By Jim Owczarski Sports Editor Published Oct 21, 2014 at 1:06 PM Photography: David Bernacchi

Last year was O.J. Mayo’s sixth season in the NBA – his first in Milwaukee – and his first playing alongside Brandon Knight.

More importantly, it was the first time he saw Knight work, day to day, up close.

To say it wasn’t good season for the Bucks last year would be an understatement, even for the two guards. Mayo struggled with conditioning, Knight with injury – at least early on. He admits the hamstring pull he suffered in the opening minutes of the season’s first game in New York hampered his growth.

Yet, by the end of the year, as the Bucks sank to the bottom of the league standings, Mayo saw his backcourt mate improve.

"He’s a heck of a worker and he definitely motivated me last year just because how the season was going, he was still focused," Mayo said. "I told him, I wanted to come out this summer and work out with you because we weren’t – but if we were ready to go to the playoffs – he was ready to play at a high level. That lets you know right there where he was with his workout regimen."

Mayo was true to his word, and he made his way down to Miami to work out with the 22-year-old point guard.

Such words, and action, were one of the greatest compliments Knight could receive from a teammate, especially a veteran.

"It’s a compliment," Knight said. "He’s been around for a while. He saw my progression last year as a player and over my past couple years in the NBA. So, it’s big time."

Mayo had to chuckle however, saying that at times he felt he needed back off those workouts so he wouldn’t get burned out.

"I’ve heard those stories, too," said Khris Middleton, who came into the league with Knight in Detroit four years ago and accompanied him to Milwaukee in the Brandon Jennings trade.

"I’ll work out with him, but I won’t lift weights with him. That’s just my thing. He’s a freak. He’s on a different level. I have to stay in my lane and do what’s right for my body and he does what’s right for his body. I’ll go on the court tall day, but I’ll never get in the weight room with him. His workouts in the weight room aren’t for me. We talk about it all the time."

Knight sort of shrugs at his reputation, but it’s one he’s proud of.

"I push guys," he said. "If you come work with me, I’m going to push you. So I intimidate a lot of our teammates. I got to tone it back a little bit so they can come (work out)."

There’s another benefit to the workouts, too – and not just the ones in the weight room, but also on the court. It gives Knight, and his teammates, a chance to build camaraderie and lay a positive foundation to reference when things go poorly down the road.

"When you spend time in the summer time, which a lot of us did, it makes this process much easier," he said. "It makes going through the tough times much easier. Because then you go back to those times in the summer time when you’re in the gym, bent over, sweating, just you two or three guys from the team and you have something to go back to and you have something to hold on to when you go through a tough time."

The tough times may continue this year, one in which the front office has characterized as a season to rebuild.

For his part, Knight sees himself as not only an integral part of the process, but someone who can lead not only the young players on the roster, but even the veterans.

"I think great leaders find ways to make guys that sometimes don’t play hard every night, they find ways to make sure that their team does," he said. "That’s the main thing for me, making sure that I get guys to come along with me on that journey of playing hard every single night for 82 games."

Knight also feels he can do that as the team’s primary point guard, even though new coach Jason Kidd has tried to avoid placing "numbers" or positions on players.

But Knight, as he did at the start of last year, has tried to dispel any notion that he’s just a scorer, or that he can’t run a team from the point position.

"I know from playing the point and being in the NBA the past couple years that I’ve improved at the spot," he said. "It’s not something you just pick up right away. It’s a learning process and I know I’ve gotten better. And I continue to get better and continue to take strides. For me, I know I can get in the paint. Through studying a lot of film this summer, I know I’m doing it better already. It’s just a matter of making the right decisions. I have the athleticism, the mental capacity to do it, as I get more experience I’ll make the right plays. That’s my best position."

It’s a confidence that his new coach certainly understands, and appreciates.

"I think he’s one of our leaders, and you look at being a point guard on the floor being an extension of the coach, understanding that you’re trying to execute a game plan and so with him, we feel as a coach and a coaching staff, very confident in him being the point guard," Kidd said. There will be times when he might play off the ball but that’s just putting him in a position to be successful."

And part of that, as Kidd is keenly aware, is helping Knight earn an extension with the Bucks. The deadline for extending fourth-year players is Halloween day.

"He’s a piece that we want here," Kidd said. "You talk about his work ethic, the way that he approaches the game, he’s professional on and off the court. His work ethic is extremely high. Loves the game and I look for him to have a great training camp and a great preseason and overall a very good season for us.

"Day one I’m not here to get in the way of someone’s success. I want everyone to have the ultimate goal of winning and be able to be financially set. Our job as coaches to help them achieve that goal, and B-Knight and Middleton are the first two up."

For his part, Knight, who is represented by Arn Tellem, says he isn’t worried about his contract status.

"My job is to come out here and perform; come out here and play hard," he said. "So honestly, for me, all I’m thinking about is basketball. I’ve got so many things I want to do with this team and so many goals that I have for myself and for our team that that’s like something I barely think about.

"For me, I’ve got so much time invested – we were probably five, six hours in the gym yesterday – I’ve got so much time invested in trying to get better and picking out little things from film and things like that, that the priority is this stuff."

Jim Owczarski is an award-winning sports journalist and comes to Milwaukee by way of the Chicago Sun-Times Media Network.

A three-year Wisconsin resident who has considered Milwaukee a second home for the better part of seven years, he brings to the market experience covering nearly all major and college sports.

To this point in his career, he has been awarded six national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, breaking news and projects. He is also a four-time nominee for the prestigious Peter J. Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism, presented by the Chicago Headline Club, and is a two-time winner for Best Sports Story. He has also won numerous other Illinois Press Association, Illinois Associated Press and Northern Illinois Newspaper Association awards.

Jim's career started in earnest as a North Central College (Naperville, Ill.) senior in 2002 when he received a Richter Fellowship to cover the Chicago White Sox in spring training. He was hired by the Naperville Sun in 2003 and moved on to the Aurora Beacon News in 2007 before joining OnMilwaukee.com.

In that time, he has covered the events, news and personalities that make up the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, NCAA football, baseball and men's and women's basketball as well as boxing, mixed martial arts and various U.S. Olympic teams.

Golf aficionados who venture into Illinois have also read Jim in GOLF Chicago Magazine as well as the Chicago District Golfer and Illinois Golfer magazines.