Notes: Bogut's cast off, Patterson's polish, Whiteside's immaturity, and Tony Allen a target?

Twitter: Bogut's cast off
Earlier today the big fella reported another small milestone in his recovery:

Just got my cast off. Was the best feeling....until i figured out my fingers and wrist are stiffer than a board....not a good feeling!

Woelfel: Bucks keeping busy in Chicago
Gery Woelfel reports on some of the work the Bucks were doing at the combine. Read the whole thing, but here's the most important part for all of us trying to decipher the Bucks' draft plans:

The Bucks are doing their due diligence and have interviewed a passel of draft prospects, among them Virgina guard Sylven Landesberg, Xavier shooting guard Jordan Crawford, Connecticut forward Stanley Robinson and New Mexico shooting guard Darington Hobson, Oklahoma State shooting guard James Anderson and Hayward.

The Bucks also met with Paul George, a shooting guard-small forward from Fresno State. It was the second meeting with George, the other being last week during a workout in Milwaukee.

Crawford and Landesberg are both possible second rounders with cocky reputations, so it's good to see the Bucks trying to figure things out for themselves. Woelfel also did a segment at WSSP on Friday which you can listen to here.

JS: Tony Allen a free agent target?
Catching up on some news from last week, the JS alluded to the possibility of free agent-to-be Tony Allen signing with the Bucks in part because of his younger brother Ryan's transfer to UWM.

"Another thing I thought about (in choosing UWM) was that it’s my brother’s free-agent year and Milwaukee may be in the running for him signing there," said Ryan Allen.

Asked about the possibility of them both playing basketball in Milwaukee next season, Ryan said, "That would be fun."

I really hadn't thought much about Allen being on the Bucks' radar and I'm still not sure he's an obvious target given a) the Bucks' likely needs and b) the curious sourcing of the rumor. Make no mistake, Allen's a plus defender and good for the occasional highlight reel dunk, but he's also a mediocre-shooting turnover machine who's ideally suited to coming off the bench.  So even if the Bucks lose John Salmons, is Allen really the guy to target with the Bucks' limited off-season budget?  While I'm sure Skiles would appreciate his effort and abilities as a stopper, I'd rather focus on adding a shooter/scorer at this point.

Bucks Beat: Kentucky's Patterson in talks with Bucks at No. 15
Paul Imig reports from Chicago on Kentucky's Patrick Patterson, who seems to be emerging as one our favorites in the comment section as well:

Patterson said he really got a great vibe from the five members of the Bucks organization who interviewed him, including general manager John Hammond and head coach Scott Skiles.

"I had a great impression, especially from the head coach," Patterson said. "He was definitely an energetic person. He was asking a lot of questions. I could tell he’s a guy who definitely cares about his players and his organization."

A lot can happen in the next month, but I'd be a bit surprised if he's still available at 15--as we discussed last weekend, he measured well in Chicago and he's going to do very well in interviews, so unless he totally blows his workouts I have to think some lottery team will nab him. Not that I wouldn't mind being wrong...

Ford: Whiteside's maturity continues to raise question marks
Chad Ford's draft reporting (or rumor-mongering, if you prefer) is always a must read this time of year, and today he tackled among other things the questions around Hassan Whiteside's attitude. Here's a sample:

A number of teams reported to me that their interviews with Whiteside were rocky. I can understand why. In the 15 minutes or so I spent with him one-on-one he projected a confidence that bordered on naïve arrogance. He compared himself to everyone from Dwight Howard to Hakeem Olajuwon (with whom he spent a week training), complained about where I had him on my mock draft (No. 14 to the Rockets) and was insulted that our scouting report didn't have more on his 3-point shooting ability.

Whiteside clearly believes he has the stuff to be great ... but my interview with him was eerily similar to the one I had with Tyrus Thomas a few years ago. Thomas tried to convince me he was a perimeter player, complained he wasn't ranked No. 1 and generally seemed clueless about the rest of the players in the draft.

DX's scouting reports highlighted this kind of thing months ago, and you can see it in some of the interviews that came out of Chicago as well. I realize it's unfair to expect college-aged basketball players to be brilliant orators, and at the end of the day these guys are paid to play, not give interviews. But it's still interesting and worrying how many guys struggle to come off like something other than a knucklehead when there's so much riding on it. Would it really kill guys like Whiteside or DeMarcus Cousins to be a little more polite, humble and vaguely self-aware?

Whiteside mentioned he had already spoken to the Bucks in one of Jim Paschke's video reports, so it's good to see the Bucks are going to kick the tires and make up their own minds. As we've seen with Brandon Jennings, there's often a fine line between confidence and the "naive arrogance" Ford mentioned, but Jennings is also a charismatic, unselfish guy who you can tell understands the game and is willing to do anything to get better. Based on the interviews I've seen and the scouting reports I've read, I'm not sure how many of those things seem to apply to Whiteside, and aside from shot-blocking he wasn't that productive as a 20-year old freshman playing in the MAC. At some point his physical tools just become too hard to ignore, but given what we know about the Bucks and what we think we know about Whiteside, I kind of doubt Hammond and Skiles will be the ones rolling the dice on him June 24. If he's not as big of an idiot as Ford makes him out to be then he's probably gone before the Bucks pick, but if the attitude and IQ questions persist I'd be surprised if the Bucks were the first team willing to make the gamble.

ESPN: Gottlieb's top 30
I'm not sure Doug Gottlieb's scouting is exceptionally accurate--example: he had both Tyreke Evans and Stephen Curry outside the top ten a year ago--but I appreciate the fact that he's seen all the college players a bunch and is willing to go against conventional draft wisdom. For instance, this year he has Evan Turner fourth (behind Greg Monroe) and DeMarcus Cousins all the way down at #10, behind Luke Babbitt among others. Of the guys we've been discussing for the Bucks, Gottlieb ranks Udoh 6th, Hayward 9th, Sanders 13th, Anderson 14th, Henry 15th, Whiteside 16th, Patterson 17th, James 21st, and George 22nd.