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Larry Sanders earns USA Select team invite, NBA draft season rolls on

2013-05-24T11:47:05Z

Sanders earns trip to Team USA Vegas camp
He may have been overlooked in the Most Improved and Defensive Player of the Year voting and outright screwed in the all-defensive balloting, but Larry Sanders hasn't been completely overlooked.

Just found out I got selected to workout/tryout for the USA Basketball team this summer! Such and amazing honor,Glory be to God! #Olympics
— Nappy Gilmore(@LarrySanders) May 22, 2013

The Team USA Select camp runs from July 22-25 in Vegas, but it bears repeating that there's a big difference between going to the Select camp and making the real Team USA. Example: last year's Select team included DeJuan Blair and Taj Gibson. Nice players, sure, but not guys who feel very...Olympic. So while we probably shouldn't expect Larry to be with Team USA at the 2014 World Cup in Spain or 2016 Olympics in Rio, it's still nice recognition for the Bucks' MVP and a complete 180 from his disappointing performance the last time he was in Vegas.

Sanders' selection marks the first time a Buck has been involved in the Team USA camp since Michael Redd was a bit player in the 2008 Olympic Gold Medal squad, though Brandon Jennings did make headlines back in 2010 when he complained that his exclusion from the roster was linked to his Under Armour endorsement not going over well with the Nike demigods who supposedly run USA Basketball. Whatever. Jennings not surprisingly looks to have missed out once again, with Marc Stein reporting that Anthony Davis, Ryan Anderson, John Wall, Bradley Beal, Harrison Barnes, Klay Thompson, Chandler Parsons and Kawhi Leonard are among the others to earn an invite.

Bucks.com: More draft coverage
For more of your draft fix, Bucks.com has Jim Paschke's latest video features on Glen Rice Jr. and explosive Miami point guard Shane Larkin.

SBNation.com: NBA coaching search matrix clarifies candidate situation
Who's interviewing where? Seth Pollack breaks it down in simplest terms.

Bucksketball: Word clouding the 12/13 season
Mitch Vomhof gets, ah, cloudy with his review of the Bucks' season.

Canis Hoopus: Drafttastic
Our Timberwolves sister site has a great analytical series on the draft, utilizing 30 years of win share data to project pro performance based on collegiate productivity. There are too many invisible variables outside of the stats to make any system like this fool-proof, but it's another interesting angle from which to view the latest crop of young players.

Is Bucks GM John Hammond too nice to run a great coaching search?

2013-05-23T12:05:03Z

When the excitement of the 2013 NBA Draft Lottery ended on Tuesday night, Milwaukee Bucks fans were once again left to ponder their team's placement in the middle of the NBA pack. General manager John Hammond has somehow managed to pull off a rare triple play for his team heading into the draft: no lottery pick, no playoff wins and no head coach. Now the only one of those things that Hammond will address this summer is irritating me.

John Hammond works really hard. He is a good man. That's what he wants us to say, and he told us so in his introductory press conference (around the 8:37 mark). He's a nice guy who doesn't mind being known as a nice guy, and I think it shows. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but at a critical juncture where the perception of serious culture change is so important to a broken down fan base on the brink of a revolt, his steady approach has left me feeling like the Milwaukee Bucks are still squarely in the middle of the pack, even on something as basic as a coaching search.

It's not just the fact that the top two candidates -- Jerry Sloan and Stan Van Gundy -- turned Hammond and the Bucks down without even making a formal interview. And it's not that Milwaukee's GM said he was "honored" that an out-of-work head coach known to be interested in returning to the NBA (Sloan) was gracious enough to welcome him to a farm to chat casually about a legitimate NBA job opening. That stuff was bound to happen. Hammond hasn't made Milwaukee a prime destination for the cream of any NBA crop. Instead, it's the timing of the recent failures that really bothers me.

