• We'll probably have some final pre-draft notes tomorrow afternoon, and of course reaction to the picks--or the trade(s)--when they happen. I know Alex is still partial to Randolph, but I've been scared off by some of the statistical analyses/projections (hey, I have an econ degree, this is how I think) and have come around on Alexander. One thing I find interesting is that a lot of people have really gotten attached to the idea of drafting Alexander, so it will be interesting to see what fan reaction will be if someone else is chosen or if the pick is traded. I'm guessing it will be more negative than it probably should be.
  
• Tom Enlund leads his draft day article with Joe Alexander, while Charles Gardner weighs in with his mock draft and thinks Alexander's the guy.
  

  Yes, this guy can play for Scott Skiles. The gritty Alexander impressed Skiles and general manager John Hammond, and he fills a desperate need at small forward. Alexander survived and thrived under Bob Huggins and had a blockbuster 34-point game against Connecticut in the Big East tournament.

  Like some other mocks, Gardner sees Anthony Randolph falling out of the lottery.
  
• Tom Enlund blogs about the Alexander/Ranolph debate. While we all knew Alexander stopped by the Bucks' offices on Monday, Enlund writes that the Bucks also spoke with Randolph by phone.

  "Very good," said Alexander when asked during a pre-draft media session Wednesday how his second session with the Bucks went. "It was just a meeting where they got to know me better and I got the impression that they were impressed. They just wanted to know about my personal life, what I do off the court, what I'm like."
  
  Said Randolph, "I talked to Milwaukee (Monday) and they seemed pretty interested. That looks like a place I could probably end up. It's a nice city, I liked it. It's a little more mellow and I'm kind of a mellow guy so I think I could fit in with it. They showed me the lake and everything. I'm a big fisherman so that's good."

• Jonathan Givony at DraftExpress isn't mincing words: "At #8, it looks pretty much set that Milwaukee will take Joe Alexander."
• Ian Thomsen at SI.com predicts Alexander will be a Buck, ahead of both Randolph and Jerryd Bayless.
• Tom Withers writes the Cavs are still targeting Michael Redd. Even if the Bucks do decide to dump Redd to the Cavs, don't expect anything tomorrow. The two guys Withers mentions as targets for the Bucks can't easily be dealt at the moment--Anderson Varejao is BYC until July and has a no-trade clause until December, while Daniel Gibson is a restricted free agent.
• NBADraft.net sees Alexander over Love (#9) and Randolph (#11).
• Over at Pro Basketball News, Tony Mejia is also predicting Alexander.  But PBN's Sam Amico projects the Bucks will bite on a sliding Bayless over Randolph (#9) and Alexander (#12) while nabbing Australian big Nathan Jawai at #37, passing on Richard Hendrix (#39) and Joey Dorsey (#46).
• As for Amico's theory that the Wolves could trade back to select Alexander, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune writes that earlier Alexander turned down a workout in Minnesota to focus on more likely destinations. However, he did a phone interview with Minnesota this week.
• Charles Gardner blogs about Alexander's language skills.
• Speaking of which, Darren Rovell at CNBC notes that Alexander could find Milwaukee to be a very profitable destination. How long until China offers him a passport and a spot on the national team?
• DX has video interviews with a bunch of guys, including Randolph. Among other things, he mentions Lamar Odom as a role model.  Given his length and ball-handling ability, that's probably a good choice (but a LONG way away).
  
• Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning-News profiles local product Randolph. Most people know Randolph is one of the few (only?) lotto prospects who played on a sub-.500 team last year, but here's a new bit of scary info: Randolph's high school teams didn't win a playoff game his last two seasons and finished 13-15 his senior year.  I don't know much about Texas high school basketball, but I find that fact rather amazing...and unsettling.
• No news on the Andrew Bogut extension front.

  "I can't discuss anything with the team until July 1," he said.
  
  "It is frustrating for me but it is the NBA rules and league wide."
  
  "It is like buying a car, it will take eight or nine days. You get a first offer a second offer and then a third offer and hopefully something will be done by about July 10. If we don't, it will be done next year."

Cruising around the net, here are some of your latest notes and rumors with less than 24 hours to go until the draft:

• Sam Amico at the Pro Basketball News has a bit about Minnesota being interested in Joe Alexander, which I hadn't previously heard.

  Reports say the Timberwolves are aiming to use their third overall selection to land a veteran, or at the very least, trade down and select West Virginia forward Joe Alexander. Expect Milwaukee to get involved in these talks (if it isn’t already). The Bucks are also very high on Alexander and are considering selecing him at No. 8. That is, of course, unless the Wolves get to him first.

