Giannis Antetokounmpo is Doing it all for the Milwaukee Bucks

Despite not having any standout games recently, Giannis Antetokounmpo is still doing it all for the Milwaukee Bucks. Maybe he should do even more.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is everywhere. The Milwaukee Bucks second-youngest starting forward (Giannis just turned 21 on December 6, but Jabari Parker won’t be able to legally drink until mid-March) has made a splash in almost every statistical category this season.

Antetokounmpo is averaging 16.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.2 blocks and 0.9 steals per game. None of those numbers are overly impressive on their own, but the fact that Giannis is doing all of that in each game is incredibly impressive.

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Historically impressive, even.

Only seven players who played in the three-point line era have ever done what Giannis is doing at his age (or younger). Lamar Odom, Josh Smith, Chris Webber, Elton Brand, Tracy McGrady, Kevin Garnett and Kevin Durant. All of them except Webber in 1994 needed more minutes per game than Giannis has to put up all of those stats.

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/8/2015.

He’s second in the group to only Durant in true shooting percentage, and Giannis is the only member of this very exclusive club to shoot at least 50 percent from the field and 30 percent from three-point territory.

It’s safe to say that Giannis is in very good company right now. Any time a player finds himself on a list surrounded by Kevin Durant, Chris Webber and Kevin Garnett it’s easy to tell he’s doing something right. In this case, being on this list means the Greek Freak is doing everything right.

One of the more notable aspects of a lot of these players is that they’re primary scorers. Maybe it’s time for young Giannis to make that leap as well. Isolation scoring is seen as a dirty concept in today’s post-modern NBA, but a little more Antetokounmpo iso might not be the worst thing in the world for the Milwaukee Bucks.

Giannis has proven that against an average or worse defender, he can be fairly unstoppable in one-on-one situations. He demonstrated as much against the San Antonio Spurs, who happen to be the best team in the NBA in terms of defensive efficiency this season.

Why not run some more of that? If Giannis is matched up on someone like Manu Ginobili, who clearly isn’t up to the task of defending him, the Bucks should feed him the ball and let him to go work until the other team proves they can stop him.

Nov 25, 2015; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) during the game against the Sacramento Kings at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Sacramento won 129-118. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

That usually requires some sort of scheme shift on the other team’s part, which almost certainly will open up another advantage for Milwaukee somewhere else. Instead of letting their opponent dictate how the game will go, the Bucks need to get aggressive and set the style of play themselves.

Even better than simply giving the ball to Giannis and letting him work, Jason Kidd should focus on setting up plays designed to give Antetokounmpo some room to operate.

Using some of the other talented players on the Bucks to set screens for Giannis could give him enough room to rocket to the rim in traditional Giannis fashion. Even if the defenders play the screen well, that opens up the potential of an even smaller or slower player switching onto him, making Giannis’ isolation scoring even easier.

For evidence of how easy PNR scoring can be, check out how Ginobili used it to eviscerate opposing defenses in the 2014 NBA Playoffs. Just the slightest hesitation by his man getting around the screen gives Manu the space to cut to the basket, and from there things get easy for gifted slashers like him, and Giannis.

Antetokounmpo is more than just a pure scorer, though. Remember that very exclusive club he’s in? Giannis’ high number of assists per game excluded Tim Duncan, Pau Gasol and Chris Bosh from being included based on them not dishing the rock enough.

The pick and roll can help Giannis with those assist numbers, as well. It’s hard to compare anybody to LeBron James, but Giannis does have a similar, if not as deft, touch for passing the ball from anywhere on the floor. Watch LeBron make the right pass that leads to an easy basket over, and over, and over again by reading the PNR correctly.

Much like Kobe Bryant stole all of Michael Jordan’s moves, Giannis would do well to copy a few tricks from Ginobili and LeBron. For further proof of the pick and roll’s effectiveness, just look at the game Milwaukee won Monday night against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Both O.J. Mayo’s second clutch three-pointer…

and Greg Monroe’s go-ahead layup…

came from pick and rolls to open up a shooter. The PNR can be effective in helping anyone and everyone on the Bucks score. But when a player is as naturally talented in as many areas as Giannis Antetokounmpo is, opening up space for either him or a teammate while Giannis has the ball is optimal.

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In this sense, Giannis could very well move into a more primary scorer role and also see his assists per game go up. Making the right pass that leads to a score is much easier in an offense that involves more screens.

If Giannis became even nearly as effective as LeBron and Manu are at reading and reacting to defenses, he–and the entire team–would benefit greatly from it. At this point, with all that we’ve seen Antetokounmpo accomplish even without the benefit of more plays ran through him, that if doesn’t seem like such a big one.