The Giannis Antetokounmpo Thread

[Magic Giannison]

GIannis was amazing at distributing and ball handling yesterday, simply fantastic.

[Kabookalu]

I love what Kyle Lowry is doing for the Raptors, but the pick we used to acquire him would have been used to draft Giannis. I'd easily go back in time and undo the trade to have Giannis.

[Johnny Firpo]

I love what Kyle Lowry is doing for the Raptors, but the pick we used to acquire him would have been used to draft Giannis. I'd easily go back in time and undo the trade to have Giannis.

Tell me about it, Donnie was ready to draft this kid and Cuban talked him out of it. I keep bringing this up here but as a Mavs fan this is a little bit annoying to think about. Although to be fair, there is a fairly decent chance that Carlicle would have been the end of the kid's NBA career. It is extremely important how someone starts out and there are few places worse for an unproven rookie than Dallas.

[bondom34]

I love what Kyle Lowry is doing for the Raptors, but the pick we used to acquire him would have been used to draft Giannis. I'd easily go back in time and undo the trade to have Giannis.

It could have been used, was actually used for Steven Adams. But yeah, that would be a big fix to one of the Raps bigger positional issues considering how versatile he's become. Could play basically anywhere you want him to between 2-4 and even some small ball 5.

[tsherkin]

I love what Kyle Lowry is doing for the Raptors, but the pick we used to acquire him would have been used to draft Giannis. I'd easily go back in time and undo the trade to have Giannis.

That'd be a mistake, I think. Giannis is good, but Lowry drives our offense and there is a yawning chasm between the two in terms of offensive ability. Giannis has a fine ceiling, but I don't think he'll be what Lowry is right now and that's actually far more important to us than the other things Giannis brings, IMO.

Interesting thought, but we have desperate need of what Lowry brings for us and Giannis flatly can't replicate it at all.

[Johnny Firpo]

That'd be a mistake, I think. Giannis is good, but Lowry drives our offense and there is a yawning chasm between the two in terms of offensive ability. Giannis has a fine ceiling, but I don't think he'll be what Lowry is right now and that's actually far more important to us than the other things Giannis brings, IMO.

Interesting thought, but we have desperate need of what Lowry brings for us and Giannis flatly can't replicate it at all.

I don't think he implied that Giannis is better than Lowry. It's about team building, Lowry will be 30 in a couple of months whereas the Greek Freak is 21. You guys have a good team but it's not a true contender so his reasoning is understandable. A Giannis-Valanciunas core would be pretty formidable in a couple of years.

[H2tObes]

That'd be a mistake, I think. Giannis is good, but Lowry drives our offense and there is a yawning chasm between the two in terms of offensive ability. Giannis has a fine ceiling, but I don't think he'll be what Lowry is right now and that's actually far more important to us than the other things Giannis brings, IMO.

Interesting thought, but we have desperate need of what Lowry brings for us and Giannis flatly can't replicate it at all.

I don't think he implied that Giannis is better than Lowry. It's about team building, Lowry will be 30 in a couple of months whereas the Greek Freak is 21. You guys have a good team but it's not a true contender so his reasoning is understandable. A Giannis-Valanciunas core would be pretty formidable in a couple of years.

Yep you take Giannis 10/10 times if you are interested in building a contender

[tsherkin]

I don't think he implied that Giannis is better than Lowry. It's about team building, Lowry will be 30 in a couple of months whereas the Greek Freak is 21. You guys have a good team but it's not a true contender so his reasoning is understandable. A Giannis-Valanciunas core would be pretty formidable in a couple of years.

I realize that; Choker's a perceptive guy.

The thing is, we acquired Lowry for the 13-14 season. At no point between then and now would Giannis be the more valuable player to Toronto than Lowry... and at his current rate of progression, it'll be two more years before it becomes a debate. Giannis isn't an elite volume scorer despite the strides he's making in that department or playmaker, and Lowry is THE spark for our offense, and the best player on our team. Giannis is compelling, but he's Lamar Odom before going to the Lakers until we see him hit that next level.

So basically, we're talking about acquiring a 5-year project in the hopes that he'll hit the level we need from him NOW as we're trying to dig the franchise out of a giant hole of mediocrity, which just doesn't make sense. Giannis was never going to be a franchise player, and while he's definitely a lot better now than as a rook, there's a given level of progression we see from certain types of players and he isn't showing it yet. Obvious progression from year to year, only 21, I mean he's got a fine ceiling but we're in year 3 of him and 3 years of Lowry being a LOT better on offense have been more valuable than the theoretical upper bound we can expect from Giannis, as impressive as he's become.

[Prez]

I think Giannis and the lottery picks that would result from building from scratch around him would give you a much, much better shot at building something special than what the Raptors have with Lowry, Derozan and crew right now. I like that team but (maybe this is me being a homer) I'd rather have Giannis and Jabari and be further away.

