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THE GREEK FREAK!

a great kid, a great story, a great nickname,

& (of course) a great athlete

Giannis Antetokounmpo: The Most Intriguing Point Guard In NBA History

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On the worst nights, when the fadeaways are short and the pocket passes are late, Giannis Antetokounmpo skips the showers. He storms out of the Bradley Center in full uniform, from home locker room to player parking lot, and hops into the black Explorer the local Ford dealer lent him. He turns right on North 4th Street in downtown Milwaukee, steers toward the Hoan Bridge and continues six miles south to the Catholic seminary in St. Francis, where the priests pray and the Bucks train and The Freak dispenses his rage. Alone, Antetokounmpo reenacts the game he just played, every shot he clanked and every read he missed. Sometimes, he leaves by 1 a.m. Other times, he stays until three, sweating through his white jersey for a second time. “I get so mad, and if I go right home, I’m afraid I’ll never get that anger out,” Antetokounmpo says. “This is how I get the anger away.”

 

He used to administer his form of self-flagellation on the court, because that’s what he saw Chris Paul do after a Clippers loss in L.A. But he noticed some fans lingering in the lower bowl with their cellphone cameras and he didn’t want anybody to think he was putting on a show. So he retreats, in space and time. Here he is not the $100 million man with the catchy nickname and the barrel chest who studies Magic Johnson’s fast breaks and Russell Westbrook’s mean mugs, who wrestles LeBron and mimes Dirk, who hears MVP chants and references 40-balls. Here he is not even the spring-loaded first-round pick who arrived wide-eyed in the United States three and a half years ago, tweeting breathlessly about his first smoothie, refusing to use the auto-pump feature on his gas nozzle because he was so excited to pump it himself, chirping after a burger at In-N-Out in Westwood Village: “This is America right here! The real America! Isn’t it beautiful?”

 

No, here he is the lanky hustler from Athens, peddling watches, sunglasses, toys and video games, on the streets near the Acropolis while his parents feared that police would demand their papers and deport them back to Africa. Much of his backstory has been told, how Charles and Veronica Antetokounmpo emigrated from Nigeria to Greece in 1991 for a better life, had four boys there, and bounced from one eviction notice to another. But the further Giannis gets from his childhood, the more it resonates, in different ways. “I can’t push it to the side,” Antetokounmpo explains. “I can’t say, ‘I’ve made it, I’m done with all that.’ I will always carry it with me. It’s where I learned to work like this.” He could sell all day, serenade tourists with Christmas carols at night, and return home without enough cash for dinner. Still, he laments, “The results were never guaranteed.” Therein he finds the biggest difference between his life then and now. “If I work here,” he says, “I get the results. That’s the greatest feeling ever for me.” It keeps him coming back to the gym—straight from the arena after losses, straight from the airport after road trips, straight from the bed after back-to-backs.

 

Antetokounmpo stands 6' 11", with legs so long opposing coaches constantly complain that he is traveling, until they review the tape. “He’s not,” says Wizards coach Scott Brooks. “It’s just that we’ve never seen somebody with a stride like this.” Among the NBA’s legion of stretchy giants, Kevin Durant is the scorer, Anthony Davis the slasher. Antetokounmpo is the creator, traversing half the court with four Sasquatch steps, surveying traffic like a big rig over smart cars. Durant and Davis try to play point guard. Antetokounmpo actually does it, dropping dimes over and around defenders’ heads, leading the Bucks in every major category; 23.8 points, 8.9 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 2.0 blocks and 2.0 steals. This season he will be the team's first All-Star since Michael Redd in 2004, and before you learn to spell his surname, he will be much more.

 

 

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STACY REVERE/GETTY IMAGES

Growing up, his customers occasionally mentioned his cartoonishly long limbs, but he shrugged. He didn’t need a 7' 3" wingspan. He needed a sucker to buy those knockoff shades. He viewed himself less as The Greek Freak than a Greek grinder. “I didn’t really look at my body and think about what it meant,” Antetokounmpo says. “I didn’t figure it out.” He glances down at his 12-inch hands, bigger than Kawhi Leonard’s, bigger than Wilt Chamberlain’s. He finally knows those names. “A lot of players will tell you, ‘When I was a kid, I watched Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, LeBron, Magic, and I wanted to be just like them,’ ” Antetokounmpo says. “For me it wasn’t like that at all.” He laughs, because at last he grasps the magnitude of his gifts and the ways they can be unleashed. He understands that a 22-year-old with his build and his drive should never go home hungry again.