  The interesting part is that Amico contends the Heat will take Mayo and then trade him (maybe to the Clips?), which would leave Beasley available at the third pick. The Bucks last week were rumored to be interested in trading up for Mayo, but keep in mind that Hammond has a number of times referred to Rose/Beasley being the top two players in the draft. The Bucks landing Beasley? Apparently not as ludicrous as we thought. But still pretty ludicrous I'd guess.
  
• With all the the talk about Alexander and Randolph, I've been a little surprised that there's been no mention of Kevin Love, who could slip outside the top seven if Memphis (or whoever has their pick) passes on him for Eric Gordon or Danilo Gallinari at five. In a radio interview on Monday, Hammond mentioned the possibility of one of the "smalls" being available, but didn't say anything about Love. However, Andy Katz writes that the Bucks have "interest" in Love, but he still expects the them to go with Alexander, whom he terms "the "safest pick in the lottery." I'd have to disagree with that description, but whatever.
  
• Chad Ford still has Alexander locked in at eight, though he acknowledges Randolph is also in the mix. Ford also has a breakdown of which teams are interested in each of the prospects; the Bucks are only mentioned for Love, Randolph and Alexander. He has Randolph going no higher than the Bucks' pick but writes that Alexander could go as high as sixth to the Knicks, who "seem to be really intrigued."
• On the trade front, check out some back-and-forth over at RealGM about a rumor of Kirk Hinrich for Villanueva, Mason and the eighth pick.  As you might guess, most people aren't thrilled. Trading Mason would also mess up the Bucks' draft party at Summerfest, since Desmond is the only Buck who's supposed to be there. Quick, where's Awvee Storey?
• Dan Walsh and Jim Ganzer at the Sportsbubbler again provide some good video footage from the workout yesterday. Most notably, John Hammond sounds pretty content to stay with the eighth pick. Or at least he wants us to think he is.

• Bob Wolfley at the JS comes through with some quotes from a John Hammond interview with Fox Sports Radio this afternoon. Yesterday we broke down the Randolph vs. Alexander debate, and with everyone predicting the Bucks will choose Alexander, Hammond is saying all kinds of nice things about Randolph.

  "We like him very much. He's a tough one because some people have said, and it's really kind of hard to argue, if they say the top tier of this draft is (Derrick) Rose-(Michael) Beasley 1-2. . .Some people say, and time will tell, maybe three or four years down the line from now, maybe the next best player could be a guy like Anthony Randolph. He's 6-10, handles the ball, passes it. Very, very skilled guy, just extremely thin right now. But, boy, in time he could be a special player. That would be a tough decision if he's looking you in the eye with the eighth pick."

  The good news is that you can interpret it pretty much anyway you want. If you like Randolph, then clearly this is Hammond glowing about a guy that he likes--and perhaps trying to butter up Bucks fans for what could be an unpopular pick. If you like Joe Alexander, then you can say Hammond is simply talking up the guy he doesn't want so as to throw other teams off the scent.
• The Bucks had eleven prospects at the Cousins Center on Tuesday for another day of workouts, with Alabama PF (and Bratwurst favorite) Richard Hendrix probably the most notable name in the group. Plenty of Wisconsin connections as well, as Mike Taylor, Brian Butch and Draelon Burns were also in the house.
  
• If you're looking to emotionally prepare yourself for a Joe Alexander pick, check out video from his ESPN appearance, where he's asked about the Bucks and says pleasant things about Milwaukee. TrueHoop also has an interesting read by Todd Gallagher on Alexander's development into a lotto pick. Having watched Alexander since his days as a freshman scrub, Gallagher points to Alexander's Big East Tourney performance as indicative of the stunning progress he's made:
  

  Because of Hasheem Thabeet and UConn's massive frontline, which congested the lane and led the NCAA in blocks once again, Alexander broke out a series of latter year MJ moves. Jab step, one dribble, jump shot. Post up, square up, elevate.

  This is a very mature way of playing the game and there aren't many college players who have the physical ability and are refined enough to do it. It's certainly a departure from when Alexander was a stringbean newbie who had no concept of how he was being defended and wanted to beat everyone off of the dribble through a series of hideous And-1 moves.

  And he's a killer. When he talked trash about Duke after beating them in the NCAA tournament, that was the Joe Alexander WVU fans saw the entire second half of last year. Maybe that's from Huggins, maybe that's inborn, but the guy is not going to be intimidated.

• The Sonics, Grizzlies, Knicks, Blazers and Suns probably head the list of teams that could affect the Bucks' draft strategies should they keep the 8th pick. Seattle has long been assumed to be taking one of the guards, but now they're also being connected with Brook Lopez (for some reason).  That would push one of the guards or Kevin Love down to the Bucks, something that no one seems to be talking much about. Would the Bucks really pick Alexander or Randolph ahead of Love, Jerry Bayless, Russell Westbrook, or Eric Gordon?
  
