Milwaukee Bucks: 3 goals for Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2020-21 season

Goal No. 1 – Polish up free-throw percentage

While Antetokounmpo’s 3-point percentage made a leap between the last two seasons, his free throw percentage went in the opposite direction.

After shooting 72.9 percent while averaging 9.5 attempts per game during the 2018-19 season, Antetokounmpo had a historical drop-off down to 63.3 percent on 10 attempts per game in 2019-20. That 9.6 percentage differential is the third-largest in NBA history among players with at least 600 free-throw attempts in a season, trailing just Shaquille O’Neal and Tim Duncan.

Following such a poor shooting season from the charity stripe, Antetokounmpo made some tweaks to his shooting form. In the team’s first preseason matchup against the Dallas Mavericks, there was a visible difference, and the results were promising as he went 6-for-7 from the charity stripe. After the game, Antetokounmpo spoke on the change:

"“No. There’s nothing different. I try not to think about it. Obviously, like a month and a half ago, yeah, I changed something, but now it’s in the past. I’m not thinking about this is how I shoot free throws right now. This is how I shoot the ball right now.”"

Antetokounmpo showcased promise in his first performance but shot 1-of-7 from the free-throw line just two days later. With those games taken into account, the question remains whether Giannis can consistently knock down shots from the line, particularly late in games.

That inability to hit those shots has been his Achillies’ heel, and time will tell if he has improved upon it this offseason.