Great expectations surround the Milwaukee Bucks as they begin work to prepare for the start of the 2019-20 season, but they aren’t letting the outside noise get to them.
As they dig into ready themselves for the upcoming NBA season, the Milwaukee Bucks know a great deal will be expected of them this year.
A 60-win season and a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals, a series in which they came out of the gates with something to prove and stood up 2-0 after the first two games on their home floor, will do that sort of thing.
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So will having the reigning Most Valuable Player in Giannis Antetokounmpo, whose long term-future is on the minds of many inside and outside of the league, and the outcome of this coming season could determine whether he accepts what would be the largest contract in NBA history.
Such is life when a team undergoes a transformation like the Bucks experienced over the course of last season and have done the work necessary to maintain their spot as title contender in the East and the league as a whole going into this campaign.
But for the Bucks’ money, they won’t be letting all of the talk and general outside noise disrupt the collective mindset they are building with training camp officially underway.
As reigning NBA Coach of the Year Mike Budenholzer spoke at this year’s Media Day earlier in the week of the mentality he, his staff and the Bucks’ roster are focusing on, that being what they can control in terms of bettering themselves each day:
"“We’re much more focused on what we’re doing every day. The message to the team won’t be that different than what it was going into last season. There were expectations with a new coach and great roster additions, and every team goes into every season with expectation. Our attack point is what are we doing every day, how are we getting better every day, how are we competing every day, are we playing unselfishly, are we playing together. All of those things are just our core beliefs. If we’re doing those on a day in and day out basis, the chips will fall where they may, and we feel great about the team and the talent we have. If we focus on our day-to-day priorities, I think the expectations will fall in line.”"
As Coach Bud alluded to, it’s no different from how the Bucks approached their fresh start last season and the glowing success they subsequently went on to achieve throughout the regular season and deep into the playoffs as well.
The big difference is that there is something tangible that the Bucks will be held to, that being the standard they all set for themselves based on what they did last season. That’s a big departure from the growing underachievement that increasingly became the theme for the previous coaching regime in Milwaukee.
But the things that have bubbled as a result of the success they developed over last year, such as growing such a fruitful, coherent culture, have left the Bucks confident that they can run it back, in hopes of reaching a higher goal this season. Antetokounmpo hit a similar tone as his coach during his own Media Day session on the eve of training camp kicking off:
"“It’s great that the whole team is similar, and we kept all the pieces, and we added great pieces that make this team a lot better than last year. What I can think about is that tomorrow training camp starts, and that’s day one. We’ve got to get better. We’ve got to compete. You guys are going to hear me say this all year, and I’ve said this for six years so far. It’s all about getting better each day and taking it day by day. Obviously we know we have the talent to be playing in June, but if we don’t focus about what we’re going to be doing right now, we’re not going to get there. I’m happy that the team is the way it is. I’m happy that we have great guys, and guys that compete hard and have fun, and love each other and like each other, and I know we have a chance over here.”"
While everyone keeps looking to late May, especially with how crushing last season ended for the Bucks against the eventual NBA champs, the Toronto Raptors, all Bucks players and officials know that there is a lot of time for them to hopefully reach that point.
Even as the Bucks are set to play under a bigger spotlight than the franchise has ever had to experience previously, there will be no deviating from the blueprint that helped them reach the highs of last season. And that includes taking it one day at a time.