Peter Feigin, President of the Milwaukee Bucks

Alrighty, what's happening? This is that Gelb show Coast to Coast on CBS Sports Radio. We go out to the guest line right now and welcome in the president of the Milwaukee Bucks. High expectations this year for Milwaukee after winning an NBA championship a few years ago because not only does Giannis Antetokounmpo have a new contract, they also get Damian Lillard. So we all can't wait for that duo to see how it plays out this season for the Bucks. They open up their season tomorrow evening up against the Philadelphia 76ers and now joining us is a good friend to the show. He's the president of the Milwaukee Bucks and that of course is Peter Fagan. Peter, appreciate the time as always.

How you been? Always, Zach. Always the most positive person in the media.

Like I know the text is going to hit when something hits which is always beyond appreciated. But I appreciate you saying that. I know there's a lot of other teams that will not say I'm the most positive person in the media but you guys do it right and in a small market there sometimes are things that could prevent you guys from getting to where you want to go but you guys have now kind of been the modeled standard in a smaller market on how to get this thing not only humming but humming consistently. Yeah I think in getting it done and having the vision and like our owners and John Horst who is just like who is just you know hit for the cycle you know over the last few years and kind of putting this puzzle together has just been incredible but you're right I mean the challenge of the small market is to really be focused and kind of like work twice as hard to get these types of things done. So you know a lot of people in the national media they always try to get Giannis Antetokounmpo off your team to like New York to a market like Miami as well or LA or Golden State whatever it is to win with Giannis and then also get him to continue signing with you guys just what does that mean to you personally? Yeah it's so much deeper I hate to get mushy or cliche you know but it's so much more than basketball you know if anybody gets to know this guy I mean we've all grown up together now for a long time here and he's part of the fabric and the leader on the court and you know we're all in this small market it's very transparent we're all very much a part of each other's lives his kids have like started to grow up with us his mother his brothers and he is exactly who you think he is the the most loyal transparent funny smart guy and by the way like you know probably the best basketball player in the world on top of it so it's a testament to the organization to him to the city I mean it's one of these like feathers in the cap that you can't even define like how important and what the magnitude of it is. And you know me I thought for a while he was going to stay this off season I was a little bit worried if I'm being transparent even though he said a lot of things that he said this year in the past it just felt different a little bit this time around with how last season ended to finally put this all to rest to get Damian Lillard to get Giannis to resign with you guys again when that deal was finally done and you got the okay from Giannis you guys had the back and forth just what went through your head right away? Well right away he said I've got news for you like it's done you walked out of like the room and he said you're you're terminated and I laughed I mean you know Zach it's so interesting because it's so immediate and by the way you know 10 days prior you're talking about the Dame effect and and kind of trading you know again for like one of the top five ten players like in the league that these are moments that like effectualize like the future of a franchise like we can think of our business you know two to four years out what you really couldn't do you know I tell everybody before this happens like hey if Giannis is on the court we're a championship caliber team like we're a global team we are we are in the mix we're a small market that that acts and performs like a large market you know and then you combine you know Damian Lillard on top of that as well as the rest of the off season you know like what gets kind of brushed away is you know we extended Chris Middleton Brooke resigned with us we kind of like have a great deep you know bench so the fact that these owners have really committed to to to literally doing what they said they would do is putting the championship team on the court is kind of like an incredible opportunity for us as an organization over a longer period of time you know to think beyond season by season. Bucks President Peter Fagan here with us with the message that Giannis sent you guys through the media maybe behind the scenes this off season did you guys really feel that pressure internally where you said okay this could be it with the Giannis era if we don't go get him another big time player?

No I think like we always feel the pressure like listen like you know you go through the ebbs and flows of what the age of your roster is what the terms are how do you keep health like how do you keep really competitive I think he knows we've been through it I mean the interesting thing about Giannis is like he has never gone away from the fact that he wants to be on a winning team and he wants to be somewhere where he can compete for a championship and he's always said that like in a big way to get it done so I think he knows I mean I think it's like the nice pressure on both sides of the of the partnership to say like let's test each other and like we're real we're gonna we are gonna compete we are gonna spend the money we are gonna go for the best talent in the league and we're not gonna compromise. So take me behind the scenes because from afar I thought for sure Damian Lillard was gonna wind up with the Miami Heat and then out of nowhere we get that breaking news alert whoa uh Damian Lillard's getting traded to Milwaukee and that was something that people suggested but no one ever thought it was going to happen so how'd this all go down behind the scenes? I think it's pretty simple I think you know several weeks prior to it happening John called Joe you know called Portland and said hey just by the way we're interested like we don't know where you are in the process you know it's like the simple deal call make sure you keep hooks in the water you know to to to get it in and lo and behold I think as as Portland was kind of navigating like where opportunities were you know they gave us a call and and literally I would say you know kind of in earnest like probably three intense days of really discussing kind of what the opportunities under beyond the cone of silence because you can't imagine you know for us like there were so many elements of it of of of the importance of confidentiality and secrecy because we didn't want it to hit the market we didn't want to we didn't want to go public and have to deal with the other teams you might be you know vying for to to play on and kind of deal with that and we also like have a real sensitivity to like our team members in our assets whether you know whether it's true whether it's grace and you know in the trade as well so I would say we kind of all went to bed the night before the trade and thought we had a thought we had like a deal on hand and we were all in a good spot and to to Portland's credit really kind of like very the cadence the transparency the incredible like dealing with John and and uh John and Portland's GM just really kind of like stuck it through and and like made made it happen and uh I mean I won't lie to you I think uh John and I hugged we've been lucky to hug every few months like in a real earnest way with like this kind of relief and that was probably like that was second only to the championship hug but that was a pretty long hug of like wow that was an event.