  In the absence of any trades, Memphis is still the most likely destination for Love, though Gordon and Danilo Gallinari have also gotten mentions.  New York has been touted as a possible destination for pretty much everyone, including Alexander. That's probably more of a longshot, though it'd be more likely if the Knicks could swing a deal for Memphis' pick.
  
  And though they both pick behind the Bucks, the Suns (15th) and Blazers (13th) both reportedly like Alexander and may be willing to trade up to get him. The Suns could take Alexander ahead of the Bucks' pick if they were to pull off a rumored trade for the Clippers' 7th pick. Or maybe not.
  
• Then again, maybe the Bucks won't be picking anyone in the first round on Thursday. If you follow RealGM then you've probably noticed the discussion about a supposed deal that could go down on draft night; for a good recap, start here. The basics are that it wouldn't include Bogut or Yi, probably can't involve Mo because he's BYC, and would likely involve dealing the 8th pick as part of a package for a veteran player.  Wichmae is the poster who started it all with a trail of hints, his every word spurring Greenspan-ian levels of scrutiny. I won't pretend to know if there's anything to it but I've met Wichmae, so I can attest to him being a real person and a good dude. He certainly doesn't have a reputation for rumor-mongering, but who knows what's really going on with the Bucks right now.
• Charles Gardner blogs that Dwyane Wade likes O.J. Mayo and alludes to the possibility of the Bucks using Charlie Villanueva or even (gasp!) Yi Jianlian to swap picks with Minnesota for the purpose of drafting Mayo. What about Sessions as bait?  I'm kinda surprised this got its own blog entry, as the Bucks were rumored to be interested in Mayo last week but couldn't get into a private workout with him. In general this seems like something of a longshot,  but maybe Gardner has an inkling that something could still go down and wants to cover his bases?  I'm Ron Burgundy?
• Ty serves up his list of mixed-bag prospects, which includes Alexander.

  He only had 3 positive Win Contribution performances out of the 10 and those all happened to come against the lowest ranked among the "10 Best" -- Oklahoma (32nd ranked), Winthrop (27th ranked), and Notre Dame (42nd ranked). If you look at his performances against the highest ranked -- Georgetown and Louisville -- both are very poor. Thus, Alexander scares the hell out of me.

• Yi Jianlian scored 26 points (8/15 fg, 10/11 ft) along with five boards  and two blocks in 26 minutes as China once again defeated Lithuania's B team 110-92
• Truman Reed at Bucks.com opens up his history book and wonders: will number eight be great?
• The Bucks had their annual "media appreciation game," unfortunately our invite got lost in the mail.
  

The Bucks had a slew of 2nd round prospects in town on Monday, but Tom Enlund blogs that the most interesting visitor was Joe Alexander, who met with Bucks officials less than three weeks after his June 6 workout with Anthony Randolph and Donte Greene in Milwaukee. With the paucity of workouts for first rounders, the Bucks don't look like a team terribly intent on staying in the first round at all, but between their supposed interest in O.J. Mayo and the Alexander vs. Randolph talk, the Bucks continue to keep us on edge.

"We wanted to have another conversation with him," said Skiles. "There were just some other things that we wanted to ask him. We got an opportunity to visit with him last time and there are some things that we want to talk to him about."

Skiles said that LSU forward Anthony Randolph, another player who has linked to the Bucks and worked out here with Alexander, had not been back for a second visit.

So what gives? As much as Alexander has become the mock favorite of late, I think J.D. Mo could be on to something when he argues that Randolph was the favorite of the Bucks' brass after that workout.

As the media straggled into the court area at the Cousins Center and the players reached for the gatorade on the sidelines, Bucks assistant Joe Wolf strode up to Randolph and the two 6'10"ers exchanged an emphatic high five. I'd say things went very well for Randolph in Milwaukee. In the post workout interviews, which you can watch here at sportsbubbler.com, Randolph declared himself the best player on the floor. I don't think there is much doubt about this in the Bucks camp.

Of course, with the workout closed to the media no one outside the organization actually saw how Alexander and Randolph stacked up head-to-head.  Not surprisingly the Bucks haven't been much help on that topic, though John Hammond at least named some names today on ESPN radio. Per Bob Wolfley:

"I think in our grouping you can probably put a young, small forward out of LSU, Anthony Randolph," Hammond said. "You could probably put another small forward like (junior) Joe Alexander from West Virginia. There is a chance someone could slip in this draft. Maybe one of the smalls slip. I'm not not sure who that would be. I don't want to put a name on that. Could a guy like Russell Westbrook from UCLA be available at that eighth pick? There's going to be a good player there we are going to feel good about on draft night."

