By Stuart Shikano
You know how this was going to go. The Bucks and Lakers faced off Thursday night on TNT from Milwaukee. Now, despite the fact that this was only one regular season game, we were all always going to look at this game as something a lot more significant. These were the two possible scenarios. Bucks win, we say, “Giannis is officially the best player in basketball. Passing of the torch.” Lakers win, we say, “LeBron’s STILL the best player in basketball even at nearly 35 years old and 17 seasons in. Damn, that’s impressive.” Well, the Bucks won, so we’re talking about Giannis.
PT. 1: THE RISE OF GIANNIS AND HIS CONTINUOUS SURGING
Giannis Antetokounmpo came into the league in 2013 at the age of 18. He did not play college ball in the U.S., as he hails from Greece. He was the 15th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft. He did not have LeBron or Zion hype, as people did not know much about the man. Neither Giannis or the Bucks were discussed very much in his first few seasons, as neither were at the forefront of the league. Things started to change in the 2016-17 season when Giannis upped his points per game average 6 whole points, totaling 22.9 points per game, as well as 8.8 rebounds per game. Giannis became an All-Star for the first time and was named Most Improved Player, proving he was going to be a force to be reckoned with. Giannis did more improving in the 2017-18 season, averaging 26.9 PPG and 10.0 RPG, while also making his second consecutive All-Star team.
In the 2018-19 season, just as he had done every season prior, Giannis’s PPG and RPG averages increased. Also in the ’18-’19 season, Giannis averaged 27.7 PPG and 12.5 RPG, made his first All-NBA First Team selection, made his first appearance on the All-Defensive First Team, and oh yeah, won the 2018-19 NBA MVP. The days of being an emerging star were over, Giannis was arguably the best player in the game, and worst case, a top five player.
Yet, there are always critics. The one nitpicky thing people brought up when dissecting Giannis’s play was that he needed to get a jump shot. Having heard many stories about Giannis’s work ethic, I had no doubts that he would come back for the 2019-20 season with an improved jump shot and three-point shot. That he has. Giannis is now a threat from beyond the arc. Giannis has made 49 3-point field goals this season in 28 games. To put that in perspective, last season, Giannis made 52 3-point field goals in 72 games played. Giannis is shooting 33.8% from three-point range this season and shot 25.6% from three-point range last season.
Giannis is like Lowe’s, he never stops improving. Even coming off an MVP season, Giannis has shown improvement. In addition to the improved shooting, Giannis has also increased his PPG average to a career-high 31.8 and his RPG average to a career-high 12.8. Now, the team’s through 29 games, so there’s still a long way to go. But, Giannis’s play this season and the numbers he’s put up thus far makes it look very promising that this will be a year of career highs once again. The Bucks are off to an amazing start with a 25-4 record after 29 games. As of now, they look like the team that’s going to come out of the Eastern Conference. They look more like title contenders than ever.
Alright, now let’s bring LeBron into the Giannis conversation.
PT. 2: GIANNIS AND LEBRON
Giannis often gets compared to LeBron. Their games are not identical. But, they are both athletic freaks, can blow by anyone to get to the basket, have a strong work ethic, and a desire to be the best.
Now, LeBron has been at a place where there are no flaws in his game for a long time. But that wasn’t always the case. In his early years, critics of LeBron would bring up his subpar shooting. In the 2007 NBA Finals, the Spurs’ game-plan was to make LeBron uncomfortable by testing his jump shot. They exploited his weakness and swept him in the Finals. This is something LeBron recently spoke about. Then, there were critics saying LeBron didn’t have the ‘killer instinct’ and didn’t want to shoot in late, high-pressure game situations. Then, in the 2011 NBA Finals, the Dallas Mavericks tested LeBron’s jump shot and used his shooting inconsistency and skepticism in his jump shot against him. Once again, a team exploited LeBron’s weakness and beat him in the Finals. But, that was the last time a team could do that to LeBron.