How did you guys tell Giannis by the way? I think we were always like pretty punctual I mean we told him like right away I think Giannis like immediate feeling like everybody I don't think there's somebody who probably had more of a deep connection on a human basis whether it's basketball or or off the court than Drew Holiday and his wife like Lauren for us in this community and like citizenship so I think like I think first and foremost like it was it was the thought of kind of that transition and the relationship and then and then kind of like I think Giannis was was kind of a little bit like we all were wowed at uh we just got either the best second or third best offensive player in the NBA to um to come to the Milwaukee Bucks. We've seen different errors in the NBA as the president of the Milwaukee Bucks Peter Fagan is here with us we've seen dynamic duos we've seen super teams we've seen big threes you guys have a big three with Giannis Antetokounmpo with Dame Lillard and also Chris Middleton what excites you the most when you guys get ready to tip off this season about what your big three can do this year? Yeah I think we I mean I think on the surface we can play a different brand of basketball like you know it's it's it's no shock that Damian Little can spread out a defense you know to to levels like a Steph Curry you know that that's a big change I think it might be the first time in Chris's career he won't be double teamed uh every every play and and might get some open shots to get through and I think uh you know I'm most excited to see you know famous throughout the errors kind of a pick and roll team of Dame and Giannis which uh you know I I think as they get go through time and kind of perfect it it close to if not impossible to stop you know if if it's if it really gets perfected in that type of pick and roll with with two new guys that can do so much so athletic so accomplished like uh offensively so it's it's kind of mind-blowing what the potential is.

Did it pain you to see Drew Holliday wind up with the Boston? Yeah you know I've I've been around for a while so I've had separations I've said goodbye to friends you know from summer camp I've like I've graduated from high school and said goodbye to you know kids I grew up with and and I've moved away I've had these emotional kind of things and I think Drew's Drew's chapter is right up there for a lot of us in that this is a guy that is like unconditionally loved and respected and just like like just an incredible like it's so funny when he explained to me like you know Milwaukee almost like revived my career and my love of basketball and I think you know he's shortchanging himself like he did that for a lot of us like we got we got the passion back you know to have like he was an infusion of such positive additive substance to us like we could never measure it I mean he's that great a guy. I know you guys also said goodbye to Coach Budden how close you guys have been we talked about that throughout the years now you have a new basketball coach in Adrian Griffin just what does he bring to the team I know we haven't been able to really see any games that count yet with the season just starting but what has kind of impressed you so far with Adrian Griffin? Yeah I think you'll see a whole new energy like on the sideline but on the court and kind of where we are you know defensively how we move our offense like at a much faster level I think it's a it's a different it's a different moving adjusting you know type of play I think he's feeling out like a lot of us on kind of what a head coach is to an assistant coach which is like an a pretty incredible evolution but but Adrian's the first time he's head coach but he's a veteran you know he's been around four or five of the greatest NBA coaches that's that have existed in this era he's been a top assistant he certainly has like in a short period of time the love and the respect of the team which is you know very cool to see matriculate. What's your side Peter Fagan on why Terry Stotts walked away from the coaching staff and resigned? Yeah well you know I have the business side the basketball side's always interesting I think there's the human side like I think this wasn't the right fit you know if you asked like this was like and it couldn't be better right like you always hope that if it's not right you know to quickly like make make the decision and understand it kind of quickly so I'm glad you know on both sides like if this was not a great fit you know we kind of figured it out early and I think you know Terry is like one of the renowned loved you know intelligent great guys who was around and probably just you know wasn't a good fit you know for for what where he is and what he was thinking about and uh you know it allows us really gives us the the kind of flexibility to move on you know kind of quickly and not drag it through the season. Is this championship or bus for you guys this year because you guys have a team that it would be a disappointment if you don't hold that Larry O'Brien trophy up at the end of the season? Yeah I mean we were just talking internally about the pressure I mean this is like you always I think you always want to be here like you want to be a championship caliber team but that's that means like you're out to win the championship so you know like if you don't think we went into you know a deep clinical depression when we got knocked out of the first round of the playoffs like last year like that's devastating that's way below expectations you know and for us it's so fragile these windows are so you know kind of narrow to go through but we got to you know we've got to get to the finals and we've got to win a championship. Last thing I'll ask you just from a league standpoint I know they made a minimum of how many games you have to play this year for awards and all that stuff we've talked about this before as the president of the Bucks Peter Fagan joins us about the load management issue do you think this will really solve it or is it still going to be hey if the star player doesn't want to play he's still not going to play and there's going to be an issue with load management in the NBA? I think it's a step forward I think it'll it'll be a movement to start to fix it I think you you I think you you will see there will not be casual do not plays like in in in the league I think like they'll really take a look at at load and and stress and injury you know in a much different way I think they did a great job with kind of the punitive issues to get it so I think it's directionally you know again another kudos to Adam you know in kind of having the vision of like here is like one of our soft spots like how do we look to to improve that and you know it's no secret that NBA fans want to see you know NBA superstars play it's why they tune in it's why they buy tickets it's it's what they do so I think it's a great step forward well I'm craving some carnivore I'm craving some fourth base and a little uh Fiserv Forum so text me on the side when everyone's gonna play and I'll make it out to Milwaukee again this year I love it Zach go go books appreciate it there he is Peter Fagan the president of the Bucks joining us