Giannis Thread - 2 Time MVP - The Contract discussions

[Chad34]

maybe reason for the delay?
https://wtmj.com/news/2020/12/03/extra-points-lebron-being-lebron/

[SupremeHustle]

maybe reason for the delay?
https://wtmj.com/news/2020/12/03/extra-points-lebron-being-lebron/

That's a tongue-in-cheek article, right?

[raferfenix]

I wish the Bucks had a Popovich or Pat Riley kind of leader who could put fans at ease that they know what they are doing and wouldn't have dealt all those future firsts if we weren't sure Giannis wouldn't walk.

[Chad34]

maybe reason for the delay?
https://wtmj.com/news/2020/12/03/extra-points-lebron-being-lebron/

That's a tongue-in-cheek article, right?

i'm grasping for straws at this point

[BucksRule18]

The interesting thing is that I'm not sure how Horst can push Giannis to make a decision sooner rather than later. Judging by Giannis's personality, I truly believe Bucks management is taking a hands off approach when dealing with him. If they push his buttons too much, he may see it as them forcing his hand to make a decision he hasn't fully evaluated yet. This could go on much longer, not because the negotiations are falling apart or going back and forth, but because Giannis may be telling them he'll think it over and get back to them when he's ready.

[greekbuck34]

At least Giannis tweeted a few days ago "Back to Milwaukee".
Jrue didn't even mentioned his new team either in twitter or Instagram.
Did we announced anybody officially as a team so far?
Maybe it has to do with the ongoing investigation and we can't say anything until it's over?

[BucksRule18]

I don't think there's a way financially to get Oladipo without giving up someone like Brook now.

That makes sense. However, if at this point the Bucks are willing to do anything to get Giannis to sign on the dotted line, they may just ship Brolo, DDV and a 1st to Indiana to get Oladipo.

Can you explain how making the team worse would get Giannis to sign on the dotted line?

Again, it's all about appeasing Giannis at this point. If he thinks the combination of him, Oladipo, Khris and Holiday would dominate other teams, how do you convince him otherwise? It's sort of like when Lebron wanted Cleveland t sign Tristan Thompson and JR Smith to lucrative deals.

For instance, if Giannis had it set in his mind that Oladipo and Bogi would get them over the top, I'm not sure Horst is the guy to convince him otherwise. It's not like Pat Riley pointing to multiple champions won to convince Giannis that he knows what he's talking about.

[raferfenix]

maybe reason for the delay?
https://wtmj.com/news/2020/12/03/extra-points-lebron-being-lebron/

Giannis waiting until after Lebron and AD did their extensions so that he could maximize the spotlight for signing longterm with the team that drafted him would explain the delay.

Hopefully that bears out!

Doesn't seem like Giannis to focus on the PR (keeping the fans if not franchise on edge in the meantime) but he could be letting his representatives run the rollout.

[higharc]

At least Giannis tweeted a few days ago "Back to Milwaukee".
Jrue didn't even mentioned his new team either in twitter or Instagram.
Did we announced anybody officially as a team so far?
Maybe it has to do with the ongoing investigation and we can't say anything until it's over?

https://www.thebirdwrites.com/2020/12/2/21867891/jrue-holiday-giannis-nba-new-orleans-pelicans-lauren-milwaukee-bucks-mike-guevara-nba-smoothie-king

While fans have been salivating over the addition of Holiday to two-time MVP and DPOY Giannis, Khris Middleton and the NBA’s best defense in each of the past two seasons, there may be no one more excited than Jrue himself.

“I’m really excited,” Jrue said as he spoke of Giannis. “Just going up against him, guarding him, seeing him go up against Anthony has been super exciting. Now it’s a new chapter where I get to play with this guy who’s the (two-time) MVP. He does everything. I don’t know what he can’t do. I’m here to help, I’m here to support, but I’m also here to win.”

[machu46]

Is there a chance the Bucks are working on another deal to trade for Oladipo (even as a rental for 1 year)? Would DDV, some fillers and the 2021 1st do it? Perhaps Giannis has put that as a stipulation to sign the supermax deal after not getting Bogi.

