Every evening at 9:00pm (central time), this all-purpose thread goes up, and the comments section is where it’s going down. What Bucks news did we not cover? What topics do you want to break down further? Or is there something non-Bucks that you want to bounce off of one another? Even something non-basketball? This is the place.
Tonight’s (On) Topic: Giannis the Facilitator
Don’t tell anyone, but I’m dipping into my MMMR reserves a little early for this one from FiveThirtyEight.
The premise of Jared Dubin’s analysis centers around the concept of Creation Rate: How many points a player accounts for via direct scoring and points off assists. Giannis’s Creation Rate hovers at something like 58% this season, fifth in the league behind Luka Doncic, LeBron James, James Harden, and Trae Young.
The catch? He’s doing it with very little on-ball time compared to 19 other instances of players generating a Creation Rate above 55% since 2013. That is to say, the efficiency of Antetokounmpo’s handling of Milwaukee’s offense is off the charts.
One issue remains, though, and that’s his teammates’ poor shooting when they receive a pass from Giannis. So far they’re shooting 0.45 percentage points worse than expected, though Dubin notes that they’ve exceeded expected eFG% the past four seasons.
If that number reverts to the mean? Watch out.
Tonight’s (Off) Topic: Writing Thank You Notes
I hate to admit it, but I’ve been very bad for a very long time at writing thank you notes to those closest to me for special occasions. Which is a shame really because I have difficulty expressing my gratitude and sincere feelings for others verbally. Writing it all down gives me the literal space and time to choose my words to really let someone know how much I appreciate what they do.
And so I’ve made it a point of correcting that trend this year. Aided by my recent acquisitions of way too many stationary tools, I’ve been churning out notes and letters to everyone and their sister this past month or so. Parents, my brother, aunts/uncles, friends, co-workers, you name them and I’ve probably hand-written a short novel to them.
Maybe it can come off a bit contrived reading these notes in comparison with my relatively muted in-person demeanor, but I like to imagine a few of the recepients have felt that warm fuzzy glow you get when a nice unexpected letter comes in the mail.
So anyways, send a note to someone you love. It can’t hurt.