Milwaukee Bucks: 5 takeaways from 2017-18 Media Day

2. Continuity was the word of the day

The Milwaukee Bucks were one of the quietest teams this offseason, making small moves on the margins and largely bringing back the same team. All five starters for the playoff run return, as does the majority of the bench — of the top 13 Bucks in minutes played last season, only Michael Beasley (10th) will not return.

This turn of events was looked at as an advantage, and continuity became the buzzword of the day. When asked about it, Giannis Antetokounmpo spoke favorably of the situation. “We have the same core and that gives us an advantage. We’ve played together for a year now so we know what we have to do.”

General manager Jon Horst spoke to the intentional focus of emphasizing continuity over a larger roster shakeup. “We saw a team that was the youngest or second-youngest in the league last year. … We knew we were going to come into this year with a top-10 type player on our team (Giannis Antetokounmpo) with a still extremely young core and said, ‘Why would we change this?'”

Owner Wed Edens also spoke on how the team put an emphasis on building through continuity. “We really decided to play the continuity card, stick with what we think is really working. We thought the best thing we could do is get one year older.”

While building through an established core does not guarantee success, a team as young as Milwaukee will improve just by getting older and more established. As the rest of the league starts the season off learning how to play with new teammates, the Bucks can get right down to winning basketball games.