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.
Woelfel: Milwaukee has sights set on Przybilla
Remember that whole "not having a backup center" thing? Gery Woelfel writes that the Bucks are indeed still interested in former Blazer Joel Przybilla, who has been spending time with his family in the Milwaukee area before making a decision about whether and where to play in 2012. Przybilla's agent Bill Duffy was in attendance at the Bucks/Wolves game on Tuesday and reiterated the mutual interest that exists between Przybilla and the Bucks.
"They made it clear how much they want him,'' Duffy said. "I think it would be a good fit.''
Marc Stein reports that Przybilla is also courting interest from the Clippers and Heat among others, so realistically there's no reason for Duffy not to talk up the possibility of Przybilla donning a Bucks jersey. He's an agent: his job is to make it sound like everyone wants his client. Duffy also represents both Brandon Jennings and Minnesota's Anthony Randolph, so he had some good reasons to be at the Bucks' game regardless of Przybilla's fate.
That said, there's little doubt that a healthy Przybilla would fill a major hole in a Bucks rotation that is long on power forwards but has only one true center. The Bucks made due without a real center behind Bogut for the majority of last season, so it's not implausible that they make due with some rotating combination of Drew Gooden, Larry Sanders, Jon Leuer, Ersan Ilyasova and Jon Brockman behind Bogut. If they do go after Przybilla, they can offer up to $2.5 million as part of the new exception for teams that renounced their MLEs and used cap space instead.
The other question is how the Bucks would make room for Przybilla on a roster that already features the maximum 15 players. Would the Bucks trade Ilyasova to make it happen? Could they find someone to take Brockman off their hands? Or would they simply waive Hobson for a second straight year? Odds are Przybilla wouldn't be more than a one-year solution, but if healthy he'd clearly add more in the short term than a number of guys currently on the roster (Brockman and Hobson come to mind). Something tells me most fans would prefer to move Brockman over a younger player with some vague upside like Hobson.
SBN: Michael Redd signs with Suns
After eleven seasons and 578 games in Milwaukee, Michael Redd has finally found a new home out West. The Suns will be hoping the one-time All-Star can recapture some of the scoring touch he flashed over his decade in Milwaukee, though it's now been almost three years and two major knee surgeries since Redd was an effective NBA player.
Good luck in Phoenix, Michael. We mean it.