Milwaukee Bucks season preview: How will Freak Time work out?

There was no “Dame Time” or ”Greek Freak,” a duo nicknamed “Freak Time,” but there was certainly a scrimmage. If an open scrimmage or the preseason or any other offseason happening is any indication of how the regular season will go, then the Milwaukee Bucks couldn’t be more unpredictable, yet successful. 

That unpredictability could be because the Bucks acquired star point guard Damian Lillard in a blockbuster trade in a shocking announcement, and still the world has no idea what this move truly means for the Bucks until the season begins, although success is a keyword here.

Perhaps, that’s the reason for both Lillard’s and Antetokounmpo’s absence from the Bucks open scrimmage, which they held in front of a thousand screaming fans at Fiserv Forum on Sunday. Fans will just have to wait until opening night to see the pair in action together.

The season for the Bucks, and perhaps a whole new journey with Lillard, begins against the Philadelphia 76ers. 

Milwaukee Bucks offseason review

The offseason for Milwaukee has been a busy one and one might deem as successful. The Bucks hired new head coach Adrian Griffin, former assistant coach to the Toronto Raptors, in June. The Bucks were likely during their research through the history books and found Griffin.

Griffin isn’t new to Milwaukee having served as an assistant coach for the Bucks during the Scott Skiles era. Griffin’s recent work with the Raptors likely stood out as well and is what made the Bucks push the green light. Griffin was a key piece for Toronto during their 2019 NBA Championship victory. This surely looks like the résumé of a head coach and not an assistant.

The Bucks spent all offseason welcoming their new coach with open arms. There's one thing. Griffin will be without Terry Stotts, however, as Stotts announced his departure from the Bucks as an assistant coach just several days before the regular season began. Stotts had been the head coach for the Portland Trailblazers and proved successful with Lillard, so that means many were obviously looking forward to a Lillard-Stotts reunion.

All of this comes after a rather unsuccessful and tumultuous last season, specifically the postseason.

As Bucks frontman Giannis Antetokounmpo advised in a viral postgame interview after losing to the Miami Heat 4-1 in the first round of the 2023 playoffs, it’s important not to take one bad game and assess it to the entirety or whole of the season. Using that advice, then it’s the postseason the Bucks should start with.

Antetokounmpo is right looking at the facts. The Bucks' season was anything but a failure last season. They finished the season with the best record in the entire league of 58-24. That’s even better than the NBA Champions Denver Nuggets record. The Bucks have done this for a few seasons now in the Antetokounmpo era.

That brings us to the postseason and their inability to beat Miami, which by now all of the NBA knows is hard to beat. The Bucks know this best, and have faced the wrath of the Miami Heat several times. 

The NBA Bubble was a memorable time for the Bucks as they faced the Heat and lost 4-1. That was a series that included injuries and an all-around lackluster performance from the Bucks against the Heat. It was, most importantly, a knock to the Bucks’ throne in the East as Jimmy Butler and the Heat beat Milwaukee and became the new team of the East. Miami took all their glory straight to the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Bucks’ struggles against Miami are well-documented. 

Last year may have been the final straw and was worse than the bubble loss. As the clock winded down in Game 5 of the first round, the Bucks failed to tie the game and opted to run the clock out instead of taking a single shot. The Bucks were already down 3-1 in the series and many had given the series to the hot Heat. Everyone should know to never count the Bucks out, but they were counted out last season when they fell to the Heat.

This isn’t about the Heat, however, it’s about the Bucks. They don’t always lose to the Heat. The Bucks had a first-round victory of their own when they swept the Heat during their championship victory in the 2021 NBA Playoffs. Three years after the NBA Bubble, a brand new season after the 2022 NBA Playoffs, the Bucks are still the top team in the East. There are plenty of reasons to think so. 

Milwaukee has a lot going on and Bucks fans have a lot to be proud of. The fun for the Bucks this season may start against the 76ers to the outside world, but there are a lot of secrets to Milwaukee’s success, a city known as “The Secret of the United States.”

