to get a better look at how his season went.
  
  But overall, no one helped his stock more than De Colo. He went from a borderline second-round prospect to getting some legit buzz in the late-first to early-second rounds.

• Bucksketball: Workout Reports.  Jeremy has a nice compilation of the notable guys who have worked out in Milwaukee.

• Enlund: What about the second round?  There's nothing more enjoyable than overanalyzing Dave Babcock's draft commentary, so with that in mind here's today's soundbite:

  "A couple weeks ago I would have said that I don’t know if there’s going to be a guy there we like, but I’m starting to feel better now that there might be," said Bucks director of player personnel Dave Babcock. "Just from what we’ve seen and then a couple of the guys that stayed in the draft will affect it. And, what we’ve seen in guys that we may not have been as high on earlier, we feel better about now."

  So the Bucks are starting to like one of the guys they worked out?  Off the top of my head, Pendergraph, De Colo, Carroll, McNeal, and Adrien come to mind as the obvious candidates.  Which means they're probably picking some random dude I've never heard of.  

• Gardner: Alexander back in the gym.  Joe Alexander's 08/09?  Disappointing.  No one has debated that including, Alexander himself.  The good news?  The dude has always thrived when people write him off.

  "Joe walked in the gym and the first thing I noticed was how much bigger and stronger he had gotten," said Hammond. "We know that about Joe. We know that Joe is not going to sit and accept his fate. It doesn’t matter if it was something that happened extraordinarily well for him, he’s not going to accept that. That’s not good enough for him. Or, maybe in this case, where he looks back on the season and says I’m not happy with the result and you know when he comes back, he’s going to have changed."

  I asked Scott Skiles in Vegas last summer if they specifically wanted Alexander to bulk up to play PF, but he said no--it wasn't the kind of thing he believed in doing. So maybe Alexander's taken it upon himself to again hit the weights or maybe Hammond is pumping Alexander up a bit in case they decide to move him this summer.  Personally I hope he sticks around.  His value right now is so low that he's not going to bring back much in a trade, yet he's hardly a lost cause.  He's not going to be a star, but the tools and work ethic are there to be a contributor.  At least that's what I'm telling myself.