Milwaukee Bucks: Best and Worst of the 2016-17 Season

Best: Giannis With A Capital G

Having burst onto the national NBA scene with his post-All-Star break performance in 2016 and signing a $100 million extension just before the season’s start, all eyes were on Giannis Antetokounmpo coming into this season.

Bucks fans debated: could he make it onto the Eastern Conference’s All-Star roster? Was his late-season success a fluke driven by empty numbers? Could he take yet another leap forward into stardom?

For the record, the answers to the above questions are: yes, yes, and most definitely yes.

Giannis’ line for this season – 22.9 points, 8.7 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.9 blocks per game on 52 percent shooting from the field is almost unprecedented.

That contract is now more than justified, if it was ever in question. Giannis’ play has made him a household name among not just the NBA community, but with casual fans who may just follow the sport from afar.

What’s more interesting about this season from Giannis is that he really isn’t functioning as the team’s point guard, even though that was the switch that brought him success and notoriety last year.

He carries a large amount of offensive burden to be sure, but it is often the Bucks’ nominal point guard that initiates halfcourt action, which explains why his assist numbers are down from last season post-All-Star Break.

For the first time in decades, the Bucks have a top-10 player in the league, the type of player a franchise can be built around, the centerpiece on a championship team one day.

Giannis led Milwaukee in all five major statistical categories and is a force on both ends of the floor. Never before has the NBA seen a player capable of guarding point guards all the way through centers while having the offensive ability to generate mismatches at will.

What’s most impressive about Giannis’ season is that he improved on last season in virtually every statistical category while not really fixing his major weaknesses. His three-point percentage was just 27 percent this season, compared to 25 percent in 2015-16, and he still has a tendency to foul unnecessarily away from the basket.

Still, his transition to playing power forward turned him into a defensive menace, and his shooting is as efficient as ever on the whole, mainly due to the excellent looks he creates..

There’s uncertainty regarding some of the Bucks pieces, but Giannis Antetokounmpo remains the team’s one incredible constant.