Monday Morning Media Roundup: September 12th, 2022

He’s quite a wonder, isn’t he folks? Fresh off one of the most crowded two years of his professional life, Giannis Antetokounmpo flew off to Europe to take part in the Greek national team’s most important tournament since whenever they got trounced by Brazil in the 2019 World Cup.

At that point, Giannis was still a somewhat nascent force finding his footing from star to god (as we well experienced here in Milwaukee). Nowadays we’re dealing with quite a different player, both in a Bucks uniform and now in the Greek uni. Through five games he leads the entire Eurobasket tournament in points per game at 29.0 with the second and third placed guys, Luka Doncic and Lauri Markkanen sitting behind him at 28.0 and 27.9. More impressively — and typical for Giannis — he’s leading the pack while averaging five fewer minutes a game than Doncic.

There are, of course, a steady diet of dunks, but if you watch any of the games he’s also flashing plenty of the rest of his repertoire. Playing as a roll man, running lanes in transition, smooth catch and shoot threes, some hook shots, a whole bunch of crap that 2019 Giannis just wasn’t doing regularly. And so yes, he’s got a busy schedule this summer, but I see it as the highest kind of training to add to his approach under a new coaching system with new teammates and the same high levels of tension that playoff basketball provides. That Mike Budenholzer will do everything in his power to help him average 25 MPG this season, I’d say everyone wins.

Let’s roundup!

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How good are the Milwaukee Bucks? (Celtics Blog)

About as respectful an assessment as you’re going to get from the staff of a mini-rival of where the Bucks stand this year. Tend to agree with the CB takes that we’re good enough on any given day to beat pretty much anyhow, but that we’re thin enough that losing someone in the rotation might be too much for coaching/the rest of the roster to overcome.

Top heavy? Always has been, baby.

(Also, shoutout to the readers/commenters mentioning how in love with Milwaukee the refs were. It’s true that the refs hate your team and love all the other teams no matter which franchise you root for.)

How road trip with NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks helped Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur’s football education (ESPN)

To be honest, besides drinking a metric ton of wine with Budenholzer, I failed to glean what Matt LaFleur gathered from the Bucks besides a front-row seat to Bud going “Yeah, no”. It has gotten to the point where I seamlessly read all of Bud’s quotes in his voice in my head. But that’s okay because it’s cool to have the staffs of in-state neighbors hanging out and learning something about coaching from a different perspective in any event.

One thing LaFleur undoubtedly picked up from Bud was the art of the finely-crafted phrase. And I quote, “All those guys are just legit dudes.”

Hell yeah.

Goran Dragic Defends Giannis from Gilbert Arenas Criticism: ‘He Can’t Talk’ (Bleacher Report)

NBA 2K23 Milwaukee Bucks Roster And Ratings (Gamespot)

I haven’t purchased an edition of this game franchise in nearly five years because it has always felt like playing with characters stuck in actual mud. But maybe some of you readers are into it, and besides 2K ratings are something that the players themselves put a little actual stock into. My takes based off the chart Gamespot presented: Jrue Holiday should be higher by a point or two, even I don’t think George Hill is 73 OVR levels of washed, and the only Thanasis Antetokounmpo worthy of a 72 overall rating is Greek National Team Thanasis (AKA the Legendary Sixth Antetokounmpo Brother).

Also loving the idea of Jevon Carter as a center.

Film Study: Malcolm Brogdon has the tools to give Celtics’ offense a boost (NBA.com)

Interesting read getting a sense of what league-wide observers make of Brogdon these days. Ironic in many ways that he bolted from Milwaukee in order to be the man with the ball in his hands, mostly failed to lead Indiana to anything other than losing, and had to ask his way onto a situation where he’ll have to be OK with a much smaller role.

As it was when he was here, he’s skilled and probably a net positive, but he also plays around ~40% of available games. The odds of it working out perfectly for Boston aren’t great, but given the price paid it’s probably a worthwhile flyer for the Celtics.

Fan Post of the Week

Contrary to popular belief, winning a FPOTW award is not necessarily about having the most stats, the longest post, or saying “I LOVE RILEY HE’S THE BEST” the most. Most of the time you can get by with an original idea presented in concise form and being the only person who bothered to make a Fan Post that week. Such is the case with this week’s winner, JSOnline Castaway 2.0, with “Midseason Tournament Idea”.

Tongue in cheek about being the only post aside, I did really like this take on Adam Silver’s favorite fantasy pet project. I hadn’t even considered zigging by making the tournament teams essentially one big NBA player fantasy draft. Silver constantly compares his fugue state dreams to the Champions League tourney in European soccer, so JSO’s idea doesn’t quite fit that bill, but I’d honestly like this a little more since we know it’d be a glorified eff-off break for the players mid-season anyways. Obviously most NBA players enjoy the opportunity to hang out with other great NBA players, so let’s make it happen more often!

The Social Media Section

Presented without comment, but also with a big thumbs up for having the courage to post something so patently insane

One of the finest open gym run hoopers the world has seen and will see

MarJon “DJ Wilson” Beauchamp Post Something Original Challenge IMPOSSIBLE

Italians trying to break Giannis with kisses; truly diabolical

He does ART.

Why do Giannis’s knock off Greek jersey and shorts look so good?

Fully expect Dimitris to be starting for us alongside Tyler Dorsey this coming February

მეჯეის მეორედ მოსვლა

...okay

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The Georgians go home empty handed, but the Greeks continue their march to glory apace. Having gotten out of the group stage, they bested the Czech Republic 94-88 yesterday. Giannis led the way with 27 points (including 2-8 from three for some reason), 10 rebounds, and 5 assists while Thanasis gave it his all and garnered a rebound in 4:47 of playing time. They’re now in the quarterfinals against Germany and future Buck Dennis Schröder who beat Montenegro 85-79. The winner will take on either Spain or Finland depending on who comes out of their matchup.

Should things go according to plan, the semifinals will take place on Friday and the final for the whole dang thing on next Sunday.

Our hopes and dreams march with our Greek friends. Πάμε!

Happy Monday!