Thus far Adrian Griffin has mostly been known as one of Scott Skiles' favorite binkies from Chicago, and we've previously wondered aloud why the Bucks would pay the 34-year old the handsome sum of $1.71 million to sit on the bench when his deal was non-guaranteed.  Well, score one for rationality: Griffin has been cut and veteran power forward Austin Croshere was claimed off waivers on the eve of the Bucks' season opener.  

Croshere provides the Bucks a reasonably mobile big off the bench that can occasionally hit threes (34% career), and while at 33 he's not someone you want playing extended minutes, he could certainly find his way into the rotation given the Bucks' complete lack of depth up front.  Either way he's of more use than Griffin and costs less than half as much, so it's difficult to complain.  The move also provides further evidence that Skiles and company have been less than thrilled with their PF rotation this preseason, which has consisted mainly of Charlie Villanueva, Malik Allen, and rookie combo forwards Joe Alexander (who's better suited to SF) and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (who's also seen time at SG).

I'm not sure Croshere does anything the freshly-waived Matt Freije can't do for less money, but we all know the NBA hates young players who weren't lottery picks.  So guys like Freije, Nick Fazekas, and Elton Brown will continue to be ignored when they have the potential to actually be decent role players.  Fortunately, the Bucks will only be on the hook for $798k of Croshere's $1.26 million deal; as a veteran signing for the minimum, Croshere gets anything above the two year veteran's minimum paid for by the league.  As a result, the Bucks save about $903k and are probably (ever so) slightly better on the court as well.

In other opener-related news, Gery Woelfel writes that Villanueva is likely to start tomorrow night alongside Andrew Bogut, who tested his perpetually sprained ankle today in practice.  Meanwhile, Ramon Sessions may start in place of Luke Ridnour, who missed today's practice with back tightness.  Sessions has been wildly inconsistent this preseason, but the irony is that a significant proportion of Bucks Nation would secretly (or not so secretly) like to see him get a shot at starting at some point anyway.  Well, that chance may come sooner than expected.

• Charles Gardner reports from the Bucks media luncheon that a nagging ankle injury will prevent Andrew Bogut from playing in the Bucks' final two preseason games.  Bogut originally hurt his left ankle at the Olympics in August after landing awkwardly on Kobe Bryant's foot. And while he appeared to be back at full strength last Wednesday in Guangzhou, Bogut reinjured it on Friday in Beijing.  And then he reaggravated it again on Tuesday in practice. In other words, Bogut's ankle hates China.  It's still hoped he'll be ready for Tuesday's opener in Chicago.
• Gardner also got a pretty good quote from Joe Alexander, discussing his potential dunk contest plans:

  "I'll jump over the Fonz statue."

• ESPN has their Bucks preview up, with just one of ten panelists predicting playoffs.  The lack of optimism isn't too suprising--though the fact that Ric Bucher is the guy predicting good things seems a bit weird.  I also find it a bit interesting that more experts thought the Bucks would finish third than fifth in the Central (4-2), though I suppose that mostly suggests how little they think of the Pacers and Bulls.  Oh, and in the right sidebar you'll notice BrewHoop's snide little contribution.
• Gery Woelfel writes that the Bucks are getting used to a new concept this fall: accountability.  For now Andrew Bogut is saying all the right things about Skiles' more disciplined approach--even when he was the one to get benched on Friday.

  "I think what he did was great,’’ Bogut said of Skiles. "I was held accountable, and that was the first time I’ve been held accountable as a Milwaukee Buck.
  
  "I’m not taking anything away from anybody else (past coaches), but I definitely respected what he (Skiles) did. It was a wake-up call, that no matter who you are or what position you play, nobody’s spot is certain.’’

  I'm not sure how that quote can't be interpreted as a shot against Terry Stotts and Larry Krystkowiak, but it's October so we might as well eat this stuff up and feel good that Skiles is being the guy who we thought he'd be.  Now he just needs to win some games.  
• While the rest of the Bucks were in China, Charlie Bell stayed at home to rehab his surgically-repaired ankle.  Charles Gardner writes that Bell is now back at practice and expected to play in the final two exhibitions.
• Freije lives!  Camp invites Ron Howard (not that one) and Kevin Kruger were waived on Monday, but at least they got a free trip to China out of it.  With T.J. Cummings having gotten the axe before the trip, that leaves former Vandy big Matt Freije as the last of the scrubs standing.  We like Freije around these parts--he blatantly has the homeless man's Dirk Nowitzki thing going on, he played well in Vegas and over the past few weeks, and Charlie says he's a cool dude.  Unfortunately for Freije, Damon Jones' expiring contract is currently occupying the final roster spot, and it seems like the Bucks are hanging on to Adrian Griffin's non-guaranteed deal as well.
• Jim Paschke, continuing his streak of blogging brilliance from China, offers up video from Joe Alexander's high school jersey retirement.
• The Bratwurst wonders what will become of Damon Jones.  Brett's guess that Jones gets bought out is a reasonable one, especially given that Tom Enlund threw out that scenario recently as well.  The JS really doesn't speculate about that sort of thing randomly, so I'd assume that idea was coming from either the Bucks or Jones' agent.  If the Bucks wanted to save some money they could just cut Griffin, so I'd just as soon suggest they hang on to Jones until the deadline, when his expiring deal could be used more productively with something else
  