The Bucks unlike their foe in the season opener, the 76ers, have had a positive offseason. Milwaukee has gone through its offseason and hosted a public practice for fans to get a first look at the team.  

Things learned from Bucks open scrimmage

Bucks scrimmage from Oct. 22 is amongst one of the important events worth taking a look at and analyzing as well as the Bucks’ preseason in which they took a 3-2 record ahead of the season,

During the scrimmage, a scrimmage the Bucks hold annually as a warmup to the regular season, the squad was broken down into a black team and white team with nine players on each team. Outside of Lillard and Antetokounmpo, the whole team played, including some young roster additions and previously injured players. 

Team White consisted of Khris Middleton, who made his official return from injury on Oct. 20 against the Grizzlies in the Bucks preseason finale. Middleton looked healthy and refreshed in the scrimmage, calling plays and taking the charge. This is a good sign as the Bucks expect Middleton to be the third man in the “Big 3” with Lillard and Antetokounmpo.

Along with Middleton on Team White was Bobby Portis, Pat Connaughton, Robin Lopez, Thanasis Antetokounmpo, Andre Jackson Jr., AJ Green, TyTy Washington, and last, but not least “Dame Time” who sat on the white side’s bench.

The flip side of that, the black squad consisted of Brook Lopez, MarJon Beauchamp, Jae Crowder, Malik Beasley, Lindell Wiggington, Marcus Bolden, Chris Livingston, and Giannis on the bench. That is nearly the whole roster the Bucks plan to suit up with come the regular season, which speaks volumes about the togetherness Milwaukee plans to have. 

There were a couple exceptions. Recently acquired point guard Cam Payne sat on the bench due to a thigh contusion suffered in the Bucks preseason finale and the Bucks were missing newly added Glenn Robinson III, who is the son of former Bucks legend known to many as “Big Dog.” Robinson III, who won the NBA's Slam Dunk Contest in 2017, was signed to an Exhibit-10 deal with the Bucks. The anticipation for Robinson III to be called “Big Dog No. 2” could have easily been built up during an event like the open scrimmage, but waiting until the regular season starts for his debut makes a lot of sense in the minds of Bucks historians and people who love surprises. 

The two squads were coached by assistant coaches Joe Prunty and Patrick Mutombo. The scrimmage was played in only one half, 10 minutes each and a halftime that included a half-court shot, autographs, and giveaways. The White Team took an easy advantage early being led by two of the Bucks main stars in Middleton and Portis. In spite of this, MarJon Beauchamp managed to squeeze out several flashy points and the black team also got some spark from Lindell Wiggington. Beauchamp was a standout with 18 points in the Bucks’ preseason finale against the Grizzlies, and he should be on the lookout as he approaches his second season with the Bucks and in the NBA. 

It was a laid-back and relaxed evening for the Bucks during their scrimmage, but also filled with a lot of promise which Bucks fans should be excited for. The Fiserv Forum arena in downtown Milwaukee was already packed as if it were sold out on opening night. If I were a fan attending this scrimmage, I would be a proud Bucks fan. The excitement in the atmosphere, especially the excitement over Lillard’s mere presence without even playing is a reassuring one.

Lillard and the other Bucks did all warm up since the doors opened an hour before the actual scrimmage began, which gave fans insight into what goes on behind the scenes to make the Bucks great every night. The warmup included sprints, stretches, a layup line, and a lot of interaction between the Bucks and the fans. The players signed autographs and played shoot-around. It was a typical scrimmage in every way imaginable.

It does say a lot about the Bucks roster. With a full 18-man roster to play a scrimmage with, even after headlines of roster cuts a couple weeks back shows the preparedness and competitiveness of the Bucks.

How will Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo work on the Bucks?