We can't trade the 2021 first until after the 2021 draft.

At least Giannis tweeted a few days ago "Back to Milwaukee".
Jrue didn't even mentioned his new team either in twitter or Instagram.
Did we announced anybody officially as a team so far?
Maybe it has to do with the ongoing investigation and we can't say anything until it's over?

The team has made all of their transactions official.

[greekbuck34]

I didn't see that. It came up just yesterday a few weeks after the trade was complete and in a pelicans side only(?). Like something was holding them til today.

Maybe Giannis has already signed for weeks and we just can't say anything about it for some reason.

[H2tObes]

Today's media day, the reporters should hound GM Horst on Giannis' supermax extension.

What's he supposed to say?

I just hope the real answer isn't: "I gambled the franchise's future to acquire Holiday without realizing the cap mechanics (even aside from the leak) would screw up Giannis' preferred addition in Bogdan and now he's royally pissed."

If Giannis prefers Bogdan to Jrue then he can shove it

[higharc]

It was posted about that Greek Interview: https://www.reddit.com/r/MkeBucks/comments/k4szk6/translation_from_giannis_interview_that_aired/

Too bad you guys cannot understand the full video interview. Giannis expresses himself alot better in Greek and gives an insight to his character. Seems like a guy who tries to carve his own way through life and won't settle imitating another superstar.

Having said that, the most concerning part of that interview for the Bucks fans is his relationship with Spanoulis and what advice the latter gave him. From that article:
"Giannis took some advice from Vasilis Spanoulis, a 3 time Euroleague champion, top Euroleague scorer and passer in its history, Giannis said he took the most wise basketball advice from him but Spanoulis never said to the show when he was asked what he actually told him, according to Giannis it was in the meaning of: "if you really want to win then u must lose this and this" but it was wise in a vulgar way (non Greeks wont understand) and he couldnt share it."

The above translation is not exact.
The question was if one of the athlete celebrities he had contacted during the summer gave him any advice that sounded to him strange. Giannis smiled and immediately thought of Spanoulis. He warned he would not share the info. His words was that the advice sounded strange to him at first but made a lot of sense later on the more he thought about it. He said that it was in the order of "If you want to win you have to do this and that".

Why this seems important to us Greeks?

Because Spanoulis is considered to be one of the biggest traitors in team sports. He left Panathinaikos to sign with Olympiacos. These two teams are the worst rivals in Greek sports and up to this day he is one of the most hated players when he steps foot in Panathinaikos' home court.

Before you all commit suicide, as I said at the beginning, this interview reveals a whole lot about Giannis' character and he seems as someone who does not follow advices blindly, but seeks to find his own way to do things...

We don't know what Spanoulis said to him. Spanoulis is traitor to the Panathinaikos fans but he also has the biggest "balls" to the rest of the Europe. He left the most powerful team in Europe because he believed he is the best player in Europe and a No1 option, he went to the rivals who were by far a lesser team and didn't win anything in 15 years and transformed them to B2B euroleague champions as a historic underdogs making him probably the best euroleague player ever. If someone can give solid advice to Giannis on how to win in a club without winning culture as the Bucks and how to transform from a great player to a true MVP it's Spanoulis.

Let's hope you are right... There were a lot of reasons Spanoulis changed camps back in 2010, yours' is just one of them, narrated from Olympiacos' side. One can be suspicious based on his history. If the advice was so innocent Giannis wouldn't be so hesitant to share it. Best case is that he told him that if he wants to win he has to be cold and let FO to drop players he has good relationships with, or somethins like that. He wouldn't share this info, but it is also not detrimental to the franchise. But worst case...

[raferfenix]

If Giannis prefers Bogdan to Jrue then he can shove it

If it's a pure talent level, sure, preferring Bogdan would be a Thanasis-level GM decision (which is related considering Thanos was so involved in the Bogdan recruiting).

However, if it's preferring Bogdan + whatever else we could have gotten for 3 firsts (2 unprotected) and 2 picks swaps, that would be more reasonable.