When the Bucks were quietly eliminated from the postseason by LeBron James and Miami Heat, Hammond moved quickly to wipe Jim Boylan out of the picture for 2013-14 and beyond. I would have asked our GM to give himself a round of applause for making that move, but I assumed at the time that he was still sitting on his hands.

Recall that he was too nice to call Boylan an interim coach, despite the obvious reality of the situation. I truly believe that he wanted to give Boylan a full vote of confidence. Hammond probably thought there was a universe where things could work out just right and everybody could stay. It's the same optimistic impulse that led him to give big second chances to failed team leaders like Corey Maggette, John Salmons, Drew Gooden, Stephen Jackson and Monta Ellis. It's why the Bucks are still feel like they're fighting for scraps that other teams discard.

I don't think he ever even considered starting the real coaching search in January, like he should have, because that's a bit more cutthroat than most nice guys are willing to be. The moment Skiles walked away from the team on Jan. 8 -- or at least by the time Hammond received a three-year extension on Jan. 24 -- the Bucks' GM should have been finalizing his list together and working the back channels with NBA agents to gauge the interest of various coaching candidates.

The largely unfortunate informal conversations with unemployed coaches like Stan Van Gundy, Jerry Sloan and Nate McMillan should have taken place months ago. The so-called "top targets" should have been crossed off the list long before the Heat swept the Bucks out of the playoffs. It would have saved the team a bit of public embarrassment, and it could have helped the front office focus on finding the best young assistant (from current candidates Kelvin Sampson, J.B. Bickerstaff and Steve Clifford) to target with an offer they would not be able to refuse. Instead, it feels like the process has stalled and the franchise is scrambling to react to bad news. They're now cobbling together a longer list of secondary candidates that other teams don't want (Larry Drew and perhaps Lionel Hollins). It's become yet another layer of frustrating inertia for fans to deal with.

At a moment in Bucks history where perception feels like reality, Hammond and Milwaukee are stuck in the middle without a clear plan to communicate to the masses. This isn't the first time things have played out this way, either.

In the introductory press conference I linked to above, literally seconds before he asked us to remember him as someone who worked hard and was a good man, John Hammond declared that he was going to take the coaching search at his own pace (no set dates!) and that he was looking for a coach with "the kind of qualities that Larry Krystkowiak has."

Yes, he did indeed utter those words. Even after a 26-56 season that prompted Hammond to fire Krystkowiak in one of his first moves on the job, he not only couldn't bring himself to say a bad word about Larry K, but he couldn't even manage to avoid praising a guy who was clearly in over his head. Larry freaking Krystkowiak, for goodness' sake!

Maybe I'm overthinking things at the outset of a slow offseason. Maybe the perfect plan is already in place. Maybe the Bucks have their man in their sights, and the rest of this coaching search noise is just part of a GM's due diligence. We may find out when the dominoes start to fall, because eventually some of the candidates on Milwaukee's list will starting taking other jobs. Maybe John Hammond likes all of his options so much that he can't decide on one. That would certainly be the nicest way to conduct his search.

It's been said that nice guys finish last, but John Hammond has proven to me that in the NBA nice guys can easily get you stuck somewhere in the middle. That's probably the nicest thing I can say at the moment, because unfortunately he has yet to prove that he get the Bucks where we actually want them to be. I don't know what John Hammond is searching for, but I sure hopes he finds it soon.

Bucks interested in Grizzlies head coach Lionel Hollins, according to report

2013-05-22T14:34:16Z

There hasn't been much action on the Milwaukee Bucks' coaching search front since the news broke that Atlanta Hawks head coach Larry Drew would interview for the position, which he did last Monday. According to a report from Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times, however, Drew isn't the only current head coach the Bucks might be interested in poaching:

If you believe some insightful NBA officials, it’s simply because the Bucks are playing the waiting game. They are biding their time until the Memphis Grizzlies’ season ends and they can talk to Grizzlies free-agent in-waiting coach Lionel Hollins.

