Giannis Thread - 13th Season with the Bucks

[MickeyDavis]

I do not care about where Giannis ranks anymore. The franchise needs to be serious and get out of the first round then maybe I’ll change my mind.

Yea it’s not Giannis fault but it’s hard to put him with the 1 and 2 guys after only winning like 3 playoff games in 3 years. I do think him being under Luka is weird but whatever.

That's irrelevant. He's elevated his game in the playoffs after his incredible championship year playoff success. He was hurt 2 years ago but the other 2 seasons since the title he's been incredible in the playoffs. The lack of team success should not in any way detract Giannis' ranking. Having SGA and Luka ranked ahead of him is a joke.

[Prez]

With SGA it's him winning the title/FMVP, which is whatever I guess, I strongly disagree but at least there's something there. The Luka stuff is really funny though, it's simply him being a Laker now. He straight up wasn't that good by his standards last year, and in the playoffs even with a sensible starting lineup, a coach who wasn't actively coaching for the opponent, and a healthy/really good version of LeBron by his side giving him 25/9/6 on good efficiency, he still got dog walked by the TWolves in 5.

The thought experiment I like to do is if Jokic, Giannis, Luka, SGA all had the exact same quality of teammates around them but tailored to their respective position and strengths/weaknesses, had equally good coaching, and you ran a 4 team tournament where you assume everyone stays 100% healthy (both the superstar + all their teammates) for every game, which team wins? There's just not a **** chance I'm picking Luka or SGA's team over Giannis' in that case. Jokic, I could see it.

Like if you gave Giannis a modified version of the 2025 Thunder more tailored to his position/skill set (like swap out Chet for a similar level PG to make the positions work) and turn the injury sliders off, he's utterly ruining the entire league. Like he's not going to 7 against the Nuggets and Pacers, he's demolishing everyone.

[emunney]

Well there you go, the man can let go of grudges.

Just have to wait until the person's career is dead

[CharityStripe34]

Yes, what Giannis needs is to be more selfish and shoot more long twos.

Can't wait

I think the selling point here is face up footwork, which Melo was great at. It's definitely something Giannis could use work on. Melo also had some nice post stuff too, his shot selection was his downfall.

Melo was a wildly gifted shooter, who had amazing touch from hundreds of release points and shot angles.

Giannis can't shoot standing still from 15 feet from the hoop.

At least with Giannis working with Melo it'll refine his midrange game a bit, which can still be mechanical. If he smoothens his 1-3 dribble pull-up game it can only pay dividends.

Sent from my Pixel 8 Pro using RealGM mobile app

[Serge28]

Yes, what Giannis needs is to be more selfish and shoot more long twos.

Can't wait

I think the selling point here is face up footwork, which Melo was great at. It's definitely something Giannis could use work on. Melo also had some nice post stuff too, his shot selection was his downfall.

Melo was a wildly gifted shooter, who had amazing touch from hundreds of release points and shot angles.

Giannis can't shoot standing still from 15 feet from the hoop.

I mean, Melo's 81.4% career FT% is hardly elite.

I remember when LeBron fans were incensed at Michael Redd in 2003 for getting the last spot on the All Star team over King James. Then, a couple of months later, Melo won Rookie of the Year over LeBron.



People forget how much crap Detroit got around that time for not taking Melo at #2. He would have fit perfectly at SF for them. Until Prince blossomed at the right time.

[FrieAaron]

Melo didn't win ROTY over Lebron.

[rilamann]

First Dame, now Melo. Giannis must have a thing for overrated hollow stat guys.

Dame & Melo are probably 1A & 1B as guys who I wouldn't want anywhere near my team if I was trying to win. That goes for coaching or playing.

[BUCKnation]

With SGA it's him winning the title/FMVP, which is whatever I guess, I strongly disagree but at least there's something there. The Luka stuff is really funny though, it's simply him being a Laker now. He straight up wasn't that good by his standards last year, and in the playoffs even with a sensible starting lineup, a coach who wasn't actively coaching for the opponent, and a healthy/really good version of LeBron by his side giving him 25/9/6 on good efficiency, he still got dog walked by the TWolves in 5.

The thought experiment I like to do is if Jokic, Giannis, Luka, SGA all had the exact same quality of teammates around them but tailored to their respective position and strengths/weaknesses, had equally good coaching, and you ran a 4 team tournament where you assume everyone stays 100% healthy (both the superstar + all their teammates) for every game, which team wins? There's just not a **** chance I'm picking Luka or SGA's team over Giannis' in that case. Jokic, I could see it.

