Milwaukee Bucks Pick Giannis with pick #15

[SkilesTheLimit]

You can see an interview with Larry Drew here. Its not a lot, but it's something. Ignore the horrifying english.

Replace Telly Hughes with this interviewer and designate Ersan and Delfino as full time player guests.

Comedic genius.

[interbasket]

Tbh, the 3pt line distance difference isn't as big as we all believe. It's only half a meter at the peak (22' 2" in FIBA, 23' 9" in the NBA), and the NBA corner is closer than the FIBA peak.

The corner 3 point shot in NBA I believe is only 2" further than the corner 3 point shot in FIBA. People also do not realize that the FIBA distance is the hardest distance to score 3s from, not the NBA.

Because at the NBA distance you can't close out and you can't congest the floor. At FIBA distance, you can, making FIBA 3 point line a lot harder to execute from, because shots are so much more heavily contested.

That's why passing, good point guards that are actual play makers, and power forwards that can shoot deep 3 pointers are so heavily important in Euroleague. Because without those kinds of players, you can't open the court up. In NBA, they don't have to have anyone to open up the court. They just need a quick player with a good handle on the ball.

That's why power forwards that are great 3 point shooters and big tall point guards are rare in NBA, but common in Europe.

[paulpressey25]

I'd say he was very up and down in Vegas that year (probably say that about most rookies), but Yi also played really well later in the summer for China.

Yi didn't play summer league for us. He only played those China games we watched against North Korea on bad feeds at 11pm on a Friday night.

[interbasket]

I think we are really looking at a unique player here. Who in the past has the passing & ball handling skills that he does at 6'8"+? The list would seem to be fairly short:

1. Magic
2. McGrady
3. Diaw
4. Lebron
5. Kukoc
6. Batum
7. Bender

Anyone I am forgetting?

Bird, Pippen, Hill (maybe), Odom (maybe). In European players I can think of Bodiroga, and in Greek players in particular, I can think of Chrysikopoulos.

Thanks for the responses of my question. Can you see an other NBA prospects from that team?

The future looks bright for the Greek basketball, behind of them we have an other 2 great prospects, Vasileios Charalampopoulos, 6'8, 235 SF, 1997, and Georgios Papagiannis 7, 240 1997 who by some websites is considered one of the best if not the best international C of his generation.

Papagiannis is 7-1 already. Don't forget about Antonis Koniaris from same '97 generation. He plays with PAOK academies. 3 great young players from '97 generation.

Papagiannis is supposed to be playing AAU basketball in USA in the next years. As far as I know, he is #1 rated European prospect. I don't think Charalampopoulos will be a SF though. He would be much better if he develops to a very skilled PF.

[MiltownHawkeye]

Does anyone know his official height? On DX it says 6'9 but it seems like he's been growing pretty rapidly. Could he plausibly reach 7'0?

[skones]

I'd say he was very up and down in Vegas that year (probably say that about most rookies), but Yi also played really well later in the summer for China.

Yi didn't play summer league for us. He only played those China games we watched against North Korea on bad feeds at 11pm on a Friday night.

He didn't play on Milwaukee's summer league team, but he did play in summer league. The Chinese National Team participated that season.

[MrPerfect1]

Fact is, no one from US knows anything about basketball in Greece, and that includes the "experts" at Draftexpress.

This is hyperbole. I am sure in a country of 300 million people, that there is at least 1 person familiar with Greek basketball. I would even contend I am sure that multiple NBA teams have a specific person in charge of knowing that region

Even Team USA greatly struggles with scoring mid range shots in FIBA basketball, and in recent years they almost became nothing but dunks and 3 pointers too. Just look at last Olympics. Because very few players, even in Team USA can finish in mid range and lane against a pure zone defense.

A large reason for this comes from the advanced metrics side. Mid Range Shots are the worst shot an Offense can take in Basketball. In an ideal world, almost every shot would be either at the rim or a 3. Teams going away from mid range is intelligent design/philosophy

[interbasket]

Does anyone know his official height? On DX it says 6'9 but it seems like he's been growing pretty rapidly. Could he plausibly reach 7'0?

DX isn't official height. He was not officially measured until he got to Greek under-20 team and registered for this tournament. Official height is 6'10". I don't know if that is with shoes or not. In some European federations and leagues players are in barefoot height, in some it is about 50/50 shoe or barefoot height.

Greek players usually is about in the 50/50 category. Agravanis is listed at 6'10" though and Antetokounmpo looks like he might be a little taller than him. It's hard to tell though because Antetokounmpo is so skinny that it makes him appear taller to the eye than he actually is.

It's same reason people think Durant is taller than he really is. I seriously doubt Antetokounmpo grows 2 inches after age 18.

This is hyperbole. I am sure in a country of 300 million people, that there is at least 1 person familiar with Greek basketball. I would even contend I am sure that multiple NBA teams have a specific person in charge of knowing that region

When I say no one in USA knows about Greek basketball I am talking about NBA analysts and media "experts", NBA managers, scouts. I meant the people saying the things about Giannis pre draft. I figured that everyone would understand that, since that is what I was talking about in reply to the post I made. They obviously know nothing about Greek basketball, and to tell you the truth, they do not scout in Greece at all.

That's why Giannis was never even scouted by NBA until he was 18 years old. They can say whatever excuses they want to, but NBA does not scout in Greece at all and never has.

[interbasket]

Yanni's brother, Thanasis, dunking over 3 guys.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KdaiADm8IQ[/youtube]

[Baddy Chuck]

Yanni's brother, Thanasis, dunking over 3 guys.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KdaiADm8IQ[/youtube]

dunking into*

[interbasket]

Yanni's brother, Thanasis, dunking over 3 guys.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KdaiADm8IQ[/youtube]

dunking into*

What does that mean?

[VooDoo7]

Yanni's brother, Thanasis, dunking over 3 guys.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KdaiADm8IQ[/youtube]

dunking into*

What does that mean?

He didn't dunk OVER them. He ran into them/went to the side of them.

[Baddy Chuck]

He got "over" like half of one of those guys. Still impressive, but clearly not what he was going for. If that tall guy would've stayed still Thanasis would be face planting the floor.

[JayMKE]

wouldn't mind picking up Thanasis in the 2nd round next year

[Turd Ferguson]

Anyone with a link to today's archived game? I'm having a really hard time loading these games up outside of Chrome in OSX

[Baddy Chuck]

wouldn't mind picking up Thanasis in the 2nd round next year

No idea how he plays (fill us in interbasket?) but I guess it couldn't hurt. Just going to stereotype him as a player, but poor mans D-Mase? He's going to be like 22 before he would even have the opportunity to step on an NBA court though, not sure I like that.

[interbasket]

dunking into*

What does that mean?

He didn't dunk OVER them. He ran into them/went to the side of them.

He dunked over his brother who is 6-10. In Greek League dunk contest he dunked with 2 hands after jumping over Giannis, who is 6-10.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1yi7mgzR1s[/youtube]

2:20 mark of the video.

How many NBA players can do a 2 handed dunk over a 6-10 guy? Thanasis is 6-7 and supposedly has been measured with a 44 inch vertical, so I am pretty sure he can dunk over 3 guys and do it without cheating.

[JayMKE]

He's a lot bigger than Mason at the very least

[interbasket]

He's a lot bigger than Mason at the very least

I remember Desmond Mason. I think he was bigger than Thanasis is.

[Baddy Chuck]

So I am not buying this argument that he did not dunk over them and cheated.

There's literally video evidence .