Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld was the Bucks General Manager for four years prior to joining the Wizards; a stint that included three playoff berths and the drafting of current Bucks guard Michael Redd with the 43rd overall pick in the second round of the 2000 NBA Draft…Bucks forward/center Michael Ruffin played three seasons in Washington from 2004-07…Bucks swingman Awvee Storey was with the Wizards during the 2005-06 NBA campaign…Bucks forward Bobby Simmons was a Wizard from 2001-03.

Milwaukee Bucks General Manager Larry Harris announced today that the team has assigned forward/guard David Noel (6-6, 230) to the Tulsa 66ers (Okla.) of the NBA Development League. Tulsa is led by Head Coach Joey Meyer and has served as the Bucks D-League affiliate since the 2005-06 season.  He’ll join Bucks rookie guard Ramon Sessions (6-3, 190), who is currently assigned to Tulsa.
“This is an opportunity for David to see regular minutes in game conditions that he wouldn’t necessarily receive in Milwaukee,â€� said Harris. “We are encouraged with how well Ramon has performed in Tulsa and are looking forward to seeing David’s continued progress in the D-League, too.â€�
Currently in his second NBA season, Noel has not appeared in a game for the Bucks this season, having missed 27 games with a right wrist injury and been inactive (11 games) or a coach’s decision (two games) for the other 13 contests this season for Milwaukee.  As a rookie, Noel appeared in 68 games for the Bucks and averaged 2.7 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.0 assist per contest.
Sessions, 21, was selected by the Bucks with the 56th overall pick in the second round of the 2007 NBA Draft and was assigned to Tulsa on November 8, 2007.  In 21 games for the 66ers, Sessions has averaged 19.9 points (13th in NBDL), 6.3 rebounds (T-21th) and 7.0 assists (T-4th).  He also earned D-League Performer of the Week over the first weekend of the D-League schedule by posting 30.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.0 assists in two Tulsa victories.  Sessions played three seasons at the University of Nevada as a point guard and earned Second Team All-WAC honors during his junior season, in addition to being a finalist for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award. During the 2006-07 season, he was third on the team in scoring (12.3), second in rebounding (4.7) and first in assists (4.7, second in the WAC).

The Milwaukee Bucks’ Yi Jianlian and the Seattle SuperSonics’ Kevin Durant today were named the Eastern and Western Conference T-Mobile Rookies of the Month, respectively, for games played for the month of December.
Yi averaged 12.1 points and 6.6 rebounds for the month and ranks second in scoring and rebounding among rookies. He also leads rookies in field goal percentage with .503 and is third in minutes per game with 30.6. In addition, he scored a career-high 29 points in a 103-99 win over Charlotte on Dec. 22.
Among rookie qualifiers for the second straight month Durant ranks first in the league in scoring with 19.7 points per game, seventh in rebounding with 4.2, and is tied for first in assists with 2.1. He is also ranked second in the league in field goal percentage with .407, first in free throw percentage and is averaging 1.3 blocks per game. In addition, Durant matched his career high in points with 35 and rebounds with eight and set a new career high in blocks with five on Dec. 7 vs. Milwaukee.