Hollins was hired back in 2008 as an assistant under newly-installed Bucks head coach Scott Skiles. Hollins had previously served as an assistant in Phoenix and interim head coach with the Grizzlies on two separate occasions. He didn't stay in Milwaukee for long, signing an agreement with the Grizzlies in January, 2009 to replace fired head coach Marc Iavaroni.

In four-plus years as head coach in Memphis, Hollins has a 196-155 (.558) record. His teams have been very good the last two seasons, winning 41 games in the lockout-shortened 2011-2012 season and 56 this past year. The Grizzlies have improved dramatically on defense each year of his tenure, from 21st in defensive rating the year he took over to 19th, 9th, 7th, and finally 2nd in 2012-2013. Plenty of credit for that improvement should go to the emergence of Marc Gasol as one of the top defensive (and overall) centers in the game, as well as the presence of lockdown perimeter defender Tony Allen. PG Mike Conley has developed into a terrific player and the Rudy Gay trade pulled off by Memphis' new management looks brilliant. Hollins hasn't exactly had to work magic to get where he is--he's got a very, very good roster to work with.

Like Drew, Hollins has no contract with Memphis beyond this season. Considering his success, he'll be a highly sought-after coach for many teams. So why would the Bucks, who were recently turned down by Jerry Sloan because they were too far from contending, have a shot at Hollins? Money, for starters. Herb Kohl may not entertain heavy luxury tax penalties from the roster, but he's shown a willingness to lure premier coaches from glitzier markets with generous contracts, including Mike Dunleavy Sr. and George Karl.

Woelfel says that some NBA officials also believe Hollins has interest in the Milwaukee job due to his former tenure there and a roster that matches his style. Larry Sanders might not be Marc Gasol, but he's an emerging defensive presence and has lots of room to grow. Luc Mbah a Moute is also available as a perimeter stopper to emulate Allen. If Hollins is interested in building the team around a defensive mindset, he could have free reign in Milwaukee, which has plenty of financial and roster flexibility beyond this season.

The calls will surely come quick when Hollins' playoff run with Memphis comes to and end, but don't expect the Grizzlies to let him go easy. The front office wasn't prepared to commit with an extension before or during the season, but if they judge him to be a crucial part of the team's improvement there's little doubt the money will be there.

NBA Draft Lottery Results: Cavaliers win top pick, Bucks projections still varied

2013-05-22T04:36:58Z

Two out of three ain't bad, right?

Nick Gilbert hit the jackpot in the NBA Draft Lottery for the Cleveland Cavaliers once again, giving the Cavs the first overall selection for the second time in the last three years. Cleveland had a 15.6 percent chance of snagging the top pick. The Orlando Magic, who had the best odds in the lottery, will pick 2nd, while the Washington Wizards turned the 8th-highest odds into the 3rd overall pick.

With the draft order now locked in, many mock drafts have been updated to reflect team needs and targets. Nerlens Noel still looks like the favorite to go first overall, though Cleveland's playoff aspirations may lead them to explore trade scenarios. They also own the 19th pick.

As for the Bucks? Projections for their #15 pick remain varied, which is pretty much how they were prior to the lottery results. Here's the latest predictions from a few of the top draft analysis sources:

DraftExpress: Sergey Karasev, SF, 19 years old, 6'7", 197 lbs., International
One executive reportedly described Karasev as a "better-shooting Andrei Kirilenko." Hard to think of a better fit for the Bucks than a versatile, sweet-shooting wing player. Of course, the other side of the "all-around" praise is that he might not do anything at a truly exceptional level. He also might be a bit undersized for an NBA small forward, and he's not the most athletic guy out there. But in a draft like this one, getting a relatively NBA-ready wing with terrific range is a solid win.

