Giannis Antetokounmpo 21-22 Thread

[O_6]

Giannis, Jokic, Embiid, Durant, LeBron.

We are truly blessed to be watching all of these guys play at an A+ level this past month+. No offense to Curry who belongs there when right, he’s just been cold in that span.

I’ve gone back and forth on all of it. As of now, I have like 5 different definitions of “best” player now. I mentioned KD as “best” earlier this year but I feel like that was more of a “most unstoppable/least affected by defensive moves” post. I’d still give him that title but now that I think about it, that doesn’t necessarily make him the best.

I could write an essay about all of those players. LeBron is unfathomably great for his age/experience now. Jokic is a transcendent offensive hub as a big. Embiid’s A++ game is arguably the scariest in the league due to his insane size/skill combo. Curry is Curry, I’m guessing he’ll have a legendary stretch before this season ends.

But even though he’s more limited on offense than the rest of them, Giannis seems to have the most “angles” to the best player argument as of today.

Doesn’t mean he’s the best. I’ve learned from my KD claim earlier this year to not make a hard statement like that with so many great candidates. But every single day, I continue to gain more and more respect/love for the historically great “still young” player that Giannis is.

Back-to-Backing would shoot his reputation up like it did for Hakeem. But that happened to the tail end of Hakeem’s prime, doing this now would put Giannis in position for special things.

[TroubleS0me]

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[The High Cyde]

He mauled the Lakers and even bullied AD and LeBron, what a spectacular player. Only getting better too.

[parsnips33]

What team is best set up to guard this guy? I feel good not great about Draymond+Looney in terms of positioning, but we would be giving up a lot in terms of size.

Would love to see the Heat matchup with them in the playoffs again between Bam Butler and PJ.

[falcolombardi]

What team is best set up to guard this guy? I feel good not great about Draymond+Looney in terms of positioning, but we would be giving up a lot in terms of size.

Would love to see the Heat matchup with them in the playoffs again between Bam Butler and PJ.

Utah or sixers i guess?

i also dont think ayton la a bad option even if he was wrecked last finals, i think with the added experience he could do a better job in round 2 + bridges help here

[falcolombardi]

Giannis, Jokic, Embiid, Durant, LeBron.

We are truly blessed to be watching all of these guys play at an A+ level this past month+. No offense to Curry who belongs there when right, he’s just been cold in that span.

I’ve gone back and forth on all of it. As of now, I have like 5 different definitions of “best” player now. I mentioned KD as “best” earlier this year but I feel like that was more of a “most unstoppable/least affected by defensive moves” post. I’d still give him that title but now that I think about it, that doesn’t necessarily make him the best.

I could write an essay about all of those players. LeBron is unfathomably great for his age/experience now. Jokic is a transcendent offensive hub as a big. Embiid’s A++ game is arguably the scariest in the league due to his insane size/skill combo. Curry is Curry, I’m guessing he’ll have a legendary stretch before this season ends.

But even though he’s more limited on offense than the rest of them, Giannis seems to have the most “angles” to the best player argument as of today.

Doesn’t mean he’s the best. I’ve learned from my KD claim earlier this year to not make a hard statement like that with so many great candidates. But every single day, I continue to gain more and more respect/love for the historically great “still young” player that Giannis is.

Back-to-Backing would shoot his reputation up like it did for Hakeem. But that happened to the tail end of Hakeem’s prime, doing this now would put Giannis in position for special things.

is always a treat to see positive approach to player comparisions for a change

the greater nba community is too much of a "my guy beats your guy" to appreactiste most players sometimes

[parsnips33]

What team is best set up to guard this guy? I feel good not great about Draymond+Looney in terms of positioning, but we would be giving up a lot in terms of size.

Would love to see the Heat matchup with them in the playoffs again between Bam Butler and PJ.

Utah or sixers i guess?

i also dont think ayton la a bad option even if he was wrecked last finals, i think with the added experience he could do a better job in round 2 + bridges help here

You think Utah puts Gobert on him? It's tricky because he's so valuable as their backline of defense, I'm not sure how good they'd be as a team if Rudy had to stay constantly engaged on Giannis.

[falcolombardi]

What team is best set up to guard this guy? I feel good not great about Draymond+Looney in terms of positioning, but we would be giving up a lot in terms of size.

Would love to see the Heat matchup with them in the playoffs again between Bam Butler and PJ.

Utah or sixers i guess?

i also dont think ayton la a bad option even if he was wrecked last finals, i think with the added experience he could do a better job in round 2 + bridges help here

You think Utah puts Gobert on him? It's tricky because he's so valuable as their backline of defense, I'm not sure how good they'd be as a team if Rudy had to stay constantly engaged on Giannis.

maybe for some stretches since giannis is not a player that forces interior guys out with his shooting

either way most of the work og defending giannis will be done by the rim protector even if he is not technically giannis man

[feyki]

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Probably the best game in recent years.

[AussieBuck]

What team is best set up to guard this guy? I feel good not great about Draymond+Looney in terms of positioning, but we would be giving up a lot in terms of size.

Would love to see the Heat matchup with them in the playoffs again between Bam Butler and PJ.

Utah or sixers i guess?

i also dont think ayton la a bad option even if he was wrecked last finals, i think with the added experience he could do a better job in round 2 + bridges help here

You think Utah puts Gobert on him? It's tricky because he's so valuable as their backline of defense, I'm not sure how good they'd be as a team if Rudy had to stay constantly engaged on Giannis.

