Milwaukee Bucks Pre-season Presser for 1989-90 Season
Posted: Mon May 25, 2026 1:03 pm
Good afternoon, good evening, and good morning to whatever time zone you are tuning in from, because honestly, after what we just accomplished, we feel like celebrating around the clock. In fact, as this season kicks off, I'm going to be observing from Tokyo Disneyland, advancing our international marketing plan instituted seasons back. But enough about my big travel plans...
Welcome back to Milwaukee, welcome back to Bucks basketball, and welcome back to a press conference that does NOT start with us talking about falling short. Last season, we went back to the NBA Finals. We faced the San Antonio Spurs again, the same team that beat us the year before, the same team with Michael Jordan doing things that should probably be studied in a laboratory somewhere, and this time we finished the job. CHAMPIONS. Milwaukee Bucks, NBA Champions. We want to let that sit in the air for just a moment because last year left us really in a spot where we needed to improve and get back to the top. Now, we should acknowledge that the Spurs were not completely whole. Chris Mullin, one of their key contributors, went down with an injury and was not available for the series. We are not going to pretend that does not matter, because it does, and we respect what that team is capable of when fully healthy. But Tom Chambers was out there. Michael Jordan was out there. That is not exactly a depleted roster we were going up against. We won because we were the better team in that series, and we are incredibly proud of everyone who suited up and gave everything they had to bring this city its championship. The parade was everything. We will leave it at that.
Now, here is where things get a little complicated, and we want to be upfront with you all rather than let the rumor mill do the talking. Winning a championship has a way of clarifying things. You go through that playoff run together, you see who steps up in big moments, you see where the team's future is pointing, and sometimes the picture that emerges is a little different than the one you walked in with. That is what happened with us this offseason. We looked at this roster with fresh eyes after the title and decided that the honest, responsible thing to do was a mini-reset around the younger core. That meant some difficult conversations and some genuinely tough decisions. The most significant one was moving on from Charles Barkley. Let's be real: Charles Barkley is a generational talent still in his prime, and there is part of us that would love to have him on this team forever. But the deal that came back to us in exchange was simply too strong to turn down. We got Ron Harper and meaningful draft capital, and once you watch Ron Harper in a training camp setting for about four days, you stop second-guessing yourself pretty quickly. This guy is READY. He came in locked in, motivated, and playing with a chip on his shoulder that we absolutely love to see. We believe Ron Harper is going to be a focal point of Milwaukee Bucks basketball for the next five to seven years, and acquiring him while also stacking future assets felt like the right move for where this franchise is headed.
The other move that hits close to home, and we want to address it with the respect it deserves, is the Terry Tyler situation. Terry Tyler has been the heartbeat of this team for years. The defensive anchor, the glue guy, the guy who did everything that does not show up in a box score and somehow also showed up in the box score anyway. Trading Terry was not something we did lightly, and if you are sitting there thinking it was a cold, purely business decision, you are not wrong that it was a business decision, but there was nothing cold about it. This was his swan song as a Milwaukee Buck, and we honor everything he gave this organization. In return, we brought in Thurl Bailey, who gives us a skilled, versatile big man that can contribute on both ends of the floor in a way that fits beautifully with what we are building. On the free agency side, we kept things fairly targeted. We signed Jeff Lamp and John Paxson, two guys who know their roles, play the right way, and will give us exactly what we need from the second unit. And critically, we locked up Benoit Benjamin to a long-term deal. Benoit is our big man of the future alongside who we could see taking over if we ever move on from Alton, and getting that deal done was a priority we are very glad to have checked off the list.
So here we are. New look Milwaukee Bucks... Same high expectations & goals. Doc Rivers runs this team with a steadiness and a competitive fire that we think is underappreciated around the league, and we feel very good about him leading this group into a new era. Jeff Hornacek continues to be one of the most reliable two-way guards in the Eastern Conference, and Dominique Wilkins coming off the bench is still the kind of luxury that makes opposing coaches lose sleep. Alton holds down the middle. Thurl gives us that versatile big off the bench. Lamp and Paxson give the second unit real shooting and real IQ.
Is the roster different than the one that won the championship a few months ago? Yes. Is it still loaded with high-level talent capable of competing for the top of the Eastern Conference and making a deep playoff run? Absolutely, without question, yes. The future of this franchise is genuinely exciting, and while there is some uncertainty in what this group looks like long-term as we continue to build around our young core, the short-term objective has not changed one bit. We did not win a championship just to come back the next year and coast. We are pushing for another one. That is what you do here in Milwaukee. Now let's get this season started.
