- Like most of us, Damon Jones couldn't figure out how he was going to get minutes with Luke Ridnour, Tyronn Lue, and Ramon Sessions ahead of him in the PG pecking order. So he's staying home for now--which is fine with the Bucks. Jones' expiring $4.46 million deal could be useful down the road, though he can't easily be included in a package deal until October 13. Which isn't a big issue at this point, since the Bucks aren't likely to be doing any dealing before the regular season anyway.
Jones' absence also cuts the Bucks' effective roster down to 14, meaning it's also more likely that the Bucks keep Adrian Griffin and his non-guaranteed $1.71 million deal. I've never completely understood the rationale of keeping Griffin at that price, but Skiles evidently liked him in Chicago. And I don't have to sign the paychecks, do I?
- Tom Enlund writes that the new-look Bucks aren't looking to dwell on last season's shortcomings. Richard Jefferson says it best:
"If you come in trying to figure out where you went wrong last year, or if you come in here trying to figure out how not to be last year's team, then you fall into that. You come in here, like ‘Hey, we have a new coach, a new GM, and we have new players'.
"We have a top 10 draft pick, and quality guys like our rookie from UCLA who just went to the finals twice in his career, so he comes from a winning situation...that's rare to get someone like that as a second-round pick. So we've got good balance from top to bottom." - Truman Reed has been writing huge features left and right over at Bucks.com, and this week he brings us a great profile of John Hammond.
"We have to have people who understand that, 'I have to earn the right to be on this floor,'" Hammond said. "That's the mentality that Scott usually brings to a team, and that's the mentality that our players have to be willing to accept, that, 'I'm not going to be given anything. If I work for it, and I deserve it, I want what is rightfully mine, but I have to earn those minutes.'
Amen to that. - Jim Paschke has been keeping busy of late, and brings us the story of Milwaukeean and former ABAer Will Allen's "genius" grant. Great read.
- Check out some media day pictures. Not nearly as many as last year unfortunately.
- Marc Stein ranks the Bucks 16th overall and 8th in the East in his pre-camp power rankings. A national writer predicting playoffs for the Bucks? Surprising.
- Enlund also spoke to Toni Kukoc, who isn't a big fan of NBA basketball right now..
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Tuesday Notes: Damon staying home, media day highlights, early power rankings
By
Frank Madden
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