Given the questions about whether Randolph might be no more than a long-term project at the power forward position, the key term there might be Hammond's reference to Randolph as a "small forward." If the Bucks see Randolph as a three then that means a) he fulfills a need rather than adding to the logjam of young-but-unproven fours and b) it adds some credence to the theory that Hammond might liken Randolph to Tayshaun Prince, another lean, versatile small forward who had a lot to do with the success of Hammond's teams in Detroit. And while Alexander was talking to the Bucks' braintrust today, Randolph was talking to Gary & Cliff on WSSP, pegging himself as a small forward for the time being while also acknowledging that most teams see him as a "project."

But if the Bucks like Randolph so much, why bring Alexander back? For one, Randolph's stock has been taking a hit lately, as Chad Ford (who's been touting Randolph as a "top five talent" for weeks) and Jonathan Givony have been among those raising questions about Randolph's workout performances and general makeup. Givony wrote yesterday:

Randolph is not helping himself reportedly with the way he’s working out, being very average so far according to numerous people who’ve watched him, looking "laid back" or even "out of shape." Compounding the problem is that he may have recently hurt his shoulder.

Givony reports today that Randolph's shoulder is fine, but that his "workouts continue to underwhelm many onlookers, to the point that it has clearly affected his confidence." With everything we know about Skiles and Hammond, the question marks about Randolph would appear to be major issues, especially when you consider that Alexander doesn't bring the same baggage. And as we mentioned yesterday, a number of statistical analyses have also almost universally panned Randolph. He looks more respectable in John Hollinger's ratings as a small forward than a power forward, but he's not lotto-caliber in either despite the fact that his youth is factored into the system. And of course we should mention that Ty's metrics hate Randolph, too. It's difficult to say whether the Bucks would put any weight into external "buzz" given they've worked Alexander and Randolph out privately, but from an outsider perspective, picking Randolph isn't nearly as popular a choice as it appeared to be a few short weeks ago. Then again, maybe a team like the Knicks secretly loves Randolph and the Bucks are preparing for him to be gone.

Bringing in Alexander on Monday could be an acknowledgement of that fact, especially given the Bucks didn't go out of their way to advertise Alexander's presence. Herb Kohl's Senate calendar was open yesterday, so it could have been a final chance to get Kohl's seal of approval, though Kohl was also at Alexander's workout. Or it could be merely a smokescreen designed to bait a team like the Blazers, who reportedly covet Alexander and hold the 13th pick in the first round.

What's odd is that Alexander doesn't really seem like the type who needs to be interviewed extensively to understand what he's about. Normally that's the type of thing you reserve for guys with sketchier backgrounds, but Alexander's work ethic, drive and focus are well-documented. If Alexander disappoints, it won't have anything to do with his attitude, as Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski's terrific profile of Alexander suggests.

"It wasn’t like I was putting in 12 hours a day there," he said. "But it was really a product of my mentality toward what I’m doing in life. Why do I need to go home? What am I going to do there? Watch TV? I had nothing else going in my life. Nothing else mattered. At night, I just need someplace soft to sleep. And the couch in the locker room was fine."

If it's not Alexander or Randolph, then what? It's difficult to say what offers the Bucks might be debating to move down, up or out of the first round entirely, but the other real x-factor is who among the top prospects might fall outside the top seven, which Hammond alluded to in his interview. There's fresh buzz that Brook Lopez (Seattle) and Danilo Gallinari (Knicks) are getting looks in the top six, which would mean that one or more players who have thus far refused to work out for the Bucks could be available. The hyper-productive Kevin Love and the Russell Westbrook are the names at the top of my list, with Eric Gordon and even Jerryd Bayless two more guys who could drop despite refusing workouts with teams outside the top seven. All four have generally been rated ahead of Alexander and Randolph for a while. The only thing we know for sure? Things will probably change tomorrow.

• As we discussed on Friday, the Bucks are having trouble scheduling workouts for a number of the top prospects expected to be available when the Bucks pick eighth on Thursday night. Tom Enlund writes that there's not much they can do about it now:

  "It's part of the draft process today that agents, players and family members of the players are making decisions together as to exactly what teams they will visit," said Hammond. "And within that comes the maneuvering by the agents of trying to protect their player's value.
  
  "So if they have a guy slotted 1 through 5, they're going to hold their stance on saying that's where they're at. If they start visiting teams at 8, 9 or 10, the word is going to be out that the player is slipping or something's wrong, or he had a bad workout, and now he's had to work out for teams out of his range. So it's just a big political maneuvering."

