The Milwaukee Bucks held their media day to kick off the 2024-25 season at Fiserv Forum on Monday, and the day opened with general manager Jon Horst and head coach Doc Rivers sharing the podium for about 26 minutes of questions and answers.

Below are a few highlights from their session.

Q. Last year the roster was set and then the team acquired Damian Lillard, which changed everything days before camp. How important was it to have some continuity with the stars and head coach Doc Rivers to fill out the three spots available in free agency?

Horst: I think like we do every year but even more so this offseason, we took a deep, critical look at our team to try to figure out how we can improve. I think the balance of this roster and the talent of this roster, we feel like we’ve improved. I think some of the key things, maybe more generally speaking, we talked about this in some of the draft settings, was kind of catch-and-shoot ability, positional size, guys who are either at or approaching their primes, guys that can really defend and defend with physicality and be defensive playmakers. I think we did the best that we could with the spots that we had available.

It’s really a credit to those players for choosing us. They weren’t short of options, and in most cases, honestly, they chose less money to come play for us for a chance to win and for a chance to really compete and improve their careers. You’re right, having a set core, returning group of guys that we believe highly in and then figuring out the added pieces that we could push and how to develop the young players that we have on our roster – the Andres and MarJons and AJ Greens and Chris Livingstons of the world – so that they can fit into that system better, I think is gonna pay off for us.

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Q. The Bucks appear to be discounted nationally as championship contenders, in relation to the defending champion Boston Celtics and other teams that made big moves. How has that affected the team?

Rivers: We all pay attention to it. We see it. We read it. You notice you’re not playing on Christmas. There’s a lot of little things you can use. I don’t think I have to use ‘em. I think it’ll use itself, if you know what I mean. At the end of the day everybody’s 0-0 and that’s how the season starts, right? I’m more focused on us and being the best team that we can be, and at the end of the day that will do all the talking. And that’s the way I look at our team.

Q. The team is headed to Irvine, California, for the opening week of training camp. Why?

Rivers: I decided that literally 10 days here. I’m not kidding. I actually wrote that down 10 days after taking the job. We need to get this team away. I use the example several times, but think about Dame. I always use last year. Dame gets traded. Comes in the day before camp, the next day they practice, and what does he do after practice? Goes back to the hotel. Giannis goes home. Khris Middleton goes home. All the players go home. No connection. And that happens and then the season starts. I think it’s important that they’ll be riding in the car together to and from practice, going to dinners, spending time. I wish it was longer, honestly. Camp is what, four, five days now? For a coach that’s nuts to me, but it is what it is. It’s what the NBA is now. But from a team standpoint, the longer they’re together (the better). It’s nice that our first game is on the road, so it kind of extends it, you know? No families. No friends around. Just us. I think that’s good for our team.

Q. How will young players fit in this year?

Rivers: I think we had a great summer overall. I think AJ Green had an amazing summer overall. We saw him all summer. He was phenomenal. But all our young guys, they put in some time, they put in some travel. They’ve been to Portland hanging out with Dame, they’ve been to Greece with Giannis, they went to Phoenix where Dame had a camp. They’ve been to L.A. for five days where they all worked out together with all of our guys. They’ve been a traveling team and they’ve all gone. And it’s been absolutely wonderful. We’ve been in town what three weeks now, all the guys, playing pickup games. Little bit of coaching but more pickup games. And the one thing I think everyone sees when they look around is holy crap there’s a lot of competition in this gym. And that is the great part from our standpoint. I think they all see it and I think it’s going to make camp really competitive.

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Q. What is the biggest challenge facing the team this season?

Rivers: I would say obviously health is not my challenge, but it’s our challenge as a team. We want to get to the playoffs healthy, right? But we want to be dominant all season and play well all season. So, to me, it’s more about the connection of our team. The better continuity we can have through the year, through the training camp – that’s one of the reasons we’re going away for camp – that’s a major focus for us. I believe with what we have returning and what we’re bringing in, we have enough. But it only works if we do it as a group and together with one mindset. So I think that’s my main focus.

Q. Aside from Khris Middleton’s camp limitations after offseason ankle surgeries, are any other players limited physically beginning training camp?

Rivers: No. Unless I’m missing something, we’re all good. Great shape. Everyone, we did a little conditioning. I don’t even know if you’d call it a test – it was more a team builder. Everyone did it. Did it easy. Which was great for us to see. It’s really cool watching everyone do it in the gym because the anxiety – like, everyone was worried about it, like "oh my God we’ve got to do a test." I sent out this thing like a month ago but I didn’t tell them what the test was. Dame, "uh, excuse me Coach, what’s the test." He’s so concerned about it. I think a week before I finally told them. It wasn’t a big deal. But in their minds it was a big deal, but watching them do it was fantastic.

Horst: Just re-emphasize – Khris is doing really well. Khris had just like a normal offseason cleanup procedure. He literally is on the court right now as we’re talking and he’ll be a very active participant in camp. So Khris is also healthy.

Q. Why was it important to hire Darvin Ham as an assistant coach?

Rivers: Well he has a connection here No. 1. First of all he’s an excellent coach. I would just start there. He’s an excellent coach. And I thought he did a great job in L.A. He took his team to the Western finals and then he wins the In-Season Tournament in the middle of the year and then he gets let go for that. He had proven he’s an excellent coach. He had connection with a lot of our guys here. He has a connection with the city. That was a recruiting challenge as well. It really was. Coaches, when you get fired it’s emotional and the first time it’s really hard. It really is. I think Darvin was leaning more toward not working this year. He laughs because I told him he was going to be a Buck, I didn’t ask him. And he said I’ll check back with you. He said I’ll call you in a week and that’s how the whole summer went for the most part until he signed. So, I’m just so happy to have him. I’ve always respected him from afar and now up close he’s even better. So it’s been terrific.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What Jon Horst, Doc Rivers had to say at Bucks media day