By Stefan Djordjevic/ info@eurohoops.net
The NBA season has stopped for the time being but that doesn’t mean the teams are sitting around doing nothing, waiting for the league’s decisions. On the contrary, they have been putting as much effort as possible to stay ready.
Milwaukee Bucks are no exception and coach Mike Budenholzer believes it’s very important to have that mentality: “We are operating and functioning and just have a mentality that we will play. I think it’s important for players and all of us to function that way, to think that way, and it’s out of our hands,” he said, per ESPN.
“Luckily, [commissioner] Adam Silver and the league office, they’ll make the hard decisions and they’ll do what’s best for everybody, but I think it’s certainly important that we kind of operate and have a mentality that we will play again, and we’ll be excited about that if and when it does happen.”
The squad has been in touch via group chats and the focus has been on watching and analyzing film as well as staying fit with in-door practices and drills.
GM Jon Horst noted that the whole organization is focused on getting better each day, regardless of how and when the 2019-20 season concludes:
“A lot of people find it hard to believe, but we actually live and believe it every day. We’ve taken a focus to get better every single day and to literally just focus on getting better every day, not thinking about championships or Finals or opponents that we’re going to play weeks out or months out, but to really think about how to improve every day,” he said.
The season stopped with the Bucks holding the leage-best 53-12 record and their potential opponents in the first round would most likely be the Orlando Magic or the Brooklyn Nets, which are exactly the teams the staff has focused on during this hiatus.