ESPN - Chad Ford (Insider Only): Allen Crabbe, SG, 21 years old, 6'6", 197 lbs., California
Ford also projects the Bucks to target a wing shooter, and Crabbe is likely to be one of the top shooters left on the board at this point. Crabbe hit 40% of his triples his first two seasons at Cal before falling to 35% this past season. He attempted so many that even somewhere in the upper 30s would be a great percentage. Crabbe has shown inconsistent effort at times and might not offer much more than scoring at first, but he's got ample size for the 2 and projects well defensively.

NBADraft.net: Steven Adams, C, 19 years old, 7'0", 255 lbs., Pittsburgh
Adams was a big winner at the draft combine, showing off his excellent athleticism and prototypical size while impressing scouts with nonstop hustle. But he is R.A.W. on the offensive end, showing very little scoring ability at Pitt and possessing little in the way of developed low-post skills. A team will draft Adams in the mid-first round based on his size, age, and potential, but he's very much a developmental prospect.

CBSSports.com - Jeff Goodman: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, SG, 20 years old, 6'6", 204 lbs., Georgia
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, better known to me as KCP, is one of the best shooters in the draft with deep range and a quick, tight shooting stroke. He's also athletic enough to get to the rim and finish, and grades out as a good defender by statistics or scouting. He doesn't have a great handle for a 2-guard and can't hurt defenses off the dribble as well as he can in catch-and-shoot situations. Most importantly, the PR team from whatever club drafts him gets to use #KCP43 every time he nails a trey.

Poll

Which prospect do you like best?

Glen Rice Jr. and Tony Snell battle on day one of draft workouts

2013-05-21T22:31:08Z

Bored with the drudgery of the coaching search yet? Fear not: draft workout season has finally begun, friends. As expected, potential first rounder Glen Rice Jr. (DX #26) headlined today's first workout at the Cousins Center, with New Mexico swingman Tony Snell (DX #37), Syracuse forward James Southerland (DX #82), Marquette guard Junior Cadougan (unranked by DX) the other notables in attendance.

Over at Bucks.com, Jim Paschke has video interviews from today and also brings word that the Bucks will be attending the Brooklyn (May 22-23) and Minnesota group workouts before returning to Milwaukee next week. You can click through some pictures from today's action at Bucks.com as well.

Billy McKinney spoke to the media afterwards, so feel free to read as much (remember him gushing over John Henson last year?) or as little (remember him calling Larry Sanders a reach in 2010?) into these quotes as you want. Andrew Gruman at FS Wisconsin reports:

"I watched one of the (finals) games and he was very good," McKinney said. "Playing in the D-League, I think out of all the draft players this year he might be the most ready to play in the NBA because of his experience playing with a lot of former NBA players.

"He shoots the ball really well. He has are a really good feel for the game. He has a nice all-around game. He does a nice job on defense, as well."

On Snell:

"I think he's one of the most talented and gifted players in this draft," McKinney said. "His performances were up and down. Most young players will have that issue, but in terms of talent, I've watched him since he was a freshman and thought he was a guy who has been our radar for quite some time.

"His game set, actually his physique reminds me of former NBA player Darius Miles. Darius was a very talented player, a lottery pick, but Tony shoots the ball much better than Darius. I think he's one of those guys who can go somewhere in the first round, he might slip into the second round. His workouts will be very critical to where he gets drafted."

Basically: Snell has a lean build and cornrows.

More to come later tonight.

Draft Workouts 2013: Glen Rice Jr. headlines first group

2013-05-21T22:06:44Z

The Bucks began their 2013 NBA Draft workout schedule on Tuesday with a slate of swingmen featuring Glen Rice Jr. and New Mexico's Tony Snell.

Pre-Draft Workouts to Begin on Tuesday
The NBA draft lottery will take place Tuesday night in beautiful Secaucus, New Jersey, but there will be no drama for the Bucks: they'll be picking smack-dab in the middle of the first round (15th) no matter what.

Note: this is the part of the story where you let out an audible sigh.

