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BUCKS.COM FEATURES

THE ROSTER

Charlie Bell
Steve Blake
Andrew Bogut
Dan Gadzuric
Lynn Greer
Ha Seung-Jin
Ersan Ilyasova
Chris McCray
Damir Markota
David Noel
Ruben Patterson
Michael Redd
Bobby Simmons
Brian Skinner
Charlie Villanueva
Mo Williams

For a more indepth look at the team's training camp roster, click here.

Rookie guard Chris McCray

Bucks.com: What are your thoughts on practice so far?

CM: I think it is going very well; being a young guy this is my first time going through the NBA training camp process. To me basketball is all about hard work, whether your going 100 percent or 50 percent it’s still a learning process to me. But I think overall, practice is going very well.

B.com: What is the difference between college and NBA practices?

CM: The speed in the NBA is a lot faster and guys are a lot stronger. In college, you can play off of guys and still contest a shot. But at this level, even if you get a good contest in, especially against a shooter like Michael Redd, it doesn’t matter what you do, if you give him an inch, he’s going to knock it down. It’s to the point where you have to be on top of your game, be smart and know your defensive slides.

B.com: Is there a difference between the morning and the evening practice sessions?

CM: My understanding is that we can only have contact at one practice session a day. The morning session is more contact and the evening session is more conditioning and offensive drills. The first session is more defensive and the second session we put more time into offense.

Assistant Coach Larry Krystkowiak

B.com: What are your thoughts about how practice is going so far?

LK: I think it has been extremely competitive and it seems to me like we have a great group of guys, guys that want to work. There are at least two guys in every position that are going to be competing for playing time, maybe three, and the energy level has been fantastic.

B.com: Any surprises in the first few practices?

LK: I’m just trying to keep an open mind and it’s early enough to where a guy can have a good practice. The key this time of year is just finding the consistency, so I don’t put a lot into to it. But when a guy can back up a good practice with a couple other ones then it’s maybe time to start talking about him. Right now it’s early enough in the process that it’s too hard to tell.

Rookie swingman David Noel

B.com: What are your thoughts on practice so far?

DN: It’s tough. Coach is expecting a lot out of us, especially on the defensive end. That is basically what we have been concentrating on. We are actually doing two-a-days now so the second day of practice is mostly offensive, which is a whole lot shorter. Practice is definitely tough but we are coming along.

B.com: What is the difference between college and NBA practices?

DN: For me, I am a rookie this year and last year in college I was more involved and I knew everything. It is definitely a learning experience, its kind of like I went back to my freshman year and having to learn all over again.

B.com: Does the pace of practice differ?

DN: No, not for me because I went to (The University of North) Carolina. Under Coach Roy Williams we ran so much. So not necessarily the pace, but definitely the talent is a whole lot better, which is expected because you’re playing in the NBA now.

Assistant Coach Brian James

B.com: What are your thoughts about how practice is going so far?

BJ: It’s obvious to me that we’re a lot more athletic than we were last year at this time. I think we’ve done a good job. Practice has become easier for us especially as a coaching staff because we know each other, we know what to expect, and we know most of the drills that Terry wants to implement. We’ve also done a good job of stressing what our weakness was last year and that was overall team defensive. Almost every single drill we’ve done thus far has had a huge emphasis on defense and rewarding the teams or the individuals that get the stops that win games instead of scores.

B.com: Anything or anybody surprise you in the first couple of practices?

BJ: The guys that came into camp in pretty good shape are the ones that have done a really good job thus far. I thought Dan Gadzuric, just in the last week prior to training camp starting, had a great week in terms of our scrimmages (intrasquad scrimmages that were optional) and he had a great day yesterday. I think Andrew Bogut has really made a step forward in his mental approach to his game and trying to become one of the leaders of this team. If you’re going to stress defense, Andrew is by far one of our better defenders, which is why he stands out. I think his overall knowledge and desire to win is what - right now - has given him a huge step ahead of some of the others.

B.com: What is the difference between the morning sessions and evening sessions?

BJ: You know we do most of our contact work during our morning session because you are only allowed 3 hours of contact throughout the day. Terry has done a really good job of stressing that we’re going to get most of our hard or heavy work done during the morning session.