LeBron’s field goal percentage rose from 51% in the 2010-11 season to 53.1% in the 2011-12 season to 56.5% in the 2012-13 season. Also noteworthy is LeBron’s three-point field goal percentage went from 33% in the 2010-11 season to 36.2% in the 2011-12 season to a career-high 40.6% in the 2012-13 season. That whole, ‘Let’s see you hit a jumper and test your confidence in that” tactic that the Spurs and Mavericks had used against him had become obsolete. The days of slowing down LeBron in any way were over.
A lot of LeBron fans point to the 2012-13 season as prime LeBron. It was a year of peak athleticism, defensive greatness, and his best three-point shooting. Then, there was of course the usual unparalleled ability to drive to the basket, amazing distribution and playmaking, unreal floor vision, and scoring efficiency. That was also the year the Miami Heat won 27 straight games. Not too shabby. The year ended with an intense seven game NBA Finals that they won against the San Antonio Spurs.
After that, we saw more greatness from LeBron. LeBron went toe to toe, without his two best players Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, with the loaded 2014-15 Golden State Warriors. This was a Finals that went six games with LeBron largely playing that series with Matthew Dellavedova as his partner in crime. Then there was the 3-1 series comeback that finished up with an insane three-game stretch from LeBron and Kyrie to knock off the 73-win Golden State Warriors and finally let Cleveland sports fans celebrate a championship. There was also the 2017-18 season when Cleveland traded their whole team at the trade deadline and LeBron was still able to get to the Finals with a weak supporting cast. There was that game one where LeBron was out of this world going toe-to-toe with the KEVIN DURANT-Golden State Warriors with little help. Then, his hopes of snatching that game one got derailed when the refs reversed the initial call of a KD charge to a LeBron blocking foul, George Hill missed that free throw, and then J.R. Smith, well you know what happened.
Any way, why am I writing about all of this? What does this have to do with Giannis?
Great question. Giannis just turned 25. LeBron was 26 in that Mavericks NBA Finals. As great as LeBron had been up to that point, he got way better after that. If Giannis is already better this season than he was last season after winning the MVP, what will he look like next season? And the next season? And the next season? 28-year-old LeBron was prime LeBron, with still many years of greatness after that. So, what the hell is Giannis gonna look like when he’s 28? And what is he going to look like at 29, 30, 31, 32? The potential is limitless.
The things that make great NBA players even greater are experience, summers where players work on improving a part of their game, and playoff heartbreak that creates more motivation. LeBron got better every year in his early years. LeBron would come back certain years physically stronger, in better shape, and an improved jump shot, etc. Losing to the Mavericks in the Finals and his poor performance in that series made him better going forward. Giannis has gotten better every year to this point. Giannis has put on over 50 pounds of muscle since entering the league in 2013 and has improved his jump shot and three-point shot. That loss to the Raptors in the Eastern Conference finals after getting off to a 2-0 lead looks like it’s made him hungrier and better.
We knew LeBron was great in his first run in Cleveland. But, if someone told you then that he was going to get a lot better, you probably would have marveled at thought and said to yourself, “That’s going to be scary for the league.” And it was! EIGHT STRAIGHT FINALS APPEARANCES with two different franchises??
Well, I can safely say that as great as Giannis was last season and is this season, he’s also going to get better. He said this past summer that he feels he’s only 60% of what he can potentially become. Some agreed and some didn’t believe you could be at 60% of your potential and win the MVP; they wondered how you could get THAT much better. Well, he’s shooting threes now, and with more three-point attempts and jump shot attempts in games and more practice shooting when the cameras are off, he’ll only become a better shooter. Then, add more experience and an increased knowledge of the game. Yeah, watch out, rest of the NBA.
The thing is when you know a guy is willing to put the work in and get better, you can count on them to improve. Some guys develop their game and as the years go on, you don’t really see anything new or anything that’s improved that much. With LeBron and Giannis, that’s not the case.
I say this confidently, Giannis has the potential to become a top ten NBA player of all time, and maybe even higher. What’s my rationale? Look at him now and then consider that he never stops improving.
StuartTheWW 