The Ringer’s Bill Simmons is joined by Zach Lowe to talk about Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks. They discuss how the Bucks have struggled with some injury problems this season, Joe Ingles’s passing ability, and how Giannis keeps dominating.
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47 Comments
I’m 27 years old and I’ve been following and watching the nba real close since 2004.. & truly, Giannis just might be the best player I’ve ever seen.. Its not crazy to say.. & Kobe, Wade, Tmac, & Bron were my favorite players… but I’ve never seen anything like Greek Freak, dude different.. he don’t play the same, but he’s even more dominant.. dude plays like he’s being controlled by a Xbox remote.. he’s 32, 13, & 5, 2, 1 without his 2 of his best teammates, he is the only consistent one on his team…this man literally is Milwaukee
Stunning as always
2 way impact, intangibles, has improved throughout his career. Giannis will be a player you can build a title team around until he is 35.
Hes like 28, thats LeBron in miami for reference, he'll probably dominate for a while
His hyper extended knee against the Hawks but then still came back in time for the finals.
Run and dunk man
Is giannis really a lock for first team all nba this season.. Tatum and KD are both doing insane numbers too, with better records, while also being better ON ball defenders. I feel like everyone just decided giannis is a lock and are chosing between KD and tatum when they could both have an argument over him this season.
Giannis greatest body in nba history. Greatest fastbreak player nba history
his body is built like a longer version of lebron’s. he isn’t too “lanky” to hold up long term as opposed to KP
Middleton is washed, get Giannis some help asap!
Remember Middleton was injured during the season last year, he came back and played well up until the first round of the playoffs where he got hurt against the Bulls and then was out. He's becoming undependable when you need him on the court. Bucks don't have a ton of flexibility, this could turn bad for them really quickly if they don't get ahead of it.
Can he please get to the finals more than once before we talk about him "dominating the NBA"?
He’ll have a Tim Duncan level of dominance. 15 years plus
MIL management has been complacent. They need to make moves
It's infuriating the disrespect he gets. He's the single most dominant player in the NBA and the most talented overall. Besides outside shooting, he has no weaknesses. There's nobody who has the ability to effect the game in as many facets. The world shoulda crowned him the undisputed king 2 years ago
He's already the 2nd Greatest PF of All Time. Outside of TD he surpasses all the other greats in some or multiple categories. He'll finish a Top 12 player all time.
I always feel that Giannis will figure out his 3pt shooting. He just works so hard and does so much that even if the offence takes a hit I just feel like he’ll become that 35-36% 3pt shooter later in his career. So missing that explosiveness won’t matter as much. His defence is incredible and his passing consistently gets better year by year.
He’s going to dominate for a long time, I’ll say to at least 36 years. After that you might see him dip a bit, but if he works the way Lebron’s worked, then he can definitely do this into his late 30’s
If g ever get a mid range jumper turn around jumper it's already over nobody would be on this man planet he already got post moves but if u had to respect the shot from 15 dead meat
Lol lowe must have heard word that his contract is one of the contracts getting the ax because he is lobbying for a job. More eager than stripper with zero tips
He's already washed up
Giannis is putting up dominant numbers but i wouldn’t say he’s “dominating” The league. Gotta win more than once to enter that conversation.
Despite all the "best player" in the NBA narrative, Giannis has underwhelmed this year. His at the rim game is awesome but all other facets have not improved 1 lick. Efficiency has been crap.
At least? LOL! He will be 38 in ten years. And once his athleticism is gone he is done as an offensive player.
NO SKILL 🚮 💩
Dudes still learning how to play ball 🏀 he will easily keep improving another 5+ years.
bottom 5 offense in the league with a near 40% usage rate if you hold Jokic responsible for the nuggets terrible defense (which is fair) you have to have that same standard for Giannis and his teams offense
With his length and athleticism he doesnt have to have peak athleticism to do crazy shit , i expect his body to age like Lebron’s , only thing is will he improve the rest of his offensive game to make him as effective as Bron became later in his career without relying on athleticsm all the time ?
These two talking hoops is peak podcasting. I hope a day comes when they can do pods more often together.
He definitely isn't the MVP this year, it's Joker or Doncic so far. KD & Durant are honorable mentions.
