Giannis Giannis Giannis

[Rainwater]

Middleton has proved that he is more than enough as a 2nd banana in regular season.
He still has to prove it in the post season though.
I expected more of him in the playoffs.
He also has to become better in clutch situations. He made a couple of buzzer beaters two seasons ago and since then he always takes terrible fade aways or unbalanced 3s without reason without making any of these.

He is the perfect kind of player besides Giannis in theory.

I completely disagree, I think who is the number 2 guy is a legitimate question. If it will be Khris, Jabari, or someone else. This is a very important year for Khris as he is approaching his prime. For a team that has a hard time scoring at times without Giannis, I want Middleton to up his scoring avg above 20 ppg something he has yet to do in his career. I want him to to be more consistent, especially in the playoffs, and to prove when Giannis is not on the court he can lead the team. His best year came when Giannis and Jabari were in their 2nd and 1st years respectively. I hope he can show that he can not only maintain that play but get better as Jabari and Giannis get better.

It was a team that had a hard time scoring period...with or without Giannis.

Wouldn't that prove how necessary it is for Middleton to step up??? And true, the offense is awful but as Giannis is the a guys who commands a double team and leads the team in assist and points he initiates everything. Without him the offense goes from awful to garbage.

[raferfenix]

Any cap experts know the earliest we could offer Giannis an extension?

[Lippo]

Somebody just needs to make Henson mad all of the time.

Dude is the most lethargic player in the league but when he gets a little angry, he's productive. What a waste.

If only he played against Matt Barnes every night, he would be worth every penny.

[Lippo]

One thing Giannis needs to work on as well as his 3 pointer is his FT%
If he can get into the mid to upper 80's that would help a ton considering he can get to the line at will and is starting to get Super Star treatment by the refs.
He has the form, and gets on hot streaks, but lack consistency, maybe his hands are too big to ever be Durant at the line.

[emunney]

Any cap experts know the earliest we could offer Giannis an extension?

Third anniversary after he signed his extension.

[raferfenix]

Any cap experts know the earliest we could offer Giannis an extension?

Third anniversary after he signed his extension.

So offseason before 2019-20?

Basically am gauging when we would be at risk of having a Paul George situation.

http://www.spotrac.com/nba/milwaukee-bucks/giannis-antetokounmpo-13328/

[emunney]

Any cap experts know the earliest we could offer Giannis an extension?

Third anniversary after he signed his extension.

So offseason before 2019-20?

Basically am gauging when we would be at risk of having a Paul George situation.

http://www.spotrac.com/nba/milwaukee-bucks/giannis-antetokounmpo-13328/

It'd be September 20th, 2019, yes.

[chonestown]

From the GQ season preview at https://www.gq.com/story/nba-season-preview-2017

The Greek Freak took a major leap last season and seems poised, almost inevitably, to take another. We often talk about athletes as unprecedented or wholly original, but Giannis Antetokounmpo leaves every other claim like this in the dust. A position-less marvel who can convert any possession into an easy basket and defend every player on the opposing team, Giannis is a surprising reminder that some things exist outside the bounds of our imagination. He plays with an unbridled joy and humility; there’s a natural curiosity to Giannis that makes it feel he’s just as excited, surprised, and bewildered by his play as we are. At a time when so much of the world is bad and ugly, watching him play is powerful and life-affirming, even if you don’t know the first thing about basketball. Giannis flat-out makes the world a better place every time he touches the basketball, or at least it feels that way.

Yep, that's about the size of it.

[leroyjw10]

From the GQ season preview at https://www.gq.com/story/nba-season-preview-2017

The Greek Freak took a major leap last season and seems poised, almost inevitably, to take another. We often talk about athletes as unprecedented or wholly original, but Giannis Antetokounmpo leaves every other claim like this in the dust. A position-less marvel who can convert any possession into an easy basket and defend every player on the opposing team, Giannis is a surprising reminder that some things exist outside the bounds of our imagination. He plays with an unbridled joy and humility; there’s a natural curiosity to Giannis that makes it feel he’s just as excited, surprised, and bewildered by his play as we are. At a time when so much of the world is bad and ugly, watching him play is powerful and life-affirming, even if you don’t know the first thing about basketball. Giannis flat-out makes the world a better place every time he touches the basketball, or at least it feels that way.

