Giannis' Development

[H2tObes]

If he wants to play, the Bucks should be gracious about it. Not only is it the right thing, the human thing to do, it's also good business. Keep your budding young star happy whenever and wherever you can. There is ABSOLUTELY a human element to these deals.

And this business of "there will be plenty of more olympics for him to play in" is silly.

Of course there is a human element to this, you want to keep Giannis happy. But it's silly to act like the Bucks are some evil organization for advising Giannis to dedicate this summer to his personal development, it's what any NBA organization would want him to do in this situation. I trust the Bucks will try to handle the situation delicately, Giannis is the franchise

If I'm the Bucks, I go out of my way to accommodate Giannis if he wants to play for Greece. I go out of my way to be pro-active about supporting him in this. Don't underestimate how important NT play is for guys- especially the friggin' Olympics. In your earlier posts, you kinda gloss over that fact ; "oh there will be plenty of time to play for NT etc etc".

Yes, I don't think the Bucks are literally forcing Giannis to not play for the NT, it's probably more along the lines of the Bucks telling Giannis that they would prefer if he didn't, which makes sense from the perspective of the organization. It could do Giannis a lot of good to dedicate this summer to simply improving his all around game, and it very likely could be the better decision in the long run for both parties. I would think this even if he was a U.S. citizen and he wanted to play for the U.S. team. I brought up he is only 21 and will have a lot of time for the NT because I think it's worth bringing up. He will bring Greek NT fans tons of glory in the future and possibly even more if he drastically improves this summer

I'm not trying to come off as not wanting him to play for NT, I think he will end up playing and that's fine with me. Just trying to look at it from a logical perspective in the Bucks point of view. If Giannis wants to play for NT 100% I agree you should just try to keep him happy, which is what the organization will most likely do because this decision is up to the player at the end of the day

[Magic Giannison]

To give people a heads up on whats going on with NT and the confusion.
Our NT coach calls up 16 players to play for NT. Out of those 16 players only 15 will keep playing for the tournament which means one is getting left behind.
If Giannis wont play then we know our teams composition, if until Thursday / Wednesday Giannis managed to talk the Bucks and make them agree then Giannis will play and someone else will be left out.

[thomchatt3rton]

Of course there is a human element to this, you want to keep Giannis happy. But it's silly to act like the Bucks are some evil organization for advising Giannis to dedicate this summer to his personal development, it's what any NBA organization would want him to do in this situation. I trust the Bucks will try to handle the situation delicately, Giannis is the franchise

If I'm the Bucks, I go out of my way to accommodate Giannis if he wants to play for Greece. I go out of my way to be pro-active about supporting him in this. Don't underestimate how important NT play is for guys- especially the friggin' Olympics. In your earlier posts, you kinda gloss over that fact ; "oh there will be plenty of time to play for NT etc etc".

Yes, I don't think the Bucks are literally forcing Giannis to not play for the NT, it's probably more along the lines of the Bucks telling Giannis that they would prefer if he didn't, which makes sense from the perspective of the organization. It could do Giannis a lot of good to dedicate this summer to simply improving his all around game, and it very likely could be the better decision in the long run, I would think this even if he he was a U.S. citizen and he wanted to play for the U.S. team. I brought up he is only 21 and will have a lot of time for the NT because I think it's worth bringing up. He will bring Greek NT fans tons of glory in the future and possibly even more if he drastically improves this summer

I'm not trying to come off as not wanting him to play for NT, I think he will end up playing and that's fine with me. Just trying to look at it from a logical perspective in the Bucks point of view. If Giannis wants to play for NT 100% I agree you should just try to keep him happy, which is what the organization will most likely do because this decision is up to the player at the end of the day

I just have a handful of things to say in response.

1. Will Giannis really have "a lot" of time to play for Greece in the Olympics? Absolute best-case, is he gets 3 cracks at it while he's a meaningful player. This is opportunity number one. And respectfully, I think you were glossing over what Giannis might want by saying you know what's best for him and his NT and that's to sit out the Olys this summer... Cmon man!

