Matt Velazquez

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

SAUKVILLE – One by one, Milwaukee Bucks players arrived at The Bog golf course Monday afternoon for the team's annual golf outing benefitting its charitable arm, the Milwaukee Bucks Foundation.

The occasion usually represents the largest public-facing gathering of Bucks players during the off-season and Monday's outing was no exception.

However, behind closed doors, Bucks players have been getting plenty familiar with one another for the past month. Ahead of training camp, which begins next Tuesday, nearly all of the Bucks – outside of Ersan Ilyasova who has been playing for the Turkish national team – have been getting together on a regular basis to put in work ahead of the coming season.

The get-togethers started with a group text among Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Matthew Dellavedova, who decided to organize a week of practice sessions in New York City. Then, they each agreed to get back to Milwaukee as early as possible to put in extra work knowing that the rest of the team would follow their lead.

“It’s going to be a totally different system this year," Antetokounmpo said, referring to changes set to come under coach Mike Budenholzer. "We’re going to try to move the ball more, move around more, set more screens, set more pin-downs, wide pin-downs, and just adjusting to the new coaching staff. …

"It’s just fun having everybody around in August, September, three weeks before training camp and playing together, competing against one another and I think that goes a long way. When training camp starts we’re ready to go. We’re not going to stay behind – we’re already ahead.”

Center Brook Lopez, one of the team's free-agent additions this summer, has appreciated the chance to get to know his new teammates ahead of training camp and has been impressed by what he's seen so far.

In addition to the practices in New York, there have been group conditioning sessions at the team's Sports Science Center in which around 10 players have participated at a time.

“They’ve had such a great approach to these workouts," Lopez said, noting that he chose to come to Milwaukee because he believes "the sky's the limit" for the Bucks. "These are obviously optional workouts in the off-season and we’ve had a large contingent show up and they’re coming to play for real. They have the right mindset going in and I think it’s helping everyone improve on the court individually and as a team.”

Antetokounmpo reflects on first Lambeau experience: On Sunday, Antetokounmpo, Middleton and Dellavedova went up to Lambeau Field together to watch the Green Bay Packers take on the Minnesota Vikings. For Antetokounmpo, it was his first time checking out a Packers game up close.

“It was amazing," said Antetokounmpo, who left with two minutes left in regulation in what ended up as a 29-29 tie. "The atmosphere was great. I didn’t know there was 80,000 people that could show up on a Sunday to watch football like that. ...

“I talked a little bit with Aaron Rodgers before the game. Then I enjoyed the game, I ate some hot dogs and it was fun.”

When it comes to Rodgers, who has a partial, limited ownership stake in the Bucks, Antetokoumpo saw some familiar tendencies when it comes to pre-game preparations.

“We’re kind of similar, like, before the game he was really, really serious. He was locked in," Antetokounmpo said. "That’s what a great player is supposed to do no matter who shows up to your game – it might be Drake, it might be Giannis, it might be whoever. He was locked in.

"You learn from the best. He’s one of the best and I learn from that. He’s similar to me and I’m similar to him, too.”