MINNEAPOLIS — On Thursday, the Milwaukee Bucks got back to work with their first practice after the All-Star break on the University of Minnesota campus.

There is a lot of work to do. The Bucks are 3-7 in Doc Rivers’ first 10 games as head coach and sit nine games back of first place in the East. Rivers maintains that, despite his record in those first 10 games, the Bucks are moving in the right direction.

“I think it’s more important for everybody on the outside,” Rivers said of the Bucks’ poor results. “We always want to win. We want to win every game. We felt like we should have won two of those at least, right? But we didn’t. I don’t think anybody in here is concerned by it, but we do want to win.

“Losing is no good for you. Losing hurts your record, hurts our playoff seeding, but getting right is more important at the end of the day. And our defensive numbers, they show that they’re going down. But what hasn’t shown is if we can do the defense and play offense. That takes a different level of conditioning and that’s why we did a lot of running today.”

While Rivers might be trying to take the long view, there isn’t a lot of season left. The All-Star break is not the halfway point of the season; it’s the two-thirds mark of the season. The Bucks have only 26 games left in the regular season.

The last time the Bucks had a day to practice, they were in Dallas. On Feb. 2, they broke down the defensive end of the floor for their players and installed several new defensive principles. The next night, on Feb. 3, they sprung a trapping defense that featured an exaggerated version of those principles on Luka Dončić out of halftime and slowed down the Mavericks’ offensive attack in the second half to pull out a 12-point win on the road.

Rivers seemed pleased with the Bucks’ effort in Thursday’s practice in Minneapolis, but conceded that the team’s work was a little sloppy as it got back on the floor for the first time in a week.

“We got done a lot,” Rivers said. “It’s tough. The day after the break, the first practice usually is awful, but this wasn’t a bad practice. I thought our guys overall had decent focus, typical fumbles – that’s what happens, usually the first game is that, too – but I think the break is better now because you come out of the break, it’s not like you get 40 games. You got 26 games. You gotta get to it. So, that probably helps teams coming out of the break. We’ll see.”

The Bucks know they don’t have any time to waste. They face one of the toughest schedules and they will be tested immediately on Friday (at 9:15 p.m. CT) as they take on the Minnesota Timberwolves, who have the best record (39-16) in the Western Conference.

Khris Middleton still sidelined with left ankle sprain

During the first quarter of the Bucks’ 114-106 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Feb. 6, Kevin Durant was assessed a Flagrant One for a reckless closeout on a Middleton jumper from the right wing. Review determined that Durant did not give Middleton space to land. Middleton ended up stepping on Durant’s foot and spraining his left ankle. Middleton missed the final five games before the  All-Star Break.

After practice on Thursday, Rivers told reporters that he did not expect Middleton to play on Friday against the Timberwolves or Sunday against the Philadelphia 76ers, but that Middleton was improving.

“He’s getting better. He feels great. He just doesn’t feel 100 percent,” Rivers said. “A playoff game, he’d clearly play, but it’s too early. There’s no reason to worry about it or panic about it.”

Outside of Middleton, Rivers said that the rest of the Bucks’ roster practiced without limitations Thursday. That includes Damian Lillard, who had struggled with a left ankle sprain and then left ankle inflammation before the break.

As the Bucks prepared for their final game before the All-Star break in Memphis, The Athletic reported the Bucks were finalizing a deal with Danilo Gallinari after the 14-year NBA veteran was bought out by the Detroit Pistons. The Bucks made the signing official on Wednesday night, and Gallinari joined the Bucks in Minneapolis on Thursday.

For Rivers, who coached Gallinari from 2017-19 with the Los Angeles Clippers, the addition of the 35-year-old big man was simple to figure out on the first day.

“He was great, it was as easy of a fit as you could have,” Rivers said of Gallinari’s first day. “With the second group with Bobby (Portis) and him it’s a five and a four, that’s pretty good. Pretty big, great shooting, knows how to play. So he’s going to be a really good fit for us.”

It will be interesting to see how Rivers ends up using Gallinari. Throughout Mike Budenholzer’s tenure, the Bucks  played only three big men on a nightly basis. The same has been true this season under both Adrian Griffin and Rivers, but Rivers hinted at using Gallinari with Portis. That would be a notable change in the Bucks’ rotations, but Gallinari believes he fits with all three of the Bucks’ big men — Portis, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez.

“The way that I play, I’m a very versatile type of player so I can play in any system, with any player, so looking at the bigs that we got I think that I fit,” Gallinari said. “That was one of the reasons why I chose this team is because I think that I can fit in very well. Very excited.”

When Gallinari discussed why he decided to join the Bucks rather than other options like the Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers or Clippers, the first thing he mentioned was his connection with people throughout the organization, but especially Rivers.

“I’ve worked with a lot of people that are working in this franchise and I believe in the stuff that we can do with this team,” Gallinari said. “Of course, after talking with Doc – I worked with Doc for two years in L.A. so I know him very well – so I really believe in this group.”

Before being waived by the Pistons, Gallinari appeared in six games for Detroit. Before that, he had appeared in 26 games for the Washington Wizards. In those 32 games this season, Gallinari averaged 7.3 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 14.8 minutes per game, while shooting 45.1 percent from the field and 35.5 percent from behind the 3-point line.

While Gallinari’s minutes have been more limited this season, he played far more  in his previous NBA stops, including 25.3 minutes per game in the 2021-22 season for the Atlanta Hawks. But that was before he tore his left ACL while playing in a World Cup qualifying game with the Italian national team in September of 2022.

Gallinari insists that he could play more than he has been playing since returning from the injury if that is what the Bucks needed, but that is not what he demanded upon joining the Bucks.

“I mean, I definitely could’ve played more than those minutes but here I’m just here to help, whatever needs to be done on the court,” Gallinari said. “I don’t care about playing every night, not playing one night, play the other night, I’m here to help. So whatever needs to be done I’m here to do and help. I’m not looking for guaranteed minutes or this kind of stuff. I’m just here to help.”

Rollins signed

While Gallinari was the more notable signing of last week, he was not the only Bucks addition. Over the All-Star break,  general manager Jon Horst decided to fill one of the Bucks’ open two-way roster spots and signed point guard Ryan Rollins.

Rollins, 21, was selected by the Golden State Warriors with the No. 44 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft using a pick they had acquired from the Atlanta Hawks. During his onboarding process, the Warriors discovered a fracture in the fifth metatarsal of his right foot. Rollins ended up playing 62 minutes in 12 appearances for the Warriors in his rookie season before undergoing surgery on Feb. 8, which ruled him out for the remainder of his rookie season.

Last summer, the Warriors traded Rollins to the Washington Wizards as part of the deal that sent Jordan Poole to the Wizards and Chris Paul to the Warriors. Rollins played 66 minutes in 10 games this season with the Wizards before getting waived on Jan. 8.

The young guard was not with the Bucks in Minneapolis because he went straight to the Bucks’ G League affiliate and started for the Wisconsin Herd on Thursday night. Rollins put up 21 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 4-of-6 3-point shooting, as well as five rebounds and four assists.

With Rollins and TyTy Washington Jr. on the roster, the Bucks now have two of their three two-way spots filled.

(Photo of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Doc Rivers: Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today)