Like if you gave Giannis a modified version of the 2025 Thunder more tailored to his position/skill set (like swap out Chet for a similar level PG to make the positions work) and turn the injury sliders off, he's utterly ruining the entire league. Like he's not going to 7 against the Nuggets and Pacers, he's demolishing everyone.

That Thunder team wins 70 and walks to the finals with Giannis. It's not like SGA was that great from 3 in the playoffs to differentiate their play.

[soxperry]

First Dame, now Melo. Giannis must have a thing for overrated hollow stat guys.

Dame & Melo are probably 1A & 1B as guys who I wouldn't want anywhere near my team if I was trying to win. That goes for coaching or playing.

There's a difference between the two situations

[CharityStripe34]

First Dame, now Melo. Giannis must have a thing for overrated hollow stat guys.

Dame & Melo are probably 1A & 1B as guys who I wouldn't want anywhere near my team if I was trying to win. That goes for coaching or playing.

Well, nothing wrong with an off-season workout with a former player.

Sent from my Pixel 8 Pro using RealGM mobile app

[Frank Nova]

Just wanted to bitch real quick about Jokic coming out and saying his plan is to remain with Denver forever. Why TF can’t Giannis do that?!?

Okay, carry on.

[MickeyDavis]

Just wanted to bitch real quick about Jokic coming out and saying his plan is to remain with Denver forever. Why TF can’t Giannis do that?!?

Okay, carry on.

Giannis enjoys punking the media. Especially Shams

[Matches Malone]

Just wanted to bitch real quick about Jokic coming out and saying his plan is to remain with Denver forever. Why TF can’t Giannis do that?!?

Okay, carry on.

Instead we get this...

Read on Twitter

Didn't he say last week in that Greek interview how he hopes he never gets traded? Seems like he's talking out of both sides of his mouth.

[AussieBuck]

I guess there will always be a few here that can't help constantly freaking out about Giannis leaving. It's a quite a choice, but I guess we all enjoy the team in different ways.

[Bucknado]

Giannis says what he has to say to get ownership and Horst to always be aggressive.

It sucks as a fan to wonder if he has a foot out the door but I don’t think we see a huge waive and stretch without it.

[MickeyDavis]

13 years. 13. The time may come when it's the right time to part ways. That's not happening anytime soon. I refuse to worry about things that haven't happened. With sports and everything else.

[Matches Malone]

"Freaking out about Giannis leaving" is a bit of a stretch. I think some people are just tired of hearing about the same story line all the time.

I'm not under some delusion that players stay with their teams for an entire career. The fact he's still here is amazing... But the whole Giannis is he leaving/isn't he is just getting old and lazy at this point, and it would be great if we could enjoy the team without that being the main talking point at every turn.

Players come and go; that's just the nature of sports, but the manufactured drama, especially the NBA partakes in, gets ridiculous.

[HKPackFan]

"Freaking out about Giannis leaving" is a bit of a stretch. I think some people are just tired of hearing about the same story line all the time.

I'm not under some delusion that players stay with their teams for an entire career. The fact he's still here is amazing... But the whole Giannis is he leaving/isn't he is just getting old and lazy at this point, and it would be great if we could enjoy the team without that being the main talking point at every turn.

Players come and go; that's just the nature of sports, but the manufactured drama, especially the NBA partakes in, gets ridiculous.

I think the media just can't handle Milwaukee having something that good for so long. It doesn't compute, it's not supposed to be like that.

So they just keep regurgitating it in hopes they can finally one day be right. Fantasy basketball and everyone being a GM culture makes super team forming so ingrained they always want to put GA somewhere else.

[higharc]

It is just the way he thinks. Even with the national team he did that after the medal when he said he will be there as long as Spanoulis comes back as a coach (putting pressure to both the coach and the federation).

So, I wouldn't sweat much over it. As long as they are moving in the same direction, he should have some flexibility about the specifics.

[Frank Nova]

Just wanted to bitch real quick about Jokic coming out and saying his plan is to remain with Denver forever. Why TF can’t Giannis do that?!?

Okay, carry on.

Instead we get this...

Read on Twitter

Didn't he say last week in that Greek interview how he hopes he never gets traded? Seems like he's talking out of both sides of his mouth.

Giannis just loves his real life episode of Tom & Jerry when it comes to this stuff. It’s pretty played out imo, the whole thing. The media narrative and Giannis constantly leaving the door open for ultimate speculation.. I don’t have the self restraint to ignore it consistently, I try lol.