Two weeks later, Joe's a guaranteed $5 million richer

There's not much drama in rookie contracts anymore, but I'm still happy to report that Joe Alexander is now officially under contract with the Milwaukee Bucks.  With the Orlando summer league kicking off yesterday and the bigger Vegas league starting on Friday, expect all the big names to sign their guaranteed contracts (and lock in some cash) in short order.  In fact, signing a first rounder is now so non-newsworthy that you might not even know Alexander officially signed unless you stumbled across the official NBA transactions list.  The signing also means that the Bucks can't trade Alexander for 30 days and thereafter would have to count his rookie salary for trade purposes, as opposed to unsigned picks who count for zero in trades.

Assuming the Bucks agreed to give Alexander the maximum 120% of his rookie scale salary, Joe stands to earn $2.403 million this coming season.  That raises the Bucks' current 08/09 salary figure to just over $65 million for just ten players. With the cap projected at $58.5 million and the luxury tax threshold at $71 million, the Bucks have only the MLE (projected at about $5.55 million) to work with this summer and are unlikely to even spend that much given the possibility of luxury tax issues starting next summer.

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• For audio/video from the draft, check out Bucks.com.
• Let's start with the obvious: the Bucks started the day with a decided weakness at the small forward spot but ended it with an embarrassment of riches at the position. Naturally, there's plenty of second-guessing among fans about why the Bucks would draft two small forwards after acquiring an all-star at the position only hours earlier. The biggest question to me is whether Alexander can legitimately play as a PF, which the Bucks are saying he can. However, that also suggests he might be more of a tweener than originally thought.  Alexander might be on the short end of the PF spectrum, but he's strong, athletic and played the position in college. More importantly, even if he ends up being more of a small forward, it probably would have been unfair to expect Alexander to be a productive starter as a rookie. While he was the best player on a very good West Virginia team last year, Alexander is in many ways still learning the finer points of the game.  
• Changing the culture of the Bucks has been a theme since John Hammond was hired, and the moves today certainly underscore that Scott Skiles' team will bring a different mentality than Larry Krystkowiak's sorry 07/08 squad.  While he may not be the top shelf defender he once was, Jefferson provides a major upgrade at the offensive end while also bringing a two-way mentality that Skiles should appreciate.  Alexander meanwhile could be Skiles' long-lost son, exuding an intensity and dedication that makes him a fairly safe pick. Lastly, Mbah a Moute doesn't have the sex appeal of a CDR, but he has a clear role and his success isn't dependent on being a scorer like CDR. Last year the Bucks tried to infuse some defensive intensity into the team by adding lunchpail role players such as Mike Ruffin and Royal Ivey, but they found out the hard way that your 13th guy doesn't get your team to play defense. Alexander and Mbah a Moute won't be leaders next year, but Jefferson will help set a more responsible defensive tone that the young guys will no doubt pick up on.
• Assuming Alexander is here to stay, then it would seem obvious that Desmond Mason would be on the move this summer. On a personal side, I hate to see Mason shipped out again given the sort of guy he is, but with an expiring $5.4 million deal he'll be a key bargaining chip who can be easily combined with someone like Mo Williams or Charlie Villanueva in a bigger deal.
• So where do the Bucks go from here?  Hammond said he spoke to Michael Redd last week about acquiring players to complement Redd, so for now it sounds like trading Redd isn't a priority.  If that's the case then the Bucks will have two 20+ ppg guys on the wings and will probably look to shop Mo Williams.  Both the Cavs (Anderson Varejao) and Heat (Udonis Haslem) could be good trade partners, as each could use a scoring point and can offer defensive power forwards to help fill the gap now faced by the Bucks at the 4. Especially with O.J. Mayo joining the backcourt mix in Memphis, Hammond could then try to use Charlie Villanueva to acquire Memphis' Kyle Lowry, a more defensive, game-managing point who would seem to complement Sessions.  Either way, the Bucks have plenty of time to shuffle their roster before camp breaks in October.

• 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."

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.

DraftExpress' sortable historical measurements database is a fantastic resource for draft nuts and NBA fans alike, as their most recent update provides detailed data on vertical leap, agility drills and bench press in addition to official height (with and without shoes), weight, wingspan and standing reach data for most prospects drafted since 2000.

