The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (Charles F. Gardner) reports: Andrew Bogut is scheduled to return to Milwaukee from Australia this weekend, and the 7-foot center is expected to be ready for the opening of the Milwaukee Bucks’ training camp Sept. 30. Bogut suffered a badly sprained left ankle while competing for Australia against the U.S. during the Beijing Olympics, an injury suffered when he got tangled up with Team USA star Kobe Bryant. But a magnetic resonance imaging exam showed no serious damage, and Bogut has been rehabilitating the injury in his hometown of Melbourne for nearly a month.
Category: Milwaukee Bucks Blog
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13 training camp signings reported here
Brad Ames of Priority Sports informs InsideHoops.com editor Jeff Lenchiner that the following players will be in the following training camps:
Eddie Gill: New Jersey
Trey Johnson: Phoenix
Ronald Dupree: Cleveland
Frank Robinson: Atlanta
Linton Johnson: Washington
Antywane Robinson: Philadelphia
Jared Reiner: Philadelphia.
Britton Johnsen: Utah
Matt Freije: Milwaukee
Luke Jackson: Portland
Rob Kurz: Golden State
Chris Alexander: Oklahoma City
Darryl Watkins: San Antonio
Fan Poll Results: 8 East playoff teams
InsideHoops.com ran a poll for the last week asking fans to pick the eight Eastern conference teams they feel will make the playoffs in 2008-09.
The voting for the first four teams was pretty close, with the Celtics (592 votes), Cavaliers (588), Pistons (582) and Magic (578) taking the home-court seeds.
The Raptors (504) came in 5th, though from our experience Toronto fans, being very enthusiastic, tend to bump their team up slightly higher than tends to be expected. Though, if new Raptor Jermaine O’Neal can stay healthy and play anything like his old former All-Star self, this is a very reasonable prediction.
One vote later, coming in 6th, was the 76ers (503), who played better than expected last season and now add star power forward Elton Brand, who is returning from injury, to their mix.
The Wizards (459) came in 7th. They welcome a healthy Gilbert Arenas back.
And now, a dropoff.
Fans feel that last year’s #8 seed, the Hawks, won’t do as well in 2008-09. Rather than pick them to return to the playoffs, fans went with the Heat (294 votes). This is reasonable. Miami welcomes a healthy Dwayne Wade back, alongside Shawn Marion, who needs a contract, and superkid rookie Michael Beasley. The supporting cast is still weak, but slightly improved from last year.
The Bulls (195) finished 9th, just outside the playoff seedings. The Hawks (180) were 10th.
Here are the complete final results:
1) Celtics 592 votes
2) Cavs 588 votes
3) Pistons 582 votes
4) Magic 578 votes
5) Raptors 504 votes
6) Sixers 503 votes
7) Wizards 459 votes
8) Heat 294 votes
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9) Bulls 195 votes
10) Hawks 180 votes
11) Bucks 83 votes
12) Nets 68 votes
13) Knicks 53 votes
14) Pacers 53 votes
15) Bobcats 43 votes
Web viewing of NBA games may soon exist
The Oklahoman (Mel Bracht) reports: Say you’re working late and can’t make it to the Ford Center to watch Oklahoma City’s new NBA team play its game that night. Instead, you log on to your computer and watch streaming video of the team’s game broadcast. Sound far-fetched? Not if the NBA has its way. The league is aggresively promoting three new Internet elements — video streaming in home markets, interactive TV and video-on-demand — for the upcoming season. Ed Desser, a media consultant for Oklahoma City’s team, said many details have yet to be worked out, and didn’t expect the team to offer the Internet elements anytime soon.
Bucks sign Francisco Elson
The Milwaukee Bucks have signed center Francisco Elson to a contract, General Manager John Hammond announced today. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed. Elson (7-0, 240) comes to the Bucks after splitting the 2007-08 season with San Antonio and Seattle.
“Francisco is a player of high character who will bring length and athleticism to the front line,” said Hammond. “In addition, he has extensive playoff experience and has been part of an NBA Championship team. He knows what it takes to be a part of a winning team and we welcome a player with his level of experience.”
Elson, 32, began last season with San Antonio and appeared in 41 games with averages of 3.5 points and 3.3 rebounds before a February trade sent him to Seattle. He played 22 games for the Sonics and posted averages of 3.0 points and 3.0 rebounds.
Elson was originally drafted by Denver in the second round of the 1999 NBA Draft (41st overall). He went overseas to play four years in Spain before joining the Nuggets, spending time with FC Barcelona (1999-2001), Pamesa Valencia (2001-02), and Caja San Fernando (2002-03). He joined the Nuggets prior to the 2003-04 season and went on to play three seasons in Denver before signing with the Spurs prior to the 2006-07 season. He posted career-high averages in points (5.0) and rebounds (4.8) while appearing in 70 games in his only full season with San Antonio. He appeared in all 20 of San Antonio’s playoff games (8 starts) during their run to the 2007 NBA Championship. He logged 230 minutes of playing time and posted averages of 3.3 points and 3.1 rebounds while also becoming the first Dutch player to win an NBA title.
In five NBA seasons, Elson owns career averages of 4.1 points and 3.8 rebounds in 334 games. He has 30 games of playoff experience with Denver and San Antonio, and owns playoff career averages of 2.9 points and 2.8 rebounds.
