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Saturday, July 21, 2012

Young Bucks Impressing In Sin City - Rant Sports

Published: About an hour ago

Milwaukee Bucks: Young Bucks Impressing In Sin City

Jayne Kamin-Oncea - US PRESSWIRE

Behind the spirited play of second year forward Tobias Harris, the Milwaukee Bucks are 2-1 through the first three of five games in their 2012 Las Vegas, NV summer league basketball schedule.

The Bucks have defeated the New Orleans Hornets 76-68; been defeated by the Washington Wizards 78-75, would most recently defeated the NBA D-League select team 77-68.

Harris has posted consecutive double-doubles, picking up 21 points and 12 rebounds in their victory against D-League select on Friday, July 19th. That workman-like performance came on the heels of a stellar 24 point, 12 rebound performance in the loss to Washington on Thursday, July 18th.

Despite grabbing only one rebound in the opening win against the New Orleans Hornets, Tobias still found a way to contribute with 19 points  on 8-15 shooting from the floor.

Through three games, Harris is averaging a robust 21.3 ppg and 8.3 rpg.

Harris is having a very strong summer league campaign thus far and with two more stirring performances, Harris will undoubtedly turn some heads in the organization if he already hasn’t done so.

More encouraging news has emerged from the summer camp as 2012′s 1st and 2nd-round draft picks, John Henson and Doron Lamb have showed flashes of potential. Lamb has played two games and has tallied 32 points on 12-25 shooting from the floor. Lamb has made eight of his nine free-throw attempts and has pitched in with 7 rebounds.

Henson, the former #1 high school PF prospect in the country (’09) and two-time ACC Defensive Player of the year (’11, ’12)  has contributed 35 points and 17 rebounds in two games. The University of North Carolina product has also showed glimpses of his superior shot blocking potential with five blocks in two contests, including four against the D-League select team.

A quick, if not mildly humorous, disturbing tidbit is Larry Sanders racking up TEN personal fouls in 21 minutes of action in the opening summer league game against New Orleans!

Hey Larry, there’s a fine line between being an aggressive, intimidating inside defensive presence and being an overzealous, out of control ‘enforcer’ relegated to a modern day hack-a-Dwight role!

But, why worry about Larry when the inspired summer league play of Harris, Lamb and Henson has to have Milwaukee Bucks fans running to their local sun glass hut to purchase some shades to combat the brightness of the future?

If these three stallions can pan out, that would mark a pretty successful string of drafts orchestrated by General Manager John Hammond dating back to the Brandon Jennings draft of 2009. For a small market franchise like Milwaukee, we all know how imperative it is to build from the ‘ground up’ with successful drafts and finding the right core to mold into a competitive and successful NBA team.

The Milwaukee Bucks, for the first time in a decade, appear to be headed in the right direction. Cross your fingers and knock on the nearest wood Bucks nation.

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