Not that it's a great year to be bad either. Everyone and their mother seems to agree that the top of this year's draft is as weak as any in recent memory, which is why you won't hear the phrase "Nerlens Noel Sweepstakes" anytime soon. But quality players will no doubt emerge from this year's crop, and this is the part where you cross your fingers that the Bucks manage to find one from their perch in the middle of the first.

So who is in the Bucks' wheelhouse? "Guards" would be an obvious answer, though expect to hear the usual chorus of "best player available" talk over the next few weeks, starting with Tuesday's session at the Cousins Center. As usual, the Bucks won't officially announce who is showing up until the morning of the workout, but Gery Woelfel tweets that first round prospect Glen Rice Jr. (SF/SG, D-League), James Southerland (Syracuse, SF) and Will Clyburn (Iowa State, SF/PF) will be among the guys in town.

UPDATE: The Bucks have confirmed those three will be joined by Marquette guard Junior Cadougan, Dakota State guard Tyrone Gordon, and New Mexico guard Tony Snell.

All that said, let's do a quick review of the guys who have been rumored to have workouts planned in Milwaukee:

Dennis Schröder, PG, Germany
The 19-year-old German impressed at the recent Nike Hoops Summit and has been compared to a lesser Rajon Rondo for his quickness, defense and playmaking; it's unclear if he's in Rondo's ballpark when it comes to general weirdness but being German will presumably help on that front. Charles Gardner writes that Schröder plans to work out for the Bucks (around June 1) in addition to the Rockets and Jazz. But expect that list to grow plenty. A potential Brandon Jennings replacement, or a potential Brandon Jennings backup? Choose your own adventure, friends.

Michael Carter-Williams, PG/SG, Syracuse
MCW is one of the draft's more polarizing figures: his tremendous size (6'6"), athleticism (41" vertical) and playmaking abilities give him top five potential, but his inability to score and general inconsistency could allow him to slip into the Bucks' range. Basically he's the closest we've seen to Shaun Livingston since Shaun Livingston was still Shaun Livingston, all of which makes me skeptical he'll fall out of the lottery.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, SG, Georgia
A breakout sophomore campaign helped Caldwell-Pope establish himself as one of the draft's best perimeter shooters and scorers, though his perceived lack of handle/driving game has kept him out of most lottery projections thus far. Still, he's a unique talent in that he can shoot and make plays defensively (7.1 rpg, 2.0 spg), two things the Bucks could use in a young shooting guard.

Jamaal Franklin, SG/SF, San Diego State
Franklin's scoring inefficiency scares me (40.4% shooting at 27.9% from deep...basically Monta Ellis numbers), but his athleticism and versatility on both ends are difficult to deny. Boasting an exceptional 6'11.25" wingspan, the 6'5" wing led SDSU in scoring, rebounding (9.4!), assists (3.3) and steals (1.6). He's certainly very flawed as a scorer, but I'm still interested.

Glen Rice Jr., SF/SG, D-League Rio Grande Vipers / Georgia Tech
As Dan previously wrote, Rice is one of the most intriguing players in the draft--for better or worse. He interviewed with the Bucks in Chicago and Gery Woelfel writes that he's also expecting to be in town for a workout. Rice can shoot (thanks Dad!), jump (40.5" max vert) and annihilated the D-League late last season in leading Rio Grande to the title, so there's reason to believe he can come in and contribute now and in the future. But the mere fact that he needed a D-League detour to begin with is a major cause for concern, as he was kicked off the Georgia Tech squad a year ago and and enters the draft as a slightly older prospect (22).

Gorgui Dieng, PF/C, Lousiville
Dieng actually reminds me a bit of Ekpe Udoh in that both entered the draft as 23-year-old defensive big men who has also flashed some abilities from the mid-post. In short, a high-floor/low-ceiling type that will make a team better without getting anyone terribly excited. That means he'd also be a rather duplicative talent for a Bucks' roster already long on defensive combo-bigs, but it's no secret that the Bucks draft for talent and trade for need.

