Milwaukee Bucks: Media Day roundup 2018-19 season

Mike Budenholzer

Budenholzer on expectations:

"“Obviously you come to Media Day and there’s lot of conversations and discussions about expectations. I’m much more focused on what are we doing each day, and how you approach each day. Are we competing each day? Are we getting better each day? Are we playing unselfishly? And at the end of the day, are we together? My expectations, and our approach to the season, and I’d say our approach to expectations is: are we doing what we need to be doing every day? And if you’re doing that, with the roster and talent that we have put together, we have very high expectations for ourselves. It’s been a playoff team, and we’d like to be better. We’d like to improve and have greater success in the playoffs, and embrace that.”"

Budenholzer on how Giannis could follow Tim Duncan‘s example:

"“What Giannis has at 23, and however many years he’s been in the league, is pretty amazing. Honestly, from my perspective where I was very fortunate to be around Tim Duncan for 17, 18, 19 years, whatever it was, I just think the purity of Giannis’ competitive spirit is very similar to Timmy’s. All they care about is winning, and that really fills your entire roster, fills your locker room, fills your entire organization when your best player is just a pure competitor, and all he cares about is winning, and nothing else really matters.”"

Budenholzer on getting to know Giannis:

"“He wants to be great and he puts the time and effort in. Again, it’s very pure. He works at a high rate. There’s no wasted time with him in the gym. Also, I think his interest in learning and growing, improving and getting better — he wants to talk to me about things, he wants to talk to great players, legends, or other coaches, or assistant coaches. There’s just a real thirst for knowledge with Giannis that I think a lot of the time is inherent in people who want to be great.”"

Budenholzer on the team’s identity:

"“I hope, and we plan, to be great on both sides of the ball. I think there is a place for some of the mantras of how you have great success, and you’ve got to be great defensively, or an offensive team that just can’t be stopped, but I would approach it that we want to be great on both sides. At the end of the day, they’re very connected, and how competitive we are, and how together we are defensively, and how we trust each other defensively, is going to carry over to a team that, offensively, plays with great pace, with a lot of ball movement, and people movement.”"