The Milwaukee Bucks opened their preseason festivities on Monday, falling to the Minnesota Timberwolves, 116-97.

The Bucks aren’t expected to be competitive this season, housing a number of young players with an eye towards the future after trading superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat.

Minnesota is tapped to be one of the best teams in the West while Milwaukee will likely be at the bottom of the East. It was always going to be an uphill climb for the Bucks for their preseason opener.

For Milwaukee, the preseason, and even the regular season, is about internal growth and identifying who will be key pieces to the team moving forward. On Monday, a few players showed that they might be part of the future in Milwaukee.

Despite the loss, who stood out for the Bucks?

A lot of the attention is on Tyler Herro, who is perceived as the top offensive option on the team coming into the season, but Ryan Rollins is out to prove last year was no fluke.

Rollins looked very comfortable on Monday. He was the only starter to be a positive for the team, finishing with a +29 net rating while every other starter was -19 or worse. He didn’t have a standout offensive night, but he competed on defense and picked his spots on the offensive end.

Rollins is playing for a big contract in the final year of his rookie deal, and this was a strong start.

The tenth overall pick in the draft had a rough shooting night, going 3-for-10 from the field, but he did lead the team with five assists. The flip side to that is that he had three turnovers.

Burries had a good first half in limited minutes, but as his workload increased in the second half, the struggles started to become real, especially on the defensive end.

It was still an encouraging performance for the rookie, and there will be growing pains that he has to play through.

Ware had his ups and downs in this one, but his rebounding was very impressive with 12 boards to lead all players, including three on the offensive glass. Starting center Myles Turner is one of the worst offensive rebounders and a poor rebounder in general for his position.

Ware has the ability to end possessions or extend possessions, something this Milwaukee team will need a lot of if they plan on being somewhat competitive during the season.