  Enlund reports that the Bucks will likely only see some later-first round and second-round candidates today and tomorrow, meaning that the Bucks will go into the draft without having seen Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Eric Gordon, or Danilo Gallinari. Of course, it won't really matter if they trade out of the first round entirely.
  
• Michael Hunt talks about the difficulty John Hammond may face in overhauling the Bucks' roster.

  It would seem, then, that the Bucks’ priority for the draft Thursday night should be sorting out their roster mess over making a first-round pick. It’s unlikely they’ll get anyone who will offer immediate help at No. 8, so it might be more sensible to package the pick as an incentive to move at least one of their bad contracts.
  
  Easier said than done, but that’s why they hired Hammond away from Detroit to sort out the disorder.
  
  "Everything’s in play," Hammond said recently. "Was, still is and probably will remain that way probably right up until draft day. We’re going to explore every option that we can to improve our team, and, as we said, potentially maybe even move the pick."

• The JS chimes in on Ersan Ilyasova being back in Brewtown.

  Ilyasova still owns a home in Mequon so he is back in town and, since the Bucks still own his rights, he has been working out at the team's training facility. But since he has the opportunity to make more money in Spain, he will probably be headed back there next season. "He's here and his family is here and he's working out," said general manager John Hammond. "At some point he'll be making a decision to either go back to Spain and play or maybe to remain in the NBA."

• Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News speaks vaguely about the Bucks' supposed interest in Anthony Randolph:

  The Bucks are sending out strong signals that they like LSU's Anthony Randolph at No. 8. A legitimate 6-10, Randolph has been called a cross between Tayshaun Prince and Odom. But West Virginia small forward Joe Alexander, a hard-nosed worker, is seen as a better fit with new coach Scott Skiles.

• That seems to contradict the general sentiment about Randolph, who seems to be dropping as more and more research is done on him. For one, John Hollinger adds to the increasing mountain of statistical evidence that paints a gloomy-at-best picture of Randolph's future.

  He can block shots, and the fact his team was such a mess probably didn't help his numbers any, but gambling on Randolph with a high first-round pick looks like the basketball equivalent of hitting on 19 in blackjack. Hey, maybe the dealer throws out a 2 and everyone thinks you're a genius, but chances are you're going to bust.
  
  It appears he's going to be drafted in the middle of the first round at worst, but even that appears to be a terrible mistake -- there is no track record whatsoever of a player rated this poorly achieving pro success.

  Yikes! Then there's word from Chad Ford that Randolph's head could also be a question mark.

  LSU forward Anthony Randolph's lack of strength has hurt him in workouts. While teams say he's got unbelievable upside, they also think they're going to have to wait for him to develop. He also hasn't tested great on some of the non-basketball related tests they give -- everything from personality to psych testing for leadership ability.

  Good times! So yeah, mark me down as fully aboard the Joe Alexander bandwagon (assuming Kevin Love is off the board).
• In other draft news, Jonathan Givony writes that the Sonics could surprise by picking Brook Lopez fourth.

  Is Jerryd Bayless as much of a lock at 4 as everyone thinks? A number of NBA teams we’ve spoken with don’t think that’s the case. Almost everyone at this point in fact has Brook Lopez slated be picked by Seattle, with Bayless dropping slightly to the Knicks at #6. If Lopez doesn’t go 3rd, 4th of 5th, he will be taken by a team that did not work him out, as he only agreed to be seen by those three teams.

  This pick would stink of need from a Seattle perspective, but given it'd have a nice trickle down effect for the Bucks, let's hope it happens. Lopez infiltrating the top seven means that at least one among Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook or Eric Gordon would be available at eight.
  
• Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer somewhat inadvertently provides a big reason why a Redd-to-Cleveland deal might never happen.

  Because NBA rules say Varejao can't be traded until Dec. 5 without his approval, that means the new team will probably have to sign Varejao to an extension in order for his agent to OK the trade. So the Cavs must: 1) Find a team that needs Varejao; 2) Get the team to give value in return; and 3) get Varejao to agree to the trade, and possibly sign him to a new deal. It's not impossible, but it is complicated.

  Would the Bucks be willing to sign Andy to a big deal (doubtful IMO), and would he accept a trade to the Bucks if they don't (also doubtful IMO)? I also wouldn't expect Dan Fegan to be thrilled about his client being traded to a team where he'd be competing for minutes with Yi Jianlian--another client of Fegan's. For what it's worth, Pluto still thinks the Cavs should try to package Varejao and Wally Szczerbiak for Redd. I'm seeing it as increasingly unlikely.
• China beat Lithuania's B team 87-70. Yi Jianlian started 0/7 in the first half but rebounded to make 6/9 fg in the second and finished with 15 points and seven boards in 21 minutes.
  