2. I think the whole "stay state-side and improve" vs "play for the NT and waste your summer and not improve at all" dichotomy is a false one. Patently false. I think as Bucks fans, we're all probably guilty of overemphasizing what we hope will be best for Giannis as a Buck, and along those lines, I think people seriously overrate the benefit of Giannis staying in the US and shooting 10,000 jumpers a day or whatever (all the while blithely underrating the developmental advantages of playing for the NT).

3. Honestly, if I were the Bucks FO, I actually would be tripping all over myself to accommodate him in this. I'd be like: "Can we upgrade your flight? We'll rent you a villa on the sea, on Lasry. Can we send personal trainers, shooting coaches, assistant coaches etc to accompany you?" Why not handle it that way?? It's a win-win! Giannis is happy, the Bucks get as much hands-on work with him as they can this summer, etc etc. Seriously, can you envision a better option?

[DutchManDanFan]

Our NT coach calls up 16 players to play for NT. Out of those 16 players only 15 will keep playing for the tournament which means one is getting left behind.

Do they do this because of the uncertainty with Giannis or is it standard procedure? And is Thanasis selected?

[H2tObes]

If I'm the Bucks, I go out of my way to accommodate Giannis if he wants to play for Greece. I go out of my way to be pro-active about supporting him in this. Don't underestimate how important NT play is for guys- especially the friggin' Olympics. In your earlier posts, you kinda gloss over that fact ; "oh there will be plenty of time to play for NT etc etc".

Yes, I don't think the Bucks are literally forcing Giannis to not play for the NT, it's probably more along the lines of the Bucks telling Giannis that they would prefer if he didn't, which makes sense from the perspective of the organization. It could do Giannis a lot of good to dedicate this summer to simply improving his all around game, and it very likely could be the better decision in the long run, I would think this even if he he was a U.S. citizen and he wanted to play for the U.S. team. I brought up he is only 21 and will have a lot of time for the NT because I think it's worth bringing up. He will bring Greek NT fans tons of glory in the future and possibly even more if he drastically improves this summer

I'm not trying to come off as not wanting him to play for NT, I think he will end up playing and that's fine with me. Just trying to look at it from a logical perspective in the Bucks point of view. If Giannis wants to play for NT 100% I agree you should just try to keep him happy, which is what the organization will most likely do because this decision is up to the player at the end of the day

I just have a handful of things to say in response.

1. Will Giannis really have "a lot" of time to play for Greece in the Olympics? Absolute best-case, is he gets 3 cracks at it while he's a meaningful player. This is opportunity number one. And respectfully, I think you were glossing over what Giannis might want by saying you know what's best for him and his NT and that's to sit out the Olys this summer... Cmon man!

2. I think the whole "stay state-side and improve" vs "play for the NT and waste your summer and not improve at all" dichotomy is a false one. Patently false. I think as Bucks fans, we're all probably guilty of overemphasizing what we hope will be best for Giannis as a Buck, and along those lines, I think people seriously overrate the benefit of Giannis staying in the US and shooting 10,000 jumpers a day or whatever (all the while blithely underrating the developmental advantages of playing for the NT).

3. Honestly, if I were the Bucks FO, I actually would be tripping all over myself to accommodate him in this. I'd be like: "Can we upgrade your flight? We'll rent you a villa on the sea, on Lasry. Can we send personal trainers, shooting coaches, assistant coaches etc to accompany you?" Why not handle it that way?? It's a win-win! Giannis is happy, the Bucks get as much hands-on work with him as they can this summer, etc etc. Seriously, can you envision a better option?

