Joe Smith is giving serious consideration to having knee surgery.

Smith, who has been the team's starting power forward, has been plagued by knee problems since training camp. Smith told me last week he had his left knee drained and had also received a pain-kllling injection. The knee seemingly got better after the treatment, but in the last several days, the knee started flaring up again.

Smith didn't play against the Detroit Pistons last Saturday night at the Bradley Center, and he didn't play Tuesday night against the Dallas Mavericks at the BC.

"It's been frustrating,'' Smith said after the Mavericks' game. "It was getting better and then there were problems again. We've done all the necessary things ... If it doesn't get better sooner, that (surgery) would be the next thing to do. We're going to play it by ear.''

Milwaukee Bucks guard Michael Redd missed Tuesday night's game against the Dallas Mavericks because of a right quadriceps contusion.

The Bucks listed Redd, who was hurt in practice Monday, as day-to-day.

Redd leads the Bucks and is fifth in the NBA with 25.9 points per game. He also averages 4.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists.

Redd, a free agent following the 2004-05 season, signed a six-year, $90 million contract with the Bucks on Aug. 13.

Voshon Lenard and his agent, Joel Bell, have talked with Denver Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe in the past week about Lenard's free fall from the starting lineup to the end of the bench.

Lenard had not played in six consecutive games before seeing his first action in nearly two weeks Monday night against the New Jersey Nets.

Before scoring four points in 17 minutes, Lenard had played a total of 19 minutes since losing his starting job to DerMarr Johnson on Nov. 13.

During a meeting with Vandeweghe last week, Lenard did not ask to be traded, but Bell inquired about the possibility of a trade if the pattern of inactivity continues.

"I said (to Bell), 'I'm open to it,' but we're not there yet," Vandeweghe said Monday. "I definitely think he wants to be here first."

A source said that the Milwaukee Bucks also have shown interest in Lenard and predicted he would be traded by Christmas.

Terry Stotts hears the suggestions from those calling for more playing time for one player or another, and the Milwaukee Bucks' coach has a simple response:

"It's 240 minutes," he said. "And that's generally when whoever - whether it's an assistant (coach) or a fan or somebody - says so-and-so should be playing more, the question is, OK, for whom? Because those minutes have to come from somewhere. It's easy to say someone should play more, but at the expense of whose minutes?"

Stotts admits that the team's rotation is a work in progress, but stresses that he's continuing to try to settle on a nine- and possibly 10-man rotation.

The starting five of T.J. Ford, Michael Redd, Jamaal Magloire, Joe Smith - when healthy - and Bobby Simmons has pretty much been set. Andrew Bogut and Mo Williams are constants off the bench.

But after that, the playing time for Jiri Welsch, Charlie Bell, Toni Kukoc and Dan Gadzuric has depended on injuries, the opponent, foul trouble and which way the wind is blowing.

Ervin Johnson has solidified his role as the team's 12th man.

The Bucks pride themselves in the team's depth and Stotts is trying to take full advantage of it.

Milwaukee Bucks rookie center Andrew Bogut had successful surgery Thursday on his broken nose.

The No. 1 pick in this year's NBA draft, Bogut was hurt when Allen Iverson's hand hit him in the face during the third quarter of Milwaukee's 108-97 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night.

Bogut came back in the fourth quarter with a face mask to protect his nose.

The Bucks said Bogut will be required to wear a protective mask for at least six weeks. He is day-to-day.

Milwaukee also placed forward Josh Davis on waivers. Davis appeared in only one game this season, on Nov. 2 against New Jersey.

Bucks rookie Andrew Bogut suffered a broken nose late in the third quarter when he took an inadvertent elbow from Philadelphia guard Allen Iverson and will have surgery on it this morning. The masked 7-foot rookie returned in the final period and helped the Bucks to a 108-97 victory at the Bradley Center.

"I had to laugh a little bit when he came out of the locker room," teammate Joe Smith said. "Playing in a mask like that takes some time to get used to. You could tell when he first went back in the game, his peripheral vision and everything was thrown off a little bit.

"I think he did a good job of adjusting and doing what he needed to do to make the plays."

Bogut finished with nine points and nine rebounds in a solid 23-minute effort, as the Bucks' frontcourt dominated the 76ers.

"That just shows how much heart he has," Smith said. "We're down in the paint a lot. It happened once, and it could happen again in the course of the game. For him to be able to stick his nose back in there, that's something that shows he's a tough kid."

Before Milwaukee sent Desmond Mason to the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets, the Bucks and Nuggets discussed the possibility of sending Mason to Denver for forward Nene.

"There was a lot of things going on with that," Mason said. "But I don't know how close they really got to doing that deal. We heard the same types of things. But (the Bucks) said they said there wasn't going to be a trade, so that's where we left it."

According to Sports Illustrated, New Orleans rookie Chris Paul  is at the head of his class, overtaking first overall pick Andrew Bogut at the top of their rookie power rankings.

Can you imagine what the 2-3 Hornets would be like without Paul? Already an excellent ballhandler, Paul is a 3-point shot away from All-Star consideration. He poured in a career high 26 against Mavericks Saturday, writes Sports Illustrated.

Paul, Bogut, Jose Calderon, Deron Williams and Knick center Channing Frye close out the top 5.

Paul is averaging 15.4 points and 4.8 assists thus far this season.

According to the Sacramento Bee, reserve forward Kenny Thomas was part of trade talks in late October, when the Kings pursued veteran swingman Desmond Mason. Instead, Mason - who averaged 17.5 points with Milwaukee in the 2004-05 season - was sent from the Bucks to the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets for center Jamaal Magloire, an unconditional first-round pick in 2006 and cash.

Thomas was the Kings' returning starter until the 11th hour of the preseason, when newly acquired Shareef Abdur-Rahim won the job. Before this season, he had started in 243 of 285 games since the 2001-02 season, and made his preference clear that he's more comfortable in that role.

In four games of coming off the bench, Thomas is off to a slow start, shooting 35.3 percent while averaging 4.5 points and 16 minutes per game. His production is key for a bench that has been as sluggish as any in the league, scoring an average of 17.3 points thus far.

Joe Smith was smiling, quite broadly, after the Milwaukee Bucks' practice Monday at the Cousins Center.

The Bucks' power forward made it through a full practice without feeling any pain, and he was given the go-ahead to rejoin the lineup for Milwaukee's home game tonight against the Golden State Warriors.

Both Smith and guard-forward Jiri Welsch, who have been inactive for the Bucks' first three games, are expected to be available as Milwaukee puts its 3-0 record on the line.

The 6-foot-10 Smith expects to be on an 18- to 24-minute time limit tonight because he is coming off a knee injury that held him to 24 minutes of action during the entire exhibition season.

"It will be good," Smith said of the limit set by the Bucks' training staff. "That will be something to get some kind of game rhythm and get a feel for what's going on out there on the floor."

Coach Terry Stotts said Smith would come off the bench, with 7-foot rookie Andrew Bogut remaining in the starting lineup at power forward.