• The lack of up-to-date preseason stats has been annoying me lately (even Bucks.com hasn't been updated since last Wednesday), so I was pleased when Ty recently linked to this site.
• Ersan Ilyasova was back stateside last weekend, impressing in a pair of exhibition games between his FC Barcelona side and the Lakers and Clippers.  In Barca's 108-104 loss to the Lakers on Saturday he came off the bench to score 15 points along with six boards in 21 minutes.  Then on Sunday Ilyasova filled up the box score to the tune of 20 points (8/14 fg), 14 boards and two blocks in 29 minutes of a 114-109 loss the Clips.  It's worth noting that the Clips rested Chris Kaman, Baron Davis and Marcus Camby on Sunday, but notching 35 points and 20 boards in 50 minutes of action against NBA teams is none too shabby.  Keep it up, Ersan. 
• TrueHoop spent some time learning what it's like to be a referee.  Great stuff.

The Bucks wrap up their Vegas adventure against the Cavs at 5:30 central time.  I'm once again courtside so I'll be liveblogging the action. You can follow the game live over at NBA.com.

Pre-Game

• Ramon Sessions was in street clothes during the shootaround so expect Darius Washington to get another start at the point.
• Joe Wolf will be taking his turn as the head coach of today's game for the Bucks.
• Starting lineup: Washington, Matt Lojeski, Luc, Alexander, and John Thomas. Alexander will once again be taking the opening tip.

1st Quarter

• Alexander drives right baseline on J.J. Hickson for the layin. 3-2 Cavs.
• Alexander elevates in the post and gets the friendly roll from the right side. 4-3 Bucks.
• Hickson bangs on Alexander but misses, but Romel Beck gets the putback. Next time down Hickson puts it in from the post over Luc.9-6 Cavs.
  
•  Mbah a Moute knifes between defenders for the layin.  9-8 Cavs.
• For once Alexander is off to a hot start, as he feathers in an 18-footer from the left baseline.  Alexander's now being guarded by the much larger Darnell Jackson, who seems resigned to let Alexander shoot jumpers over him.
• Washington makes a bad entry pass and then watches as the Cavs go the other way.  Hustle, please. 14-14.
• Alexander now has a couple assists, the first a backdoor feed to Washington, the second a dump off to Thomas down low.  16-14 Bucks.
• Another PNR leads to an Alexander drive and short glasser.  Alexander missed on pull-up last time down, but he's now 4/5 for 8 pts, matching his output from yesterday. 20-20.
• Roderick Riley's size is causing some problems down low for the Cavs.  He fends off two defenders for the and-one as the Bucks' bench erupts.  Riley now has 7 pts in 5 minutes. 25-23 Bucks.
• Joe Wolf and Kelvin Sampson are giving a lot of instructions from the Bucks' bench. 
  
• J.J. Hickson's been tough inside for the Cavs and leads all scorers with 11 points on 4/5 fg.  The score is 25-25 after one.

2nd Quarter

• Johnson, Wilmont, Freije, Riley, and Storey start the second.
• Great ball movement leads to a corner triple for the Cavs' Jawad Williams.  On the other end, Trey Johnson comes off a screen to hit the medium-range jumper.  They've run that play a lot for Johnson this week.  28-27 Cavs.
• Johnson drives and kicks for a wing three from Freije, who's had that shot all week. Johnson then gets a steal and transition two coming back the other way.  He's pretty solid as a combo guard, and he's played mostly point this weekend with Sessions out.  Don't expect to see any of them in November, but the Bucks' lesser-known free agent  guys have done a very nice job this week. 32-28 Bucks.
• Wilmont draws a double and finds Freije for the open triple.  "Yes sir!  Yes sir!" Gotta love the enthusiasm these guys bring.  On the other end, Riley is cleaning up on the glass and now has seven boards, aided by the Cavs' cold shooting.  35-28 Bucks.
• Hickson powers through Freije on one end, but the Vandy big man makes up for it with a beautiful backdoor pass to Storey followed by another three.  You gotta give the coaching staff credit for the way the free agent guys are playing together as a team.  41-30 Bucks.
• With the Bucks battling down low for an offensive rebound, Alexander goes tearing back to play defense.  I'm guessing Scott Skiles (seated courtside with John Hammond, Billy McKinney, Dave Babcock, and Jeff Weltman) appreciated that.
• Washington scores in transition, then steals the ball in the backcourt.  He misses the acrobatic layup but Mbah a Moute is there to acrobatically clean it up.  Typical Luc play.  45-32 Bucks.
• The Bucks are having a good time at the moment.  Alexander's made two lookaway passes for open teammates, and they're actually playing some defense too.  51-36 at halftime.

