Post#190 » by CharityStripe34 » Thu Apr 27, 2023 5:09 pm
tydett wrote:Ron Swanson wrote:You may as well just trade Giannis now because your championship window in his last physical prime years (29-32) is slammed shut.
I do think this is a good point, but also worth considering is that Giannis can transition to career preservation mode if we took the incredibly risky, unlikely opportunity to get young. Giannis could be more of a Kareem long term, focusing on developing his 8-15 foot game while avoiding the punishment of his current playstyle, hopefully extending his career and allowing the Bucks to develop a core that doesn't have Giannis as the focal point, but as a super duper defensive vet who teaches the young guys how to win.
*the above is a thought exercise of a disappointed, sad fan - please don't take super seriously.
Gianni becoming more of a full-time PF with the occasional transition explosion and playmaking is what will also lift this ceiling. He's made great strides in his game (especially his passing) and he's amazing, but he just needs to simply focus on a solid, finesse game. Hook shots, up-and-unders, basic counters and the occasional mid-range J (and FTs most glaringly). If the Bucks can land a good playmaking G to free both he and Jrue up from ball-handling duties, he can simply run the floor and get to his spots. With a new coach he probably won't be consistently trailing the play at the top of the key, and he'll be used in a more deliberate/structured way (one would hope).
He's 28 and I think he has 4-5 more prime years physically. He'll probably hover at the 65-70 game a year mark in the RS and still be load-managed here and there, but a new coaching staff has to have a clear message to Horst and to Giannis himself to try and unlock him as much as possible. That means a new philosophy of player development and not just integrating the roster into a basic system. He has a European mentality of listening to and respecting his coaches, so the next hire is going to be incredibly crucial for him and the team in general (obviously). It needs to be someone who's not scared to sit dudes down and demand accountability as well as improvement.
"Wes, Hill, Ibaka, Allen, Nwora, Brook, Pat, Ingles, Khris are all slow-mo, injury prone ... a sandcastle waiting for playoff wave to get wrecked. A castle with no long-range archers... is destined to fall. That is all I have to say."-- FOTIS