We won't know until we see if Holiday steps his game up on the court with Giannis to warrant what we gave up.

[H2tObes]

If Giannis prefers Bogdan to Jrue then he can shove it

If it's a pure talent level, sure, preferring Bogdan would be a Thanasis-level GM decision (which is related considering Thanos was so involved in the Bogdan recruiting).

However, if it's preferring Bogdan + whatever else we could have gotten for 3 firsts (2 unprotected) and 2 picks swaps, that would be more reasonable.

We won't know until we see if Holiday steps his game up on the court with Giannis to warrant what we gave up.

Giannis does not care about picks 5 years down the road. I'm saying that's not the reason he hasn't signed yet

[Ron Swanson]

It's a tough balancing act in the player empowerment era (I hate that term BTW) with keeping your superstar(s) engaged and happy. You want to make them feel included in the decision-making process, but anything beyond "we're thinking about acquiring Player X, is that someone you want to play with?", is probably a recipe for disaster. Giannis being here and winning a championship go hand-in-hand, but the ultimate goal is still to win a championship.

[coolhandluke121]

Giannis does not care about picks 5 years down the road. I'm saying that's not the reason he hasn't signed yet

No but he might care that they might have been able to save all those picks for some other trade and just traded Bledsoe/#24 for Bogdan. He certainly would want them to trade the picks, but his bottom line is making the team as good as possible and you could argue that waiting for a better value trade might have done that. Sacto got nothing for Bogdan so there's not much reason to think the Bucks really had to give up DDV. Making a good value trade like Bledsoe/#24 and keeping all those picks for some other opportunity might have ultimately made them a better team. We don't know who will be available before the trade deadline, but there's usually a really, really good player or two every year. I can't see a star complaining about giving up future picks, but I can see him complaining about not getting enough value for them.

[tydett]

If Giannis prefers Bogdan to Jrue then he can shove it

If it's a pure talent level, sure, preferring Bogdan would be a Thanasis-level GM decision (which is related considering Thanos was so involved in the Bogdan recruiting).

However, if it's preferring Bogdan + whatever else we could have gotten for 3 firsts (2 unprotected) and 2 picks swaps, that would be more reasonable.

We won't know until we see if Holiday steps his game up on the court with Giannis to warrant what we gave up.

Giannis does not care about picks 5 years down the road. I'm saying that's not the reason he hasn't signed yet

Giannis really has his eye set on playing with little Josiah Xavier at Lincoln Middle School.

[H2tObes]

Giannis does not care about picks 5 years down the road. I'm saying that's not the reason he hasn't signed yet

No but he might care that they might have been able to save all those picks for some other trade and just traded Bledsoe/#24 for Bogdan. He certainly would want them to trade the picks, but his bottom line is making the team as good as possible and you could argue that waiting for a better value trade might have done that. Sacto got nothing for Bogdan so there's not much reason to think the Bucks really had to give up DDV. Making a good value trade like Bledsoe/#24 and keeping all those picks for some other opportunity might have ultimately made them a better team. We don't know who will be available before the trade deadline, but there's usually a really, really good player or two every year. I can't see a star complaining about giving up future picks, but I can see him complaining about not getting enough value for them.

Think we made the team as good as possible in an extremely important offseason, sure you could've sat on your hand and risk Giannis see us getting complacent, but I don't think many would be comfortable with that. Jrue is probably the best player we could've realistically added in a league where top end talent is everything, so once again I don't think acquiring Jrue over Bogdan has anything to do with why Giannis hasn't signed yet

[raferfenix]

Oladipo (who trained with Giannis in Athens) would not have required as much outgoing salary as Holiday.

That means we could have saved Bledsoe for the Bogdan trade so we could get to the number we floated while tampering under the cap.

That's even aside from how he wouldn't have required remotely as many draft picks to acquire.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not so high on Oladipo -- much less Schroder who we were reportedly close to getting -- but Giannis might be.

And all that said, even though he wasn't close enough with Jrue to offer him a plane ticket to Greece, there is plenty of reason to think they'll be fast friends once they hit the court.