The Bucks roster is interesting. Stars like Middleton, Portis, Lopez, and Connaughton returning is dedication and they all are pivotal to the Bucks’ success. Bucks fans love Portis and the energy and quality of play he brings to the four. A raw talent like Beauchamp now in his second year should see increased minutes and a more important role. The new additions aren’t unheard of. Malik Beasley and Jae Crowder cap off a Bucks roster looking to contend for a championship just fine. Beasley has played with LeBron and the packed Lakers, and Crowder is a veteran who also has some Milwaukee roots during his college days as a former Marquette Golden Eagles. It is quite a diverse lineup, and that’s without mentioning Antetokounmpo and Lillard. 

The Bucks are a bit different this year. The spark of having a star like Lillard in their lineup changes things. This is a sentiment the Bucks will be hearing all season long and something the Bucks will have to answer to all season long. The Bucks and Bucks fans have been used to one star in Antetokounmpo, but now with Lillard, there are two stars on the floor. Managing Antetokounmpo and “The Greek Freak” brand was already serious business and the talk of the town in the NBA. His rise from a kid from Greece selling shoes on the street and often going without meals to the league’s MVP, a freak of nature in every sense of the imagination is one well chronicled. 

What does this all have to do with Lillard? One might ask that question with a shy sincerity and innocence, and Lillard and Antetokounmpo will have to answer it. The Bucks will have to manage Lillard now and his “Dame Time” brand, which consists of shooting a high percentage beyond the arc, needing the ball in his hands more than others, and running the point position. The idea of having two or three stars on the same team isn’t as easy as it sounds. The Bucks already had to break up their prior “Big 3” to get Lillard, which meant letting go of dynamic guard Jrue Holiday and their memories of the 2021 NBA Championship.

Hopefully, the Bucks rely on the upside of the acquisition of Lillard more than what the analytics and critics say. The pure fact that they have a player like Lillard who is sometimes a rapper, 2K cover athlete, and socialite on social media often giving his public view on things on his off days, will work out for them more than hurt. Having two stars like Antetokounmpo and Lillard on the floor will undoubtedly cause teams trouble and fulfill at least the first point of the matter, and that’s to get the Bucks some stars and win. The need for help for Antetokounmpo, who can’t run it all by himself for the Bucks to truly be successful, has been the story for the Bucks for a few seasons. 

How the Bucks will approach the coexistence of their stars along with the already existing relationships that work has yet to be seen outside of a few preseason games. In preseason, there were hits and misses. One game during preseason against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Lillard scored merely five points. This could have been a case of preseason jitters or a more serious chemistry issue. Bucks camp don’t know fully.

This is why it would have been important for Lillard and Antetokounmpo to have played in the open scrimmage, a game that is intrasquad and is at the end of the day an open practice. In the words of the great Allen Iverson, “It’s practice, man” and without it, a lot of players have learned will get you nowhere. The old adage that “Practice makes perfect” can be used here also. Waiting until opening night may prove to be too long of a wait after all, as fans and experts alike don’t have a clear picture of what the two stars look like, thus assessing the Bucks and properly giving them any projections is impossible. 

Of course, the hope is for the Bucks to be successful in the postseason every year and have a lot of fun while doing so. The latter of which Lillard will provide with his knack for long-hauling threes from anywhere on the floor, but the former remains an obviously far more complicated issue. Lillard, during his days in Portland, was often the lone star and hasn’t seen postseason success in a while. This is what brought him to Milwaukee. Lillard has solved at least half the issues for Milwaukee, and whether this is a longtime commitment or an impulse, spur-of-the-moment transaction that we see around the league today is yet to be seen. Whatever the case, Bucks fans should be flying off the wall to have Lillard. 

The Bucks will play their first game on Thursday, Oct. 26, and it’s a home game at the Fiserv Forum. This won’t be an open scrimmage or practice, but the real thing. As the clock ticks, Dame Time must be ready for game time as well as The Greek Freak, who in the off-season was busy with private matters of welcoming a baby and opening a clothing store with his brothers. All the extras aside, the on-court pressure is on after last season and their busy offseason.