Eyeing an NBA dream

The Bucks have begun their preparation for the 2011 NBA Draft by inviting players to Milwaukee for pre-draft workouts at the Bradley Center. The Bucks own the 10th and 40th overall picks in the draft, scheduled for June 23 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

Of the 12 players to visit the Cousins Center during the first two days of workouts, three have local ties: former Milwaukee Vincent standout Diante Garrett, former Marquette guard Dwight Buycks and former UW-Green Bay guard Rahmon Fletcher.
Garrett, a 6-foot-4 guard who shined last season as a senior with Iowa State, is trying to follow in the footsteps of his father, Dick, who played five seasons in the NBA including 15 games with the Bucks in the 1973-74 season.

He was one of two players in the nation to average at least 17 points and six rebounds a game, finishing with an average of 17.3 points and helping the Cyclones to a 16-16 record.

Before his workout Thursday, Garrett said he spoke with his father, who had some simple advice.

"He just told me to go in and work hard; show your abilities and what you can do out there and just go out there and prove a point. He's real happy with whatever I do and he's very supportive. He's always there for me no matter what I do and I'll always look up to him for advice."

Garrett's session with the Bucks was the first of 12 he has scheduled and Bucks director of scouting Billy McKinney was impressed and though it's unlikely the Bucks would consider him at No. 10, McKinney thinks the chances of Garrett going somewhere in the second round are pretty good.

"I really like his energy and his enthusiasm and the way he approaches these workouts," McKinney said. "One thing you can tell about him is that he's really an unselfish player. As he's going through the workout, not only is he trying to do the best he can, he's trying to help the other players play as well as they can too. That speaks a lot for his leadership."

With Garrett on the Cousins Center floor was Fletcher, who finished his career fifth in program history with 1,678 points and 438 assists. The 5-foot-10 guard out of Kansas City averaged 15.7 points and 3.1 assists for the Phoenix, which finished the season 14-18 (8-10 Horizon League) under first-time head coach Brian Wardle.

Fletcher was pleased with his first workout.

"It was good," Fletcher said. "I played against good guards. Even though they were 6-5 and up, I was the shortest person, I had to hold my own no matter what, no excuses. With the talent out there, it was a good group of guys."

Buycks, meanwhile, was on the court Wednesday in the first workout group. A 6-foot-3, 190-pound guard, Buycks spent two seasons at Indian Hills Community College before coming to Marquette, where he was the team's "Sixth Man of the Year" in 2010.

Buycks credited Golden Eagles coach Buzz Williams for helping him prepare for the rigors of pre-draft workouts.

"We do a lot of conditioning from the start," Buycks said. "There's never any days where you're not working hard. I kind of think that helped out a lot; just the conditioning we did every day, I think kind of added up, after the season was over with, it never stopped and we just kept on playing and working out, giving your body a little time, but I think all that adding up helped out a lot in this workout."