Damian Lillard working out at Giannis Antetokounmpo's house

Aaron Rose: Last night I asked Dame Lillard what he’s though of Scottie Barnes’ potential. Here’s what he said: pic.twitter.com/q1HDw2yUdH -via Twitter @AaronBenRose / November 2, 2023

Eric Nehm: Bucks coach Adrian Griffin told reporters that: – Giannis Antetokounmpo was out for today’s practice, but expected to play tomorrow. – Damian Lillard was excused from today’s practice for a personal reason and expected to play tomorrow. – Everyone else participated. -via Twitter @eric_nehm / November 2, 2023

As Lillard reflected on what he has tried to do in the first four games of the season, he found that he believes he has been doing the work that Antetokounmpo described by not just taking over himself or putting his head down to do what he used to do when he was the lone star on his team in Portland. “Typically for me, I take charge, and I try to make things happen and do more,” Lillard said. “But I’m like, ‘I don’t want to do that.’ I want to accept the process of this happening. And you know, Giannis is probably feeling the same way and Khris is probably feeling the same way. We want to show trust and not just go back to something that’s not sustainable. And I think because of that sometimes it can get ugly. “And sometimes, just in my experience in the league, it gets a little bit ugly out there when everybody’s trying to do the right thing and nobody wants to do the wrong thing. I think that’s kind of happening.” -via The Athletic / November 2, 2023

In Antetokounmpo’s mind, it is important that the Bucks remain patient, but he fears that patience could turn into the team believing that all they have to do is show up and the process will unfold naturally without any extra effort or work. “It’s a struggle,” Antetokounmpo said. “OK, we can make excuses — there’s a new player, there’s a new coach, there’s a new system — we can keep on making excuses and think that it’s going to be OK, but that doesn’t work in life. That doesn’t work like that. You have to figure out solutions and right now our solution is that, ‘Oh, we have a new player and a new coach’, and ‘Oh, we’re going to be better in Game 40.’ -via The Athletic / November 2, 2023

“No. We have to get better. We have to play together. We have to be more clear on what we try to get from offense. We have to be more clear in what we’re trying to accomplish defensively and who we are going to let attack us, because you’ve got to live with something. You cannot stop everything. We gotta keep figuring out solutions. Right now, we’re not there yet. Hopefully we can get better in the future. But if we just stay with the mindset that we are going to get better in the future, we will not. We have to every day come to the court and figure out ways to get better. I believe that as a team we will get better, hopefully.” -via The Athletic / November 2, 2023