Central Notes: Middleton, Mirotic, Dunleavy, Pacers

The BucksKhris Middleton had successful surgery Wednesday on his ruptured left hamstring, the team announced on its website. Middleton is expected to be out of action for six months following the procedure, which was performed at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. The fifth-year swingman, who signed a five-year, $70MM deal last summer, had his best season in 2015/16, averaging a career-high 18.2 points, 4.2 assists and 1.7 steals in 79 games.

There’s more tonight from the Central Division:

  • Nikola Mirotic seems to have the edge over Taj Gibson to be the Bulls‘ starting power forward, writes Mark Schanowski of CSNChicago. With the rest of the starting lineup seemingly set, power forward is Chicago’s most interesting position battle of the preseason. Schanowski believes Mirotic’s ability to stretch the floor in an otherwise shaky shooting lineup gives him the edge. Bobby Portis may be squeezed out of minutes unless he can earn time as a backup center.
  • After being traded from the Bulls to the Cavaliers over the summer, Mike Dunleavy says his new Cleveland teammates have a work ethic far beyond what he saw in Chicago, relays Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. Dunleavy admired the humility the Cavs showed despite their success of the past two seasons and noted that the stars are willing to put in extra practice time. “I’ve been on a lot of teams where guys come and go, show up five minutes before practice and leave right after,” he said. “We have our best players here an hour and a half early and stay an hour and a half late. Quite honestly, that’s kind of new to me.”
  • New Pacers coach Nate McMillans nine-man rotation is virtually set, which leaves a lot of young players battling for very few minutes, according to Mark Montieth of NBA.comJeff Teague, Monta Ellis, Paul George, Thaddeus Young and Myles Turner will start, with Aaron Brooks, Rodney Stuckey, C.J. Miles and Al Jefferson as regular members of the rotation off the bench. McMillan said he will use 10 players per game if someone else shows they deserve to play, which may give hope to Glenn Robinson III, Joseph Young, Georges Niang, Kevin Seraphin, Lavoy Allen, Rakeem Christmas and Jeremy Evans.
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