If they keep reffing him incredibly favourably then another decade. Don’t get me wrong he would still be great without the whistle but he’s allowed to plow into guys all day. Plus he carry’s and shuffles his feet an obscene amount.
he dropped a season low tonight. My favorite player but what happened
Denver: Bojan, Bey, Noel
Pistons: MPJ
He's insanely good, but I have no idea why he takes 4-5 3s a game.
bro hasn't scored double digits since this was posted
The Bucks are 27 and 14, 3rd in the East all while being revenged with injuries with no consistent line up. If they can string 10 games together with at least a starting 5 playing together, they can be spooky team.
Playoffs are tough for them because teams will just throw 3 guys on Giannis and everyone else has to figure out how to produce. We’ll see if Middleton, Holiday, and Grayson can create offense without around the “build a wall” defense Giannis tends to face in the playoffs.
Simmons and Russillo led the charge last year to give jokic MVP and claimed he was best player over Giannis even though he hasn't won anything. This is why people think they have inherent racial bias. They make claims about certain players of certain hues and give them excuses that they don't give others and use "advanced stats" and team record as the narrative when it suits them. Jokic supporting cast was better last year than Giannis this year — if you go by the open looks and potential assists Giannis has created for his teammates this year that they don't convert he would be averaging double digit assists
Is Giannis really dominating the league though? He is definitely one of the best, but I'd argue that Embiid, Jokic and Luka are just as dominant as him. Embiid also has a very similar two-way impact. The difference is that Embiid is more injury prone and hasn't won a title, which I'd argue has also to do with his team not being as balanced.
Two years ago, Giannis seemed to turn into the most dominant player in the league. This is not the case anymore. I don't think that there is a clear Nr.1 right now. Too much talent
“This is not the good ship lollipop “ 😂😂😂😂
“This is not the good ship lollipop “ 😂😂😂😂
"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear_not absence of fear." _Mark Twain
If the nba were to rework its season schedule. How would you rework it?
Do you think it’s something that will happen soon
It should be each team plays each other twice home and away at the halfway point all star weekend
Play offs first game is 1 game
2nd round is best of 3
Conference finals best of 5
NBA finals best of 7
Bucks depth hurts them. Organization has not drafted well aside from Giannis. Waiting on nwora to turn into ray allen and he has not progressed in his time in Milwaukee. team is getting older and then the team wins the championship and decides to bring back wes and george hill. Giannis has been posting about building good habits for two years and the same problems are present. Teams play is Definitely concerning .
the Bucks need some young legs. youth. or some seasoned guys with half-a-step foot speed.
They're older than you think. and slower than you think.
i said they shoulda signed Dennis Smith Jr as a backup PG; just cause he can add some athleticism and start a few games when Jrue Holiday is out. not a star, just use DSJr as a filler.
Im also surprised they didn't try to resign/reget Donte Divenzio when he was available this summer.
Imagine the Bucks right now with George Hill & Wesley Matthews old asses replaced with Dennis Smith Jr and Donte?….or even get a bench guy like Austin Rivers.
and finally, they're 3 bigs are solid (Giannis,Brook,Portis), but they should look to trade Serge Ibaka to bring in another big that is just an athletic freak and rim runner ala Jaxson Hayes style.
trades can be made with the Orlando Magic, since they have too many players: garry harris, terrence ross, rj hampton, jalen suggs, markelle fultz, cole anthony etc..and thats just the Magic backcourt. they're frontcourt is also overcroweded with: mo bamba,bol bol, WCJr, Wagner Bros and Paolo).
bill simmons constantly talks bad about the bucks lol they are 2 games behind the best record in the god damn nba.. and havent had middleton and jrue missed alot and ingles just came back lol imagine being bad on offense and having chemistry issues and not having ur 2nd best player all year and being 2 games back of the best record lol what a joke this is
Giannis is very limited offensively. As soon as his athletecism goes, he won’t be very effective
SO FAR this year Giannis has not been better then 2020-21 or 2021-22. His efficiency is worst in 5 years or so, 3P% lowest in awhile, FT% lowest in awhile. +/- only +95 for the year not elite like normal for him.
Last 3 games
12.6 ppg
34 FG%
20% from 3
57% FTs
Now rest of his stats last 3 games still elite but his shot outside the paint this year is like 25%. He’s been best all around 2 way player last 3 years and prob still is BUT it’s shocking they are acting like THIS is his best year ever. It may end up being that, but so far it def has not bc efficiency matters as does on off net rating and +/-. Jokic Luka Durant THIS year only have great argument for being > Giannis so far. AD was playing like that too for about a month but then injured. Embiid I need to see it playoffs but he’s elite also.
nice content but the video quality sux