• The Bucks are holding their annual draft party at Summerfest.

It's now been two weeks since the Bucks worked out Joe Alexander, Anthony Randolph and Donte Greene, and since then only a group of potential second rounders has made the trek to the Cousins Center for workouts. Like last week, today's workout--which Gery Woelfel reported might have featured Kevin Love and Brandon Rush--has been canceled, though we'll likely see some players stop by early next week before the draft on Thursday.

Still, on the surface it appears the Bucks are falling victim to both draft posturing and their own small-market, also-ran status. As we saw last year with Yi Jianlian, the Bucks don't need to work a guy out to take him in the lottery, but there's no doubt that they'd prefer to kick the tires on a player before using a high draft pick on him. As a result, it's a bit disappointing that the Bucks have been unable to bring Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Eric Gordon and Danilo Gallinari in for a closer look, but it also doesn't guarantee that they won't end up in green and red next year. At the very least you'd expect the Bucks to bring in some more guys just to obscure their true intentions with the pick, but it's also very possible they trade up, down or out of the draft entirely. As John Hammond has noted a number of times, all options are on the table.

The lack of players being worked out might suggest that trading down is less likely at this stage and could also hint at the Bucks' interest in using the pick in a package for a veteran player. The Bucks should have no problem convincing players projected for the mid- to late-first round to work out for them, so if the Bucks might be picking lower in the first round, why aren't they working any of those guys out? Obviously it's a different story with top-tier prospects like O.J. Mayo, who typically refuse to work out for teams picking well below their projection. Similarly, the general lack of workouts for potential first rounders could be construed as an indication that the Bucks aren't going to make a pick in the first round at all, instead using it in a package for a veteran.  But even if that was true you'd expect them to do their homework just in case they do keep the pick.  As a result, you have to think the Bucks are to some extent having troubles getting guys to come in for workouts.

Continue reading this post »

• John Hammond and company are hopefully enjoying just how utterly clueless we all are as to what the Bucks will do between now and the draft. As a fan it can be a bit frustrating, but in the long-term it's probably for the best that the Bucks are keeping things close to the vest. Not surprisingly, Tom Enlund blogs that Hammond is keeping all his options open. Perhaps most interestingly, Enlund notes that the Bucks' workout scheduled for Friday--which might have included Kevin Love and Brandon Rush among others--could be canceled with the Bucks instead having Monday and Tuesday workouts instead.
  
• With the draft now just a week away, the Bucks have really only seen two guys that are considered to be legitimate options at their current spot in the lottery: Joe Alexander and Anthony Randolph. Not surprisingly, most of the speculation about the Bucks' pick centers around those two players, but you have to wonder if the Bucks really like one or both guys that much, or whether they're simply having problems getting some of the other possible picks to come in for a workout.  Chad Ford has Alexander going eighth and reports that the Bucks have not been able to schedule a workout with Danilo Gallinari. Gallinari initially had his sights set on only the Knicks and Nets, but since then he's worked out for the Clips and Grizz and has a workout scheduled with the Timberwolves as well. Kevin Love seems very likely to go no later than fifth to Memphis, and the current mocks also suggest that both Eric Gordon and Russell Westbrook will go before the Bucks pick, but you'd think the Bucks would still very much want to see those guys in person.
• Speaking of Ford, he sees the Bucks as among the teams most likely to be wheeling and dealing on draft night.

  New GM John Hammond is determined to make the Bucks a winner now. He has a roster full of young, unproven players and one valuable veteran -- Michael Redd.
  
  I think it's more likely that the Bucks package No. 8 along with several other players on their roster to get another veteran to play alongside Andrew Bogut. I think Redd, Mo Williams and Charlie Villanueva are all available and Hammond is looking for players, not cap space. They could be an interesting mover and shaker in the draft.

• Gery Woelfel reports that Herb Kohl has kept his sense of humor. When asked what would happen to the Bucks in the event that he were to pass away, the 73-year old senator didn't hesitate:
  

  "It’s in my will; the next (owner) has to keep it here," Kohl said.
  
  I then asked Kohl who, in his will, was designated to assume the Bucks’ reins. He looked at me, smiled and pronounced, "You."
  
  "Me?" I retorted with a smile that was every bit as broad as his.
  
  Kohl then smiled one more time before walking away.

