Milwaukee Bucks: Giannis Antetokounmpo Is Rebounding Like A Star
By Adam McGee
One of the more logical improvements in Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s recent development could prove vital to the Milwaukee Bucks.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that Giannis Antetokounmpo has started to carve out a page for himself in Milwaukee Bucks history.
That’s something that Bucks fans have hoped could become a reality since the Greek Freak’s ability became apparent during his rookie campaign, but a sudden surge in Antetokounmpo’s form brings far greater urgency to how important the 21-year-old is to the franchise at present.
#Bucks FYI Bucks Career triple doubles Kareem 8 Pressey 6 Oscar A. Robertson Moncrief 5 Marques Johnson 4 Giannis 3 in less than 2 weeks.
— Ted Davis (@nbated) March 7, 2016
With a tough season leading the Bucks and their head coach Jason Kidd to search for answers on how best to nurture the team’s talent and accelerate their improvement, lineup experimentation has not been uncommon.
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With less than 20 games remaining in the season it feels safe to say that no change has been more effective nor likely to have an effect as long-lasting as putting the ball in Giannis Antetokounmpo’s hands.
The “Point Giannis” experiment had been a long mooted one.
Not long after Kidd took the reins as head coach he spoke about his belief that Antetokounmpo could plat at point guard. Ahead of Summer League in 2014, Kidd told Charles Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
"We’ve seen it in practice. When you see a player’s comfort level with the ball — no matter what size — we wanted to see it in game action. We slowly have started letting him have the ball and running the offense."
If the team were convinced by Antetokounmpo’s playmaking potential, his size, energy and wingspan most likely filled them with optimism for his potential as a rebounder also.
Antetokounmpo averaged 4.4 boards as a rookie, and that number jumped to 6.7 per game last season. With a solid base of passing and rebounding, the promise for Giannis to emerge as a triple-double threat may have seemed an obvious hope, but the NBA isn’t always that simple.
A concern of Antetokounmpo taking on greater ball-handling responsibilities was always going to be that it could draw him further away from the rim. Perhaps what’s most impressive about the Greek youngster’s spurt of three triple-doubles in two weeks is that we’re seeing evidence that the opposite could in fact be the case.
Antetokounmpo is currently posting a rebound average of 7.7 per night for the current campaign, and has constructed that number with his average increasing on a month-to-month basis from November through to the end of February.
With 11 games having now passed since Milwaukee’s most recent lineup change, (although it’s still early) we can now start to draw some conclusions from how a change in responsibilities has altered Giannis’ role.
Having averaged 3.5 assists on the season overall, Antetokounmpo’s up to 6.6 dimes a night since that watershed win over the Boston Celtics on February 10.
The fact that Antetokounmpo’s assists have risen as he’s been asked to be primary playmaker seems like a given, but the Greek being more active on the glass is a true marvel.
Since the lineup adjustment, Antetokounmpo is racking up 10.4 rebounds per game, which as a reminder is up from his 7.7 season average.
The Greek Freak has been playing more minutes since the change, but even when the numbers are adjusted per 36 minutes the improvement still stands: 7.4 per 36 prior to the All-Star break, 9.7 per 36 over his last 11 outings.
It’s certainly too early to draw definitive conclusions from what we’ve seen over the past few weeks, but the early signs suggest that Antetokounmpo thrives with the opportunity to assert himself on a game.
Logic suggests that more time on the ball shouldn’t necessarily correlate with greater rebounding, but for Giannis it’s possible that fueled by his boundless enthusiasm, increased activity proves to be a positive all around.
When we think back to previous rumors or suggestions of Giannis being selfish, what seemed hard to comprehend at the time starts to become a little bit clearer.
Antetokounmpo is a willing passer, it’s not that he doesn’t want to share with his teammates. The fact is that Giannis might actually be best suited to being the guy in control. The player with the ball in his hands who looks to make himself and everyone around him better.
He seems happy to own that responsibility, and he seems increasingly comfortable running the show.
Triple-doubles are fun for everyone but for Antetokounmpo and the Bucks, this recent run of games could prove to be much more important than elite stat sheet stuffing.
Next: Milwaukee Bucks: Big Three are Making the Difference
NBA franchises are constantly on the lookout for the type of cornerstone player who can dictate a team’s direction, while performing to the highest level and bringing the best out in those around them. We all knew that he had a lot to offer, but Giannis Antetokounmpo could be that guy for the Milwaukee Bucks.