Milwaukee Bucks: Ownership talks offseason, expectations going into 2019-20 season

Three partners of the Milwaukee Bucks’ ownership group met with media Friday afternoon to go over the team’s offseason dealings and the expectations their feeling going into the 2019-20 season.

As all players for the Milwaukee Bucks are hard at work for the 2019-20 season that lies ahead, the team’s ownership group are readying themselves for what could be another banner year for the organization at large.

Unlike the last few years, the Bucks’ ownership group was absent from this year’s Media Day session, but they did meet with local media on Friday at the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Sports Science Center, all of which you can watch here.

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Representing the Bucks’ ownership on that day was Marc Lasry, Jamie Dinan and Mike Fascitelli, leaving Wes Edens the lone co-owner absent for their meeting with the media.

First up, was reflecting on the Bucks falling short on their goal of reaching the NBA Finals after such a successful season and new governor of the team’s ownership group, Marc Lasry, discussed his thoughts on what was such a bitter end to last year:

"“Well, obviously, you want it to be better. I think we’re all bummed about what happened. I think we were close to being in the NBA Finals. I think this year, you want the exact same thing to happen and get to the NBA Finals. I think we’ve got the talent, the team, so I think it’s what we’re all looking for.”"

On the topic of retaining the majority of their core free agents as well as reloading the roster during the offseason, Dinan reacted to the Bucks’ free agency dealings that was spearheaded by general manager Jon Horst:

"“I think we were all really impressed. Everybody takes it for granted that Brook’s (Lopez) coming back, that Khris (Middleton) is coming back. It’s not that easy. We really actively planned, the salary cap rules, the tax rules are really, shall we say, strict. And you have to follow certain processes. You know, one guy has to come before the other. It was really a complicated game of chess. I think getting our core starters back was huge. And I think we added some great additions. Wes Matthews, Kyle Korver. I think the entire Bucks organization, including wives and significant others, really worked on making that happen. I think a few teams in the league really did a great job during this summer. Obviously, I think the (L.A.) Clippers did a great job for obvious reasons and I think we did a great job and I’m really very pleased with where we’re looking right now.”"

Having been over five years since they bought the team from the previous, long-standing owner, Herb Kohl, Lasry was asked about the ownership’s initial vision when taking over the team and if the team’s recent results have met that plan:

"“Well, you could say now we absolutely had a five-year plan because it worked. I think the one thing we all try to do is bring a level of excellence and that what are we going to do to try and get to the top. At the time we bought the team, we were the worst team in the league and then within five years, we won the most games. I think what you got right now with the Bucks, and hopefully you all see it, there’s a level of excellence. Whereas, I think before we bought the team, everybody was hoping they’d make the playoffs. I think now, you’re looking at the team and saying we’re all going to be bummed if we’re not in the Finals. So think of the mentality that’s been transformed in the last five years. Think of where we are with the new arena, new practice facility. I think now, what we want and what we’re expecting is very different and I think that’s what we’re all striving for. I think what we try to do day in, day out, especially with Jon’s (Horst) done an absolutely fabulous job in guiding this team and doing what he’s done. Bud’s done a fabulous job. All of the folks that we brought in, the goal is for us to try to have a level of excellence and then, from there, if things break your way, then we can get to the Finals.”"

Having had a direct link and vision behind the construction of Fiserv Forum, Fascitelli talked about the arena as the Bucks head into the second season of playing in their still-new digs:

"“I think it fits in with what Marc said. Part of the plan of creating a culture of winning, a culture of excellence, is to make the facilities as good as they could be. I think the arena has been incredibly successful and well received. It’s a great place to play, it’s a great place to win. The fan experience is great, which we put a lot of time into. I think we’ll tweak the things we could do better in the future. Many people around the league walk up to us and compliment us on the arena and the practice facility has been an unbelievably great amenity for the players, for the staff. So, the real estate supports the goal of being a champion, the winning, the culture of excellence, so I think it’s done that and hopefully, it’ll continue to do that.”"

After questions were opened up to local media, Lasry talked about all of the pieces that fell into place last season for the Bucks, which resulted in having the MVP in Antetokounmpo, the Coach of the Year in Budenholzer and the Executive of the Year in Horst:

"“I think you had a lot of things that came together. I think Bud did an absolutely fabulous job of, you know, in his first season, melding all of the different personalities and you saw that. What became very clear early on is that everybody was playing as a team. Everybody knew their roles. It’s really hard, when you’re putting a team together, does everybody know what their role is? Is everybody comfortable with that role? I think Bud did an absolutely exceptional job with that.I think Jon, if you look at it, I think he’s probably the youngest GM to ever win that award. That’s a feat. When we took over the Bucks, Jon was one of those young guys that we all looked and said ‘Wow, he’s really smart, he’s really good. He knows his stuff. He’ll make a great GM one year.’ We didn’t think it was going to happen that quickly and it did. Thank God it did. We all talk about how Giannis took that step forward and just kept on becoming better and better. Jon was that. Our hope this year is that our president here, Peter Feigin, we’d like him to become Executive of the Year, so that we got sort of everything. We got everything on the basketball side, on the business side. I think we have one of the best presidents in the league. I think we have a grade A organization and that’s what we’re looking for. Hopefully, we keep moving up, but think about it, we’ve got the MVP of the league. That’s cool. Did anybody think that was going to happen four, five years ago? And within five years, Giannis has become the MVP. We’ve got the Coach of the Year, the GM of the Year. This organization is here (raises hand to shoulder level) and now we’ve got to maintain that level.”"