• No real inside info here, but Barry Jackson at the Miami Herald speculates that the Heat might look to swap Udonis Haslem for Mo Williams if Pat Riley bites the bullet and takes Michael Beasley. This
  
• I'm sure there's nothing here that Ty hasn't already covered, but Erich Doerr at DX crunches the winscores for all the top prospects. As you might guess, the numbers look great for Beasley and Love, while Rose is less impressive considering his status as the likely top pick. Beyond that, most of the lottery prospects look like projects based on their uninspiring metrics--Mayo, Randolph, Augustin, Westbrook, Bayless and Gordon all fare poorly. Alexander looks slightly better. Obviously the relative youth of draft prospects nowadays doesn't make this sort of analysis any easier.
  
• With Alexander emerging as the most likely pick for the Bucks, I've been cruising around for information on his other workouts. In Phoenix, VP of Basketball Ops David Griffin saw Alexander competing with Chase Budinger (who eventually withdrew from the draft) and Nicolas Batum:

  "Joe is much more raw probably, probably more of a tweener than the other two...just spectacular athletically around the rim."

  Griffin, who interviewed with the Bucks back in April for the GM gig, further addressed Alexander's athleticism:

  "Boy, he's a freak athlete. He can really, really jump, and he gets so high on his jumpshot I almost think it throws him off-balance. He shoots a lot better as he gets tired within a drill. But he's special as a competitor, he's an unbelievably tough kid. Someone's going to be very happy with him."

Three weeks ago, you told us Kevin Love was the guy. Among possible Bucks' lottery selections, Love gathered 23% of your votes, edging Eric Gordon (18%), Danilo Gallinari (13%) and Anthony Randolph (12%).  Read the full post for a summary of what's happened since then.

Continue reading this post »

After the Friday workouts, both John Hammond and Scott Skiles indicated the Bucks plan on drafting the best player available.

Okay, this isn't necessarily groundbreaking stuff, right? Conventional wisdom supports this drafting philosophy, especially in the lottery, where most of the time teams need help anywhere they can get it.

But what about need? You know, the reason why the Bucks might be more inclined to draft a small forward than a center. Draft Express, probably the most credible, NBA draft-specific site on the web, has a bold caveat that their mock draft has not taken into account team needs.

The implication is that things will change after taking into account team needs, and thus, some teams will not choose the "best player available."

Who really wants to be that team? When the Bulls are deciding, presumably, between Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley, are they at the same time helping base their decision while they gauge whether Kirk Hinrich or Tyrus Thomas is more important to the future of the team? In the event they consider Rose and Beasley exact equals, the positional considerations could serve well as a sort of tiebreaker. But otherwise, should thinking about anything other than which player is a true franchise talent be a part of the equation?

For the Bucks in this draft, the best player available versus need quandary is relevant. Sometimes, the best player and most pressing need comes in one convenient package. Perhaps the Bucks need help at the small forward position, and perhaps Anthony Randolph is the best player still waiting around at the eighth pick.

However, what if you're a big-time believer in Yi Jianlian, but also Kevin Love? And what if the UCLA power forward slips to the Bucks' pick? Does that change your mind about who you want; are you no longer so much in Love?

When we polled you a few weeks back, Love was the most popular pick, followed by Eric Gordon. Love plays the same position as last year's lottery pick, Yi, while Gordon is a shooting guard, like the team's best player, Michael Redd. That seems to indicate that most of you are gong the best player available route, or in Gordon's case, maybe would like to see Redd dealt out of town.

Seemingly there aren't many intriguing centers for the Bucks in this draft. For those who take "need" very seriously, that makes things much easier, because Andrew Bogut is the team's young, highly promising building block. But what if, say, Andrew Bynum was a prospect in the draft, and was their for the taking at number eight, like he was in 2005? And what if you liked him the most, just ahead of Yasoslav Korolev, Joey Graham, and Gerald Green, who more conveniently play small forward? You might just decide ahead of time to exclude Bynum from serious consideration. But a few years later, you'd rue that decision, and wish dearly to have the good kind of dilemma in which you have two of the game's finest young low-post players at your disposal.

Now, sometimes you might get the better player because you picked for need instead of your "best player available." But that takes us away from the point. We have trust (right?) in our general managers, so shouldn't we hope to avoid a scenario like the Bynum one outlined above? Shouldn't the Bulls forget worrying about Hinrich or Thomas if they are, and just pick the better kid?

I'm inclined to think the Bucks should pick the best player available at eight, and figure out how to reshuffle the roster if necessary from there. This team has some nice pieces, but most will agree that aside from Bogut, there isn't any sure thing that's absolutely worth clinging to. Such is the state of a 26-win team. Certainly, Yi has shown glimpses and could become a very good player for a very good team. But he's definitely not at the point where you should avoid drafting a power forward you feel is a star in the making. Remember, it's tough to have too much of a good thing. You can't worry that both Love and Yi turn out well.

