Milwaukee Bucks fan vote: Jrue Holiday will lead the team in assists

Milwaukee Bucks fan vote: Giannis Antetokounmpo second in voting to be the assist leader

It isn’t a great shock that Giannis Antetokounmpo came in at second in the fan voting for who will lead the Milwaukee Bucks in assists, and it certainly isn’t a shock that he would come in behind last year’s leader Jrue Holiday. What did come as a bit of a surprise, is of the nearly 200 votes, Giannis Antetokounmpo received 39 percent of the votes, a higher percentage than some might have expected for a player like Giannis who is not only the Milwaukee Bucks’ leading scorer but also one of the leading scorers in the NBA.

Could Giannis really lead the Bucks in assists? Is there a path where Giannis averages more assists than Jrue Holiday per game? Possibly, the Milwaukee Bucks’ roster construction for years has consisted of adding players that fit along with Giannis Antetokounmpo’s skill-set, which often means adding spot up shooters to the team, shooters like Joe Ingles who was brought in this season. Looking back at previous years, players like Kyle Korver, Bryn Forbes and Grayson Allen have been brought in to make it harder for opposing defenses to stay nearer to the basket to attempt to stop Giannis Antetokounmpo from scoring.

Could 2022-23 be the year that teams sell out to stop Giannis? Could teams decide to funnel so many defenders to the basket that Giannis has no choice but to pass out? It certainly seems like a strategy teams could attempt to employ to stop one of the best scorers in the game today, stop Giannis and force the Bucks’ shooters to beat you. That strategy may not be the best with scorers like Khris Middleton on the floor, or the newly acquired Joe Ingles. However, in the hypothetical scenario that teams decided to send extra defenders at Giannis at a higher rate than already being done.

If players like Brook Lopez, Grayson Allen, Pat Connaughton, Bobby Portis and eventually Joe Ingles can knock down open 3-point shots, and teams decided that is a better shot to live with than Giannis getting to the rim at will, there may be a scenario where Giannis could lead the Bucks in assists next season.