This time it's Milwaukee having to do a sales job on No. 6 overall first-round draft choice Yi Jianlian, a center from China who would have preferred being picked by a team in a city with a large Asian population.

According to an Associated Press report, Bucks general manager Larry Harris "said he understands the preconceived notions about Milwaukee but says players like the city because it provides a 'safe haven' with the luxury of Chicago nearby."

"It's a smaller market, but if we develop the mentality to win, then people will come," the AP quoted Harris saying. "San Antonio is small. Utah is small, too, and they're in the playoffs. There's a lot of different small markets. It really comes down to lifestyle, the weather, but at the end of the day, we play indoors and we play half the season here and we deal with it."

MISC.: The Wizards on Sunday planned to offer free-agent guard DeShawn Stevenson a three-year, $9 million contract to remain in Washington, the Washington Times reported. Last year, Stevenson — Utah's 2000 first-round draft choice — opted out of a deal that would have paid him $3 million for this past season and subsequently turned down a three-year, $10 million offer to stay in Orlando. The move backfired, and Stevenson wound up having to play the season in Washington for slightly less than $1 million. ... According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, restricted free-agent forward Louis Amundson will take part in the 76ers' mini-camp this week as the team prepares to play in both the NBA Summer League at Las Vegas and the Jazz-hosted Rocky Mountain Revue summer league. The University of Nevada-Las Vegas product played one game for the Jazz as a rookie last season, then finished the season with the Sixers. ... DraftExpress.com's Jonathan Givony awarded the Jazz an A on his post-draft report card, saying that with Thursday's selection of Almond and acquisition of second-rounder Kyrylo Fesenko, Utah "seems to have made another couple of solid picks, despite drafting fairly low." The Jazz plan to introduce Fesenko at a news conference today.

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E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com