I only think it's logical that Giannis would most benefit from having an extra month for personal improvement during a very crucial offseason of his development, it could benefit the Greek NT in the long run because he could come back stronger in the future, and aren't there chances looking grim for this olympics even with Giannis? You've heard it hundreds of times before; players improve the most in the offseason. That's not to say he won't improve with the NT, but that extra time for shooting could very well be the difference between him coming in with a better jumper or not next season, who knows? It's in my opinion what would be best for the personal development of Giannis in the long run, and isn't that what a message board is all about? Is it a bad opinion? I think it holds water

I disagree, I think a 21 year old greatly benefits from working on his own personal game every single day and getting much needed rest when he chooses. We have no way of knowing the true benefit of it so it's hard to speak on this issue. I can certainly say he isn't going to get worse from playing on the NT though! You might be underrating the importance of personal training for all we know

We have no idea how exactly the organization is handling the situation. Giannis might have just asked for their opinion and the Bucks may have been upfront with him. I can see where the Bucks are coming from though, many on this board have been saying the same thing for a long time. I don't disagree with you, I would probably just let him do whatever he wants, but I think the Bucks are not going to want to upset Giannis so I trust them with this

[turbostef]

One thing:

Thanasis now has been officially called up for the Greek NT.

Both always said that it was a dream for them to play together at the NT.
As a Bucks GM I would not even think about Thanasis and Greece make it to the Olympic Games and
Giannis being in Milwaukee to "get better"

I think thomchatt3erton is right. It's a Win-Win.
In the most realistic case he will be back soon anyway.

The Greek NT (like the Bucks) are in rebuild mode and found their Leader of the Future.
Our NT has 11 out of 16 Players which are born 1990 or younger.

The older ones will retire (Bourousis, Perperoglou) are not much older (Koufos, Bogris 1989 born) or will not play major roles with the NT (Athinaiou) so this is clearly the passing of the torch to Giannis.

He may not become Steph Curry this Summer but he will become the Leader of the Greek NT. Most people here see him as the
franchise player of the future and sometimes state that his self-consciousness must improve etc.

So there is your Win-Win Situation.

He can become Step Curry next year (or after the Qualification Tournament)

[Magic Giannison]

Our NT coach calls up 16 players to play for NT. Out of those 16 players only 15 will keep playing for the tournament which means one is getting left behind.

Do they do this because of the uncertainty with Giannis or is it standard procedure? And is Thanasis selected?

They do this for two reasons ( in case of Giannis)
1. is the standard procedure byt the coaches around 1 month before a major tournament to announce 16 players that he wants them to play for NT.
2. It puts pressure on the Bucks because Giannis officially got called for NT which means Bucks cannot do anything if Giannis wants to play because of FIBA rules.


Yes Thanasis was called along with many young players like Xaralampopoulos and Dorcey ( plays at Oregon) .

To be honest, this is a huge moment for GIannis, without him there very low chance of us getting anywhere, with Giannis tho we can qualify, no doubt.
So its all up to Giannis now and how much is he willing to compromise and accept Bucks decision or just do what other players do, accept the call for NT.

[turbostef]

Katsikaris (the coach) would never call Giannis up WITHOUT talking to him.

Katsikaris keeps in touch with all NT Players during the season.

All this is very strong indication that Giannis talked to the Coach and told him that he wants to play for the NT.

Until today I was not sure about Giannis playing for Greece this Summer but now I am sure that he will.

Now the Bucks would have to force him to decline to play for the NT. And I am sure that they would regret this in the future.

[turbostef]

To give people a heads up on whats going on with NT and the confusion.
Our NT coach calls up 16 players to play for NT. Out of those 16 players only 15 will keep playing for the tournament which means one is getting left behind.
If Giannis wont play then we know our teams composition, if until Thursday / Wednesday Giannis managed to talk the Bucks and make them agree then Giannis will play and someone else will be left out.

Are you sure about the 15?

Usually the roster contains 12 players.

It is absolutely normal that Coaches invite more Players than the final roster.

Usually younger Players are invited for training and acclimatization to the NT and then are cut for the final tournament.

I am quite sure that there will be only 12 Players in the final roster.

