It's Giannis' World and We Just Live In It—The Greek Freak Headlines Bucks 7-3 Start

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Photo Credit: Erik Drost

The 2019-2020 NBA season is off and running, and while the Milwaukee Bucks have gotten off to a respectable 7-3 start, there’s always some good and bad to take away as the Deer try to figure out their identity this season. The obvious good starts with the reigning MVP, Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has come out with a vengeance once again as he tries to follow up what he accomplished last season in the Bucks' road to a championship. Not only does Antetokounmpo continue to wow the basketball world on a nightly basis with highlight-reel plays, but he’s also filling up the stat sheet in a plethora of ways. His current five-game stretch says it all, as he’s the first Buck to score 30-plus points in five straight games since Marques Johnson did it back in 1978.

It’s hard to believe that Giannis said over the summer he had only tapped into about 60% of his potential after leading the Bucks to 60 wins and a conference final appearance. The soon-to-be 25-year-old is coming off an MVP season where he already put up career numbers and it begs the question as to how much better can he get? As crazy as it may think, he’s scoring more, rebounding more, assisting more and even blocking more shots in about the same number of minutes per game as last season. There’s no slowing him down, and the disappointment of falling short in the conference finals has fueled him to get off to quite a historic start through the first 10 games averaging 29.7 points, 14.3 rebounds and 6.8 assists.

Despite posting at least a double-double in each game thus far, including a triple-double in a season-opening win over the Rockets, Giannis’ aggressive style of play has gotten him into problems at times by getting into foul trouble. After fouling out of the first two games, he accumulated at least four fouls in four of the next six games before fouling out once again in a loss at Utah last Friday night. It’s no secret that it’s more beneficial to the Bucks when he’s on the floor. In terms of advanced stats, Giannis leads the NBA in PER (player efficiency rating) of 33.8, box plus/minus at 13.4, value over replacement player at 1.3, and win shares per 48 minutes at .324 while being second overall in win shares at 2.2 per game.

Shooting the basketball has always been a focus for Giannis, especially three-point shooting, and working with teammates such as sharpshooter Kyle Korver is starting to show steady progress. After hitting just four threes in the first seven games, he’s gone 8-15 in the last three games to bring his up to 30.8% for the season thus far. Not to mention his new mentor, Kyle Korver, has been extremely efficient from downtown by knocking down 17 of 35 attempts for 48.6% in eight games played.

More Good

• The Bucks are ranked at or near the top in multiple categories this season. They are second in points (119.9 per game), first in rebounds (51.7), second in three-pointers made (14.7), third in field goal percentage (47.3%), third in point differential (+8.1) and fifth in pace (108.6).
• They have won five of their last six games after a 2-2 start with five of their seven victories coming on the road.
• Milwaukee has kept its let it fly approach as eight guys are shooting over 30% from downtown with George Hill leading the way at 57.7% including a 6-of-7 performance against the Clippers last Wednesday.
• Former first-round pick Donte DiVincenzo is starting to make an impact. After sitting out most of his rookie season, the Big Ragu is building his case as a nightly rotation player for coach Bud. He’s played double-digit minutes in five of seven games played this season with an average of 5.9 points while shooting 45% from downtown. He turned in a 17-point, seven-rebound performance in a win over the Timberwolves last back on November 4.

The Bad

For the casual fan, it can be hard to pinpoint too much bad through roughly two weeks of the season. To Milwaukee’s credit, there isn’t too much to complain about thus far, except that they blew 20-point leads in two early-season losses and could have easily started 8-0. Basketball is a game of two halves and with the way teams are getting up and down the floor these days, no lead is considered safe.

That said, Milwaukee nearly completed a comeback for the ages in Utah despite one of the worst halves of basketball they have played in the last couple of seasons. After trailing 55-35 at the half, the Bucks stormed back behind Giannis as he scored 28 of his 30 points in the second half before fouling out with less than a minute to play. Khris Middleton tied the game at 100 with eight seconds to play but had a costly turnover that led to a Bojan Bogdanovic game-winning three-pointer as time expired. To add salt to the wound, Milwaukee extended its losing streak in Utah to 18 games with their last win coming during the 2000-2001 season.