Having focused on building up the organization from the bottom over the last five-plus years, Dinan explained his personal outlook of what he expects the following five season when asked about what’s the ten-year plan for the Bucks and the organization overall:

"“I think we’d like to try to bring a couple of championships home over the next five years. We have all of the pieces in place between the coaches and the players and the front office. I think they can make that happen, so that’s obviously the biggie. As Marc talked about, just maintaining this level of excellence. We truly believe the foundation of all of the good things have really happened here and I think really continuing to invest in the community. Invest in the city. To make this place, which really has a vibe to it now, there’s a buzz to Milwaukee. So just really try to continue to sustain that momentum as well. Not for just the people around Milwaukee, but around the state as well as in the country.”"

Obviously the move to let Malcolm Brogdon walk in free agency easily became the most divisive decision the Bucks made in free agency and it’s impossible to not untangle the luxury tax implications in that. When asked by Eric Nehm of The Athletic about it, both Lasry and Dinan touched on their stance on the luxury tax and moving on from Brogdon in particular:

"ML: “I think our stance is pretty similar. I don’t think we have an issue of being in the luxury tax. I think, part of it is we know we’re going to be there. We’re definitely going to be there in a couple of years, so that’s not the question. The question ends up being was re-signing Malcolm an imperative? I think re-signing Malcolm was a luxury. And our view was that Malcolm is a phenomenal player, but for that amount of money, we thought we could have those dollars better spent elsewhere. And we’ll find out. The great thing about the NBA is every decision we make, the following day, somebody goes ‘absolutely wrong.’ Or the following day, somebody goes ‘Yeah, best thing you ever did.’ Right? So we’ll see. I think all of us as a group and especially our GM, when he took a look at that, thought we know we’re going to be in the luxury tax and let’s go about it over the course of the next couple of years. Is this the best way to spend these dollars? Hopefully, we made the right decision. I think Malcolm is a class A individual and played phenomenally for us and became Rookie of the Year. Obviously, we would have rather have him stay here.”JD: ” I would agree with that. In fact, in hindsight, sometimes you’re a victim of your own success. When we were really thinking about the roster for this year a year ago, I don’t think we really expected for Brook Lopez to have that major breakout season he had, so we really benefited from that. Khris (Middleton) becoming an All-Star, a legitimate All-Star, so the market value of two of our best guys really went up as a result of how well they played last year. All of a sudden, it gave us more limitations than we originally anticipated. And Malcolm was a 50-40-90 player and sometimes you can’t always get what you want. Also, you got to keep in mind the luxury tax rules are designed to become very expensive for so-called ‘repeaters.’ And we actually had to keep that in mind as well.”"

The discussion on tampering and the recent sanctions that NBA commissioner Adam Silver put in place to discourage it have been a steady theme, especially after a frantic opening to free agency this summer. Lasry and Fascitelli discussed the current state of tampering in light of Silver’s actions:

"ML: “It’s a great question, I’d love to answer it. (chuckles) What’s really happened is now, I think what everybody is trying to do is make sure there is no tampering. And everybody is really sensitive to that and I think that’s great. The problem is that it ends up, I think we’ve seen it (with Jon), where you say something absolutely logical, you could get fined. I think for us right now, a question like that is fabulous, it’s great. I love it. Just can’t really talk about it a lot.”MF: “We don’t want to get fined anymore.”"

Finally, Lasry provided some insight on his recent role change and assuming the governorship duties that Edens previously took on over the last five seasons and Dinan and Fascitelli chimed in to talk about the transition and how it’s felt anything but that:

"ML: “Not much has really changed. The difference in being the governor is that the NBA, you’re the one that’s got to attend all of the meetings. The real difference is that you’re the one sitting in on the committees. For the last five years before I was governor, I went to all of the meetings. Mike goes, Jamie goes. I was never able to go on any of the committees because only the governor is able to do it. For us, it’s been a great partnership. It still is. We talk all of the time trying to figure out what makes sense. And you can look at sort of what’s happened the last five years, I think we’ve been successful in sort of navigating and trying to do what ends up being best. I’d love to tell you it’s been a real big difference. It really hasn’t, other than you’re the one who’s on the committees. So I didn’t realize how much more time you had to spend because you have a governor’s meeting every three months. So those, we would all attend if we’re able to, but if you’re the governor, you actually have to be there. And you change your whole schedule around and then you’ve got to be in all of the committee meetings. It’s a lot more work, a lot more time. I appreciate a lot more what Wes was doing, so that’s about it.”JD: “The only other thing that I would add is all of us are big believers in trusting our experts. We’re unbelievably deferential to the coaching staff, the GM and his team, scouts, and they’re the experts. So from their perspective, there’s really been no change whatsoever in terms of that level of respect, delegation of responsibilities and authority.MF: “It’s been a very seamless transition, to be honest with you.”"

Quite a lot of ground that Dinan, Fascitelli and Lasry covered throughout Friday and their insights and views of the offseason and upcoming season certainly give us some color to the current outlook surround the team going into the 2019-20 campaign.