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September 30, 2008

MILWAUKEE -- One practice is in the books for the 2008-09 Milwaukee Bucks and Scott Skiles chatted with the media to give his impressions of his first official practice at the helm of the Bucks.

Skiles seemed pleased with the results after practice number one. “We went through our practice plan minute-by-minute,” he said. “The guys got through it. They got a little fatigued near the end, but if they’re not fatigued at the end, then we’re probably not doing our jobs properly. I was pleased with it.”

The early days of camp will likely be spent giving the basics of Skiles and the new coaching staff’s system while also trying to familiarize the players with the new faces in this year’s camp. Coach Skiles addressed some of the specifics: “Just getting the foundation of our defensive system in place. The foundation of our fast-break, early offense game and we’ll be adding some sets and stuff, too.”

According to Skiles, the goal, once the system is in place, is “to be a very good defensive and rebounding team and then that starts your running game. Everybody wants to push the ball up the floor, but it’s very difficult to do out of the net (after a made basket). You can do it, but it’s very difficult out of the net.

“On the other hand, we want to go down, look at the early offense. If we don’t have anything, we want to execute and get a good shot. Good shots generally lead to good backboard coverage. Now you’ve got your transition 'D' covered. It all fits together, I want us to do all those things well.”

The first week is essential to getting things moving because, it is "when you’re getting your stuff in that often times you refer back to,” Skiles told the media. “Having a solid foundation in camp can really help you through difficult times in the season, which are inevitable.”

Although they’re working with a new coaching staff and several new players, the team hopes to be able to hit the ground running when their regular season tips-off in Chicago four weeks from today. A tough early season schedule has the Bucks playing 20 of their first 33 tilts on the road – a challenge for any team, much less one familiarizing themselves with new players and schemes.

Milwaukee would like to progress as the season goes on, but as Skiles noted, they need to be ready at the start of the year, as well. “Generally, the teams that are there at the end aren’t necessarily playing their best basketball at the beginning of the season. They’re making progress as the season goes on. Unfortunately for us, the schedule isn’t necessarily conducive to that. We’ve got to be playing some pretty good ball early in the season in order to weather that schedule.”

The other issue with preparing for the season is that coaches are limited in the amount of two-a-day practices they can hold and they’re limited to just one contact practice per day. There’s a balance that needs to be struck in terms of getting in shape and preparing for the season while also not wearing out the players.

“You don’t want to kill anybody in October, of course,” Skiles noted. “It’s such a long season and I understand the players' perspective on that. On the other hand, no matter how much you think you’re getting done in the non-contact practice, it’s just not the same.”

While working in that framework, Skiles discussed the earliest results on his goal of molding this team into a contender.

“This is the first day, the guys were very good today,” Skiles complimented. “A few of the things we were teaching them (were defense related) and we’ve got to stay with it. We have to see, player by player, who can bring it on a consistent basis and who’s struggling a little bit and needs more time.”

And with that, the Skiles era was officially underway and the countdown to the 2008-09 regular season has begun for the Bucks.