Next Men Up

Although there was a lot of continuity with their roster, the one main cog people were concerned about heading into this season is the production that was lost from Malcolm Brogdon, who’s having a solid start to the season for the 7-4 Indiana Pacers. The former rookie of the year is averaging 20.7 points, 8.5 assists, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.1 steals in 33 minutes per game. Albeit just an 11-game sample, those numbers are career highs as he seems to be fitting in well as the primary point guard for his new team.

While some may continue to complain that Milwaukee made a mistake by not bringing him back, it’s time to move on and trust the decisions that 2018-2019 NBA executive of the year, Jon Horst, has made to this point. The third-year general manager gave head coach Mike Budenholzer a couple of proven veterans to mix in with young studs that have plenty of potential to produce at or near the level Brogdon did at both ends of the floor.

Bud has given Wes Matthews the first crack at starting due to his solid 10-year resume that now includes a total of 673 starts in 734 career games. Matthews’ toughness on both ends of the floor is hard to ignore, and while shooting just 33% from downtown in 10 games, he’s shooting nearly 43% overall from the field while averaging 6.5 points in 24.2 minutes per game. Would it be nice to have Brogdon still on this team? Sure, but at what cost? Milwaukee would be way into the luxury tax having to keep all of last year’s starting five in the fold. There’s nothing anyone can do about now and the team has focused on what they can control. That is just one reason that makes this team so great. They have had no choice but to adopt the next man up mentality with guys willing to fill that role.

Speaking of such, the Bucks will have even bigger shoes to fill as some rough news hit Monday with the announcement that All-Star Khris Middleton will miss a good chunk of time with a left thigh injury.  

This comes at a time when the Bucks were just starting to find a rhythm this season and figuring out what lineups work better than others. Middleton, who signed a near five-year max extension this passed offseason worth $178 million dollars, hasn’t been super flashy to start the season but has been efficient as the Deer’s number two option.

Over the next month, Milwaukee might not be in too much trouble considering their schedule is more favorable than you would think. They will play 15 games, of which 10 are at home, with only have two back-to-back sets and one game where they will have a true rest advantage.

A lot of the burden will, of course, fall on Eric Bledsoe, who has been coming around since the start of November after an underwhelming first week of the season where he averaged just 10.5 points and 4.3 assists on 36.1% shooting and an abysmal 21.4% from three. Through six games in November, the 29-year-old has averaged 20.2 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 5.5 assists while shooting 51.1% overall and a much-improved 33.3% from downtown. The Bled Show has gotten hot at the right time, scoring 20-plus points in each of the last four games and will need to stay consistent in order for the Bucks, who are currently tied for third, to stay near the top of the Eastern Conference.

While coach Bud will also lean on veteran George Hill to see more minutes alongside Bledsoe, young studs such as Sterling Brown, Pat Connaughton, and Donte DiVincenzo will now be given a huge opportunity to prove they can be relied upon as the season unfolds. While most might look at this as a concerning time for the Bucks, it’s a blessing in disguise as Milwaukee will really get a good look at how these guys can do with true extended minutes on a playoff-contending team. They could also look to go with bigger lineups with more Robin Lopez, Ersan Ilyasova, or even seeing what they have in former top-five pick Dragan Bender, who has yet to play in the regular season despite looking solid in training camp.

Bottom Line

When you look at Giannis Antetokounmpo’s monstrous start to this season, there’s no doubt that league got it right by naming him the most valuable player last season. While the next month looks to be challenging without Middleton, to say the least, the Greek Freak is here to tell you not to worry. He’s already put the team on his back once again as they gear up for another championship-contending season. Giannis will continue to get better. This is a special time in the history of the Milwaukee Bucks and one that we can’t take advantage of. It’s Giannis’ world right now and we all have the pleasure of being witnesses to his continued growth as one of the best to ever do it.