It's time to have a critical conversation about Giannis

[Ooduwa]

Whatever happens with this series, I think it's clear that crowning him the leagues best player was a bit premature. His offensive game is extremely limited, and he lacks the polish to consistently create good looks against competent defenses. On top of that, he struggles at the line and has no jumper to speak of outside of the odd spot up.His single greatest gift is his ability to get to and finish at the rim, which collapses defenses and provides good looks for his shooters, but when he's denied access to the painted area he has no counters or falls backs to compensate. During the regular season, and even against inferior post season competition like Boston this isn't an issue because he can generally impose his will. But in competitive matchups it's a glaring problem that has Milwaukee staring at an upset dead in the face. He absolutely needs to get better.

[JoeMalburg]

14/44
11/35
10/31

If they just make an average amount of three's this isn't a conversation.

Clearly he has room to grow and you're not wrong about his weaknesses, but it's easy to overreact when shots don't fall. Right now they can't consistently make three point shots.

[Ooduwa]

14/44
11/35
10/31

If they just make an average amount of three's this isn't a conversation.

Clearly he has room to grow and you're not wrong about his weaknesses, but it's easy to overreact when shots don't fall. Right now they can't consistently make three point shots.

He was taken out of the 4th quarter in a must win playoff game as a matter of strategy.

[Basileus777]

Having a mediocre offensive series against a great defense isn't really all that damning tbh. It happens to all the greats. Curry and Harden both had a series of their own this very postseason doing the same thing. The Raptors largely neutered Embiid and Vucevic on offense and I wouldn't be surprised if they make Draymond Green look small if they get to the finals.

[JoeMalburg]

14/44
11/35
10/31

If they just make an average amount of three's this isn't a conversation.

Clearly he has room to grow and you're not wrong about his weaknesses, but it's easy to overreact when shots don't fall. Right now they can't consistently make three point shots.

He was taken out of the 4th quarter in a must win playoff game as a matter of strategy.

Maybe I missed it, but I believe he was hurt.

[Basileus777]

14/44
11/35
10/31

If they just make an average amount of three's this isn't a conversation.

Clearly he has room to grow and you're not wrong about his weaknesses, but it's easy to overreact when shots don't fall. Right now they can't consistently make three point shots.

He was taken out of the 4th quarter in a must win playoff game as a matter of strategy.

Please don't listen to Chris Webber's ramblings.

[hype_2004]

14/44
11/35
10/31

If they just make an average amount of three's this isn't a conversation.

Clearly he has room to grow and you're not wrong about his weaknesses, but it's easy to overreact when shots don't fall. Right now they can't consistently make three point shots.

He was taken out of the 4th quarter in a must win playoff game as a matter of strategy.

Maybe I missed it, but I believe he was hurt.

He severely twisted his ankle again tried to played through it but was unable to, will that impact him next game. He was noticeable limping looks like a significant injury for him to get out of the game.

[JustCame]

14/44
11/35
10/31

If they just make an average amount of three's this isn't a conversation.

Clearly he has room to grow and you're not wrong about his weaknesses, but it's easy to overreact when shots don't fall. Right now they can't consistently make three point shots.

You do know that those numbers (32%) are close to what teams have been averaging in the playoffs? Defense is much tougher during the playoffs, so its normal for the 3pt % to be down a bit.

Teams are finally learning how to stop Giannis, and I've been saying it for months now that he's going to struggle in the playoffs because he can't shoot.

[Dr Positivity]

He will get better but right now probably not one of the top 20 halfcourt offensive players in the league, maybe not top 30. It's easier to stop players in transition in the playoffs. He could be used more as the roller in PNR but Bledsoe is terrible partner in that regard. The Shaq comparisons cause he got a lot of dunks look completely outrageous. Maybe Robinson is closer since he's DPOY level

[pandrade83]

These are big things, but given what we've seen out of Giannis, I don't think it's impossible for him to close the gap.

1 - far & away - shooting. Giannis needs to become an automatic if you leave me totally alone, my mid-range J is going in. If he could get to the point where he can hit high 30's from 3, that would basically make it game over.

2 - passing precision. A number of Giannis' passes are off-target.

