BTBP Roundtable: Trades On The Horizon?
By Adam McGee
Dec 7, 2015; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) drives for the basket during the third quarter against the Portland Trail Blazers at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
2. Can you see the logic behind the Greek Freak coming in off the bench at the moment, or is it yet another desperate move trying to force a reaction?
AM: Starting on the bench when the team’s starting lineup is struggling significantly as is currently the case is the latest in a catalog of bizarre moves. This is the epitome of forcing things in hope of stumbling upon a solution.
TW: It’s definitely weird, I don’t like it much at all. The thing about Scott Skiles doing that in Orlando is that he had another great player in Evan Fournier to replace the guy he benched, Victor Oladipo. MCW is no Evan Fournier. It seems to have hurt the team, and to have hurt Giannis as he was terrible for most of that game.
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JT: Kidd recently said he was looking for Giannis to be “focal point of the second group,” but I guess he meant it literally the other night versus the Clippers. I don’t agree with it, but the bench has been a huge liability and Kidd is just looking for anything to get things going at this point in that end. However, it’s deeply concerning how it looked to have affected Giannis’ performance. Let’s hope he goes back to staggering him with the second unit instead.
RF: The thing about Giannis on offense is this: he needs space to create, and with the bench unit composed as is, they offer very little in the way of spacing for Giannis to take advantage of. If you wanted to argue that being the lead guy off an ineffective bench will force Giannis to expand his offensive game, then I suppose that’s one angle, but assuming his shot doesn’t revolutionize overnight, I’d continue to run him with the starters.
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