Kelly Olynyk, C/PF, Gonzaga
Most expect the highly-skilled Olynyk to be draft at some point in the latter half of the lottery, but he's a white guy with long hair so that presumably won't help his stock (jokes!). Olynyk's calling card is his ability to score inside and out, but he's also one of those big guys who does unfortunately little rebounding and shot-blocking (you know, big guy stuff).

Rudy Gobert, C, Cholet (France)
Gobert's freakish dimensions made him something of a novelty when he first emerged as a prospect last season, and last week he set combine records with his 7'8.5" wingspan and 9'7" standing reach. But the 19-year-old also emerged as an actual basketball player over the past year in France, and early projections suggest he'll be nabbed by someone in the lottery.

Mason Plumlee, PF/C, Duke
As far as likability to Bucks fans go, Plumlee might as well be the Ivan Drago of the draft: he went to Duke (BLARG!), he's already 22 (boo!), he doesn't play a position of need (wah!) and...well, he has blond hair. But Plumlee's also an exceptional athlete for a 7-footer and he was a damn effective collegiate player. Which presumably is worth something, right? [dodges tomato]

JS: Player interviews a key part of combine process
Speaking of the draft, now's the time of year wherever talks themselves blue in the face about how to judge whether any of these kids are actually going to be any good or not. Advanced stats! Measurements! Interviews! Workouts! So does it really matter? Bucks assistant GM Jeff Weltman says about what you'd expect:

"It's all good stuff," Weltman said. "It's just another layer. It's not that you're going to draft a kid or not draft a kid based on that information, but it's certainly another layer so why not have it?
"The Bucks aren't going to get Cody Zeller in for a workout so that's good information for us to have. Maybe it matters to us; maybe it doesn't. But it's always good information."

Boeder: The Search for Coach 13
Our man Alex counts down the 12 men who have roamed the sidelines for the Bucks since 1968.

Ziller: The affordability of an elite NBA defense
Very good and Bucks-relevant read from Tom Ziller on the cheapest route to competing at a high level in the NBA. Hint: it doesn't involve shelling out huge dollars to undersized, shoot-first guards (WINK!).

Defense is cheaper than offense in the NBA. (The exception is at center, where even defense-skewed players are pricey.) Scoring is the top determinant for individual salary; if you have a couple of 22-point scorers, you're going to be outlaying a lot of money for offense. Some of the top defenders, though, make a pittance. Consider Tony Allen, the Grizzlies' ace perimeter defender. He's made All-Defense three straight years, including the first team in the past two seasons. He's wrapping up a three-year, $9.5 million contract. The Grizzlies' old top scorer, Rudy Gay, who was traded in January, made $16.4 million just this season to score 20 points a game.

JS: Relationships with players a strength, Bucks candidate Larry Drew says
Larry Drew put together a solid-but-unspectacular three years as head coach of the Hawks, earning three straight playoff berths with good-but-not-great rosters including one trip to the East semis three years ago. Larry Drew also has more seasons with 44+ wins in his three seasons as a coach than the Bucks can claim over the past 20 seasons. Larry Drew also seems a wholly underwhelming coaching choice for most Bucks fans, which speaks to both the odd circumstances of his current situation with the Hawks (he's still technically their coach, but they sure don't seem eager to extend his contract past July) as well as our collective yearning for a difference-making head coach who might not actually exist.

Jerry Sloan and Stan Van Gundy were interesting because they actually have been great NBA head coaches; Kelvin Sampson and Steve Clifford interest us because we don't know for sure that they won't be great NBA coaches; Drew seems decidedly less sexy because he's "only" been good. It's both an unfair and completely understandable approach that we take as fans in a sport where only binary results seem acceptable: give us great or give us crap, because everything in between is far too close to what we've seen over the past three seasons.

