Skiles Pushes The Pace, Bradley Center Renaming, NBA Draft Chatter

Bucks.com: The Skiles Style
Our man Alex Boeder wrote about the Bucks' pace a number of times for us over the years (Dec 2011, Apr 2011, Feb 2011), so it figures that he would be the one to deliver a pitch-perfect summary of the Bucks' transformation into one of the league's fastest teams.

The Business Journal: A nickname for the BMO Harris Bradley Center?
"The BMOHBC" just doesn't roll off the tongue, does it?

ESPN Playbook: Player tracking transforming NBA analytics
A new system called SportVU is being used to track player and ball movement during NBA games. The possibilities that could open up with this data are astounding: tracking shot trajectories and percentages based on precise locations, calculating pick-and-roll efficiency based on the spacing of the ball handler and the roll man, etc. The smartest teams are the ones that find ways to use every bit of data available to them, so you can bet it won't be long before every franchise is taking advantage of this new information.

The Bradley Center was one of 10 arenas fitted with SportVU's tracking system this season, which has the convenient side-effect of giving us a preponderance of data on the Bucks. For example: Carlos Delfino was 2nd in the NBA (among tracked players) in rebounding percentage, grabbing 70% of rebounds he was within 3.5 feet of. And while Delfino rebounded, Brandon Jennings ran: he was 4th among tracked players in distance traveled per game, at over 2.5 miles! [- Dan Sinclair]

SportVU data was also one of the more interesting topics at the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference back in March--check out Dan Devine's summary for more--and in general it's encouraging to know that the Bucks have been ahead of the curve on the technology. Credit the Bucks for making the investment--at least there's one thing about the BC that's not completely outdated--and providing stats guru Jon Nichols another analytical tool to work with. [Frank]

Bucksketball: Most likely to improve enough to make life difficult for the Bucks: Brandon Jennings
Jeremy ponders how Brandon Jennings' improvement could leave the Bucks with some very tough decisions.

SBNation.com: The All-Time Worst NBA Slogans
Jon Bois delivers some hard-hitting analysis...of NBA team slogans. Fantastic stuff.

If you assemble all the Bucks' slogans together, they're actually just the eHow article on how to bake bread.

JSOnline: Bucks media relations staff takes honor
The Bucks public relations department, headed by Dan Smyczek, won the Brian McIntyre award presented by the Professional Basketball Writers Association. Congrats and big thanks to Dan, Mark Rosenberg and Kristen Deahl.

Bucks.com: Bob Boozer passes away
Sad news: former Bucks power forward Bob Boozer, a 1960 Olympic gold medalist and member of the 1971 NBA championship, passed away last weekend at the age of 75.

Thorpe: Milwaukee Bucks need more athleticism
David Thorpe looks at the Bucks' roster and how various prospects might fit best fit with it.

TrueHoop: Luc Richard's guide to Round 2
Luc Mbah a Moute probably has plenty of time on his hands following his recent knee surgery, which apparently means more time to watch and write about the NBA playoffs.

Bucks.com: Post Season Media Guide Now Available
In case you need reading material...

WSSP: Sparky's NBA Mock Draft 1.0
It's early, but Sparky's early projection has the Bucks going with Connecticut's Jeremy Lamb.

WSBT: Skiles makes case for Indiana single class hoops (via Nick Monroe)
Scott Skiles' letter in support of single-class basketball in Indiana offers some rather interesting insight into the Bucks' coach and how winning a high school championship shaped his views of competition.

Ball Don't Lie: Bucks forward Jon Brockman loves wearing adult onesies
Yeah.