 

 

Antetokounmpo lives in a modest three-story townhouse near Saint Francis de Sales Seminary, in the same complex as his parents. Like any hoop phenom, he subsists on Wingstop and NBA TV. But when he needs to steady himself amid his unimpeded ascent, he heads west to Omega restaurant, where 24 hours a day he can order gyros and lamb chops with sides of nostalgia and perspective. “I think about where I was four years ago, on the streets, and where I am today, able to take care of my kids and my grandkids and their grandkids,” Antetokounmpo marvels. “I’m not saying that in a cocky way or a disrespectful way. But it is a crazy story, isn’t it?”

 

On March 28, 2013, Bucks general manager John Hammond sat in a dining room at the Bradley Center before a game against the Lakers and explained why his team could not acquire a superstar. Hammond was in his fifth season, with a record of 181–206, never good enough to contend and never bad enough to tank. The stars he had brought to Milwaukee, if you can call them that, were Brandon Jennings, Monta Ellis, John Salmons and Carlos Delfino. Hammond outlined the two most obvious ways to land a prospective headliner: Finish on the fringe of the lottery and turn a lucky Ping-Pong ball into the first overall draft pick, which has about a 1.8% chance of occurring. Or pitch a premier free agent on a small market with a frigid climate and a mediocre roster, which comes with even steeper odds.

 

Milwaukee went 15–67 in Antetokounmpo’s rookie season, which dampened his enthusiasm not a bit. He memorized lines from Coming to America andNext Friday. He learned to throw a football with Morway’s sons, Michael and Robbie. He begged teammates to play the shooting game two-for-a-dollar that he picked up from power forward John Henson. When a Greek TV station came to visit, he told Geiger they would need a customized handshake, “so we look like we know what we’re doing.” The Bucks were brutal, and The Greek Freak averaged only 6.8 points, a reserve small forward who spent most of his time marooned in the corner, probing for open spaces and put-back dunks. But he provided highlights and hope. “I love Milwaukee!” Antetokounmpo told teammates over lunch at the facility one day. “I’m going to be in Milwaukee 20 years! I’ll be here so long they’ll be sick of me!” He feared that somebody would wake him from his dream and send him home. “That they’d take it all away from me,” he says.

 

 

 

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JEFFREY PHELPS/GETTY IMAGES

To Bucks vets, Antetokounmpo supplied comic relief during a dismal winter, but Geiger sensed he was capable of more. One night they were watching a game on television when Antetokounmpo shouted, “Whoa! Did you see that?” Geiger hit rewind. Antetokounmpo was always amazed he could rewind live TV. “There it is!” Antetokounmpo yelped. “Look at the action on the help side and how that opens up the whole play!” Another night Geiger invited him to dinner at a friend’s house and Antetokounmpo barely uttered a word. On the way home, he told Geiger, “You’re really close with Erik, but you’re not that close with Matt.”

 

“He was right,” Geiger says. “He knows how to read people and situations. That’s because of how he grew up. He couldn’t waste his time selling you something for five minutes if you weren’t going to buy. He had to read body language and move on.”

 

When Antetokounmpo reminisces about his rookie year, he sounds as if he is talking about another era and another person. “I was like a kid in the park, seeing all the cities, seeing LeBron and KD, having so much fun. But that kid—the kid with the smoothies—I’m not really that kid anymore.”

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Pro sports age everybody. There was the night in his first season when Antetokounmpo’s agent at Octagon, Alex Saratsis, told him that a Bucks assistant coach believed he wasn’t working hard enough. “You can tell me I’m not playing well,” Antetokounmpo replied, tears in his eyes. “You can tell me I’m not doing the right things. But you cannot tell me this. I won’t accept it.” And there was the night in his second season when the Bucks’ new head coach, Jason Kidd, banned him from shooting three-pointers. “I want to shoot threes,” Antetokounmpo argued. “How can I not shoot threes?” Geiger left for the Suns. Morway went to the Jazz. Nate Wolters, Antetokounmpo’s best friend on the team, was waived. “I didn’t know all that would happen,” Antetokounmpo says. “You build these relationships, know these people, and then all of a sudden you get a text in the summer: ‘I’m not coming back.’ What? You get mad. You learn this is a business.”

