Posted by:
gwoelfel on
May 30, 2009 at
12:37AM CST
BY GERY WOELFEL
CHICAGO -- The Milwaukee Bucks would be wise in selecting Jonny Flynn with their first-round pick in next month's NBA draft.
At least, that's the opinion of Tyreke Evans.
Evans, the gifted combo guard from Memphis who is regarded as one of the prized players in this year's draft, has a lofty opinion of Flynn, the stellar point guard from Syracuse University.
When asked Friday at the NBA pre-draft camp in Chicago to pick the best rookie prospect he had played against, Evans barely hesitated in responding.
"Probably Jonny Flynn,'' Evans said. "He can shoot the 3-pointer, he's got a mid-range game and he can finish on big guys.
"And he makes his teammates better. He's got the whole package.''
Evans said he became a big Flynn fan after the latter's outstanding game against Memphis on Dec. 20 at Memphis, Tenn.
In that game, Flynn scored 24 points and had six assists in leading the Orange to a 72-65 victory.
"He's the reason they won that game,'' Evans said. "He's a great player.''
* There is growing sentiment among some NBA officials that the Bucks covet Flynn with the 10th overall pick.
The Bucks have done an extensive amount of research on him and spent the allotted 30 minutes interviewing him Thursday at the Westin Hotel.
Flynn said he immediately connected with Bucks coach Scott Skiles, a former point guard himself.
"The meeting went smooth,'' Flynn said. "Scott Skiles told me what they thought of me and how they were high on me and how they needed someone at that position.''
"He said he liked my toughness. Scott Skiles on the basketball court was tough, too, tough as nails. He said he sees a lot of that in me.''
Flynn, who was measured at 5-11 1/4 without shoes and 6-3/4 with shoes, believes he would fit in nicely with the Bucks.
"I think that would be a good situation for me there,'' said Flynn, who averaged 17.4 points and 6.7 assists as a sophomore last season.
"They got Richard Jefferson and they got Michael Redd, who would make my job a lot easier, Andrew Bogut, Ramon Sessions ...
"They got a good core, a good nucleus of players and they have a great coach in Scott Skiles. He was a point guard and he could really help me elevate my game.
"I think I could do really well there.''
* While Davidson's Stephen Curry, UCLA's Jrue Holiday, North Carolina's Ty Lawson and Flynn are the more highly-touted point guards who'll work out for the Bucks before the June 25 draft, two other point guards will also audition for the Bucks.
They are Virginia Commonwealth's Eric Maynor, who interviewed with Bucks officials Friday, and Darren Collison of UCLA.
Maynor is generally considered to be a mid first-round selection, and Collison is projected to go late in the first round or early second.
Last year, the Bucks took Collison's teammate, Luc Mbah a Moute, in the second round. He became a part-time starter and was perhaps the biggest steal of the draft.
Collison said he and Mbah a Moute are best of friends.
"He's like a big brother to me,'' Collison said of Mbah a Moute. "He helped me a lot when he was at UCLA and he's helped me a lot in preparing for the draft.''
* UConn center Hasheem Thabeet has been diligently working on his game under the watchful eye of Scott Roth, the former University of Wisconsin forward and ex-Bucks scout.
The 7-2 1/2 Thabeet and Roth have been working together almost on a daily basis in recent weeks in Los Angeles, and Roth accompanied him to Chicago as well.
Thabeet is expected to be one of the top five players chosen.
"He's shown me a lot of new stuff,'' Thabeet said of Roth. "So far, so good.''
Added Roth: "He's going to be a very good player.''
* While the lobby of the Westin Hotel was a "Who's Who'' of pro prospects and officials, there were some other celebs on the premises as well.
One was Tommy Lasorda, the former Los Angeles Dodgers manager, and another was Larry King, the talk show host extraordinaire.
I chatted with the 75-year-old King for about 10 minutes on an array of topics from politics to sports and, after he told me that he's conducted approximately 50,000 interviews during his illustrious career, I asked him who were his favorites.
"Sinatra ... He seemed to have everything,'' King said. "And Martin Luther King.''
Bonus shots
There are whispers the Memphis Grizzlies, who have the second overall pick, could take Memphis guard Tyreke Evans. ... Darren Collison on Jrue Holiday, his teammate at UCLA: "He has so much potential, it's scary.'' Someone close to the L.A. Clippers' scene said rumors of the team possibly trading the No. 1 pick -- Blake Griffin of Oklahoma -- were absurd. ... Former Bucks head coach Larry Krystkowiak may be returning to the NBA next season as an assistant coach. ... Of the 52 players at the pre-draft camp, only one was from the Big Ten Conference: Byron "Don't call me B.J. anymore'' Mullens of Ohio State. ... North Carolina forward Tyler Hansbrough is considered a late first-round prospect, although Detroit, picking at 15, and New Orleans, picking at 21, will bring him in for a workout. ... Add Gonzaga center Josh Heytvelt to your list of players the Bucks will work out. He'll audition for the Bucks on June 5. ... The last word goes to Gonzaga forward Austin Daye, whose dad, Darren, played five seasons in the NBA before going overseas: 'We have one of the strongest relationships of anybody in the world. We have a very, very, very, very unique relationship.''
