JS: Bucks newcomers getting to work
Training camp is three weeks away, but we're happy to report that there's already a group of players getting some early work in at the Cousins Center, including Brandon Jennings, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Larry Sanders and Jon Brockman. Assistant coach and player development guru Bill Peterson spends the most time working with the Bucks' young players, so it's no surprise that he's keeping a particularly watchful eye on Sanders. Charles Gardner reports:
"Larry has such great potential," Peterson said. "He's going to have a really good jump hook some day. He has great length; he has a soft touch. He's got to be comfortable doing it (the hook shot). He just hasn't shot it that much."
Sanders' huge hands and ridiculous length are the kinds of physical tools which can make a baby hook shot fairly unstoppable, but in Vegas he showed a strong preference for the midrange finesse game over bulling for buckets around the hoop. Sanders has the soft touch to get away with it much of the time, but it's difficult to see him ever becoming a reliable post presence unless he develops some more classical big man moves--not to mention a thicker base and a more physical, aggressive mentality.
Speaking of aggressive, Chris Douglas-Roberts reports that he got the business end of an inadvertent Jon Brockman elbow, though much to his relief he did not lose either of his front teeth. Andrew Bogut is also back and tweeted he was going to see the doctor Tuesday afternoon. Fingers crossed...
FIBA: Delfino's 20 help Argentina edge Brazil
Ersan Ilyasova isn't the only Buck moving to the quarterfinals of the FIBA World Championships. Argentina once again rode a dominant Luis Scola (37 points) past their South American neighbors (but as Palomba informed me, not legitimate rivals) from Brazil 93-89. Delfino had his three ball going for the first time in the tournament, hitting 4/7 from range on his way to 20 points (6/12 fg, 4/4 ft).
On Thursday Argentina face off next against the Lithuanians, who downed China 78-67 earlier in the day. The winner of that game faces a potential semifinal against the US (assuming they beat Russia), while Turkey faces off against Slovenia and Spain plays Serbia on Wednesday in the other half of the bracket
Woelfel: Griffin joining Bulls' bench
Gery Woelfel reports that Bucks assistant Adrian Griffin is headed to the Bulls, joining Tom Thibodeau's new staff after two years with the Bucks. Griffin was acquired from OKC as part of the Mo Williams deal in 2008, joining Skiles' staff following his release/retirement at the end of camp. Sitting behind the bench most nights, Griffin was the Bucks' most junior assistant, leaving them with four remaining: Jim Boylan, Kelvin Sampson (who was also linked with a number of head coaching jobs and the Bulls' bench), Joe Wolf and the aforementioned Peterson.
"I am very fortunate,'' Griffin said. "I was just a player two years ago and now I'm a coach. It's very competitive to make an NBA team as a player, but it's even more competitive to become an NBA coach. There are only a few of them (usually five) on each team.
HoopsHype: Ilyasova interview
Fairly canned interview with Ilyasova from the WCs.
Bucksketball: Grading the Bucks' D-League (non-)usage
Jeremy weighs in on the Bucks' lack of interest in the D-League.