Of course Giannis will change everything in the roster if he comes. The team will be build around him

[Magic Giannison]

To give people a heads up on whats going on with NT and the confusion.
Our NT coach calls up 16 players to play for NT. Out of those 16 players only 15 will keep playing for the tournament which means one is getting left behind.
If Giannis wont play then we know our teams composition, if until Thursday / Wednesday Giannis managed to talk the Bucks and make them agree then Giannis will play and someone else will be left out.

Are you sure about the 15?

Usually the roster contains 12 players.

It is absolutely normal that Coaches invite more Players than the final roster.

Usually younger Players are invited for training and acclimatization to the NT and then are cut for the final tournament.

I am quite sure that there will be only 12 Players in the final roster.

Of course Giannis will change everything in the roster if he comes. The team will be build around him

I think last year we also called 16 but only 15 went through the friendlies after the initial training camp ? Not sure.
You're right, its 12 for the tournament ( which i wrongly mentioned, its the friendlies and then tournament) which is the final roster.

Anyway i really hope Giannis plays because i honestly do not see the downside of it. Personal training is good and all but there are many that do that and barely improve, we also got players like Dirk, Ginobili ,Gasol and many many more stars who played all the time with NT and became great and remained healthy.

[Nightfall]

According to : http://www.gazzetta.gr/basketball/article/933115/o-giannis-paleyei-o-fotis-toy-dinei-ta-kleidia (in greek)

Giannis is in Milwaukee. The meeting will take place between him , Kidd, Hammond , Lasry and Edens on Thursday the 9th.

[emunney]

The Bucks have some leverage here because they can wait on signing his extension until after int'l play is over and nobody would blame them. This is not a particularly unusual situation. We've even encountered it before, with Bogut.

[Magic Giannison]

According to : http://www.gazzetta.gr/basketball/article/933115/o-giannis-paleyei-o-fotis-toy-dinei-ta-kleidia (in greek)

Giannis is in Milwaukee. The meeting will take place between him , Kidd, Hammond , Lasry and Edens on Thursday the 9th.

Very interesting reading, According to this Bucks do not put pressure on Giannis at all they just pointed out that THEY want him to make time for personal training this summer. Giannis insists on how important the NT and his family.Bucks haven't used their ace ( extension talks) to put pressure on Giannis which is in Milwakuee talking with lasry, Edens,Kidd and Hammond about it.


Welp,good to know the Bucks didnt pressure him.

[H2tObes]

According to : http://www.gazzetta.gr/basketball/article/933115/o-giannis-paleyei-o-fotis-toy-dinei-ta-kleidia (in greek)

Giannis is in Milwaukee. The meeting will take place between him , Kidd, Hammond , Lasry and Edens on Thursday the 9th.

Very interesting reading, According to this Bucks do not put pressure on Giannis at all they just pointed out that THEY want him to make time for personal training this summer. Giannis insists on how important the NT and his family.Bucks haven't used their ace ( extension talks) to put pressure on Giannis which is in Milwakuee talking with lasry, Edens,Kidd and Hammond about it.


Welp,good to know the Bucks didnt pressure him.

See, this is exactly what I thought. Bucks just telling Giannis what they want personally, not wanting to upset him. Everyone is happy

[The Lazy Potato]

"The Bucks don't want Giannis to play for Greece in the Olympics", can mean a lot of things. There's a big difference between 'The Bucks rather see Giannis not playing for his NT this summer' and "The Bucks will do everything they can to prevent Giannis to play for Greece´. The truth will be somewhere in the middle, I guess.


I was away for a couple of days but still wanted to react on this quote:

you guys from Greece just to know in USA they dont care about players like spanoulis or navarro or someone diamantadis.. do you realize how funny it is for us when you call them like legend players? here in NBA they worth nothing.. so calm down a bit with that..

and again no offense but we dont care about players that have nothing to do with the NBA.. go to a european forum and praise them as much as you like..

