Giannis Antetokounmpo plays an incredibly dominant season for the Milwaukee Bucks so far, making him a serious MVP candidate. Especially in the zone the Greek is unstoppable, which earned him not only praise, but also comparisons to Shaquille O’Neal.
“It’s an absolute mismatch, especially when a big guy has to defend it,” Kevin Durant moaned after the Milwaukee Bucks won at the Golden State Warriors when asked about Giannis Antekounmpo. The Bucks star had given the Dubs 24 points (7/16 FG), which was actually well below his season average of 27.0 points and a quota of 57.5 percent off the field.
What are the other victims who are being pushed around by the Greek freak night after night to say? Giannis scored 18.6 points per game in the zone per game, most recently in the 2002/03 season, when Shaquille O’Neal’s imposing appearance made his opponents look like cardboard comrades.
And now Antetokounmpo, which as is well known is not a center, but is similarly dominant. Due to the trend of the league, in which wing players have become more important than pure bigs, one is inclined to say that Giannis is the new, modern Shaq.
After all, his MVP ambitions do not come from Nirvana, but are already underpinned by the bare figures. 27.0 points, 13.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists as well as 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocks could never reach a player over an entire season. If you lower the parameters a little, legends like Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird or Oscar Robertson appear.
All the more remarkable is Giannis’ production when you consider that he still doesn’t have a litter, even though he has the green light from coach Mike Budenholzer. “He’s always telling me to keep throwing. This is very important to me.” Trust has not yet paid off. Although Antetokounmpo takes 2.5 threes as many as never before in his career, he has never recorded such a bad quota in his five years before.
11.1 percent from a distance is a ridiculously bad value that has never been seen before in such a volume. If you also consider that 40 of the 54 triple attempts are classified as ‘wide open’ by the NBA, the laughter of the opponents in particular should soon pass. Sooner or later Giannis will also sink this litter on average.
In the meantime, the Greek is doing what he is best at doing in the league at the moment – raging in the zone, mostly (at least indirectly) without the help of the other players. Antetokounmpo gets an assist at less than 50 percent of his field goals in direct basket proximity, i.e. within a radius of up to 5 feet (approx. 1.52 meters), which distinguishes him from Dunk machines such as Clint Capela or Rudy Gobert.
And yet the Greek leads the Dunk category, although he has fewer games than the two mentioned above. In the past season the Bucks star only made 161 cracks, this yield he will pulverize, at the moment he is already at 104.
An important factor is of course the system of bucks under the new head coach Mike Budenholzer. The squad has changed very little, although Ersan Ilyasova (now injured) and Brook Lopez as Stretch Bigs have a big influence on the fact that the Greek now has more room for his drives.
Because if Antetokounmpo has room, it’s hard to defend. The fact that a player with two or three steps from the perimeter stands directly under the basket is absolutely unique in history. In addition, over the years Giannis has been busy lifting dumbbells and turning more and more into a kind of Hulk. While he often lacked the balance at the beginning of his career, the Greek probably absorbs the contact of his opponent more than almost any other player in the Association.
But as a result he has lost little to nothing of his mobility. Only guards such as DeMar DeRozan, James Harden or John Wall pull more often to the basket than Giannis (14.3 drives per game), who successfully completes a strong 64.3 percent of them. Only Pascal Siakam and team mate Eric Bledsoe have a higher success rate in this category. By way of comparison, a final beast like LeBron James hits just 50 percent after his drives.
It was also the King who dominated the league for years at the Field Goals in the Restricted Area. In his 15 years, he was always among the top six players, leading the NBA seven times in this statistic.
Also this season James is third in this category with 142 field goals, but already 44 baskets behind Antetokounmpo, who is already at 186 Makes. To put this in perspective, let’s take a step back in time. Since 1996, these metrics have been collected and only two players have broken the 500 mark each, LeBron and Shaq holding the 2001 record (571). If you extrapolate Giannis’ stats this season, he will easily break this record.
Second in that incredibly dominant Shaq season was by the way Antoine Walker with just 404 sunken throws in the Restricted Area.
The difference this year at Antetokounmpo is not quite as striking, but the combination of four shooters and the Greek is more efficient than any other lineup this season. Lopez already suspected this in the summer when he talked about the new bucks with the improved spacing. “Giannis will be deadly with so much space, also because he can not only finish, but also create throws for his teammates.”
This proved to be the case in the first 22 games. Despite seven bankruptcies, the Bucks still have the best net rating (10.1) and the best offensive rating (115.1) in the league, also because Budenholzer has designed the complete Milwaukee system for the superstar.
Antetocounmpo’s usage rate of 30.9 percent is also higher than ever before. His passing has become better and better over the years and under the boards the Greek is also more active, which is another innovation under Bud. Centers like Lopez, Ilyasova or Thon Maker are asked to block out the best rebounders of the opponent so that Antetokounmpo can collect the free rebounders and immediately initiate the fast break.
The No.15 pick from 2013 has thus mutated into a real double-double machine and has also played its part in Milwaukee generating seven more ball possessions per game this season than in the previous season.
The fact that Antetokounmpo is thus a very hot candidate for the MVP Award after a quarter of the season is not just any hype, but a meaningful application. The Diesel himself, who spoke for Giannis at an appearance at The Stephen A. Smith Show, also has a similar opinion.
On top of that Shaq also gave the Greek Freak his former nickname ‘Superman’, an ‘honour’ which for example Dwight Howard (who had given the name to himself) was always denied.
“I’ve never given my nickname before, but with Giannis I make an exception,” explained the Hall of Famer. “He dominates and I like that. He dominates the Zone, he attacks, he stuffs.” Sounds like a fucking Shaq – a modern Shaq.