Joe Alexander could join a rare club of lottery picks who were drafted by teams that didn't pick up their first-year options on their contract.  Alexander would be owed $2.76 million next season if the Bucks pick up the first of two option years on his rookie-scale contract.

Patrick O'Bryant and Yaroslav Korolev are the other two players to suffer such a fate.

Milwaukee might decide the extra cap space is more valuable to them than Alexander.

Alexander does not have a long-term injury and has been able to do some jogging and shooting, but the timetable for his return to full contact is unclear.

"It's unfortunate that Joe has missed, in our opinion, the most important time for young players," Skiles said. "It's totally critical.

"The whole foundation of everything we're trying to do is put in (during camp). We've got new players, new teammates. He had a very good summer. The hamstring injury, even when you're green-lighted to play, generally you don't come right out and go 100%.

"There's going to be a period of reconditioning. When he gets back, we'll just have to take it day by day and see where he's at. We hope it's going to be sooner rather than later. And we hope when he gets back, we can get him into the mix somewhere."