And while I obsess over this data as much as anyone, browsing for a few minutes reveals plenty of examples where the numbers don't seem to do a player justice. For instance, does anyone believe that Monta Ellis (31.5" vertical) and Andre Iguodala (34.5" vertical) are less explosive leapers than Coby Karl (35.5"), Jeff Green (38") and Chris Quinn (37")?  And how much do you care that Chris Kaman's short arms (6' 11.75" wingspan) are dwarfed by those of Patrick O'Bryant (7' 5.75"), Darko Milicic (7' 5") and Eddy Curry (7' 6")? 

But to me the most interesting players in the measurement database aren't the players who became all-stars or spectacular busts. Rather, the most insight into the data itself comes from the small subset of mostly pedestrian players who weren't good enough to stay in the draft the first time around--and as result attended the pre-draft camp twice. 

Thanks to the NBA's rule allowing players who don't hire agents to withdraw from the draft and return to school after the pre-draft camp, 30 players have been poked, prodded and measured twice since 2001. And thanks to this quirk of the draft system, we can compare their year-to-year measurements for some insight into just how accurate these measurements are and how players change from one year to the next. Not all players had agility, strength, and vertical data for both years, so for now I focused on the four primary measurements: height without shoes, height with shoes, wingspan and standing reach. The results suggest a number of things:

• Players rarely had the same measurements twice in any category. This is likely the result of daily variation in height, actual growth between years, measurement error and wearing thicker- or thinner-soled shoes (which affects in-shoe height and standing reach).
  
• Standing reach data varied the most from year to year. Nearly half the players in the sample had standing reaches that differed by more than an inch from year to year, and a quarter varied by 2" or more.
  
• The variance in measurements for height, wingspan and standing reach were often fairly uncorrelated.
  

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We mentioned yesterday that Yi Jianlian returned to action on Friday with a rusty 8 point, 7 rebound performance in China's 65-60 exhibition win over Croatia, his first game action since injuring his knee April 2 in Washington. Well, it seems like some of the rust is off, as Yi came back Saturday with 18 points (4/10 fg, 10/15 ft) and 13 boards in 28 minutes as China dispatched Croatia for a second time 76-66 in Shanghai. The two teams will play for a third time on Monday. Here's his remaining pre-Olympic schedule, per the good people at Yao Mania:

Jun 16 vs Croatia NT
Jun 22 vs Lithuania NT
Jun 24 vs Lithuania NT
Jul 4 vs Australia NT
Jul 6 vs Australia NT
Jul 17-20 Borislav Stankovic Continental Cup
Jul 29-Aug 1 Diamond Ball Cup
August 5 vs Argentina NT
August 6 vs Argentina NT

The Stankovic Cup will feature Russia, Iran and Angola, while the Diamond Ball Cup will bring Argentina, Australia , Serbia, Iran, and Angola to Nanjing, China. All told, China will play at least at least three games against Andrew Bogut's Australian team this summer, though Bogut is likely to miss the first two encounters as he waits to resolve his contract situation with the Bucks. Though the Bucks have picked up his $6.29 million team option for next year, Bogut has said he won't suit up for the Aussies until his contract extension is signed, which if you believe the Australian press is something of a foregone conclusion. I'd guess a deal happens, though the numbers being throw around by the Australian media seem rather inflated. However, the contract can't officially be signed until July 9 when the NBA's free agent moratorium ends, after the Boomers' first two exhibition games against the Chinese.

Depending on how China fares in the two tournaments, Yi could play up to 16 or so more games before the Olympics, which kick off August 9. That's a lot of basketball,  and the obvious concern is that it could leave him once again worn down by the latter half of the NBA season. But at least Yi should get the end of August and September off--a luxury he didn't have last year when he played about 30 games during the summer and joined training camp a day late because of national team commitments. It'd be nice if Yi had time to lift weights and just take a few thousand jump hooks a day, but for now the Bucks can only hope that he stays injury-free and
works on his post skills and finishing in game conditions.

About a month ago John Hammond pinpointed the small forward position as the Bucks' biggest area of need, so it's perhaps no surprise that the Bucks' first day of workouts saw three of the top four small forward prospects do battle alongside a number of possible second rounders. Danilo Gallinari was absent, but lottery prospects Anthony Randolph, Joe Alexander and Donte Greene were joined by UCLA forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, UAB forward Walter Sharpe, Dayton guard Brian Roberts and the previously mentioned Stanley Burrell from Xavier. The big group allowed the Bucks to do plenty of three on three situations, which is obviously a valuable drill when comparing players slotted for the same position.

