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Via Sporting News
We’ve seen Giannis Antetokounmpo improve year after year. At just 24-years old Antetokounmpo has won a Most Improved Player of the Year Award and this past season earned his first Most Valuable Player Award. Not to mention three All-Star selections, three All-NBA Team selections and two All-Defensive Team selections.
The Milwaukee Bucks as a team took their biggest strides last season as they reached the Eastern Conference Finals. Heading into this season the expectations are slightly higher. The roster will be slightly different following the offseason loss of Malcolm Brogdan. Another difference to be expected, however? The continued progression of the reigning Most Valuable Player.
Giannis Antetokounmpo has the ability to score in a variety of ways, in the open court especially. Due to his long-strides, wingspan, strength, and absurd athletic ability, Giannis is nearly unstoppable. The one area of his game which is still in need of improvement? The jump shot. Antetokounmpo has shown a willingness and desire to add a three-point shot to his game. We’ve seen already this offseason him in the gym focusing on this area of his game with veteran sharpshooter and new teammate, Kyle Korver.
For his career Antetokounmpo is just a 27% three-point shooter, how high could this percentage really get? I think this year we finally see this percentage rise above 30% and sit around 32%. Still not a great percentage in a league where the average is around 35.5%, but enough to make Antetokounmpo more dangerous than he already is.
Last year we also saw for the first time the emergence of Antetokounmpo entering the Defensive Player of the Year conversation. Once again, his length and strength mixed with his athletic ability allows him to guard any and all positions. In the age of small ball being so prevalent, Antetokounmpo can manage stretches at the center position even.
According to Basketball-Reference , Giannis Antetokounmpo finished third in Defensive Win-Shares at 5.5 and finished with the second best Defensive Box Plus/Minus at 5.0, just .1 behind the 2018 and 2019 Defensive Player of the Year, Rudy Gobert. All of this shows that Giannis Antetokounmpo is in fact already a rather complete player at just 24-years old.
With his game still progressing and his hunger for an NBA Championship, Giannis Antetokounmpo will show the league that it’s officially his league. How will he do that? The Greek Freak will win his second consecutive Most Valuable Player of the Year Award along with his first Defensive Player of the Year Award. The time of the Freak is now!