Milwaukee Bucks: Eric Bledsoe saying all the right things ahead of new season
By Adam McGee
Having missed Monday’s media day, Eric Bledsoe‘s first comments to the media ahead of the new season should offer encouragement to Milwaukee Bucks fans.
As the Milwaukee Bucks gathered for their annual Media Day on Monday in Milwaukee, there was one notable absence to be accounted for.
Point guard Eric Bledsoe was understandably not in attendance due to the birth of his third child the night prior, but based on how his season finished last year, there were unlikely to be many players that Bucks fans would have been more eager to hear from.
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For the second season running, Bledsoe struggled significantly in the postseason and ultimately began to resemble a shell of the player that had been so key to the Bucks in the regular season.
On the whole, the Alabama native had a brilliant season last year. Earning a spot on the NBA’s All-Defensive First Team and being widely deemed as an unfortunate snub from the Eastern Conference’s All-Star team.
The eventual fall-off in his standard of play was so significant, though, that for many it represents a troubling question mark that hangs over the Bucks’ future prospects of success. It also ensured that the discussion of Bledsoe’s struggles had moved very much into the realm of considering whether the playoffs offer a mental hurdle that he is unable to overcome.
The truth is there can be no definitive answers to those questions until we reach the months of April – June 2020 and see how Bledsoe and the Bucks perform. In the meantime, though, a self-awareness of the issue and a desire to improve are undoubtedly essential.
The good news on that front is that having now joined up with the Bucks’ training camp in Madison, Bledsoe’s reflection on his offseason focus offers hints of an appropriate emphasis based on how his season ended.
As detailed by Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Bledsoe described his offseason focus as “pretty much just mental.”
Explaining how the level the team reached last season said something about their basketball ability and fit, Bledsoe noted how his aim is to just have more fun and look to avoid singular poor moments spiraling into more sustained spells of negative play:
"“Just move on. … That’s what I’ve kind of been working on, even in this training camp. If I miss a shot, make a turnover – move on to the next play, don’t compound the mistake by getting down.”"
Those who watch the Bucks regularly will be aware of Bledsoe’s propensity to hang his head when things are going against him — a feature which is undoubtedly just a byproduct of how much he wants to win, and the high standard he looks to hold himself to en route to achieving that.
For the Bucks as a whole, there were few body blows for the team to absorb over the course of last season, and then when one of the first significant pieces of adversity arrived against Toronto, it proved to be fatal.
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Staying in the moment and focusing on the positives could benefit the team as a whole in 2019-20, but particularly so if Bledsoe has realized the need to adjust his own outlook when dealing with adversity.