Giannis is nowhere near a finished product. Like, it's not even close. We can look at stats all day but it's just not an accurate reflection of who he is or what he's capable of. We flat out hold him back frequently. Our coaching staff is trying to develop him similarly to how the Spurs did Kawhi, where we're developing the entirety of his game...defense, team play, off-ball game, etc..and THEN hand him the keys to the franchise. Giannis doesn't have the license to do everything he wants to and is capable of doing, like other prospects. He could put up big numbers but we just don't put him in the position to do so.

Last night we ran more of the offense through him as a ballhandler/playmaker and....he had a triple double and we ended a 24 game winning streak.

He's not better right now than Lowry, who I like by the way, but there is little doubt in my mind he will be very soon.

[tsherkin]

I think Giannis and the lottery picks that would result from building from scratch around him would give you a much, much better shot at building something special than what the Raptors have with Lowry, Derozan and crew right now. I like that team but (maybe this is me being a homer) I'd rather have Giannis and Jabari and be further away.

I think the Bucks are in fine position to become a quality team, but three years in, he's still sufficiently far away that it's hard to imagine that being worthwhile, especially since the Raptors wouldn't have been logging top 3 picks in the interim and have clearly been pushing to become a better team the entire time instead of committing to a tank, which wouldn't have changed.

Giannis is nowhere near a finished product. Like, it's not even close. We can look at stats all day but it's just not an accurate reflection of who he is or what he's capable of. We flat out hold him back frequently. Our coaching staff is trying to develop him similarly to how the Spurs did Kawhi, where we're developing the entirety of his game...defense, team play, off-ball game, etc..and THEN hand him the keys to the franchise. Giannis doesn't have the license to do everything he wants to and is capable of doing, like other prospects. He could put up big numbers but we just don't put him in the position to do so.

Yes, but this is necessary because he isn't THAT kind of talent right away, the sort of talent that comes in and forces teams to give them their shot and ride them to potential contention. That is similarly clear.

He's not better right now than Lowry, who I like by the way, but there is little doubt in my mind he will be very soon.

It's possible. It won't be on the basis of offense alone, but by virtue of his defensive value and positional versatility. He's just so far from Lowry as an offensive force right now that it's a major struggle to envision him as a title anchor. Lowry obviously isn't a title anchor either, of course, so don't get me wrong, but the value he'd have added to Toronto wouldn't have accomplished enough to matter to us in the past 2+ seasons and probably wouldn't have even really begun to emerge until this year, MAYBE next year. Plus Casey, I mean it's just not the sort of situation where his value to us would have been there.

[Prez]

Why not. GA with 27/12/10/3/4 on 71% FG. He's pretty much the point guard now.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I_ehwRCpjE[/youtube]

[Alphabet]

Why not. GA with 27/12/10/3/4 on 71% FG. He's pretty much the point guard now.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I_ehwRCpjE[/youtube]

His development since his rookie year has been remarkable. Really hope he continues his path of progression.

What's the situation with the Bucks this season? Haven't watched them play at all, but it seems like their team looks pretty solid on paper at least.

[Prez]

Why not. GA with 27/12/10/3/4 on 71% FG. He's pretty much the point guard now.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I_ehwRCpjE[/youtube]

His development since his rookie year has been remarkable. Really hope he continues his path of progression.

What's the situation with the Bucks this season? Haven't watched them play at all, but it seems like their team looks pretty solid on paper at least.

Yeah man talent wise we're solid but it took us like 50 games to realize that Monroe and MCW are awful fits with our core lol. Kidd is bringing Monroe and MCW off the bench now and starting Mayo-Middleton-Jabari-Giannis-Plumlee. Plumlee brings defense/athleticism and Mayo brings spacing. Without Monroe clogging the paint and slowing everything down, and without MCW ruining the spacing and dominating the ball, Giannis and Jabari get to run everything and it's been beautiful.

Giannis is a legit point forward talent and Kidd is letting him do his thing now. He and Jabari apparently talked over the all star break about being more aggressive offensively and leading the team and the results are showing. Their chemistry on court has been awesome to watch recently.

[bondom34]

Wow. That was something. 18/17/11 on 12 shots, that's a game.

[tsherkin]

Wow. That was something. 18/17/11 on 12 shots, that's a game.

4 steals and 2 blocks as well.

[bondom34]

Wow. That was something. 18/17/11 on 12 shots, that's a game.

4 steals and 2 blocks as well.

And they beat Houston, which just makes me happy.

[tsherkin]

Wow. That was something. 18/17/11 on 12 shots, that's a game.

4 steals and 2 blocks as well.

And they beat Houston, which just makes me happy.

Hehehe.

[Prez]

We've been using him pretty much as full time point forward since I believe the Lakers game 4 games ago, in those 4 games he's been putting up 17/12/9 with 2 triple doubles. Obviously it's a tiny sample size but the change has only happened very recently.

He's just been a maniac all-around player, dude is essentially a point guard on offense and defensively does everything from guard perimeter guys to protect the rim (and he does it damn well, will find the stats later). If that jump shot comes around next year...good god.

[Prez]

Also Bondom, you have no idea how badly I want Cam on this Bucks team Dude would be soooo freaking good with our core.

[H2tObes]

Something very special is going on in Milwaukee