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Milwaukee Bucks: Stepping back into routine no easy task

By Jordan Treske

MILWAUKEE, WI - APRIL 30: A general view of Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin Sports Science Center, training facility for the Milwaukee Bucks on April 30, 2020 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The NBA may allow practice facilities to reopen on May 8 that have been closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
MILWAUKEE, WI - APRIL 30: A general view of Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin Sports Science Center, training facility for the Milwaukee Bucks on April 30, 2020 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The NBA may allow practice facilities to reopen on May 8 that have been closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) /
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The NBA, and the Milwaukee Bucks by extension, are gradually putting things in place to continue the 2019-20 season, where even the smallest steps are very big ones.

For all Milwaukee Bucks fans, the NBA can’t come back soon enough. When it’s able to, of course.

The 2019-20 season has been a dream one for all Bucks fans as they, for the second straight season, surged to the top of the league with a 53-12 record. That is, before the season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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It’s now been officially two months since the NBA went dark and now the hard questions are starting to be asked by the league, by NBA commissioner Adam Silver and the players themselves as they search for a way to continue the season in some shape or fashion.

Slowly but surely, practice facilities are starting to reopen for certain NBA teams and the rest of the league will eventually follow, with strict precautions in place for players and assistant coaches.

It’s a small step that keeps the hope alive of the season, and the return of the NBA and live sports in general, getting back up and moving. But it’s one that already asks a lot of players around the league and shines a light on their collective comfort level of eventually playing again, whether it’s this season or the start of the 2020-21 campaign.

One element of the conference call Silver and the NBPA had late last week that ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on touched on players being pushed into voluntary workouts.

For a team like the Bucks, one that reportedly has plans to open their practice facility at some point this week despite the state of Wisconsin’s current stay-at-home order lasting until May 26, it’s a fine line to walk as they try to cling to the hopes of continuing this season.

Bucks owner Marc Lasry has been very vocal on where he believes the fate of this season is headed and that may ultimately come to pass. And Bucks players have continued to relay various anecdotes of the creative ways they’ve made to maintain game shape and some may even jump at the chance of getting back into the swing of things after all of this down time.

But this quote that veteran Bucks guard George Hill gave to Matt Velazquez of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last month has certainly stuck out in my mind when he was asked about his thoughts of the NBA returning with the threat of the coronavirus being all around us:

"“Basketball’s just something temporary that we do and we’re blessed to do, but life is way more precious than this ball that we play. If that’s the case, they cancel the season, yes as an athlete I will be upset, but at the same time, we can’t do anything about it. I think it will be the best decision for that. If we play, I’m excited to play again and get back on that court. I think we had something special going and would love to finish it. But like I said, life itself is way more precious than this game that we’re playing and I just want everyone to stay safe and go from there.”"

There are no right or clean-cut answers in whichever route the NBA goes down, but the topic of player safety and their overall confidence in how the league will treat the next few months will continue to be a significant topic to monitor.

To see like a season like the Bucks were having end up going down the drain could have an incalculable impact on their long-term future going forward.

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As we see the push to return into the NBA routine come to the fore, walking the line on how to salvage the rest of this season and what the league does for the safety and health of their players is something that all leagues, not just the NBA, has to consider. And it will be done on the tightest of ropes.

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