MILWAUKEE -- Bucks rookie Brandon Jennings seemingly can make anyone laugh.
Take the videos he posts on YouTube dancing to Jay-Z, complete with the chunky shades like the rap mogul. Or that he raves about the outdoor mall in suburban Milwaukee, even though he hasn't been through a Wisconsin winter yet.
The point guard's big smile and awe-struck wonder of NBA life may fade fast, but the 20-year-old prep-turned-European pro drafted in June isn't naive.
"Everybody in Milwaukee wants to win, so that's the main goal right now, for us to try to make everybody believe again that we can win," Jennings said.
Outside of the Bucks staff, no one does.
The floundering franchise has finished last in the Central Division all five seasons since the NBA's realignment (despite one postseason berth in 2006). Most figure the Bucks will slip even further this year and be a shoo-in for a draft pick higher than the one at No. 10 they used to select Jennings this offseason.
"Our hope and what we think is going to happen is we're not going to
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That's one area where general manager John Hammond, in his second year cleaning up the mess made by former GM Larry Harris, certainly did a lot of work.
New acquisitions include forward Hakim Warrick, guard Carlos Delfino, guard Roko Ukic and forward Kurt Thomas. Hammond also re-signed forward Ersan Ilyasova, a Bucks draft pick in 2005 who had played sparingly before returning to Europe after the 2006-07 season.
No matter who is coming to Milwaukee, the team's ability to rise past any putrid prediction depends on the health of Michael Redd and Andrew Bogut.
Redd tore two ligaments in his left knee on Jan. 24 and missed the rest of the season, while Bogut missed 43 games, including the final 31 of the season with a stress fracture in his lower back.
"The media pick us, as what, second to last in the Eastern Conference? I'm not going to say anymore than that. We like where we're at. We think we can do better that," Bogut said. "In the past, the media's telling us we'll be great and we've been terrible. Hopefully this year we're going to reverse it."
Bogut said his back is better and Redd said friends like Jamal Crawford and Dwyane Wade reached out to him in the offseason while he was rehabbing his knee.
"A lot of guys reached out to me and said you're going to be stronger than ever. At the time, I was like, 'I don't know' but it's turned out to be true," he said. "My leg is strong."
Still, the organization received criticism in the offseason when Hammond dealt away Richard Jefferson to San Antonio for Thomas and contract relief. The prior year, Hammond sent popular guard Mo Williams to Cleveland in a similar move.
"As far as financial implications and salary caps, that's out of our control," Bogut said.
And while Hammond won't classify the moves as salary dumps, Bucks owner and Sen. Herb Kohl doesn't want the team over the luxury tax threshold. The team is still saddled with several bad contracts that won't come won't come off the books until after next season.
That means that Skiles must work from within to get the Bucks to play his defensive-oriented style of basketball. Jennings is quick, but not big, and will have to adjust to the taller point guards in the league.
The sooner Jennings can make that jump, the more wins Milwaukee might see.
"Everyone thinks I'm a shoot-first point guard," Jennings said. "I have Michael Redd, I have Andrew Bogut, I have some weapons on this team, so I'm going to be looking for those guys the whole year."
