Bucks back to finish the work
Budenholzer, Giannis have eyes on title
The Milwaukee Bucks entered the 2019-20 season with their sights firmly set on competing for a championship.
They amassed the most wins in the league by the second week of March before the coronavirus pandemic cast doubt on both their dreams and the feasibility of completing the NBA season.
As the calendar turned to July – a time when the league adjusts its focus to the next season – the Bucks are back to work, still grinding toward their original goal. All 17 players are present and accounted for in Milwaukee for individual workouts. Next
week, the team will travel to Orlando for the start of training camp and their extended stay at Disney' Gran Destino Tower.
Will this disjointed season – restarting on July 30, in a "bubble" and no fans – dampen the sheen on whoever emerges as the champion? Maybe you could make that argument, but that's not how Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks are approaching it.
“I've heard a lot of people say there's going to be a – like, how do you say – a star next to this championship," Antetokounmpo said Wednesday during a post-workout conference call. "At the end of the day, this is going to be the toughest championship you could ever win because, like, the circumstances are really, really tough right now. Whoever wants it more is going to be able to go out there and take it.”
Antetokounmpo, who was followed by coach Mike Budenholzer on Wednesday's conference call, noted how excited he is to be back in the team's practice facility and preparing for the continuation of the season. He's feeling fully healthy, something that wasn't the case when the NBA suspended play back in March, just a few days after he had suffered a left knee injury against the Los Angeles
Lakers.
While staying mostly at home during the spring due to COVID-19, Antetokounmpo wasn't able to do as much basketball work, especially since he admitted in April he didn't have a hoop at home. However, the reigning MVP said that his consistent workout regimen and getting back into the gym over the past few weeks have allowed him to be both rested and improved heading into the summer session.
"I did the best job I could do to try to stay ready and try to have my team ready for all of this, this new journey," Antetokounmpo said. “I think I had the opportunity to get better. Obviously, mentally, it's tough to not play basketball for a while. But you got to figure out other ways to get better.
"I had the opportunity to get stronger. But we've been in the gym for a couple weeks now. I used that opportunity to try to sharpen my tools a little bit and as I said, try to get ready for Orlando."
While the Bucks are back in the gym, they aren't working out anything like they used to. Only a limited number of players can be on the court at a time, limited to individual work that's scheduled throughout the day to minimize interactions. Coaches and personnel are wearing masks and players are not allowed to congregate when they're off the court. Even the training tables are six feet apart from each other.
That's all the entire staff underwent league-mandated coronavirus testing, results of which have not been and likely won't be shared publicly. For the Bucks, this new normal is a small price to pay to ensure everyone's continued health as well as maintain their opportunity to continue playing.
"I have to take responsibility for myself and make sure that I'm doing things that are healthy and wise for my own individual health, but more important for everybody around me whether it be my family, my friends, my neighbors," said Budenholzer, whose team-branded mask hung around his neck during Wednesday's call. "I think, as a leader, it's important that I follow the guidelines. If it's time to wear a mask, then I wear a mask. If I expect other people to wear a mask, then I need to do it and social distance and temperature checks -you know, go down the list of protocols.
"If as a leader, you're not doing them, then I don't know how you can expect the others to do them. So, I think there's a role for all of us to play, including myself."
When teams get to Orlando next week, some of those protocols will relax. Players will begin to work together on the court and living together on Disney's campus. That's when the new challenge will set in as teams will spend nearly two months without their families.
No family members or friends will be allowed into the bubble until after the first round of the playoffs, which could mean waiting until August 30. Though players and coaches are used to spending plenty of time away from home, they don't usually go such a long time away from their families.
Antetokounmpo has appreciated the opportunity to spend the past threeplus months with his young son, Liam, but admitted that environment hasn't allowed him to get his competitive juices flowing. That'll change drastically when the Bucks arrive in Orlando, though being away from family will present a distinct challenge.
"When we go away for two weeks, three weeks in FIBA it's really tough," Antetokounmpo said "I can't imagine going there for three months. I think the game is going to be played mentally a lot – not being able to see your family, being there for three months, playing games with no fans. It's going to be mental, you've got to push yourself through this."
Managing all of those challenges along with a condensed, eight-game regular season and full playoffs will add many new layers of difficulty for every team on the path toward the NBA Finals. As the league shifts to Orlando, though, Budenholzer insists the race is still a marathon, not a sprint.
"The team that ultimately is the last one standing will have been in Orlando a long time, will have gone through a lot," Budenholzer said.