This summer's NBA's free agent list is a veritable `Who's Who" of basketball.
Some of the biggest and brightest stars the league has to offer will be available - at the right price, of course - to each and every one of the NBA's 29 teams.
The star-studded free-agent field includes Shaquille O'Neal, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, David Robinson, Mitch Richmond and Dikembe Mutombo.
The Milwaukee Bucks can only dream of landing any of the aforemented luminaries. Because the Bucks' payroll will be in excess of $42 million next season - well over the $34 million cap - it'll be impossible for them to lure an impact free-agent center with their $2 million middle-class exception.
It doesn't mean, however, the Bucks can't find a way to fill their most glaring need in the middle.
Milwaukee, like the vast majority teams tht are over the cap, will likely explore sign-and-trade deals. In this scenario, a team re-signs its own free agent and then trades him to another team for player /players of equal monetary value.
Such a transaction could involve Lorenzen Wright, the talented young center for the Los Angeles Clippers. The 6-foot-11, 250-pound Wright doesn't want to return to the woeful Clippers, yet won't sign with another team for $2 million. To solve the dilemma, the Clippers will likely re-sign Wright and then deal him.
Don't be surprised if Milwaukee is a player for Wright.
``Lorenzen and I have evaluated the rosters of the teams that aren't playing any longer," said Robert Fayne, Wright's agent. ``Based on what we saw, we both feel Milwaukee is a team that would be an ideal fit for him.
``I think Lorenzen would love to play for that team with Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson and their coach, George Karl."
Karl and Bucks officials can't speak about free agents or contact them until July 1. They can't sign any free agents until Aug. 1.
But you can go to the bank Karl and Co. would have more than a passing interest in Wright. After all, Wright is precisely what the Bucks need: an inside presence who is a top-flight rebounder. And the Bucks sorely need a rebounder.
This season, the Bucks' chairman of the board was Ervin Johnson, who averaged only 6.4 rebounds. Wright averaged 7.5 rebounds and 6.6 points, and that was despite playing only 23.6 minutes a game. Wright would have had better numbers if the Clippers hadn't made Michael Olowokandi the No. 1 overall selection in the 1998 draft. Obviously, Olowokandi wasn't going to sit on the bench.
So, as the season and Olowokandi's performance progressed, Wright's court time time diminished. Knowing it could only get worse next season, Wright understandably wants out of L.A. And, as his agent noted, his client wouldn't be averse to playing in Milwaukee for a team that figures only to get better and better.
Now it'll be up to Bucks management to decide whether Wright is the answer to the biggest question mark on their team. If they feel he is, and the opinion here is that he is, they'll have to figure out adequate compensation for him.
``The easy, simple explanation is we need a low-post player," said Bucks general manager Bob Weinhauer. ``Everybody who reads a newspaper or listens to a radio or who has seen us play knows that.
``But if you watch all these playoff games carefully, you can count on one hand the number of excellent low post players that have to be double teamed. And those teams aren't about to give them away."
No, they aren't. But if the Clippers can't re-sign Wright, if Golden State can't re-sign Erick Dampier (7.6 rebounds, 8.8 points), if Seattle can't re-sign Olden Polynice (8.9 rebound, 7.7 points), or if Dallas decides Chris Anstey, and not Shawn Bradley (8.0 rebounds,8.6 points) is their center of the future, those teams will try to trade them.
The Bucks need to seize the moment.
Weinhauer, who hasn't been the least bit shy in pulling the trade trigger to improve his club, vividly knows the Bucks need to fill their hole in the middle.
After reaching the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 1991, the Bucks are only a center - even an adequate one - away from making some loud noise in the Eastern Conference.
``We're going to have to be creative," Weinhauer. ``We have some players that could be moved. If we can tie up our free agents (Haywoode Workman, Dell Curry and Michael Curry), then there's a chance we're pretty set at the one (point guard), two (shooting guard) and three (small forward) positions.
``And with Robert Traylor and Tim Thomas and Ervin Johnson, we have three (big men) who we were extremely satisfied with their overall performance during the season."
But the slender Thomas and short Traylor aren't true centers, and neither is a big-time rebounder: Traylor averaged 3.7 rebounds, and Thomas just 2.5. As for Johnson, he's been wildly inconsistent and has never adjusted to the physical Eastern Conference since coming to the Bucks from Denver in 1997.
It's not a coincidence that the four semifinalists in the Eastern Conference playoffs all have legitimate centers: New York with Patrick Ewing, Indiana with Rik Smits, Philadelphia with Matt Geiger and Atlanta with Mutombo.
The Bucks need one themselves, and they need it Wright now.
Flynn is the MAN. If you happened to see the Big East Tourney, then you already know all you need to know about Jonny Flynn. He's got a great shot, he's fearless, and he's got more heart than a village full of Care Bears. Plus he would fit in great with the Bucks, particularly with gritty, gutty Scotty Skiles as their coach. Heck, if they pick him, I may even consider buying Bucks tickets again.
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