Yep, that's about the size of it.

For as many glowing reviews of Giannis there's been this offseason, that may be the best.

[Lippo]

Hmm, I had a dream LeBron shows he's the greatest ever by turning down the player option next year and coming to Milwaukee to play for the Vets minimum, and we win 3 straight titles with him and Giannis, that is at least until Giannis becomes the greatest ever

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Does 1/3 of our board disagree with these reviews and previews? I don't understand how you can believe the "Giannis is a top 5 player now" hype and not think we win 42 games in a bad East. If he doesn't lead us to a winning record (if healthy) we need to take a long hard look in the mirror as a franchise because the problem includes Giannis. The least amount of games Lebron ever won was 35 when he was a rookie. 42 his second year. 45 is his next lowest. We need Giannis to be good enough to grind us to a winning record now.

[M-C-G]

The least amount of games Lebron ever won was 35 when he was a rookie. 42 his second year. 45 is his next lowest. We need Giannis to be good enough to grind us to a winning record now.

The problem with this line of thought is that it is making some kind of assumption that Lebron and Giannis were developmentally comparable if you want to look at any comparison of wins. That WAS just drastically not the case.

[Magic Giannison]

Does 1/3 of our board disagree with these reviews and previews? I don't understand how you can believe the "Giannis is a top 5 player now" hype and not think we win 42 games in a bad East. If he doesn't lead us to a winning record (if healthy) we need to take a long hard look in the mirror as a franchise because the problem includes Giannis. The least amount of games Lebron ever won was 35 when he was a rookie. 42 his second year. 45 is his next lowest. We need Giannis to be good enough to grind us to a winning record now.

Lebron actually a good defensive team around him on a weaker conference. Not only that, Lebron came as ready product while Giannis barely played any form of competitive basketball. Their trajectory shouldn't be the same.

Basketball is a team game and even if you have the best player you cannot win alone. Our team has suffered tons of injuries.

[crkone]

Does 1/3 of our board disagree with these reviews and previews? I don't understand how you can believe the "Giannis is a top 5 player now" hype and not think we win 42 games in a bad East. If he doesn't lead us to a winning record (if healthy) we need to take a long hard look in the mirror as a franchise because the problem includes Giannis. The least amount of games Lebron ever won was 35 when he was a rookie. 42 his second year. 45 is his next lowest. We need Giannis to be good enough to grind us to a winning record now.

We just need our Ilgauskas now.

[blazza18]

Anthony Davis is a bad player because he's only led his team to the playoffs once in five years.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Anthony Davis is a bad player because he's only led his team to the playoffs once in five years.

You make a solid point though Davis missed 1/5 of the games on average during his career and has played in a tough western conference. That said, I'm shocked he hasn't produced more wins.

[Prez]

This team is also more talented than any team Davis has had, and it's not even close for 4 of the 5. The one year he had some semblance of talent around him he got them to 45 in a way tougher conference, even with injuries.

[emunney]

Remember how bad Terrence Jones looked for us last year? The Pels were playing him 25 mpg.

[blazza18]

I think their guards were better (when they actually played), but, yea not much going on with that roster.

[Pachinko_]

This is a very common thought among NBA fans and one that I find it really hard to wrap my head around

You have something that consists of parts, a team, a car, whatever, and it doesnt run very well. And you know you have a part that is vary good and all the other parts are cheapies and knock offs. How can you possibly conclude that your problem is the one part that is very good?

Also, it's a dead end thought to begin with. I mean ok lets assume the problem is Giannis, cool, what are we supposed to do about it? Find a better one? Good luck with that.