Quotes like this is why a large part of the world dislikes the USA and talks about arrogance and ignorance to describe their citizens. From this forum I know this doesn't count for most people and you should never generalize anyway, so I take this with a grain of salt. But it would certainly help if you write: "I don't care about players that have nothing to do with the NBA", next time. At least I was interested to read about the Euro legends from Greece here (and even I knew about Galis), and I'm sure for some Americans around here it's the same.

is not about arrogance,is about telling the truth.. i will only apologize for how i said it,not for what i said.. i am sorry if you don't like my honesty.. pretty words aren't always true and true words aren't always pretty..

and no offence my friend but you will find many european forums in the internet.. feel free to join them if you really want.. don't forget this is an NBA forum..

[thomchatt3rton]

I just have a handful of things to say in response.

1. Will Giannis really have "a lot" of time to play for Greece in the Olympics? Absolute best-case, is he gets 3 cracks at it while he's a meaningful player. This is opportunity number one. And respectfully, I think you were glossing over what Giannis might want by saying you know what's best for him and his NT and that's to sit out the Olys this summer... Cmon man!

2. I think the whole "stay state-side and improve" vs "play for the NT and waste your summer and not improve at all" dichotomy is a false one. Patently false. I think as Bucks fans, we're all probably guilty of overemphasizing what we hope will be best for Giannis as a Buck, and along those lines, I think people seriously overrate the benefit of Giannis staying in the US and shooting 10,000 jumpers a day or whatever (all the while blithely underrating the developmental advantages of playing for the NT).

3. Honestly, if I were the Bucks FO, I actually would be tripping all over myself to accommodate him in this. I'd be like: "Can we upgrade your flight? We'll rent you a villa on the sea, on Lasry. Can we send personal trainers, shooting coaches, assistant coaches etc to accompany you?" Why not handle it that way?? It's a win-win! Giannis is happy, the Bucks get as much hands-on work with him as they can this summer, etc etc. Seriously, can you envision a better option?

I only think it's logical that Giannis would most benefit from having an extra month for personal improvement during a very crucial offseason of his development, it could benefit the Greek NT in the long run because he could come back stronger in the future, and aren't there chances looking grim for this olympics even with Giannis? You've heard it hundreds of times before; players improve the most in the offseason. That's not to say he won't improve with the NT, but that extra time for shooting could very well be the difference between him coming in with a better jumper or not next season, who knows? It's in my opinion what would be best for the personal development of Giannis in the long run, and isn't that what a message board is all about? Is it a bad opinion? I think it holds water

I disagree, I think a 21 year old greatly benefits from working on his own personal game every single day and getting much needed rest when he chooses. We have no way of knowing the true benefit of it so it's hard to speak on this issue. I can certainly say he isn't going to get worse from playing on the NT though! You might be underrating the importance of personal training for all we know

We have no idea how exactly the organization is handling the situation. Giannis might have just asked for their opinion and the Bucks may have been upfront with him. I can see where the Bucks are coming from though, many on this board have been saying the same thing for a long time. I don't disagree with you, I would probably just let him do whatever he wants, but I think the Bucks are not going to want to upset Giannis so I trust them with this

We don't really disagree that much and you're being perfectly reasonable. I mainly disagree with your earlier post saying it would be best for Greece and Giannis if Giannis sits this summer out. But I understand your logic, certainly. I just think it's not as clear-cut as you initially made it sound.

Let me ask you this though: how much better do you think Giannis would've been last season had he skipped playing for Greece in Eurobasket?

[BuildingBucks]

Everyone is talking about what is best for Giannis here but in reality its coming off as what Giannis decision is best for me as a fan. Lets not pretend anyone is really 100% thinking about what is best for Giannis because that isn't what I'm reading. Greece fans want him to play for them this summer because it helps their team quite a bit and majority of Bucks fans would prefer he work on his game so he takes that next step next season and leads us to the playoffs.