Unlike last year, the workouts themselves were not open to the media, but Bucks.com has some Q&A with the players and Charles Gardner also has reaction from the players as well as John Hammond and Scott Skiles. Of course, player interviews after these things never seem to reveal all that much, as everybody always says it went well and tries to say the things that GMs want to hear, but that's all we've got for now. Gardner reports that for Hammond the workout process is another piece of the draft puzzle.

"This is part of the process," said general manager John Hammond after the conclusion of the workout. "You have guys like (director of player personnel) Dave Babcock all year evaluating these kinds of players and those guys have a great handle on how good these players really are. But a part of the draft process is this. It gives our coaches a chance to see the guys. To come out and spend some individual time with them on and off the floor. So it is a part of the process. But to say the exact importance of it, I don't know if it's more important than anything else we do. But it's a part of the process."

Alex had a chance to go down to the media session this afternoon, so he'll have more on today's action later this weekend.

If you're having a hard time deciding who among this year's lottery prospects will ever amount to anything, you're not alone. Especially with drafts now dominated by 18- to 20-year olds brimming with potential but often short on substantive accomplishments, projecting who will pan out is fraught with subjectivity and guesswork. So maybe it shouldn't be surprising that ESPN's Chad Ford and DraftExpress' Jonathan Givony--the two most well-known and hard-working draft guys around--came away from Friday's Orlando workouts with rather divergent perspectives on some of the draft's biggest names. As we see on draft night every year, educated people can see the same thing and draw very different conclusions, and the draft experts are no exception--even when it comes to basic things like whether a guy shot well or not.

Let's start with Derrick Rose. Both Ford and Givony have Rose going first overall, and there's no disagreement about how special the Memphis point guard is. But while Givony gushed that  "Clearly the most impressive workout of any of the 15 players belonged to Derrick Rose," Ford saw the brief workout in Orlando as a poor stage for his talents, noting "Rose won't look especially great in these drills."

Michael Beasley's reviews were perhaps more interesting, because Ford and Givony disagreed on something that would seem a bit more objective--how well Beasley shot the ball.  Let's start with Ford:

While other workouts were going on, we all watched in awe as Beasley drained NBA 3-pointer after NBA 3-pointer. That continued in the workouts, in which Beasley shot as well as any prospect here. Deep or midrange, Beasley can shoot the lights out.

Givony however didn't seem to be among those left in awe, reporting that Beasley "shot the ball just decently." Here's where it'd be nice to see some shooting percentages for all the players in Orlando.

LSU 18-year old Anthony Randolph's raw talent makes him one of the riskier picks in the draft, so it's probably less surprising that Ford and Givony sound like they're talking about two different players in recapping his performance. Don't count Givony among those who were impressed:

Speaking of lukewarm impressions, Brook Lopez didn’t do a whole lot to ease the concerns NBA people have about him, not moving all that well up and down the floor and showing a very average skill-level in most of the drills. The same can be said about Anthony Randolph, who showed up with a long undershirt intended to hide just how incredibly skinny he still is at the moment. He looked great dunking the ball in the transition drills and handling the ball fluidly in the open floor, but was completely unable to hit a mid-range or long-range jumper in any of the drills, not even coming up close on many of his attempts.

In contrast Ford has stated a number of times that he sees Randolph as a top five talent, and he clearly had a greater appreciation for Randolph's workout.

I thought Randolph really helped himself in this workout. He moves incredibly well for a big man, showed great quickness and leaping ability, and shot the ball much better than expected. Randolph also looked as if he has gained some weight, which should really help his cause.

In Donte Greene's case, Ford played the role of skeptic, noting, "He is a good athlete, but his shot wasn't falling as well as some other prospects." Meanwhile, Givony noted Greene for "shooting the ball well from the perimeter."

Some might look at this sort of thing as the exact reason why they don't pay attention to the draft hype, but it's also worth noting that the top prospects' Orlando drill work was short and as a result probably left more to the imagination. Indeed, both Ford and Givony admit that the abbreviated workouts are unlikely to have a real impact on the draft process. Still, for fans it's yet another reminder of how the draft is as much an art as a science, and that the draft lottery in late May is merely the prelude to the real lottery that happens on June 26.

Note: I posted this over at RealGM on Saturday and our buddy Steve from ClipsNation noticed the exact same thing that afternoon. Great minds think alike :)

Ilyasova averaged 15.5 ppg and 16 rpg in the semis vs. Joventut

Ersan Ilyasova and Barcelona kick of the Spanish league finals today against TAU Ceramica at 2:30 central time today. The best-of-five format starts with two games in Barcelona before shifting to TAU's home gym in the Basque city of Vitoria-Gasteiz next week. The decisive fifth game would be played in Barcelona if necessary.

