CHICAGO — Marques Johnson, who either was or wasn't the first "point forward" in NBA history and either did or didn't coin the term itself, left no room for equivocation Monday night.
"Forget the 'forward' part -- he's just a point guard out there," Johnson said of Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo, the 6-foot-11 bundle of raw skills who has been running the Bucks offense for the past few weeks. "You can see, when the Bucks rebound the basketball ... it really has given him a lot more energy. His eyes just light up when he calls for the ball and then pushes it up."
Now Milwaukee's color analyst, Johnson, a five-time NBA All-Star for the Bucks and the Clippers, got thrown some ball-handling and play-calling responsibility by coach Don Nelson one day about 35 years ago. Thus he took his place in a timeline that includes Robert Reid, Paul Pressey, Scottie Pippen, Grant Hill, LeBron James and other wing-sized players who anecdotally have defined the unofficial and still fuzzy position of point forward.
But the way Antetokounmpo has been playing over his past dozen games or so, he has looked for significant stretches like Isiah Thomas or John Stockton in a funhouse mirror.
He brings the ball into the front court, surveys the chess pieces with an unobstructed view over most of his defenders, then barks and points to get his teammates to their spots. Sometimes he shifts gears, attacking his man with his often-lethal mix of quickness and length. Other times he finds a cutter or hands off the ball to Khris Middleton or Jerryd Bayless and morphs from backcourt freak to frontcourt threat.
Little by little, the plan is to get him into more pick-and-rolls to further exploit matchups.
"The point forward position was just, initially, initiating the offense," Johnson said. "Not really looking to get out in transition and be Magic Johnson but just to bring it up the court to try to relieve some of the pressure on the guards.
"But Giannis is pushing, probing, penetrating, kicking. With the prodding of Jason Kidd, he has taken it to a whole 'nother level."
Check out this level: In Milwaukee's 10 games since the All-Star break, Antetokounmpo has averaged 19.1 points, 10.3 rebounds, 7.8 assists, 1.9 steals and 2.0 blocks in 38.5 minutes. Only two players in NBA history ever filled the first three categories so completely (19 points, 10 rebounds, 7.5 assists): Oscar Robertson for three seasons (1960-63) and Wilt Chamberlain for two (1966-68).
Antetokounmpo has three triple-doubles in this stretch, along with a 27-9-12 game against Minnesota on Friday. When the third-year player went for 27 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists, four blocks and three steals against the Lakers on February 22, he had game highs for both teams in all five stats (something no player had done since James in March 2009). Antetokounmpo hit those marks again Sunday with 26-12-10-4-3 against OKC, becoming the first to have multiple stats lines crammed like that since Hakeem Olajuwon in 1989-90.
Olajuwon, of course, was 27 years old and a 7-foot center when he did that. Antetokounmpo is 21, stands just one inch shorter and is doing it as a point guard.
"It takes a certain level of skill, man," said Johnson, the Bucks broadcaster. "To be that tall and be that comfortable dribbling the basketball, that's not something a lot of guys 6-foot-7 and taller are comfortable doing. Especially going full-court against smaller defenders, protecting the basketball."
Said Antetokounmpo: "The goal right now is, I'm always trying to be aggressive. I'm always trying to score first. I know that, if I try to score first, the defense is going to collapse -- everybody's in the paint. Now I'm sure there's going to be some open guys.
"I cannot take 30 jumpers a game. Got to have a balance. You've got to get your teammates involved."
That is the point guard's primary task, one that Antetokounmpo has embraced regularly now that Michael Carter-Williams has been lost for what's left of the season for hip surgery, with Greivis Vasquez already sidelined by ankle surgery.
[Jason Kidd] is talking to me, giving me tips every day. It's like having a cheat code."
– Giannis Antetokounmpo