Bucks aren't the bad guy here, and I don't think there is one in this situation. You can't expect them to want their franchise player, who they plan on giving a lot of money to this summer, to play for Greece when he could be in Milwaukee working with their staff. There is a reason most players don't improve certain parts of their game while playing competitively, that improvement is done in the offseason. There's a huge difference between practicing your jumper while also preparing for games versus spending an entire day focusing just on shooting. I get why Greece wants Giannis to play for them also, but if we are thinking about what is REALLY best for Giannis. It is that huge contract he will be able to sign this summer. That is what is best for Giannis and his family.

What I'd do if I were the Bucks is say we'd prefer you stay in Milwaukee and get better, but if you decide to play for Greece we will support your decision and send some of our staff out there to help you work on your game. Then we'll discuss the new contract when you get back.

[turbostef]

According to : http://www.gazzetta.gr/basketball/article/933115/o-giannis-paleyei-o-fotis-toy-dinei-ta-kleidia (in greek)

Giannis is in Milwaukee. The meeting will take place between him , Kidd, Hammond , Lasry and Edens on Thursday the 9th.

Very interesting reading, According to this Bucks do not put pressure on Giannis at all they just pointed out that THEY want him to make time for personal training this summer. Giannis insists on how important the NT and his family.Bucks haven't used their ace ( extension talks) to put pressure on Giannis which is in Milwakuee talking with lasry, Edens,Kidd and Hammond about it.


Welp,good to know the Bucks didnt pressure him.

See, this is exactly what I thought. Bucks just telling Giannis what they want personally, not wanting to upset him. Everyone is happy

But then why are the owners sitting at this table?!

This is a simple discussion: Coach Kidd and GMB Hammond to Giannis "we want you to stay".
Giannis: "I want to play and I have the right to". End of discussion.

With the owners that are paying the max contract sitting at this table this is a completely different discussions.

Owners: "We would reaaaaaaly like to pay you a max contract BUT......"

Of course the Owners will try to protect their investment. God made them a gift at the 15th pick.
With Giannis this is a franchise of hope, development and upside. And Giannis is the reason where all this started to
develop for the bucks.

The Owners would be idiots if they would not try to affect Giannis' decision.

I think we need to start a new hashtag

#freegiannis

[DutchManDanFan]

you guys from Greece just to know in USA they dont care about players like spanoulis or navarro or someone diamantadis.. do you realize how funny it is for us when you call them like legend players? here in NBA they worth nothing.. so calm down a bit with that..

and again no offense but we dont care about players that have nothing to do with the NBA.. go to a european forum and praise them as much as you like..

Quotes like this is why a large part of the world dislikes the USA and talks about arrogance and ignorance to describe their citizens. From this forum I know this doesn't count for most people and you should never generalize anyway, so I take this with a grain of salt. But it would certainly help if you write: "I don't care about players that have nothing to do with the NBA", next time. At least I was interested to read about the Euro legends from Greece here (and even I knew about Galis), and I'm sure for some Americans around here it's the same.

is not about arrogance, is about telling the truth.. i will only apologize for how i said it,not for what i said.. i am sorry if you don't like my honesty.. pretty words aren't always true and true words aren't always pretty..

and no offence my friend but you will find many european forums in the internet.. feel free to join them if you really want.. don't forget this is an NBA forum..

Again, please talk for your self only. It's quite arrogant to claim it´s the truth that all Americans are only interested in NBA basketball, like you do. In fact it's quite stupid to say your opinion is the opinion of every American. You can continue with this discussion if you want, but then you prove to be ignorant as well. So I advice you not to.
Excuses aren't necessary. But it will help you to be taken more serious next time you write here. Again an advice without any costs.

[Magic Giannison]

Another major Greek media reports that it will be very difficult for Giannis to play with NT this year.
http://www.sport24.gr/Columns/triantafillos/ethnikh-xwris-xalinari-alla-me-ena-megalo-erwthmatiko.4101412.html