 

The first time Kidd benched him, Antetokounmpo was irate. “I was like, ‘Let’s see what this guy did in his career, anyway,’ ” Antetokounmpo recounts, and called up Kidd’s bio on his phone. “I saw Rookie of the Year, NBA championship, USA Olympic gold medal, second in assists, fifth in made threes, blah, blah, blah. I was like, ‘Jesus freaking Christ, how can I compete with that? I better zip it.’ ”

 

At 6' 4", Kidd is one of the best point guards who ever lived. “But I wanted so badly to be 6' 7" or 6' 8",” Kidd says. “Guys like Magic are looking through a window that’s so high. They can make passes I could only dream about.” He detected enough playmaking ability from Antetokounmpo to try him at point guard in the 2014 summer league and again in the ’15 preseason, but he wasn’t satisfied with the results. Last Feb. 20 in Atlanta, with the Bucks 11 games under .500 and Michael Carter-Williams coming off the bench, Kidd put the ball in Antetokounmpo’s massive mitts. “We didn’t talk about it,” Kidd says. “We didn’t make a big deal out of it. There was no pressure. We just wanted to try something different.”

 

The Bucks won that night in double overtime as Antetokounmpo had 19 points and three assists, and afterward Kidd embarked on an audacious experiment: building the biggest point guard anybody can remember. Kidd oversees the project, but assistant coach Sean Sweeney runs it, accompanying Antetokounmpo to his midnight workouts, deconstructing his pick-and-rolls, furnishing him with clips of Magic but also less predictable influences such as Kiki Vandeweghe’s post moves and Shawn Kemp’s transition dunks. Antetokounmpo hung a photo of himself, facing up against the Raptors, in Sweeney’s office. Sweeney has repeatedly taken the picture down, but somehow, it always returns. “Don’t forget about me!” Antetokounmpo sings.

 

 

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NATHANIEL S. BUTLER/GETTY IMAGES

 

This summer they worked out twice a day for two-and-a-half weeks at Long Beach State’s Walter Pyramid, picking strangers out of the bleachers to fill fast breaks. “It was an inordinate amount of time going through situations,” Sweeney says. “We’d start with the running game. ‘First look is to the big running to the rim. Next look is up the side to the wing. Next look is across the side. Now can you get it and go full speed? Now you can get it and go and pitch it back to a trailer who can shoot?’ ”

 

“You know what I liked about using all those strangers?” Kidd adds. “He had to speak. You don’t know these people, but you have to tell them what to do. They’re looking at you for direction and you have to give it to them. That’s what a point guard does. He has to know his teammates better than they know themselves.”

 

The Bucks acquired Matthew Dellavedova in July and made him their de facto floor general, but Giannis is the one making the decisions and feeling the consequences. “If this guy gets the ball five times, I know he’s happy, and if that guy gets it once, I know he’s not,” Antetokounmpo groans. “So I’m like, ‘Oh, man, I’ve got to get that guy the ball.’ It’s hard to satisfy everybody.”

 

Actually, it’s impossible, which is another of the lessons Kidd is imparting. There are things stars do, like pick up the bill at McDonald’s, and things they don’t, like placate everyone in their presence. “To make the next step, I’ve learned you need a little cockiness inside you,” Antetokounmpo says. “I can be a little cocky.” As a rookie, he jawed with Carmelo Anthony. In his second season, he body checked Mike Dunleavy. But the Bucks have been seeing his snarl more often of late, after pep talks from Kobe Bryant last season and Kevin Garnett last month, as well as daily skull sessions with veteran Bucks guard Jason Terry. “I’ll tell him something at a timeout like, ‘Watch the curl, and if the curl isn’t there, the slip will be wide open,’ ” says Terry. “And he’ll always tell me, ‘I got you, bro.’ ” He searches for the slightest edge, because a highlight a night is not enough anymore. He needs 25/12/8 with a win. “I’ve definitely become more serious,” Antetokounmpo says. “I have a franchise on my shoulders.”

On 28-And-a-half acres around the Bradley Center, the Bucks are constructing a new practice facility that will open later this year and a new arena that will open next year. Next to the site is a billboard, featuring Antetokounmpo’s muscled back, over the slogan the future looks strong. Hammond, it turns out, proved himself wrong, and possibly twice. He found a star, and he might have snagged another, drafting forward Jabari Parker second in 2014. The Bucks currently sit seventh in the East, but outside of Cleveland, their long-term outlook is as bright as anybody’s.

 

Hammond and Antetokounmpo talk often, though no longer about the perils of right turns on red. “He’s trying to figure this whole thing out, what he’s going to be,” Hammond says. “We’re seeing this more focused side of him, but it’s a fine line. You still want to enjoy the game, the fun part of it.” His trust is difficult to earn. Private trainers with renowned NBA clients offer to work with Antetokounmpo every summer. He turns them all down, sticking with Bucks staffers.

