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Links: Bucks go golfing, Ersan gets healthy, figuring out the starting lineup, and more

By InactiveUser1083187

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Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Bucks.com : Golf Tournament to Benefit Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
This past Monday, the Bucks held their annual charity golf outing, and several players, coaches, executives, and former players were in attendance.

Just a guess based on those pictures: Jason Kidd is better at golf than Ersan Ilyasova.

JS: Ersan Ilyasova says he's healthy, seeking bounce-back season
After battling through a nasty ankle sprain that bothered him throughout a career-worst season, Ilyasova told the Journal Sentinel at the golf outing that he is 100% healthy heading into next week's training camp. Ersan usually spent his summers playing for the Turkish National team, but spent this off-season rehabbing his body.

"Last year I just came from the European Championship to training camp. I think it was really too much on my body. It was really bad, and I kind of rushed myself to come back the first game of the season. It was like a snowball. It gets worse and worse, and I never find myself 100%. Especially when you have a season like that, everybody was looking for some positive things.

"This summer I spent a lot of time fixing my ankle. Hopefully this season I start on a new page, with a lot of energy and power."

After being considered one of the league's premier stretch fours coming into last season (especially by GM John Hammond), Ilyasova shot 40.9% from the field and 28.9% from three. With the arrival of Jabari Parker, Ersan's role becomes a bit more questionable (is there still room for him to start?), but having him playing--and more importantly, shooting--at a high level again can only serve to benefit the club going forward.

JS: Selecting Bucks' starting lineup no easy task
If you were having trouble figuring out what the Bucks' starting lineup will look like this upcoming season, you don't have to feel alone anymore. Head Coach Jason Kidd isn't ready to name anyone a starter yet, and will probably use most, if not all of training camp to figure out who will start.

"You look at this team, there's a lot of open positions in the sense of starting," Kidd said. "Minutes are wide open.

"We have a lot of young guys, but we're a deep team going into camp. You can go with a group of guys that are 19 and younger, or 22 and younger. You can go with a group that's 25 and over, and it only goes to 30 (years old).

"We've got a lot of guys that can play different positions. You can start Middleton at the 2 or you can bring him off the bench, or you can go with Giannis at the 2.

"We don't want to get caught up with who is strictly a point guard and who is strictly a 4 (power forward). They're basketball players who know how to play the game. The biggest thing is for them to develop that identity themselves as we go along."

It will be interesting to see what units Kidd experiments with during camp and the preseason, and right now it's anyone's guess as to what we'll see on opening night. Good news is we're only a week away from the start of trying to crack that code.

MBJ: Alex Lasry: Arena site not set, hopes to target younger fans

Rich Kirchen of the Milwaukee Business Journal caught up with Alex Lasry--son of co-owner Marc Lasry and newest Bucks executive--and talked about a few of the upcoming goals they had for this season. Lasry told Kirchen that a site for the new arena has not been finalized, but that work was ongoing to finding one.

"Right now we're still very early in that process - in terms of site selection and financing, we're not there yet," Lasry said.

Alex Lasry said his father and Edens envision "a big, multi-use facility that is going to drive development and economic power in downtown Milwaukee." They have pledged at least $100 million toward a project that would cost an estimated $400 million to $500 million.

"That's one of the reasons that they want to be here is because there's so much potential in the city that seems to be untapped," Lasry said. "They think that - we all think that - an arena can be that catalyst."

In the meantime, the new owners will continue meeting with key players related to an arena project and selecting a site, Lasry said. He anticipates playing a role as a community liaison of sorts conducting what he calls "a listening and meeting tour."

"One thing I can do is be someone who can listen to the community's concerns and ease them," he said. "If that means doing some outreach personally, I'm happy to meet with whoever I can and talk with as many people as I can."

Another part of Lasry's job is to help improve the in-game experience for the fans. Right now, most of the fanbase is a bit older and there isn't a ton of appeal for a younger demographic. Lasry, who fits comfortably into that younger demographic, hopes that he, as well as new additions in Jabari and Giannis Antetokounmpo can help draw up more interest in the younger crowd, among other endeavors.

The Bucks will certainly take as many fans as they can get while they rebuild towards the future, but enhancing the game-night experience and appealing to a surprisingly untapped demographic are wise moves to start with.

Bucks.com: Shot Charts
Our friend Alex Boeder gives us the shot-charts of every Bucks player who played in the league last season (sorry, rookies). There's a lot to take in here, but Chris Wright's chart is my personal favorite.

NBA.com: Rating the rookies, position by position
Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com ranked every rookie by position. Jabari Parker was the #1 ranked power forward and will be #1 or #2 on the Rookie Ladder rankings that will get released closer to the regular season.

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