Carlos Delfino suffers injury setback, Bucks meet the media, more arena talk

Media Day Redux
Our man Eric Buenning will be offering up a ton of goodies from Monday's media day over the course of the week (see that big stream on the front page), and there was no shortage of news and notes from the Cousins Center on Monday:

• Bucks.com: Media Day Live. If you've got some time, be sure to check out the video interviews of players and staff with Jim Paschke now up at Bucks.com.
• Fox Sports Wisconsin: Delfino suffers setback. Once the projected starter at small forward, Carlos Delfino was sporting a not-so-encouraging boot on his surgically-repaired right foot on Monday after suffering an apparent "setback" in his rehab last week. There's no apparent timetable for Delfino's return other than that he won't be able to play during camp, something that was first surmised around the time of the Bucks' trade for Caron Butler. Translation: second-year man Khris Middleton figures to get plenty of run as Butler's backup early in the season, while Giannis Antetokounmpo may actually see the light of day (!) early in the season.
• Woelfel: Butler and Bucks a perfect fit. Did you think Gery Woelfel was not going to write something about Caron Butler? C'mon now.

CBS Eye on Basketball | Elite 100: No. 100 through No. 51
The CBS gang is the latest to do a top 100 player ranking, with the first half of their top 100 featuring such notables as Brandon Jennings at 83, O.J. Mayo at 77 and Ersan Ilyasova at 75.

SBNation.com | Deeks: The right and wrong way to float in the NBA's middle class
Mark Deeks lays into the Bucks' middle-of-the-road existence in his latest for SB Nation. Glass half empty, eh? I'm honestly not sure that a team like Washington is a whole lot wiser than the Bucks for "trying" to make the playoffs, but I guess this is where perception becomes all-important. And honestly? I'm not sure that the Bucks' inability to compete and get better over the last few years means that they'd be that much more effective at gutting the roster and trying to rebuild a bit more blatantly. It would certainly lower expectations well below the modest level they're at now, and in many ways that's part of the appeal of rebuilding.

But I'll go back to what I've been saying for a while now: trying to compete is OK if you make good decisions and play your cards right, just as dumping pricey veterans and rebuilding through the draft is OK if you make good decisions and play your cards right. The problem is that the Bucks (with some bad injury luck as well) struggled mightily with the former, and that's naturally going to make the latter more appealing, especially in a year with what appears to be a loaded draft.

JSOnline | What happened to the arena task force?
Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce President Tim Sheehy is trying to move the ball forward on the arena issue with a task force of state and local stakeholders, but--as with seemingly everything else that has to do with this topic--it's taking longer than anticipated.

In an email, Sheehy said the final number of people on the panel will be around 45 members. "Strong response and a lot of interest in participating," Sheehy said.

"We are in the process of confirming co-chairs, and hopefully in the next week to 10 days, announce the group," Sheehy said.

Marquette University Law School | On the Issues: Milwaukee Department of City Development Commissioner Rocky Marcoux
Milwaukee Commissioner of City Development Rocky Marcoux chimed in on the arena issue as part of a Q&A at Marquette Law School with Mike Gousha last week, arguing that the empty Park East area just north of the Bradley Center is not the best location for a new multi-purpose arena. Instead, Marcoux suggests the best option would be to build the arena further south to build out Wisconsin Ave and serve as a gateway to the Third Ward--taking up space currently occupied by US Cellular Arena among others. Tearing up existing land when there's vacant lots begging for development just a block from the Bradley Center strikes me as rather counterintuitive at first blush, but just having these discussions in the first place is a sign of progress, right?

Bucksketball | Schmitt: From Madison to Milwaukee to China
Preston Schmitt serves up a very cool story on Matt Beyer, the UW student who found himself thrust into the NBA spotlight when he became Yi Jianlian's 22-year-old interpreter back in 2007.

Grantland | Ryan: Why Is Everybody Punching Brandon Jennings in the Face?
Should we really care about Brandon Jennings' extracurricular activities at this point? No, probably not. But Chris Ryan's recap of his latest run-in with someone else's fist is just so spot-on that I can't not link it.