Erik Spoelstra: Meyers Leonard is a great human being

Meyers Leonard: I plan on, even though it’s only a 10-day for now, I hope it gets extended beyond that, let’s see what happens, I plan to meet with people in the Jewish community here in Milwaukee. I’m not just checking boxes and moving on. That is not who I am. I’m so thankful to the Bucks organization but technically to the city of Milwaukee. I sense that this is a very welcoming community and again, it’s a tricky situation, but all’s I can say is I’m extremely thankful, very grateful, hopeful for grace and forgiveness. All’s I can do is how my heart, speak from my experience and try to lead with love. -via Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel / February 23, 2023

Q: On the court, how can you fit with the Bucks? Meyers Leonard:  First of all I’m thankful to know at this point now they’ve had their eye on me for a couple years now. All’s you gotta do is look how Brook (Lopez) plays. If I can mirror or try to be a version of that, that helps. I’m going to try to soak in everything that I can. I shoot the ball – that’s what I do. I feel like I communicate very well on the defensive end. I try to be a floor general back there. You’ve got a guy like Giannis, I mean, forget about it. The guy is unbelievable. All the pieces here, it’s just incredible to be a part of. I’m only a practice in but it’s just, I couldn’t be more grateful. I know I keep coming back to that.” -via Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel / February 23, 2023

What has it been like for you to wear an NBA uniform again? Meyers Leonard: It’s a mixed bag of emotions, for sure. It’s certainly the hardest two-year stretch I’ve ever had in my life, as an adult, as a man. The truth is – let’s just cut to it – I made a really big mistake, the biggest mistake of my life. And it was an extremely difficult time because, first of all, just let me say to anybody who’s listening, I’m incredibly sorry. It was an ignorant mistake. -via Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel / February 23, 2023

Eric Nehm: The Bucks have submitted their injury report for Thursday night’s game in Chicago. OUT: Pat Connaughton (left calf soreness) Jae Crowder (return to competition reconditioning) Bobby Portis (right MCL sprain) Probable: Giannis Antetokounmpo (right knee soreness) -via Twitter @eric_nehm / February 15, 2023

Bobby Manning: Allen on Jae Crowder: “Jae’s now been in every city I’ve been in in the NBA, so it’s nice to see a familiar face. I know exactly what he can do. I think we all know exactly how he fits on the team. He’s going to help us a lot, so we’re just excited.” Crowder is out tonight -via Twitter @RealBobManning / February 14, 2023

They did ask me for a couple, handful of teams that I preferred to go to and I was appreciative of that. I did not want to go to a rebuild. Obviously at this point in my career I think I laid the foundation of being a winner in this league and I’d like to keep doing that. And I just wanted to give myself an opportunity to just win at a high level. I think that was my main goal to the front office. I didn’t say I want to go to this team or this team or this team, I just wanted to give myself a chance to continue to win in this league. I think Phoenix understood that, and they were appreciative of what I brought to their team and that’s all I can ask for when it comes to this business of basketball. -via Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel / February 13, 2023