We mainly use the night session for a lot of teaching, five-on-zero work up and down the court in terms of working with the little bit of offense we’ve put in thus far, and a lot of shooting. We also use that time at night to get conditioning in. Our guys ran a lot last night so were trying to get them in as good of shape as we can in a short period of time. I think that is why it is so important that we come to camp in good shape.

TRAINING CAMP THOUGHTS
As media day opened training camp for the 2006-07 season, Bucks.com caught up with members of Milwaukee’s squad for their thoughts on training camp and if the practices live up to the grueling reputation they have. Assistant coach and former Bucks player Larry Krystkowiak was able to lend his opinion as both a coach and a player.

Charlie Villanueva:
(On how tough training camp is…)
“It’s bad, but now that I’m not a rookie anymore and I know what to expect, I should be fine. It’s not that bad. College workouts for coach Jim Calhoun (University of Connecticut) are the bad ones, the ones I don’t want to go back to. I think if you can play for coach Calhoun, you can play for anybody. Going to the NBA has been easier because I was well prepared by a coach like him.”

(On this year’s camp…)
“I’m looking forward to it. There are a lot of new faces here, including myself, but we also have a group of core guys that have been to the playoffs and won 40 games. They understand what it takes to get there. Adding the new guys is a great thing and it’s going to help us to hopefully win more games.”

Larry Krystkowiak
(On training camp…)
“As a player, things have changed. We had two legitimate practices a day where there were no limits from the people making the decisions in New York. Now we have X amount of hours where we can really go hard. We’re going to have a tough session in the mornings and a mental, shooting situation in the afternoons. Everybody’s going through it. It’s not fun. The players are in the ice baths and getting treatments trying to get the soreness out. No matter how hard you work in the summer, you still deal with some of those aches and pains.

“From a coaching perspective it’s actually more exhilarating because you spend all summer with the pen and paper, going to clinics and watching video and trying to figure out new things. You don’t get to do the things that you’d do in a practice setting. As coaches - and I can’t speak for the rest of the staff - but I personally love getting back. The days go faster and you’re getting paid to try to get your team better and what better way to do that than in the middle of practice.”

(On mixing new players with core Bucks veterans…)
“I like the combination. I think if you have a whole new team coming in, it’s potentially full of problems and if you have a veteran team coming back, you can have the same scenario. This is a nice blend that for every new guy, there’s a veteran here. Terry’s system is in place and some guys can follow the lead of the veterans. We have a hard working group. They’re also youthful, so there should be a lot of energy. From a business sense, there are five or six guys who are on the last year of their deal. The reality in sports is that guys should be working their tail off and competing and trying to maximize their own contract situation, which typically leads to healthy practices in terms of competition.”

Dan Gazuric
(On how difficult training camp is…)
“Two a days take up the whole day. I know I’d rather have just
one practice.”

(On the additions to the Bucks…)
“I think they’re going to fit in really well because they’re all energetic and athletic. Their defensive mindsets are also good. They’re going to fit in really smoothly and quickly.”

Charlie Bell
(On training camp…)
“Training camp is training camp, no matter if it’s your first year or year 10th year. It’s something that you look forward to because you’ve been waiting all summer long to get back into the swing of things. But you don’t look forward to it because it’s a lot of running. You have to get ready for the season. It’s part of the job and what they pay you to do. It’s going to be tiring, but I’m looking forward to it.”

(On how exhausting training camp is…)
“It’s ok. It’s long. You have to go for two and a half or three hours and then come back and go for another hour and a half. It wears on the body. If it was a little shorter, you could handle all the running. It’s kind of long and sometimes you’re putting in new plays. Some of the stuff, especially when you’re a returning player, you’re already familiar with and you’re doing it for the new guys. It’s difficult from the aspect that you’re doing a lot of stuff that you already know, but it’s part of the job.”

Mo Williams
(On the rigors of training camp…)
“(Laughs) It’s cool. It’s good to think that way (expecting the worst) and then afterward it doesn’t seem that bad. It’s good to think worst case scenario and everything will go well.”

(On if training camp gets easier…)
“They get easier. You come in young and thinking that you have the college workouts and you go hard all the time and get real tired because you’re not used to it. Once you’ve been in the league you know how to go through training camp. You know how to eat, how to rest, you know what to do during practices to save your legs.”

(On his goal as a Bucks veteran…)
“I’m going to come in and try to get everybody to gel together. That’s my main goal.”

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