3 - decision making in challenging moments. Most of the time, Giannis makes the right decision; but most of the time opponents don't have the size AND defensive scheme to slow down Giannis either while his teammates simultaneously struggle to shoot well. However, last night when it was nut crunching time, Giannis made some bad decisions about whether to attack or pass and took some weird angles in attacking. I felt like he pressed a bit & his foul on Gasol late was just about the worst decision I've seen him make this year.

[Doctor MJ]

Whatever happens with this series, I think it's clear that crowning him the leagues best player was a bit premature. His offensive game is extremely limited, and he lacks the polish to consistently create good looks against competent defenses. On top of that, he struggles at the line and has no jumper to speak of outside of the odd spot up.His single greatest gift is his ability to get to and finish at the rim, which collapses defenses and provides good looks for his shooters, but when he's denied access to the painted area he has no counters or falls backs to compensate. During the regular season, and even against inferior post season competition like Boston this isn't an issue because he can generally impose his will. But in competitive matchups it's a glaring problem that has Milwaukee staring at an upset dead in the face. He absolutely needs to get better.

Yup, and this is the type of thing we look for with young superstars. They haven’t experienced all counters yet, so something can still show up they have no answer for.

Giannis is 24, right? This is a very 24 problem to have.


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[No-more-rings]

I agree on the things being said about him, but it will be funny to see the narrative flip if he dominates the next 2 games to seal the series.

[Ooduwa]

Yup, and this is the type of thing we look for with young superstars. They haven’t experienced all counters yet, so something can still show up they have no answer for.

Giannis is 24, right? This is a very 24 problem to have.


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I don't think mechanics that are as raw or as broken as Gianni's is a typical 24 year old problem. I also take issue with people spending a good part of the season championing him as the league's best player, comparing him to a young Shaq or LBJ, and then turning around and using his youth as an excuse when he performs well below expectations.

[Dr Spaceman]

Exactly what I’ve been saying all season.

[E-Balla]

If he's not the best it's only because Kawhi (who has a possible chronic injury and slacked the whole RS) is better. Even watching these last few games he's looked better than Curry at his worst these playoffs and KD's team is humming without him. Jokic has his issues too.

[Texas Chuck]

Yup, and this is the type of thing we look for with young superstars. They haven’t experienced all counters yet, so something can still show up they have no answer for.

Giannis is 24, right? This is a very 24 problem to have.

Nailed it.

There is a reason most superstars don't start winning titles until their late 20's. By then they have largely figured out how to plug the leaks in their game that good coaches/teams exploit in the playoffs and then it's game on.

[Dupp]

I value playoffs more than reg season too but on the flip side kawhi can’t do what giannis did during the regular season and has never shown the ability to carry such a load for a whole season. His teams have always been able to win without him.

[HBK_Kliq_33]

I value playoffs more than reg season too but on the flip side kawhi can’t do what giannis did during the regular season and has never shown the ability to carry such a load for a whole season. His teams have always been able to win without him.

Yeah like that time in 2017 they were up 20+ points in game 1 vs Warriors and than he got injured and they were swept without him, what are you talking about?

[Dupp]

I value playoffs more than reg season too but on the flip side kawhi can’t do what giannis did during the regular season and has never shown the ability to carry such a load for a whole season. His teams have always been able to win without him.

Yeah like that time in 2017 they were up 20+ points in game 1 vs Warriors and than he got injured and they were swept without him, what are you talking about?

I’m clearly not talking about playoffs. Toronto can’t win without him now either but we’re able to somewhat carry him through the season coz the team was good enough.

[HBK_Kliq_33]

I value playoffs more than reg season too but on the flip side kawhi can’t do what giannis did during the regular season and has never shown the ability to carry such a load for a whole season. His teams have always been able to win without him.

Yeah like that time in 2017 they were up 20+ points in game 1 vs Warriors and than he got injured and they were swept without him, what are you talking about?

I’m clearly not talking about playoffs. Toronto can’t win without him now either but we’re able to somewhat carry him through the season coz the team was good enough.

That's because Lowry is a good enough PG to beat garbage teams on his own, kawhi sat out against a lot of garbage teams. If you put Giannis on raptors during reg season instead of kawhi and have Giannis play only 60 games, Lowry would still win without Giannis as well. Trade Giannis and Kawhi during playoffs and its bucks who are winning the series right now, that's the significant difference.