Prior to entering the 1999 NBA Draft, Elson enjoyed a two-year stint at the University of California, which included an NIT Championship during his senior year in 1999. In two seasons with the Bears he averaged 5.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks in 59 games. He played his first two seasons of college basketball at Kilgore Junior College.
Elson is a native of the Netherlands and is fluent in Dutch, Spanish, German, South American Suriname and English.
How to determine schedule for any team
The Oklahoman (Mike Baldwin) reports on a team’s 82-game regular season schedule: “Four games against division opponents. Four games against six out-of-division conference opponents. Three games against the remaining four conference teams. Two games against teams in the opposing conference. A five-year rotation determines which out-of-division conference teams are played only three times.”
Bucks sign Luc Richard Mbah a Moute
The Milwaukee Bucks signed Luc Richard Mbah a Moute to a multi-year contract, General Manager John Hammond announced today. Mbah a Moute (6-8, 230 lbs) was the 37th overall selection in the 2008 NBA Draft and will participate in the 2008 Las Vegas Summer League with the Bucks (July 12-20).
A native of Yaounde, Cameroon, Mbah a Moute played three seasons for the UCLA Bruins and left the school as the 15th leading rebounder with 775. In 107 games (106 starts) with the Bruins, Mbah a Moute averaged 8.7 points and 7.2 rebounds while shooting 50.3 percent from the field. As a junior he was named Honorable Mention All-Pac-10 and Honorable Mention All-Defensive Team as he produced 8.8 points and 6.0 rebounds (T-11th in the Pac-10). He has been a part of UCLA teams that reached the Final Four three consecutive years (2006-2008).
Mbah a Moute, pronounced Bah – ah – Moo-tay, will join Bucks first round draft pick Joe Alexander along with Ramon Sessions and Awvee Storey on the Bucks Summer League team. The five-game schedule kicks of Saturday against Memphis and includes games against Detroit (July 15), Denver (July 17), Minnesota (July 19) and Cleveland (July 20). Bucks.com will cover the all of Milwaukee’s Summer League action.
Bucks will sign Andrew Bogut to extension
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (Charles F. Gardner) reports: The Bucks are making a serious commitment to center Andrew Bogut, who will sign a five-year extension with salary and bonuses worth up to $72.5 million, according to agent David Bauman. Today is the first day for NBA free agents and players seeking extensions to sign contracts. The extension does not affect the $6.9 million he is owed for the coming season, the final year of his rookie contract. Sources indicated the guaranteed money in the extension is $60 million.
InsideHoops.com editor says: Bogut emerged last season as a quality center, though I think the Bucks are overpaying by around $10 or $20 million. He’s a good player but I haven’t seen him be a real difference-maker yet. Of course, his teammates didn’t help much in that department last season. Everyone that matters on the Bucks, including guards Mo Williams and Michael Redd, were disappointing. So it’s not Bogut’s fault that his stats mostly came by way of losses. Anyway, even if they’re paying a bit more than they should, the Bucks are making the right move. But let’s see if Bogut keeps improving once he signs the contract. Lots of guys, by total coincidence, seem to level off the season after they suddenly become zillionaires.
2008-09 Salary Cap set to $58.680 million
The National Basketball Association today announced that the Salary Cap for the 2008-09 season will be $58.680 million. The new Cap goes into effect immediately as the league’s “moratorium period” has ended and teams can begin signing free agents and making trades.
The tax level for the 2008-09 season has been set at $71.150 million. Any team whose team salary exceeds that figure will pay a $1 tax for each $1 by which it exceeds $71.150 million.
The mid-level exception is $5.585 million for the 2008-09 season and the minimum team salary, which is set at 75% of the Salary Cap, is $44.010 million.
For the 2007-08 season, the Salary Cap was set at $55.630 million, the tax level was $67.865 million and the mid-level exception was $5.356 million.
Nets trade Richard Jefferson to Bucks
The New Jersey Nets have acquired forwards Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons from the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for forward Richard Jefferson, Nets President Rod Thorn announced today.
InsideHoops.com reaction: This is wild. The Nets clearly want to rebuild for the future, and they have parted ways with RJ’s contract. Is Vince Carter the next to go? Yi Jianlian hasn’t proven anything yet — of course, he’s just entering his second year, so that isn’t saying much. Bobby Simmons got a decent contract from the Bucks and then disappointed them. On paper, as of this minute, the Nets will miss the playoffs again next season. As for the Bucks, this is a good move for them. They have talent up front with Andrew Bogut. Charlie Villanueva is pretty good, though probably best as the main forward off the bench. Though, he’s good enough to start in some situations. The Bucks backcourt of Mo Williams and Michael Redd was disappointing last year, but the additional of RJ will make them better. On paper, Milwaukee now has a pretty decent 1-3, and center. If they can solidify that power forward spot they could make a bit of noise. And by that I mean be a lower playoff seed in the East. Which isn’t that special. But it’s a step in the right direction.
“We feel that Yi can be a very special player,” said Thorn. “He is a 20-year old seven footer who shoots the ball extremely well, and he is an excellent addition to our frontcourt. Bobby Simmons is a veteran NBA player who has averaged 10 points for his career, and should be a rotation player for us.”