Ridiculous Upside: Darington Hobson heading to Fort Wayne
In a move that would make sense on a number of levels, Scott Schroeder tweets that the Bucks will assign Darington Hobson to their D-League affiliate in Fort Wayne tomorrow. Hobson saw limited action in the Bucks' two preseason games and didn't see the court in either of the Bucks' two regular season games despite the absence of fellow wings Carlos Delfino, Luc Mbah a Moute and Tobias Harris. With Delfino and Mbah a Moute expected back on Friday, it stands to reason that Hobson's opportunities for playing time will only get more limited in the short term.

As we've discussed over the past few weeks, the upside of assigning Hobson to Fort Wayne is quite simple: he gets to actually play basketball. He's done precious little of that since leaving New Mexico in the spring of 2010, spending the past year rehabbing from corrective surgery on both hips. As a result, regular minutes in Fort Wayne would provide a much-needed opportunity for Hobson to regain his timing and get in game shape. While the Bucks have typically preferred to keep their rookies practicing with the big club, the compressed NBA schedule also makes the D-League a more attractive option than usual. With fewer off days, teams also have fewer full practices and even less time than normal for coaches to work with young players. That could also make the D-League an attractive option for Tobias Harris, though he'll first have to recover from his mysteriously lengthy bout with dehydration first.

Update: The Bucks have now confirmed the move.

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Woelfel: Jackson puts contract demands, injuries on back burner
Stephen Jackson has good news and bad news. The good news is that he seems to be grasping reality when it comes to an extension to his existing two year, $19 million contract (for the moment I'll ignore the annoying fact that this ever was news).

"I'm going to go ahead and let it die down," Jackson said. "Right now, I know it's not the time to talk about contracts or anything like that. It's about focusing on getting to the playoffs."

OK, so hopefully we won't have to talk about that for at least the next six months (small victories, eh?). However, the 33-year-old Jackson is still battling old age. Alas, time's remorseless arrow!

Jackson told reporters that one of the discs in his back is "completely gone," the casualty of career wear and tear. For better or worse, surgery isn't an option, so Jackson plans to play through it. What, you expected the Bucks to be completely healthy going into a season?

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Minnesota Timberwolves 85, Milwaukee Bucks 84
More notes, video (above), reaction and analysis of Wednesday night's preseason loss:

• NBA.com: Box Score / Complete Game Log
• Brew Hoop: Recap
• JS Online: Recap
• We're Bucked: Recap
• Bucksketball: Recap
• Canis Hoopus (Wolves): Recap
• JS Online: Bogut, Mbah a Moute, Harris and Delfino miss Thursday practice

FS Wisconsin: Bucks expect an improvement on offense
Andrew Wagner reports on Brandon Jennings' plans to change up his shot selection in 11/12.

"This summer, I wanted to work on a lot of things," Jennings said. "I feel a little more comfortable shooting the pull-up jump shot. This year, I'm trying not to shoot as many threes as I used to but just try to get in the lane and make things happen."

Getting to the rim more and finishing at just an average rate would do wonders for Jennings' efficiency, so Brandon's on the right track. That said, it's worth noting that the only type of shot Brandon has ever made with even league-average effectiveness is the three pointer--as a rookie he made nearly 38% of his tries from deep. So while aggressiveness, drawing fouls, etc is a good thing, let's be careful not to vilify the three point shot too much.

JS: Tobias Harris and Larry Sanders back practicing
Both Harris and Sanders spent most of last week recovering from dehydration, but they're back practicing now and will be looking for extended minutes in Wednesday's MACC Fund game.

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Minnesota Timberwolves 117, Milwaukee Bucks 96
More notes, video (above), reaction and analysis of Saturday night's preseason opener:

• NBA.com: Box Score / Complete Game Log
• Brew Hoop: Recap
• JS Online: Recap
• We're Bucked: Recap
• Badger of Honor: Jon Leuer impresses
• JS Online: Dunleavy and Leuer are bright spots
• MACC Fund Game: Tickets starting at just $10

Woelfel: Jackson isn't happy with current contract
Do we have our first official distraction of the season? As discussed in the FanPosts and his most recent segment on WSSP, Gery Woelfel is once again reporting that Stephen Jackson is unhappy with having a mere two years and $19.3 million remaining on his contract. Oh dear.

Jackson, who hasn't had an agent for several years, hasn't uttered a word about his contact status since the start of training camp. He was unavailable for interviews Thursday.

There is growing speculation, though, that Jackson is upset the Bucks haven't approached him about reconstructing his contract and that he was now going to approach them.

If this sounds eerily familiar, you may recall that Woelfel quoted Jackson after his introductory presser in June saying an extension was "mandatory," though if true the terms "silly" and "baffling" probably make more sense. Put bluntly, there's zero reason for the Bucks or any other team to extend Jackson: he's 33 years old, he hasn't even played a game for the Bucks yet, and for cryin' out loud he still has two years and nearly $20 million on his current deal.

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JS: Leuer impresses Skiles in debut with Bucks
And then there were 15. The Bucks officially filled their last remaining roster spot on Thursday with the signing of 40th overall pick Jon Leuer. After opting out of his contract with German team Fraport Skyliners last week, the former Wisconsin star had been waiting on official clearance from FIBA to sign his contract and start practicing with the Bucks. Apparently he didn't miss much.

"He's a smart player," coach Scott Skiles said. "He's got good defensive instincts. Obviously playing where he did in college, he's been well-coached.

"Watching his team in Frankfurt, you could tell they were well-prepared. And he's a smart player, anyway. You wouldn't have been able to watch practice and pick him out as the guy who just showed up today.

"He got involved with everything; he's been watching closely and he was good today."

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JSOnline: Open scrimmage notes
Charles Gardner offers up some of the highlights from Wednesday night's open scrimmage at the Bradley Center. The scrimmage was streamed live online, so many of you may have seen parts or all of it. If so, you know as well as anybody that it's tough to draw real conclusions. Players swapped teams sporadically, sometimes leaving one squad with two point guards and the other with zero. Stephen Jackson (back), Tobias Harris (dehydration) and Larry Sanders (dehydration) didn't play. Andrew Bogut was lined up against Jon Brockman for a stretch, with predictable results.

Still, it was the first chance to see many of the new players in something resembling live court action. Familiar faces were back doing familiar things too: Carlos Delfino hit a pair of spot-up threes late in the game and, thankfully, looks to still have a nice scoring touch.

The game was played at a pretty quick pace, but I'll stop you right here, before you start thinking the coaching staff has been listening to us. The frenetic pace was more "frightened rabbit" than "majestic cheetah." Overambitious passes were frequent--most sailed out of bounds or bounced off fingertips, although a sweet Livingston-to-Bogut connection resulted in a pretty thunderous Aussie slam. For video, check out Jim Paschke's report at Bucks.com.

More news and notes after the jump.

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