Welcome back to Milwaukee, welcome back to Bucks basketball, and welcome back to a press conference that does NOT start with us talking about falling short. Last season, we went back to the NBA Finals. We faced the San Antonio Spurs again, the same team that beat us the year before, the same team with Michael Jordan doing things that should probably be studied in a laboratory somewhere, and this time we finished the job. CHAMPIONS. Milwaukee Bucks, NBA Champions. We want to let that sit in the air for just a moment because last year left us really in a spot where we needed to improve and get back to the top. Now, we should acknowledge that the Spurs were not completely whole. Chris Mullin, one of their key contributors, went down with an injury and was not available for the series. We are not going to pretend that does not matter, because it does, and we respect what that team is capable of when fully healthy. But Tom Chambers was out there. Michael Jordan was out there. That is not exactly a depleted roster we were going up against. We won because we were the better team in that series, and we are incredibly proud of everyone who suited up and gave everything they had to bring this city its championship. The parade was everything. We will leave it at that.
Now, here is where things get a little complicated, and we want to be upfront with you all rather than let the rumor mill do the talking. Winning a championship has a way of clarifying things. You go through that playoff run together, you see who steps up in big moments, you see where the team's future is pointing, and sometimes the picture that emerges is a little different than the one you walked in with. That is what happened with us this offseason. We looked at this roster with fresh eyes after the title and decided that the honest, responsible thing to do was a mini-reset around the younger core. That meant some difficult conversations and some genuinely tough decisions. The most significant one was moving on from Charles Barkley. Let's be real: Charles Barkley is a generational talent still in his prime, and there is part of us that would love to have him on this team forever. But the deal that came back to us in exchange was simply too strong to turn down. We got Ron Harper and meaningful draft capital, and once you watch Ron Harper in a training camp setting for about four days, you stop second-guessing yourself pretty quickly. This guy is READY. He came in locked in, motivated, and playing with a chip on his shoulder that we absolutely love to see. We believe Ron Harper is going to be a focal point of Milwaukee Bucks basketball for the next five to seven years, and acquiring him while also stacking future assets felt like the right move for where this franchise is headed.
The other move that hits close to home, and we want to address it with the respect it deserves, is the Terry Tyler situation. Terry Tyler has been the heartbeat of this team for years. The defensive anchor, the glue guy, the guy who did everything that does not show up in a box score and somehow also showed up in the box score anyway. Trading Terry was not something we did lightly, and if you are sitting there thinking it was a cold, purely business decision, you are not wrong that it was a business decision, but there was nothing cold about it. This was his swan song as a Milwaukee Buck, and we honor everything he gave this organization. In return, we brought in Thurl Bailey, who gives us a skilled, versatile big man that can contribute on both ends of the floor in a way that fits beautifully with what we are building. On the free agency side, we kept things fairly targeted. We signed Jeff Lamp and John Paxson, two guys who know their roles, play the right way, and will give us exactly what we need from the second unit. And critically, we locked up Benoit Benjamin to a long-term deal. Benoit is our big man of the future alongside who we could see taking over if we ever move on from Alton, and getting that deal done was a priority we are very glad to have checked off the list.
So here we are. New look Milwaukee Bucks... Same high expectations & goals. Doc Rivers runs this team with a steadiness and a competitive fire that we think is underappreciated around the league, and we feel very good about him leading this group into a new era. Jeff Hornacek continues to be one of the most reliable two-way guards in the Eastern Conference, and Dominique Wilkins coming off the bench is still the kind of luxury that makes opposing coaches lose sleep. Alton holds down the middle. Thurl gives us that versatile big off the bench. Lamp and Paxson give the second unit real shooting and real IQ.
Is the roster different than the one that won the championship a few months ago? Yes. Is it still loaded with high-level talent capable of competing for the top of the Eastern Conference and making a deep playoff run? Absolutely, without question, yes. The future of this franchise is genuinely exciting, and while there is some uncertainty in what this group looks like long-term as we continue to build around our young core, the short-term objective has not changed one bit. We did not win a championship just to come back the next year and coast. We are pushing for another one. That is what you do here in Milwaukee. Now let's get this season started.
