Friday Bucks Notes

• Charles Gardner looks at when Yi will actually get to Milwaukee.

  "Yi is anxious to get to Milwaukee and start training," Harris said. "Those are points we're continuing to iron out. Our intent is to have him here when camp opens if not sooner."

  The Bucks open training camp on Oct. 2 at the Cousins Center in St. Francis, but Yi could be miles away on that day. The Chinese national team is competing in a three-day tournament in Kunshan from Sept. 30-Oct. 2, a tourney dubbed the CBA-Euroleague Challenge. Other teams competing are the Sydney Kings of Australia, Benetton Treviso and CSKA Moscow.

  While Yi should be in good physical condition given he's been playing off and on for the CNT since the draft, he's never even been to Milwaukee before, so the off-court adjustment will add a degree of difficulty to his first training camp.

• Gardner also writes that Charlie Villanueva's recovery from surgery on his labrum (read: shoulder) is going well. This isn't anything new, as it's been expected he would be ready for training camp, but it's always nice to hear, isn't it?
  

  Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva says he's about 95% in his recovery from right shoulder surgery and may be cleared for full-contact drills next week.

  Villanueva will head to New York for a Sept. 6 appointment with orthopedic surgeon David Altchek, who performed the procedure to repair a torn labrum. The former Connecticut star hopes to get the go-ahead for contact when he visits Altchek, who is the New York Mets team doctor.

  "My progress is going great," Villanueva said. "There's a little bit of pain, but nothing major, nothing I can't play through."

  Villanueva has been able to shoot, run, lift weights and even is dunking.

  "I have no problem shooting with my right hand; I've been shooting NBA threes, no problem," Villanueva said. "It really, really, really feels good.

  "The reason I say it's 95% is because I don't know when I play with contact how it's going to feel."

  Just as interestingly, he weighs in a little on the Yi signing. He sounded upbeat about the drafting of Yi in July, so I wouldn't expect him to say anything controversial now. One thing I've noticed about Charlie is that he's generally a positive guy who is very good at saying what people want to hear, but you know that he realizes the Bucks may have just drafted his replacement, which has to screw with his head a little given he was also deemed the odd man out in Toronto.

  "I think Coach K (Larry Krystkowiak) is not going to give anything to nobody," Villanueva said. "Everything is going to be earned. The guys that deserve to play are the guys who should play.

  "I think Yi is going to be fine. He's a rookie; he's going to have his mistakes here and there. He's a good player. He knows how to bounce back from that.