JS: Jennings trying to hammer things out
Good read from the JS on Brandon Jennings' summer plans, which include work with Bucks' strength coach Jeff Macy on adding strength to his slight frame.
"It's not a specific weight (goal)," Macy said of Jennings, who is listed in the Bucks' media guide at 169 pounds. "It's important to get stronger without getting any slower."As long as he maintains his body composition and body fat, it's gaining functional weight."
It's no secret that this is an absolutely critical summer for Jennings, so it's encouraging to hear he's making Milwaukee his base of operations for the coming months after spending previous summers at home in California. Fewer distractions and fewer trips to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles aren't a bad thing...and while I suppose the latter shouldn't have hurt his attempts to add a few pounds, the idea of adding "functional" weight is key. On Thursday Jennings also did his part to help a Milwaukee family get their home, spending the afternoon working at a Habitat for Humanity site.
Yahoo: Pistons can interview Kelvin Sampson
The Bucks have given Kelvin Sampson the green light to interview for the Pistons' vacant head coach position, putting him in a group of candidates that also includes Lawrence Frank, Mike Woodson and Bill Laimbeer. From the outside it's difficult to quantify how important Sampson has been to the Bucks' staff, but it does say something that he's held in high esteem by many around the league (including Gregg Popovich) and that his name has come up regularly as NBA head coaching material. Sampson has also worked very closely with Brandon Jennings.
NBADraft.net: International Prospect Update
A look at how the top European prospects are faring in their respective domestic league playoffs.
SBNation.com: Why the Lockout Posturing Is Just That
Tom Ziller provides a dose of reality for anyone hoping the NBA and its players can avoid a lockout.
ESPN: How Bismack Biyombo compares to Joel Anthony
The headline doesn't sound particularly complimentary, but David Thorpe's piece on what we might expect from Bismack Biyombo in the NBA is more thoughtful than the lede would suggest. Like Jonathan Givony at DX, Thorpe sees Biyombo's ability to read the game on both ends as an essential differentiator between him and the many other African prospects to whom he's often compared.
Other than a few occasions when he stumbles, Biyombo has a smart and mature approach to the way he plays defense. He anticipates well and is not one of those shot-blockers who never wants to leave the paint. He has an advanced understanding of team defense, clearly coming from his experiences playing at such a high level. It would be fair to assume that his team in Spain would go undefeated in any major college conference in America, and that should give you some indication of the talent level there.
ESPN: Chad Ford Chat
Responding to a question about the likelihood of Alec Burks ending up in Milwaukee, Chad Ford lays out his Bucks' short-list:
He's not the only guy they're looking at. Klay Thompson is in the mix there. Bismack Biyombo. Jordan Hamilton. Tristan Thompson. Good group.
Burks and Tristan Thompson were in town on June 4, Klay Thompson is due to visit in the next two weeks, and the Bucks will also get a look at Biyombo over the weekend in Italy at the Eurocamp. So what about Jordan Hamilton? We know the Bucks interviewed him in Chicago, but still no word on if/when he could be in town. The ideal situation would be to match him up with K. Thompson, and it wouldn't be unprecedented either, as the two are working out against each other today in Phoenix (#13). Like Thompson, Hamilton is known mostly as a shooter and seems to lack top-shelf athleticism, though he does have an NBA-ready body (6'8.5" in shoes, 228 pounds) and was also a very good rebounder at Texas.
DX: EuroCamp preview
Jonathan Givony previews this weekend's activities in Treviso, Italy, which should afford the Bucks and the rest of the league a chance to watch both Bismack Biyombo and Donatas Motiejunas work out.