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Giannis looks to improve

AP Photo MILWAUKEE FORWARD GIANNIS Antetokounmpo drives down the court in a preseason game Oct. 11, in Dallas.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Last season’s loss to Toronto in the Eastern Conference finals stung Giannis Antetokounmpo.

So much so that the NBA MVP admitted it took several days for him to be able to sleep at night after he and the Milwaukee Bucks blew a 2-0 lead against the eventual NBA champion Raptors.

Antetokounmpo said his priority during the offseason was to become a better leader, both on and off the court.

“Mostly, you just gotta be more vocal,” Antetokounmpo said. “You gotta lead by example. You gotta be able to accept criticism by your coach, by your teammates, and be OK with it. That’s what a leader does. I know that my team knows who I am. They trust me. They know I’m going to put my body and everything I have on the line for this team. By doing that, everything else will take care of itself.”

The Bucks won a league-best 60 games a season ago, and took home MVP, Coach of the Year (Mike Budenholzer) and Executive of the Year (general manager Jon Horst) honors. But their goal was to bring the city of Milwaukee its first NBA title since 1971. That didn’t happen.

Now, with both Kawhi Leonard and LeBron James out west, Kevin Durant on the shelf in Brooklyn and the core of Antetokounmpo, fellow All-Star Khris Middleton, first-team all-defensive guard Eric Bledsoe and Brook Lopez back together, anything less than another deep playoff run for the Bucks will be deemed a failure.

“The message to the team won’t be that different than what it was going into last season,” said Budenholzer, who is entering his second season in Milwaukee. “Really, our attack point is just what are we doing every day? How are we getting better every day? How are we competing every day? Are we playing unselfishly? Are we playing together? All those things that are just our core beliefs. If we’re doing those on a day-in and day-out basis, the chips will fall where they may.”

The Bucks open the season Oct. 24 in Houston.

Bucks guard Kyle Korver said his new team is like a “more organized version” of the Cleveland Cavaliers teams he played on with LeBron James.

“I think that there’s a ton of freedom here for players to do what they do,” he said. “There’s a lot of special talent — unique talent — on this team, and (Budenholzer) gives us a lot of freedom to kind of figure some things out, and we did that in Cleveland, too. Let the great players be great, and just kind of give them space, and we all find our spots to contribute and to be effective.”

Korver signed a one-year deal with Milwaukee in July. The 17-year veteran reunites with Budenholzer, who coached Korver in Atlanta in 2015, when Korver made his only NBA All-Star team and Budenholzer won his first NBA Coach of the Year award.

Korver ranks fourth in NBA history in 3-pointers made with 2,351.

The Bucks lost former Rookie of the Year Malcolm Brogdon to Indiana in free agency. Budenholzer said he thinks the additions of sharpshooter Korver and veteran two-way wing Wes Matthews will help fill the void. Matthews was the 2005 Wisconsin Mr. Basketball and played his college ball at nearby Marquette.

Milwaukee will start the season with two pairs of brothers, as Robin Lopez joins twin brother Brook, and Giannis will have his older brother, Thanasis, on the roster. Thanasis Antetokounmpo, who last played in the NBA in 2016 for the Knicks, signed a two-year contract in July.

But, how much longer will Giannis Antetokounmpo be in Milwaukee?

Antetokounmpo can be an unrestricted free agent next summer. At that point, the Bucks can offer him a five-year supermax extension. Horst told a crowd at an offseason fan event that he intends to offer the extension to the three-time All-Star (and was fined for saying so by the NBA).

“I’m not going to talk about it a lot,” Antetokounmpo said. “I think it’s disrespectful toward my teammates talking about my free agency and what I’m going to do. So when the time is right, we’re all going to talk about it.”


Pistons still in the murky middle, hoping for progress

DETROIT (AP) — In a league with so many teams either contending or rebuilding, the Detroit Pistons haven’t been doing much of either.

What they did do last season was make a playoff appearance, a rarity in recent years. Now the challenge is to build on that.

“Not saying we’re ready for a championship, but we’re taking some big steps,” coach Dwane Casey said. “This is a bridge. We’re going across it, to continue to improve offensively, defensively, to get to our ultimate goal, which is to win a championship.”

The Pistons have resisted the win big-or-tank model that seems to be all the rage in the NBA. Two seasons ago, they gave up a first-round draft pick in a trade for Blake Griffin. That wasn’t enough to put them in the playoffs in 2018, but they made it a season ago and were immediately swept by Milwaukee. There’s still a clear gap between Detroit and the top teams in the league, but there’s also enough talent on hand that the Pistons could rise a bit in the Eastern Conference.

Last season was only the second playoff appearance in 10 seasons for this franchise. Winning a round would be another step forward.

“We’re not here just to get by, or just to get into the playoffs,” said Casey, who is entering his second season at the helm. “We want to do big things, and we’re building that foundation.”

With Griffin and center Andre Drummond under big contracts, the Pistons haven’t had much roster flexibility and Detroit hasn’t been a prime destination for free agents. If the Pistons are going to make anything more than mild improvement, they’ll probably need some unexpected contributions, perhaps from a recent draft pick like Sekou Doumbouya, a first-rounder this year who doesn’t turn 19 until December.

Detroit also brought in Derrick Rose, the former MVP who has battled injury problems but may still have some upside at age 31.

“Just to be completely candid, there are teams on paper who are more talented, or have more guys that are regarded as more talented, I guess,” Griffin said. “But I think we have the mindset to come in and compete every night, and if we do that — I said this last year — I think the fans, the city of Detroit, the state of Michigan, will get behind us.”

Aside from Rose, the Pistons also added a potential contributor in Tony Snell, who averaged 6.0 points for Milwaukee a season ago. Joe Johnson is also with Detroit now, but after not playing in the NBA at all last season, he’d likely be at the end of the roster if he makes the team.

The Pistons have been loath to give up on their current path, sticking with the trio of Griffin, Drummond and Jackson, but a poor start this season could bring about a tipping point. Owner Tom Gores indicated he wants to keep Drummond, but there’s been no agreement yet on an extension. It may now be a bit easier for the Pistons to move on from Drummond and/or Jackson if things are clearly going south.

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