Jennings works, Delfino & Ilyasova continue their preparations

JS: Bucks' Jennings makes most of off-season
We all knew a guy like Brandon wasn't going to have a quiet summer of just going to the gym, but the good news is that he's doing some of that, too. He's a bit coy about it in Jim Paschke's latest report (above), but he was a bit less evasive last week with the JS. 

"Right now I'm seeing a couple shooting coaches so I can be consistent throughout the year," Jennings said. "I've been able to talk to veterans like Gary Payton, and he said, 'Last year you had that great jump and toward the end you sort of slowed down because you had no legs.'

"He said, 'Make sure you work on your legs a lot this summer, and get to the basket more and get to the free throw line. He said, 'There's no reason you should score four or two points a game, ever, with your quickness.' "

Not sure how I feel about Brandon consorting with a Milwaukee-hater like Payton, but you can't argue with the advice. Jennings' start was as hot as his finish was cold, and 37% shooting isn't going to earn him a spot among the NBA's elite point guards. At the very least, more offensive weapons will hopefully mean Brandon taking fewer bad shots--namely those fading 20-footers. 

I should also mention that I grew up in Mequon across the road from Homestead High, so it's cool seeing Jennings holding his local camp at my old alma mater. And the fact that Ludacris paid a visit?  Well, that's just hilarious. Back in elementary school I went to Hoop Camp at HHS a few times and thought it was a big deal when Fred Roberts once paid us a visit. Times change.

FanPosts: International warmups continue
Finding box scores and recaps of the warmups for this month's FIBA World Championships has been a pain, but at least we have Palomba to keep us posted on Carlos Delfino (who dropped 16/9/6 in a losing effort against Spain today). There's another good recap over at RealGM.

We also know Ersan Ilyasova scored 24 for Turkey in another loss to Serbia last Wednesday, but he scored just 11 combined in losses this weekend to Croatia and Lithuania this weekend. Not the kind of positive mojo the Turks are looking for as they prepare to host the WCs later this month. 

SportsBank.Net: Bucks schedule is no walk in the park
Jake McCormick takes his magnifying glass to the Bucks' schedule. Dan Sinclair has another great read on the same topic in the FanPosts. 

Although it’s ideal that the Bucks will be playing more home than away games in the February and March push to the playoffs, a brief game-by-game glance at the schedule reveals a brutal 20 games between December and January that could very easily make or break the 2010-11 Milwaukee Bucks.

FanPosts: Best NBA GMs
Speedingtime put together a great post looking at some of the league's best GMs. As I mentioned in the comments, I think John Hammond has a good chance to cement his place among the league's elite if this summer's signings pay off. He's shown over the past two years that he could clean up a bad roster and put a winner on the court in spite of financial limitations, but now we'll see what happens when he has a chance to actually spend some money. Another thing worth noting: with all the money being thrown around this summer, Sam Presti and Daryl Morey were fairly quiet--well, aside from the three year, $15 million deal Morey gave Brad Miller's corpse.  

OnMilwaukee: Herb Kohl's Superb Milk House
For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of living in Wisconsin, here's a bit of Dairy State 101 (h/t Nick Monroe).

Anton says Kohl started the milk house because he wanted to celebrate the fair and Wisconsin's dairy tradition. Every year, Kohl spends time working in the milk house, serving and talking to customers. He likes to joke with kids that there are special cows in the back that produce the strawberry milk or the root beer milk.