Worried about Nerlens Noel's low weight? Look to Larry Sanders for hope!

2013-05-21T12:00:14Z

Even as NBA positions blur together, the notice paid to measurables and athletic testing at the NBA Draft Combine remains high. For nearly every prospect grading out taller, lankier, or quicker than expected can erase all sorts of questions about a disappointing season. Conversely, even the most productive players get knocked for being too short, too slow, or too stuck to the ground.

Kentucky center Nerlens Noel didn't set the college basketball world on fire like his predecessor Anthony Davis, but he was still quite good--one of the best in the NCAA, in fact. Before an ill-fated chasedown block left him with a torn-ACL and made him the centerpiece of a renewed debate on the NBA's age minimum, Noel was regarded as a top candidate for the Naismith Player of the Year Award and the prohibitive favorite to be selected first overall in the upcoming NBA draft. The injury slowed the hype train a bit, but even with Noel expected to be shelved for the first few months of the season he was still the favorite to be the first pick.

More: SB Nation: Full NBA Draft Combine coverage

Still in the early stages of the recovery process, Noel didn't take part in any of the workouts or organized competitive activities at the combine, but his measurements still garnered significant attention. His standing reach (still the most important pure measurement for a center) was still very good, and his wingspan was solid. But nearly every scout, assistant, or GM in attendance was distressed by Noel's weight: he tipped the scales at just 206 lbs., barely higher than shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

"Needs to add strength" shows up so frequently in prospect profiles it's basically an in-joke in draft analysis at this point. With one-and-done prospects dominating the draft in recent years, it's becoming increasingly rare to see an incoming rookie with an "NBA-ready" physique, especially big men. There's no reason to think Noel, still just 19 years old, won't put on quite a bit of muscle once he gets on board with an NBA strength training program. In addition, Noel says he played up around 225 lbs. before the injury took him off his feet. But even that figure leaves him well below many of the top centers in the NBA:

Marc Gasol won Defensive Player of the Year for the Memphis Grizzlies. He's listed at 265 lbs. Pacers center Roy Hibbert is 280 lbs. Dwight Howard is 260 lbs. From Andrew Bogut to DeMarcus Cousins, you'll be hard-pressed to find a center who isn't 40 lbs. heavier than Noel's targeted weight. Even Tyson Chandler, always noted for his slender body, is 240 lbs.

There seems little doubt that Noel will initially struggle to deal with the size he'll face night after night in the NBA. The concern for many team officials is whether he'll eventually be able to shake that disadvantage. Can Noel succeed if he might always be undersized? Is that risk worth taking first overall? Some teams aren't so sure anymore.

There may be hope for Noel yet, and many NBA writers have already noticed it: His name is ~~Larry Sanders~~ LARRY SANDERS!

First, the obvious discrepancy: Sanders weighed 222 pounds at the 2010 NBA Draft Combine, quite a bit higher than Noel's eye-popping figure. But he was still right near the bottom of all the center prospects in the 2010 draft (heck, he was often projected as a power forward), many of whom were drafted in the top ten. Beyond that, however, similarities become much more abundant. Both players possessed excellent shot-blocking instincts in college and had great athleticism. Both sport(ed) evolving offensive games, and Noel is likely farther along than Sanders was when he was drafted. Most importantly, like Sanders, Noel will likely be drafted on the back of his NBA-ready defensive ability, which is where the weight issue really comes into question (Ever notice how weight is rarely brought up as with regard to a prospect's offensive game, unless it's a positive? Strange trend.).

In the 2012-2013 season, Sanders emerged as an elite defensive center in the NBA, even if award season brought little acknowledgement of the fact. He took advantage (in a good way) of the fact that a center can succeed in the NBA today if he can do 2 things: Protect the rim, and stay on the court long enough to make that protection worth something. Thanks to his shot-blocking, Sanders has always been pretty good at the first part, but it took him 3 seasons to curb his excessive fouling enough to play a significant number of minutes and break into the upper echelon of interior defenders.

