BUCKS.com: Henry, Whiteside and Stephenson workout
Pretty good day on paper for the Bucks, with guards Xavier Henry and Lance Stephenson joining big men Hassan Whiteside and Ryan Richards at the Cousins Center. As many recent mocks suggest, Billy McKinney doesn't expect Henry to be available at #15 (Chad Ford disagrees), but he sounded pretty impressed with the 19-year-old's defensive showing on Monday. There was less enthusiasm for Whiteside:
"There’s been some speculation that he’ll go ahead of us. I can’t see that. We’ll look at him but I would say, right now, this is just my opinion, I’d say that might be a stretch for us to take him at 15."
McKinney doesn't have much incentive to be so forthright with the media--he similarly suggested Larry Sanders was a stretch at 15--but I'd also be surprised if he was flat-out lying. I guess we'll know for sure in a couple days. Unfortunately no big names in today's workout, with possible 2nd round target Sherron Collins the most interesting prospect. The Bucks do expect to have one more day of last-minute workouts on Wednesday.
Bucks Beat: Jennings changing perception of playing in Milwaukee
Paul Imig offers his recap of the day, including some interesting stuff from Xavier Henry on how Brandon Jennings' arrival has changed the way players view the Bucks. And while we're beating up on Hassan Whiteside, there's this amusing tidbit:
When listing the players who participated in the day’s pre-draft workout session, Whiteside’s name slipped the mind of McKinney until being reminded by a reporter.
JS: Bucks examine draft options
Some more quotes from yesterday, including this one which made me scratch my head a bit.
"Whiteside is a guy that was kind of a wild-card factor," McKinney said. "I talked to some people this weekend that pretty much told me that he's going in the top 10. Lance Stephenson, this weekend I talked to people who thought he might go in that top range. So there are still a couple wild cards, but as you get closer to the draft, we're kind of narrowing it down."
So who exactly is telling McKinney that Whiteside and Stephenson could go in the top ten? I'm guess it's not someone with the Bucks' best interests in mind. No one I'm aware of has suggested Stephenson is even a top-15 pick and I'm not aware of anyone publicly predicting Whiteside will go that high either after what appears to be an underwhelming series of workouts. Heck, even McKinney himself basically scoffed at the notion of Whiteside going in the lottery. Both guys are eye-of-the-beholder types who could capture the imagination of a lottery GM, but neither seems like good value that high.
Ford: Bucks among teams looking to trade down
So why are the Bucks working out guys like Whiteside and Sanders if they don't think they're worth the price of the 15th overall pick? Chad Ford confirms the obvious--that they're looking to trade down.
I've heard that the Kings, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, New Orleans Hornets, Memphis Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors, Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks, Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets have all been talking about moving picks. The Kings, Pacers, Hornets and Bucks would like to trade down, while the Pistons, Grizzlies, Raptors, Rockets, Spurs, Thunder, Blazers and Nuggets would like to move up. And if the Pacers and Hornets can't move down, they, along with the Bulls, might look to get out of the draft completely.
Teams with multiple picks late in the first round might be the best route for trading down--OKC (#21 and 26) and Memphis (#25 and 28). Ford also guesses that the Bucks and Hornets both prefer Gordon Hayward over Xavier Henry, Luke Babbitt and Paul George. Contain your enthusiasm, folks...
Woelfel: No Seraphin visit, Maggette deal possible
Gery Woelfel reported over the weekend that injured French big Kevin Seraphin would fly to Milwaukee for a visit, but it never materialized.
Seraphin had flown from Toronto to Chicago and was then going to Milwaukee. When he was informed the Bucks felt it wasn't necessary to meet with him, Seraphin took a flight to Atlanta and met with Hawks officials.
Perhaps more interestingly, Woelfel throws out a rumor about the Bucks offering the Warriors Dan Gadzuric and Charlie Bell to take on the three years and $31 million owed to Corey Maggette. The 30-year-old Maggette has been a prolific and efficient scorer for years, though he's only been a part-time starter (even playing a fair bit of PF) for Don Nelson's circus show in Oakland the past two years. Considering he's the same age as John Salmons and isn't a clear upgrade, I'd much rather take my chances re-signing Salmons for less than take on Maggette's rather generous contract. Afterall, he'll presumably still be available later in the summer.