Milwaukee Bucks: Donte DiVincenzo using his imagination to prepare for season restart

With limitations on practice, and weeks without access to a gym, Milwaukee Bucks guard Donte DiVincenzo has been getting creative while preparing to play again.

For all of the success the Milwaukee Bucks have enjoyed since drafting him, there can be no doubting that Donte DiVincenzo’s first two seasons in the NBA have been very unusual.

After injuries curtailed his rookie campaign to just 27 games in which he was very far from his best, DiVincenzo made major strides in his sophomore season to become one of the most important players on the league’s best team.

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Then, of course, a global pandemic broke out to bring the season to a halt and leave DiVincenzo and the rest of his peers waiting four months to return to action.

Such a resumption is still shrouded in uncertainty given the continually escalating number of COVID-19 cases across the US, but the plan does still seem to be set to press ahead, and the Bucks are now under a week away from leaving for the NBA’s campus environment at Walt Disney World Resort where the season will be resumed.

With that in mind, preparations have ramped up for DiVincenzo and his teammates, although it would be a stretch to describe anything as being close to normal just yet.

Speaking to the media on Friday, DiVincenzo noted that having the chance to finish his first full season would be “amazing.” The former Villanova Wildcat also outlined how the stoppage in play has helped him to recharge his batteries, both physically and mentally.

"“Honestly, I feel amazing. My body feels amazing. Mentally, I feel amazing. Because going into this, that time off is kind of a blessing in disguise for me, just in terms of my body and my rehab. Any little chance I can get to recover, and keep going forward, and keep getting better, that’s always a plus for me.”"

Perhaps most interesting of all, though, with full contact team workouts still off the table, DiVincenzo shared a look into how his imagination has become a key tool in recent months, both when he had no access to the team’s practice facility and now that it has reopened.

Specifically, DiVincenzo described the spell of close to two months that he didn’t have access to the facility as bringing him back to his childhood style of practicing.

"“It kind of took me back to being a little kid again — dribbling the ball outside, doing those little moves on the sidewalk, and stuff like that. Like I said, it all plays back into your imagination. You’re just working on stuff as you’re outside, just being a kid again. And the little things help, because once you’re allowed back in the gym, I was trying to work on things that could slip. Ball-handling, and stuff like that, and conditioning. I had a bunch of weights at my house, so I was lifting in my apartment and staying on top of that stuff. I just tried to get as much conditioning in as possible as that’s the biggest thing we lose during this time.”"

Without the usual accompaniment of his teammates at the Froedtert and Medical College of Wisconsin Sports Science Center since the Bucks’ facility reopened, Donte has more recently been resorting to visualization to imagine the court set up in a way that could realistically mirror the real 5-on-5 experience.

"“I’m visualizing the entire defense, just in terms of how I plan my workouts mentally. You’re not going to dribble from one side of the court to the other, just because when you’re playing in a game there’s going to be five defenders and four other offensive players. The way I do it I envision where the players on our team would be in those spots, and I’m trying to stay within a narrow lane to try to limit my dribbling.”"

Considering just how impressive DiVincenzo has been in the 2019-20 season, and just how crucial he could prove to be to Milwaukee’s title hopes, those in Wisconsin will be hoping the Delaware native’s outside the box thinking will allow him to pick his game up right where he left off.