Greek Freak Analyzed

Tag: dominance

  • KYLE KUZMA was second best player of the bucks last season??

    KYLE KUZMA was second best player of the bucks last season??

    So you have seen this chart before. It shows that Giannis, despite not being much good at dribbling, held the ball more than anyone. Despite his tendency for turnovers, he insists on bringing the ball down and then wasting time holding it.

    Some say this is on purpose. For sure it helps boost his stats. Opponents shoot. Everyone on the Bucks team clears out for Giannis to boost his rebound stats. Then Giannis brings down the ball looking for an easy dunk. He often gets locked up and then wastes more time because he has no skills to disentangle himself. When he does pass it is often too late to team mates that are covered defensively. Still, when we link the amount of time Bucks’ players had the ball to their points, this is the chart:

    Amazingly Giannis is 8th. Makes sense. Because even when he gets fouled, he converts free throws terribly. KPJ makes the most of what little time with the ball he is given.

    Giannis’ tendency to dominate the ball for the Milwaukee Bucks has sparked considerable debate and criticism, especially as his usage rate continues to rise each season. In the 2024-25 season, Giannis’s usage reached league-leading levels, with nearly 35% of the Bucks’ possessions ending with his actions, and this figure spiked even higher during periods when Damian Lillard was absent.​

    Downsides of Giannis’s Ball Dominance

    • Ball-stopping and predictability: When so many possessions flow through Giannis, opposing defenses can focus on collapsing the paint and crowding him, making the Bucks’ offense more predictable and easier to scheme against in crucial playoff moments. This “heliocentric” approach often slows ball movement and reduces chances for teammates to find rhythm and confidence in key stretches.​
    • Under-utilization of teammates: Despite talents like Lillard or Middleton, the offense has repeatedly struggled to maximize their skill sets because so many plays still funnel directly through Giannis. This creates a scenario where valuable offensive players become spot-up shooters or afterthoughts, rather than being integrated as dynamic threats.​ New players simply don’t touch the ball enough.
    • Sustainability and fatigue: The enormous responsibility placed on Giannis not only makes the Bucks vulnerable if he struggles or faces fatigue, but also risks injury or long-term wear as he is now in his 30s. Relying on one player to generate most of the offense makes the team less resilient in playoff series or against elite defenses.​

    Evidence of Problems

    • Usage rate trends: Giannis consistently leads the league or nears the top in usage rate, a classic trait of ball-dominant systems that have mixed playoff success. In clutch moments, the offense tends to stall or force Giannis into heavily contested shots, resulting in lower efficiency or turnovers.​
    • Playoff disappointments: Playoff exits in recent seasons have frequently included criticism of the Bucks’ inability to adapt offensively when Giannis is neutralized. Ball dominance discourages other creators from developing confidence, shown in stagnant offense late in games.​
    • Calls for diversified offense: Analysts, coaches, and even teammates have advocated for more diverse offensive sets by reducing Giannis’s workload and sharing playmaking responsibility, recognizing that a more balanced approach is essential to success at the highest levels of competition.​

    The narrative that Giannis “hogs” the ball is backed by the data and on-court impact: while the Bucks remain extremely reliant on his talents, this overreliance has financial and competitive costs, especially in the playoffs. For Milwaukee to reach its full potential, a clear shift toward more collaborative, multi-faceted offensive schemes is urgently needed.​

    What have we seen so far? Well the Bucks coaching team saw how Spanoulis used Giannis in the Olympics. But they can’t copy it. Why? Because Giannis has become hooked on getting his stat padding in every game and refuses to share the ball even now. If the Bucks’ marketing team was honest, this is what the graphic would look like after a game:

  • Was the Bucks championship a superteam?

    Was the Bucks championship a superteam?

    When Giannis won the chip he kept saying he “won it the right way” implying he was not on a superteam. I found this rather insulting to his team mates. After all they had got him to the Finals. They were losing to the Hawks with Giannis in the rotation and they got past them easily without him. Khris, Jrue and Brook got it done in every clutch situation, practically handing Giannis the Finals where things were easy.

    How can we quantify those Bucks? A good way is plus minus.

    No less than seven Bucks’ in the top9 for the whole league! To put that in perspective the Nuggets dominating championship year they only had 4 players in the top9.

    And if somebody wants to downplay the importance of plus minus look at how even the super dominant Celtics in their championship run only feature 3 players in the top 9.

    When Giannis Antetokounmpo hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy in 2021, he didn’t just celebrate a championship—he seized the moment to craft a narrative that’s since become gospel among his admirers. “I could’ve gone to a superteam,” he famously declared, “but this is the hard way to do it, and we did it.” The implication was clear: Giannis, the loyal superstar, stuck it out with the small-market Milwaukee Bucks, eschewing the easy path of joining forces with other elite players to chase a ring. It’s a compelling story—one of grit, perseverance, and doing things “the right way.” But here’s the inconvenient truth: the 2021 Bucks were a superteam, and Giannis’ repeated insistence otherwise not only undersells his teammates but smacks of ingratitude toward the exceptional roster that carried him to glory.

    Defining a Superteam

    First, let’s clarify what a “superteam” actually means in the modern NBA. The term typically evokes images of star-studded lineups like the Miami Heat’s Big Three (LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh) or the Golden State Warriors with Kevin Durant joining Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. These teams were built through high-profile free agency moves or trades, stacking multiple top-tier talents to dominate the league. But the essence of a superteam isn’t just about how it’s assembled—it’s about the quality of the roster. A superteam is a squad with elite talent at multiple positions, capable of overwhelming opponents through sheer firepower and versatility.