Based on their most recent interviews after the workouts that featured small forward possibilities Randolph, Alexander, and Greene, both Hammond and Skiles were clear that they planned on going with the best player available, regardless of position. Hopefully that's true, but we'll probably never know if that's really how are approaching the pick, especially since that's a safer line to offer publicly. That way, no one can accuse them of reaching for a specific player based on position after the fact.

So here's the question: how should the Bucks approach their eight overall pick in the draft. Do you think they should take the best player available regardless of position, and consider need only in the event that there is an absolute tie? Or do you think the Bucks should consider needs and positions as an important part of the process from the start?

• John Hammond continues to add to his staff, with Billy McKinney being named the new director of scouting. Like seemingly everyone on the Bucks staff (Skiles, Hollins, Boylan), McKinney is a former point guard who played collegiately at Northwestern before playing seven seasons in the NBA. He's spent the past four seasons as a radio commentator with the Timberwolves, but had a long front office career before that:

  McKinney began his front office career with Chicago in 1985, and in 1987, he was promoted to assistant vice president of basketball operations. In 1988, McKinney became the Timberwolves first director of player personnel. From 1992-95, he worked for the Detroit Pistons, two seasons as director of player personnel and one as vice president of basketball operations. McKinney joined the Sonics organization in 1995 and was named executive vice president of basketball operations for Seattle in 1998. In 2002, he added the title of general manager for the Storm and in 2004 Seattle won the WNBA Championship.

  McKinney and John Hammond both attended Zion-Benton High School in Illinois, though that's just the beginning of their experience together. Tom Enlund writes that McKinney later brought Hammond into the league as a scout for Minnesota in 1989, and they overlapped briefly in Detroit in the mid-90s as well. Enlund writes that McKinney represents the last major hire of the offseason.

  "It’s kind of funny, though, because Billy has a little goatee and there’s gray in that goatee. There’s always one guy on the staff that’s called a graybeard, so we’ll call Billy, literally and figuratively, ‘Graybeard.’ "
  
  The Bucks announced Tuesday that McKinney had been appointed to the position of director of scouting and will join Hammond, new assistant general manager Jeff Weltman and director of player personnel Dave Babcock as the main cogs in the team’s basketball operation.

  Welcome to Milwaukee, Billy. Given the draft is only weeks away and Hammond has been on the job for a couple months, it's somewhat interesting that McKinney wasn't brought in earlier. At least the Bucks should have some insight into what Minnesota is planning to do with the third pick.
  
• Chad Ford's Mock Draft 4.0 still has the Bucks taking Danilo Gallinari, after Kevin Love, Anthony Randolph and Eric Gordon.

  It's tough to project the Bucks right now. New GM John Hammond is ready to make changes, but what kind? Their biggest need is at small forward, but this is probably too high for Donte Greene or Joe Alexander.
  
  That leaves Danilo Gallinari, a point forward who can handle the ball and hit the midrange jumper -- and has winner written all over him. He's not the most athletic guy in the draft, but his upside might be too much to pass up here.
  
  The other option is to go with Russell Westbrook. One thing Hammond wants to emphasize is defense, and Westbrook could be an excellent addition. He can play both guard positions and be a Leandro Barbosa-style scoring threat off the bench.

  Gallinari is currently in Treviso, Italy for the Reebok Euro Camp, and you can check out DraftExpress' video interview with him here. Seems like a nice kid. His slight hesitation when asked about leaving Italy next year makes me a bit nervous (after Fran Vazaquez and all), but it seems like people in the know think he's a near-lock to play in the NBA next year.
• Here's our take on lottery prospect Anthony Randolph.
• The Bucks aren't revealing yet who will be in town for workouts on Thursday and Friday, but HoopsHype has Mizzou senior PG Stefhon Hannah among those expected to work out June 23.  A possible second-rounder, Hannah put up serious numbers in the Big 12 last year, averaging 14.7 ppg, 5.3 apg, 3.0 rpg and 1.9 spg on .430/.385/.758 shooting in just 29 mpg, but his season was ended in February when he broke his jaw in a bar fight. He was later arrested for third degree assault. To add insult to injury, he was then kicked off the Mizzou team for "lack of academic commitment." 
  
  On the court, Hannah had fine performances against both D.J. Augustin and Mario Chalmers in January. Hannah had 15 points, six boards and six assists in a 97-84 win over Texas and followed that up with 23 points and six assists in a 76-70 loss to Chalmers' Kansas team.
• Jim Paschke remembers broadcasting legend Jim McKay, who passed away last week at the age of 86.
• Check out the fanposts for some Bucks/Blazers trade talk (don't get your hopes up though, it's just us speculating a bit).