A little hiccup in common perception is that length, not girth, might be the most valuable physical tool in a defender's arsenal, be he an interior or perimeter stopper.

What's notable is that his physique doesn't seem to have changed significantly, at least not to the point where his defensive improvement was an obvious beneficiary of added bulk. Sanders learned to use his tremendous length and agility, plus smarter positioning, to shut down some of the best post scorers in the NBA and anchor an above-average defense that was utterly awful without him. Naturally, the biggest and best pivots in the league still gave him trouble, but the same could be said for nearly every one of his contemporaries. Sanders' success despite his smallish frame hardly establishes a pattern. It does, however, invalidate any rule saying that skinny big guys can't make it in the NBA.

A little hiccup in common perception is that length, not girth, might be the most valuable physical tool in a defender's arsenal, be he an interior or perimeter stopper. That's good news for Noel, whose expansive measurements are just a bit smaller than Sanders despite being about an inch taller. Perhaps even more encouraging is that Noel averaged 1.2 fewer fouls per 40 minutes than Sanders during each's pre-draft seasons. Noel may already be more refined on defense than Sanders was coming into the league, despite his age. That he played for a very good coach at the NBA Production Facility of Kentucky can't hurt either.

One more player worth mentioning: Joakim Noah weighed 223 pounds prior to the 2007 draft and has become one of the top centers in the game. But Noah was widely regarded as a more skilled player coming in than either Sanders or Noel and might be powered by a small chest-mounted Arc Reactor, so he's not a great comparison. I'd also contend that Sanders is a slightly better overall defender than Noah at the moment, so why not set your sights high, Mr. Nerlens' Agent?

The question remains whether Noel's conspicuous slenderness renders him unworthy of the top spot in his draft class. Sanders would unquestionably rise into the middle of the lottery in a redraft of the 2010 class, but there are still a number of other players ahead of him. Noel is viewed as a higher-ceiling player than Sanders was around draft time, which apparently couples with a reputedly weak class to make him the top choice almost by default. Identifying Larry Sanders as a best-or-worse-case scenario for Noel is a contrived exercise, but ask yourself this: knowing what you know about Sanders today, where would he rank in the 2013 draft class?

Poll

Ignoring the needs of the team selecting him, do you think Nerlens Noel should be the first overall pick?

Bucks begin draft workouts Tuesday, Chicago Draft Combine redux, no news on coaching search

2013-05-21T04:54:48Z

Note: this is the part of the story where you let out an audible sigh.

UPDATE: The Bucks have confirmed those three will be joined by Marquette guard Junior Cadougan, Dakota State guard Tyrone Gordon, and New Mexico guard Tony Snell.

All that said, let's do a quick review of the guys who have been rumored to have workouts planned in Milwaukee:

"It's all good stuff," Weltman said. "It's just another layer. It's not that you're going to draft a kid or not draft a kid based on that information, but it's certainly another layer so why not have it?
"The Bucks aren't going to get Cody Zeller in for a workout so that's good information for us to have. Maybe it matters to us; maybe it doesn't. But it's always good information."

Boeder: The Search for Coach 13
Our man Alex counts down the 12 men who have roamed the sidelines for the Bucks since 1968.

Defense is cheaper than offense in the NBA. (The exception is at center, where even defense-skewed players are pricey.) Scoring is the top determinant for individual salary; if you have a couple of 22-point scorers, you're going to be outlaying a lot of money for offense. Some of the top defenders, though, make a pittance. Consider Tony Allen, the Grizzlies' ace perimeter defender. He's made All-Defense three straight years, including the first team in the past two seasons. He's wrapping up a three-year, $9.5 million contract. The Grizzlies' old top scorer, Rudy Gay, who was traded in January, made $16.4 million just this season to score 20 points a game.