The ONLY Problem With The Bucks (im sorry Giannis)

Giannis could be ruining the Bucks with this one sentence #NBA

Wait what? It’s Dame’s team? This one statement confused nearly everyone, broke what we thought of Giannis, and might just ruin the Bucks in the future. **Let me explain.**

Giannis has been on the Bucks for 10 years. Did you forget that you’re the two time MVP? Did you forget that you’re the NBA champ and finals MVP?

The Bucks are great, the favorites to win it all. You have Damian Lillard and Giannis, two stars that seemingly compliment each other perfectly and like most people, I think they will do great. But what we’ve seen so far has been ehhh. Their record is good, but if you look at the games, they barely beat the Sixers, barely beat the Pistons, Knicks, and Nets, that defense is looking sus.

And at the current moment, lineups with both Giannis and Dame are a net negative 5.0 points per 100 possessions, scoring only 103.6 when the average NBA team is scoring nearly 114.

And that’s piece #1, duos need the right hierarchy.

A recent duo with at the time two of the top 10 players in the league, LeBron and Anthony Davis started out the gate strong, jumping out to an incredible 33-and-7 start and, of course, going on to win it ALL! How? The duo had a hierarchy AD might have been the better player at the time, but it was LeBron’s team, a dynamic that was clear. LeBron said AD’s got the scoring, I’ll oversee things as the point guard and as the leader of the team.

That’s also why during key moments, there wasn’t a disconnect. Which is the flip side to what Giannis said… Giannis needs to be the leader and the dictator of things while allowing Dame to cook in his spots and play the role of the primary scorer. But that doesn’t always happen in their first year because sometimes it takes making the mistake to realize what was wrong, even losing a finals.

Without the correct plan in mind, a dream duo can not only fail to work… they can be THE reason for underwhelming results! When Russell Westbrook and James Harden paired up in 2019, everyone thought that they’d be a better duo than James Harden and the recently departed Chris Paul. The only problem was… when you pair the NBA’s top TWO usage rate leaders of the past five seasons…

In almost all these examples, the player who was on the team originally was whose team it was, only given away if the other player was just better. The leader would be the NBA champ or the guy with the most experience. If the roles weren’t defined or the wrong roles were given, it was a disaster.

So, Giannis — as a multiple time MVP and the NBA champ — saying that a guy, in Dame, although talented, is the leader? It don’t make sense.

**And this all cascades into the Bucks struggling with** Piece #2 Defense cause my god, it’s not been great. The Bucks were 4th in defense last year. Right now, they’re 25th. But you don’t need to know the stats to know that whatever this is, it’s bad.

Players aren’t rotating, or rather, the Bucks players are compensating for Dame and aren’t making all the rotations. And not just Dame, Cam Payne and Malik Beasley are barbeque chicken.

For example, on this pick and roll, it’s a switch, but Dame is late on the roll and now Giannis is forced to step up to cover the roll and Siakam gets left wide open and Dame recovers to no where.

Giannis is having to play more up meaning the paint is more open.

And the worst part, where’s the effort?

Brook Lopez doesn’t know where to be. We used to clown him for being in drop coverage but he literally finished second in defensive player of the year voting, The Bucks forced players into shooting the most midranges last year and Brook was a huge part of that, a defensive quarterback, always talking, directing his teammates, and then we have this year. Nothing.

The reason that Giannis is Giannis is because he just never stops. ****Look at his stats in his first 4 seasons, he went from scrawny lanky forward averaging 6.9 points to I decide when she gets home 22.9 points per game by his 4th season. And this season, he’s shooting his highest field goal percentage ever.

We’re talking about the most dominant player since Shaq, but with a fire to keep improving and be the best.

Of course, depending on matchup, maybe it’s better to attack with the perimeter with Dame, but the default should be Giannis. I’m not concerned about the regular season, I’m concerned with how that dynamic will be in the playoffs if the focus is through Dame and not Giannis. Dame’s skillset is more capable of being off-ball, it’s whether he will find rhythm and currently he hasn’t. Giannis is capable of being a roller, a threat in the right places, but both their strengths haven’t really showed at the same time.