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Consistent readers of the site will know that I have a special personal relationship with Thanasis Antetokounmpo: That of a basketblogger who wrote the newser covering Thanasis exercising his 2022-2023 player option. In some sense, nobody on the Brew Hoop staff is closer to the pulse of Thanasty than your humble author. Thus, imagine my delight to have seen him soar above AJ Green and Jordan Nwora (both guys who may be out of jobs half a year from now) in our ranking the roster exercise, and the horror watching readers put him out by the curb for Garbage Day at 15th overall:
Poll
The 15th most important player to Milwaukee’s Postseason success is.....
This poll is closed
-
39%
Thanasis Antetokounmpo
(126 votes) -
3%
Jevon Carter
(11 votes) -
36%
Sandro Mamukelashvili (two-way)
(115 votes) -
2%
Serge Ibaka
(9 votes) -
12%
George Hill
(39 votes) -
3%
Joe Ingles
(10 votes) -
2%
MarJon Beauchamp
(9 votes)
Crappy bit aside, Thanasis sits at the exact right spot for his ranking. Jordan Nwora or AJ Green may be able to fill it up if force fed shot attempts, but neither looks to be a competent defender — Green because he’s undersized and regularly looked confused during Summer League play, Nwora because he actually has negative court awareness and lateral agility. When playoff basketball starts, your value as a deep bench option begins and ends with whether you can hold your own for a few possessions on defense. Thanasis may only be able to score off putback dunks, but he’d also choose death before the dishonor of not giving 650% effort on defense in the 30-45 seconds Mike Budenholzer gives him a playoff series.
I mean, look at these playoff on/off numbers!
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Just godawful for every single professional player on that list not named Jevon Carter. BUT! Thanasis led the rest of the also-playeds with a net rating of merely -17.7. This is not to say that Thanasis is an actual contributor, but moreso that he might be one of the least bad of the options sitting at the end of the bench. For the purposes of this exercise, that snags him the very last “real” roster spot the community is handing out.
(If we wanted to be sticklers for detail, one can zoom out and argue that a big reason why Giannis Antetokounmpo remains a citizen of Milwaukee is because nepotism rocks and the Bucks are happy to indulge in it. Thanasis having millions of dollars in guaranteed contracts means Giannis is a Buck, Giannis being a Buck is the only reason why Milwaukee has any postseason success at all, therefore, by a trick of six year-old’s logic Aristotle would be proud of, Thanasis is really the most important professional athlete in the state of Wisconsin. I digress.)
Without further ado, let’s go to the Brew Hoop Commentator Magic Eight Ball!
Poll
Gut check: How confident are you that Thanasis Antetokounmpo will be in the playoff rotation?
This poll is closed
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22%
1 — Not in the rotation at all
(138 votes) -
44%
2 — Might play a few rotation minutes here or there
(276 votes) -
28%
3 — Will get some minutes, depends on the series
(179 votes) -
2%
4 — Will be part of the rotation, playing steady minutes
(15 votes) -
1%
5 — Firmly in the rotation, playing heavy minutes!
(10 votes)
The trouble here is fixing whether Antetokounmpo’s annual 15 seconds at the end of the second quarter in game three of the Eastern Conference semifinals bumps him up to a “2” by default. We all know he’s getting those 15 seconds, and we all know they’ll be the most entertaining 15 seconds he plays every calendar year. That’s not nothing!
And while you mull over whether Thanasis is more of a 1 or a 5 in your eyes, let’s also consider which Buck will get the next “cut at, dropped at, waived at, becomes ethereal at...” treatment.
Poll
The 11th Most Important Player to Milwaukee’s Postseason Success is...
This poll is closed
-
28%
MarJon Beauchamp
(161 votes) -
8%
Joe Ingles
(47 votes) -
8%
Jevon Carter
(51 votes) -
4%
Grayson Allen
(23 votes) -
1%
Pat Connaughton
(6 votes) -
1%
Wes Matthews
(8 votes) -
45%
Bobby Portis
(257 votes) -
1%
Brook Lopez
(11 votes) -
1%
Jrue Holiday
(6 votes)
Cast your ballots!
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