3rd Quarter

• The Bucks begin the third with their starters.  Washington leads the way with 10, while Alexander has 8 points (4/6 fg) and three assists.
• The crowd gets agitated when Washington throws a bad alley-oop after Alexander had come loose on a backscreen.
• Hickson's gotten little help, but Romel Beck tries to give him a hand with a tough leaner and one over Luc.  Beck has 10.  55-43 Bucks.
• Washington-Alexander-Luc-Lojeski equals an open corner 3.  60-45 Bucks.
• Alexander and Hickson has been an interesting matchup.  Hickson's clearly bigger but Alexander has hung in pretty well in the post, and drew a foul posting up the bigger Hickson earlier in the quarter (he made both throws).  Still, Joe's doing nothing on the boards, which might be his biggest defensive weakness as a 4. 
• Alexander just missed a straight-away three, the interesting part being that he barely got off the ground shooting it.  There's been talk about him trying to be more of a stand-still shooter given his hops sometimes throw him off balance.
• The Cavs are moving the ball a bit better but they may have dug themselves too big of a hole.  The Bucks are still shooting 58% from the field, compared to 36% for the Cavs.  63-48 Bucks.
• Hickson scoops it around Freije and now has 17--he looks really solid.  But Freije gets free for a dunk on the other end as the shot clock expires.  70-54 Bucks.

Fourth Quarter

• Hickson plows through Freije and Riley for a tough two and a foul.  He's now got 20.  70-57 Bucks.
• David Noel just walked through the tunnel and hugged Sessions, who's chilling on the end of the bench.  As for the game, Hickson keeps taking it to Freije and Riley, getting blocked but keeping after it for another layin.  Next time down the bucks double him and force an airball from eight feet.  75-62 Bucks.
• Trey Johnson goes around a screen and calmly strokes a three.  He's now got 11 on 4/7 shooting.  79-65 Bucks.
• Alexander misses a three with the shot clock running down, but the Bucks recover and Alexander finds Luc cutting.  He misses the dunk but heads to the line for two.  "Nice pass Joe Alexander!"  Sampson likes it.  82-67 Bucks.
• Washington threads a nice pass to Lojeski underneath, who finishes with one of those not-really-dunks.  He grabbed the rim and the ball went in, but not really at the same time.  Final score: 88-72, Bucks.

In game one of their Vegas adventure, Ramon Sessions was pretty good and Joe Alexander was pretty bad.  Fortunately for the Bucks, both were better on Tuesday afternoon as Milwaukee bounced back to down the Stuckey-less Pistons 73-59 (JS recap / complete game video).  Sessions was the story with 21 pts (6/11 fg, 9/12 ft), six boards, four helpers, and just two turnovers in 28 minutes, getting into the lane at will and generally controlling the pace of the game. Meanwhile, Alexander looked much more collected than on Saturday, scoring 11 points on 5/9 shooting and flashing some of the skills that made him a lottery pick.

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The Milwaukee Bucks' summer league team took part in their final tune-up Friday before shipping off to play five games in Las Vegas. The Bucks open their schedule Saturday night against the Grizzlies at 9 pm, and though none of the games will be televised, you can watch them all live at NBA.com.

Talking to players and coaches at the Cousins Center on Friday, It quickly became evident that Scott Skiles and his staff have taken this week's preparations very seriously. If you've ever watched a summer league game, you know things can tend to get sloppy. With just a week to prepare as a team and a host of NBA hopefuls aiming to prove their worth, it's not uncommon to see sub-par ball movement or non-existent defensive rotations. But members of the coaching staff seem determined not to let those things happen.

"One of the things we try to do in our practice sessions is talk with the players about the way we want to play, and that's with a lot of ball movement and player movement," said assistant coach Jim Boylan. "We did a lot of drills with that in mind. When things start to break down a little bit, we're able to give our players a reference point, pull them back and say 'we want to do things the way we did them back in the Cousins Center.'"

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