Gobert vs Giannis is a horribly bad matchup for Rudy. He either sags back and get dunked on by Giannis with a run up or gets blown by if he gets close. I don't think it's happened in any serious way since Giannis' first MVP season when we had a random weird game where all of our guards were injured and it was Khris and a bunch of PFs and Cs but Utah still put Rudy on Giannis and got beaten so comprehensively badly that Utah just gave up and banished him from the game despite us pretty much entirely playing front court guys. It's like an all time crazy game nobody knows about. Rudy was DPOY that year but didn't manage half a game because he got **** up and was entirely shell shocked. Looked like he had PTSD on the bench by halftime.

[TroubleS0me]

What team is best set up to guard this guy? I feel good not great about Draymond+Looney in terms of positioning, but we would be giving up a lot in terms of size.

Would love to see the Heat matchup with them in the playoffs again between Bam Butler and PJ.

Utah or sixers i guess?

i also dont think ayton la a bad option even if he was wrecked last finals, i think with the added experience he could do a better job in round 2 + bridges help here

hmm...the suns do have more size this time around with Ayton, Mcgee & Bizmack.

Cavs [blewout the Bucks last month]
Raptors

The sixers are another team + plus Simmons or not Simmons

[TroubleS0me]

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[TroubleS0me]

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[kayess]

Utah or sixers i guess?

i also dont think ayton la a bad option even if he was wrecked last finals, i think with the added experience he could do a better job in round 2 + bridges help here

You think Utah puts Gobert on him? It's tricky because he's so valuable as their backline of defense, I'm not sure how good they'd be as a team if Rudy had to stay constantly engaged on Giannis.

Gobert vs Giannis is a horribly bad matchup for Rudy. He either sags back and get dunked on by Giannis with a run up or gets blown by if he gets close. I don't think it's happened in any serious way since Giannis' first MVP season when we had a random weird game where all of our guards were injured and it was Khris and a bunch of PFs and Cs but Utah still put Rudy on Giannis and got beaten so comprehensively badly that Utah just gave up and banished him from the game despite us pretty much entirely playing front court guys. It's like an all time crazy game nobody knows about. Rudy was DPOY that year but didn't manage half a game because he got **** up and was entirely shell shocked. Looked like he had PTSD on the bench by halftime.

Link?

[Colbinii]

You think Utah puts Gobert on him? It's tricky because he's so valuable as their backline of defense, I'm not sure how good they'd be as a team if Rudy had to stay constantly engaged on Giannis.

Gobert vs Giannis is a horribly bad matchup for Rudy. He either sags back and get dunked on by Giannis with a run up or gets blown by if he gets close. I don't think it's happened in any serious way since Giannis' first MVP season when we had a random weird game where all of our guards were injured and it was Khris and a bunch of PFs and Cs but Utah still put Rudy on Giannis and got beaten so comprehensively badly that Utah just gave up and banished him from the game despite us pretty much entirely playing front court guys. It's like an all time crazy game nobody knows about. Rudy was DPOY that year but didn't manage half a game because he got **** up and was entirely shell shocked. Looked like he had PTSD on the bench by halftime.

Link?

It's not true.

The Bucks and Jazz played twice in 2019. One was a 4 point win by Utah, the other Rudy played 38 minutes and Giannis was sub-50 TS% and the entire roster was healthy for Milwaukee.

2020, both games decided by 4 points [each team won a game].

[AussieBuck]

You think Utah puts Gobert on him? It's tricky because he's so valuable as their backline of defense, I'm not sure how good they'd be as a team if Rudy had to stay constantly engaged on Giannis.

Gobert vs Giannis is a horribly bad matchup for Rudy. He either sags back and get dunked on by Giannis with a run up or gets blown by if he gets close. I don't think it's happened in any serious way since Giannis' first MVP season when we had a random weird game where all of our guards were injured and it was Khris and a bunch of PFs and Cs but Utah still put Rudy on Giannis and got beaten so comprehensively badly that Utah just gave up and banished him from the game despite us pretty much entirely playing front court guys. It's like an all time crazy game nobody knows about. Rudy was DPOY that year but didn't manage half a game because he got **** up and was entirely shell shocked. Looked like he had PTSD on the bench by halftime.

Link?

https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201903020UTA.html

[Jaivl]

Damn, those are some on/off numbers. Still, feels like a HUGE outlier that was not really ever close to being replicated.

[Ron Swanson]

Giannis vs. Utah:

19-20: 40/13/5 on 59.6% TS
20-21: 32/11/5 on 63.1% TS

Nothing really outlier-ish about it. Rudy's probably still the best defensive player in the league, but he can't guard Giannis like, at all. When they've tried in the past (like that aforementioned game 3 years ago), it's been a bloodbath.

[kayess]

LMFAO they actually lost???

I'm not disputing these stats. You just think that description would've resulted in some 15+ point destruction (which is really like 30+ when you account for how good the Jazz have been all these years)

But Giannis, faced with a theoretically inferior defender (albeit, coupled with Middleton absolutely **** the bed), "only" shot 15 for 26. I just feel misled and thought he had an all-time great GameScore destroying a premiere defender lmao

[TroubleS0me]

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