6 Takeaways From Milwaukee Bucks 2022 Media Day

We are officially getting closer to the 2022-23 NBA season, as the Milwaukee Bucks completed their media day on Sunday.

Contrary to past years, the Bucks didn’t make everyone available for questions from the media. Wes Edens, Jon Horst, Mike Budenholzer, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday, Joe Ingles, Bobby Portis, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Serge Ibaka and George Hill were the only ones who came to the podium. That means no Grayson Allen, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, MarJon Beauchamp, Jevon Carter, Pat Connaughton, Brook Lopez, Wesley Matthews or Jordan Nwora.

The event was live-streamed on ESPN+ and live-tweeted by several media members on site. Let’s check out six takeaways from Sunday’s event.

Continuity

The Bucks are returning their entire core and most of the players appear excited about that. Giannis Antetokounmpo said, “We have 16 guys back. I love playing with people I’ve played with before. You know (their game) and what kind of people they are. It’s good to have the same people around. We have a team full of great human beings.”

Those 16 players he’s referring to are: Hill, Carter, Allen, Portis, Lopez, Holiday, Middleton, Matthews, Vildoza, Connaughton, Ibaka, both Antetokounmpos, Wiggington, Nwora and Mamukelashvili.

Holiday is also excited about the continuity, “Having everyone back puts us ahead.” He continued to talk about how this is the fewest roster turnover he’s been a part of and is excited about what it means for this season.

Trash Talk

Perhaps, the continuity set the stage for the light and joking atmosphere of the media event. Everyone was laid back, making jokes about one another and even interrupting a couple of sessions here and there.

With the addition of Ingles, trash talk came up quite a bit. Middleton said it in the nicest way possible, “Joe’s a huge competitor. Everyone knows about him and his trash talk.” Portis weighed in as well, “I got a question for you guys, who gets more techs: Joe or Bobby?” Holiday wasn’t as nice in his assessment, “Joe is one of the ones you hate to play against. He’s an asshole playing against him, not gonna lie…He’s kinda dirty and talks trash, boy. But now that’s he on my team, I’m happy.”

Ingles was able to respond with his own assessment of his new teammates, “Jrue and Khris don’t talk trash. Khris really doesn’t talk in general, you guys know that.”

Joe Ingles’ Fit

Speaking of Ingles, he and his teammates seem pretty excited about how he’ll fit with the Bucks. He won’t be ready to begin the season and there’s no clear timeline for when he’ll be ready, but he did say he had ACL surgery on February 23rd. When he does return, it looks like he and Antetokounmpo will be ready to tear it up, “I’m excited to play with Giannis” said Ingles, “The first thing I thought about was pick and roll with Giannis. Seems like it will make things very easy. I’ve heard Grayson say it’s different being that open.”

Ingles also talked about creating shots for others, “My thing my whole career has been playmaking. I think it’s my best attribute. They got a lot of guys who need the ball and I think my playmaking can help and make an impact there.”

George Hill Retirement and Injury

Hill is coming off the worst season of his career. We were aware he was battling an injury last season, but he shared nobody knew how bad it was, “Very frustrating year” said Hill, “I had the neck injury, no one knew how severe it was. I gave it my all to get out there and play and just as I felt like I was back I got the abdominal tear. It was a sucky year.” He said he did not end up having surgery this offseason.

Most Bucks’ fans would agree with his last statement and assessment of last season. Hill shared he heavily contemplated retirement, but decided to return because he didn’t want to go out like that.

Khris Middleton Won’t Be Ready For Start Of Season

Speaking of injuries, Middleton is also battling one of his own. He had surgery on his arm in the summer and hasn’t been able to do basketball activities. He doesn’t have the cast on anymore and had it removed about two weeks ago.

Middleton shed some light on the mysterious injury, “The injury happened sometime around All-Star game. Just kind of never went away.” He won’t be ready for the beginning of the season, but expects to be able to play “early in the season” according to Horst.

Bobby Portis Getting Better

Portis feels he has another level in his game and wants to thank the Boston Celtics for helping him get there, “The Celtics series was what I needed to take the next step in my career. I worked a lot in the offseason. I’m ready now. It really woke me up a little bit and made me go back to the drawing board and watch film a lot.”

Portis averaged 9.9 points and 9 rebounds per game against Boston in the second round of the playoffs, but only shot 39.4 percent from the field and 22.7 percent from the three-point line. With the Bucks desperately needing someone to step up in Middleton’s absence, Portis wasn’t able to provide that extra scoring punch. We’ll see what he has in store for this season.