    By that standard, the 2021 Milwaukee Bucks absolutely qualify. Giannis, a two-time MVP and Defensive Player of the Year, was the cornerstone, no question. But he wasn’t alone. Khris Middleton, a perennial All-Star, was a clutch shot-maker and secondary creator who averaged 23.6 points per game in the Finals, often keeping the Bucks afloat when Giannis couldn’t. Jrue Holiday, another All-Star, brought elite two-way play—his defense on Chris Paul in the Finals was a masterclass, and his 27-point, 13-assist Game 5 performance was pivotal. Add in Brook Lopez, a former All-Star and one of the league’s best rim protectors, and you’ve got a starting lineup with three All-Stars and a near-All-Star big man. That’s not a scrappy underdog story—that’s a superteam, plain and simple.

    The Bucks’ Talent Stacking

    Critics might argue that the Bucks didn’t feel like a superteam because they weren’t a glamorous, big-market juggernaut assembled via blockbuster trades or free-agent coups. Fair enough—Milwaukee didn’t lure Giannis to South Beach or pair him with LeBron in LA. But the Bucks’ front office didn’t exactly sit on their hands, either. They traded for Jrue Holiday in November 2020, giving up a haul of picks and players to land a proven star who’d made All-Defensive teams and had playoff pedigree. Middleton had already blossomed into a borderline top-20 player by then, and Lopez’s transformation into a stretch-five anchor solidified the roster’s balance. This wasn’t a ragtag group of role players elevating Giannis—it was a carefully constructed, top-heavy team designed to win a title.

    Compare that to true “non-superteam” champions. The 2004 Detroit Pistons, often cited as the gold standard for doing it “the hard way,” had no MVP-caliber star and relied on a balanced attack led by Chauncey Billups and Ben Wallace. The 2011 Dallas Mavericks leaned heavily on Dirk Nowitzki, but their supporting cast—Jason Terry, Tyson Chandler, Jason Kidd—wasn’t loaded with All-Stars in their prime. The Bucks, by contrast, had three players who’d been All-Stars within the prior three years, plus a former All-Star in Lopez. That’s not “the hard way”—that’s a roster most teams would kill for.

    Giannis’ Narrative: Ungrateful or Just Naive?

    So why does Giannis keep pushing this “no superteam” line? It’s possible he genuinely believes it, viewing superteams as only those formed by stars jumping ship to join forces elsewhere. He stayed loyal to Milwaukee, signing a supermax extension in 2020 when he could’ve chased rings with, say, the Heat or Mavericks. That loyalty is admirable, and it’s true he didn’t take the LeBron-to-Miami or KD-to-Golden-State route. But loyalty doesn’t erase the fact that the Bucks built a powerhouse around him—one he didn’t have to leave to find.

    More troubling, though, is how his rhetoric diminishes the contributions of Middleton, Holiday, and Lopez. When Giannis says he did it “without a superteam,” he’s implicitly suggesting his teammates weren’t on that elite level—like he carried a bunch of scrubs to the promised land. That’s not just inaccurate; it’s ungrateful. Middleton’s Game 4 heroics (40 points) and Holiday’s lockdown defense were as critical to the title as Giannis’ 50-point closeout in Game 6. Stephen Jackson, a former NBA champ himself, called this out in 2021, arguing that Giannis “diminished” his teammates by rejecting the superteam label. “You have a superteam—you might not have super names, but don’t diminish your teammates,” Jackson said. He had a point.

    The Right Way or Just His Way?

    Giannis’ “right way” mantra also carries a whiff of moral superiority, as if winning with a homegrown core is inherently nobler than joining forces elsewhere. It’s a romantic notion, but it’s not like he turned down a barren roster to tough it out in Milwaukee. The Bucks gave him a championship-caliber supporting cast—something stars like Damian Lillard in Portland never got. Giannis didn’t do it “the hard way” out of some selfless crusade; he did it because the Bucks made it possible. Contrast that with players like Charles Barkley or Karl Malone, who toiled on good-but-not-great teams and never won. That’s the hard way. Giannis had it better than he lets on.

    Give Credit Where It’s Due

    The 2021 Milwaukee Bucks were a superteam—not in the flashy, headline-grabbing sense, but in the cold, hard reality of their talent and execution. Giannis was the engine, no doubt, but Middleton, Holiday, and Lopez were the gears that made it run. His insistence on framing it as a solo triumph “without a superteam” isn’t just a mischaracterization—it’s a disservice to the teammates who helped him climb the mountain. Loyalty is a virtue, and Giannis deserves praise for sticking with Milwaukee. But let’s not pretend he did it alone or “the right way” out of some unique hardship. He had a damn good team—a superteam—and it’s time he owned that instead of rewriting the story to fit a humble-brag narrative. Gratitude, not just greatness, is what champions are made of.That was a super dominant team Giannis had helping him. A super team. They shot the lights out from three breaking multiple records in the NBA. They all put their egos aside to get Giannis to the Finals which were actually an easier game than what they had got through until there.

    And just for a second maybe sit and think how his team mates felt hearing him Giannis say again and again that he did it “the right way” “without a superteam”…

    NOTE ON SOURCES FOR THE STATS ON THIS POST:

    ALL FROM STATMUSE.COM