Barcelona swept through the first two rounds of the playoffs by beating both Iurbentia Bilbao and DKV Joventut two games to none. And more importantly to Bucks fans, Ilyasova has arguably been Barca's best player of late, averaging 13.3 ppg and a beastly 11.0 rpg in the team's four playoff games. The rebounding numbers are especially impressive when you consider that the second-highest average in the playoffs is only 6.2 rpg (by former Celtic bust Jerome Moiso). You can watch the game online for $4.50 over at ACB.com.

While Ilyasova has one year left on his contract with Barcelona, he could return to the NBA this summer if he so chooses. Ilyasova would be a restricted free agent in that scenario, meaning the the Bucks retain his early Bird rights and could match any offer sheet he receives from another NBA team. In practicality, it's unlikely another team would try to sign Ersan, though they could offer up to the MLE as a first year salary. Especially given the Bucks' issues at the forward position, Ilyasova could get a long look if the Bucks don't address the problem through the draft or in a trade.

Up until now there's been a void of actual information regarding who the Bucks might like at the eighth spot in the June 26 draft, as no one seems to have any clue which direction John Hammond might go. Thankfully Gery Woelfel has been working the phones and is naming some names:

While Bucks officials have been coy about whom they'll work out at their training facility in St. Francis, it's generally assumed forwards Anthony Randolph of Louisiana State and Kevin Love of UCLA and guards Eric Gordon of Indiana and Russell Westbrook of UCLA will be among them.

There have been some whispers the Bucks are keenly interested in the highly-skilled and highly-motivated Love - even though they already have two talented young power forwards on their roster in Yi Jianlian and Charlie Villanueva.

The Bucks are apparently enamored with Love's mental and physical toughness.

We should probably start by noting that the draft is still four weeks away, which is a long time given that prospects can't work out for teams until next week and GMs are by nature rather fickle creatures. Still, there's nothing better than rumor and innuendo at this time of year, so let's cast aside our skepticism for a moment and consider the case for Love. While his athleticism and conditioning have long been questioned, Love's skills and basketball IQ are almost unheard of for a 19-year old big man. And though scouts will insist he doesn't have the superstar potential of Derrick Rose or Michael Beasley, his productivity at UCLA was simply stellar. Love led the nation in pace-adjusted rebounding per 40 minutes while scoring 17.5 ppg with a true shooting percentage of 66%--better than any other lottery-projected prospect. Not only does he score inside at a high clip, but he's also shown solid range on his jumper (.354 from three) while also converting from the line at a high rate (.767).  And that's not even mentioning his accuracy from 94 feet. So it shouldn't be too surprising that Love was the leading vote-getter in our lottery poll last week.

The real question is whether Love's body will ever catch up to his brain. Chad Ford reported last week that Love looks to be in great shape thanks to the work he's doing with trainer extraordinaire Joe Abunassar. He's already lost 13 pounds and appears more explosive without the added weight, which is exactly what scouts and GMs will want to hear. The next test comes this week in Orlando when Love's measurements, leaping ability and quickness will be put under the microscope. If Love tests well in Orlando then the Bucks' interest will likely be academic, as logic would suggest someone will roll the dice on Love before the Bucks get a chance. Jonathan Givony at DraftExpress reported yesterday that Kevin McHale is already a big fan of Love and could take him when Minnesota picks fifth. That's not to say there's any type of consensus though, as current mock drafts have Love going everywhere from 3rd  to 14th.

As for the Bucks, Charlie Villanueva's expected departure will likely leave them short up front, and there's no such thing as having too many good big men. While Love won't ever be a defensive force, his rebounding, shooting and overall court savvy could still make him a very good complement to Andrew Bogut. The main question is whether he can hold is own defensively, as his lateral movement and lack of lift could cause him trouble. Love should however benefit from the NBA's trend towards smaller, more skillful centers, as he will be able to play the pivot at times in spite of probably being about 6'9". Nevertheless, if Love is to become a quality big man he'll need to use all his savvy and skill to outwit the superior athletes he'll frequently face on both ends.

Selecting Love would also no doubt raise major questions about Yi Jianlian's future in Milwaukee. Hammond has thus far sounded extremely positive about Yi's future, but he's far from a proven NBA commodity. There's also the possibility that agent Dan Fegan might try to push the Bucks for a trade, the likelihood of which would certainly increase should the Bucks bring in some high-profile PF competition like Love.