 

“Because my parents were illegal, they couldn’t trust anybody,” Antetokounmpo says. “They were always nervous. A neighbor could be like, ‘These people are making too much noise, their children are making too much noise,’ and the cops could knock at our door and ask for our papers and that’s it. It’s that simple. So you’re always a little closed. I’m outgoing when I feel comfortable, but it took me 21 years just to invite a girl to meet my friends. I’m closed too.”

 

Around familiar faces, like his live-in girlfriend, his innocence is impossible to extinguish. When Saratsis mentions the All-Star Game, Antetokounmpo hushes him, so as not to jinx it. When Geiger visits, Antetokounmpo hands him the Wingstop menu, with the addendum, “I’m buying!” And when Kostas left home for the University of Dayton this fall, big brother drove six hours to move him into his dorm, stopping only at Wal-Mart. “Here is Giannis at midnight, with 80% of the freshman class, walking up and down the hallway carrying bedsheets,” recalls Dayton coach Archie Miller.

 

Giannis functions as the family patriarch, with his father adjusting to the United States and his older brother, Thanasis, playing in Spain. When Giannis inked his four-year, $100 million extension in September—after postponing the signing by four hours to accommodate a morning workout—he called Bucks co-owner Wes Edens at his hotel in Ireland. “I just wanted to say thank you for the money,” Antetokounmpo started. “It means so much to me and my family. I’m going to work very hard for it.” Then he offered to buy friends and family steak at the Capital Grille in Milwaukee for lunch. When the meat arrived, with appetizers and side dishes, Giannis looked alarmed. “I don’t know who’s paying for all this,” he cracked, “because I only said I’d get the steak.”

Edited by samhexum
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SAM FORENCICH/GETTY IMAGES

Three months later he walks into the practice gym the morning after a home-and-home with the Cavaliers, 76 minutes in close proximity to LeBron James. “You feel different after you play him,” Antetokounmpo reports. “Your legs, your body, you’re sore everywhere. Sometimes you have to lie to yourself, lie to your mother: ‘Yeah, I’m good, I’m good.’ ” The team has the day off. “But where else do I have to be?” he asks. He plays two-on-two. He shoots along the arc with Sweeney. Rookie Thon Maker mops the floor. Antetokounmpo's three-point percentage, 29.3 this season, right around his career mark, is still the source of much consternation. Judging by his practice sessions, it will spike soon, and then there won’t be any way left to defend him. “When I’m coaching,” muses the 39-year-old Terry, “he’ll be pretty much unguardable.”

 

The next night, against Washington, Antetokounmpo starts the game with a reverse layup, a midrange pull-up, a pair of sweeping hooks and finger rolls. The Wizards can’t keep him out of the lane or off the free throw line. He dunks off a Eurostep, a lob, a back-cut and a put-back. He dunks over Kelly Oubre, Otto Porter and Markieff Morris, flexing as they wince. When Morris fouls him hard on a breakaway, Antetokounmpo sprints over to ask him about it. He has 24 points in the first half, Milwaukee has 73, and the Cream City Clash in Section 222 chant: “Can’t Stop Gian-nis!” He looks as long as Durant, as strong as Davis, as ferocious as Westbrook. He’s got Dirk’s fadeaway, with the right knee raised, and a nifty two-handed scoop all his own.

 

He finds Parker for a dunk and a layup, Henson for a layup, Dellavedova for a short J. Leading the break, he whips a pass to Terry in the corner for three. I got you, bro. In the post he backs down a trio of Wizards and kicks out to Malcolm Brogdon for another three. With 6:26 left he stands on the free throw line, and the locals break out a rare MVP chant. He has a career-high 39 points. He craves the 40-ball. He tries to settle himself, but the second free throw rims out, and Kidd calls him to the bench. The Bucks lead by 27, which will be their final margin. He winks at Alex, his youngest brother, behind the courtside seats.

 

In the locker room afterward, players scatter for Christmas, two days away. “Stay out of the gym!” swingman Tony Snell cautions, and Antetokounmpo surreptitiously shakes his head. “I don’t know,” he mutters. A few minutes later the black Explorer turns right on North 4th Street, toward the snow-covered bridge, taking the league’s most unlikely driver to a place only he can see.

 

 

 

 

GIANNIS COMPARES HANDS WITH OBAMA:

http://usa.greekreporter.com/files/2016/04/12932948_10153748368229064_4210886089465993397_n.jpg

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Athens artist paints giant Giannis image on court 'where it all began'

 

Giannis Antetokounmpo has left his mark on the neighborhood where he grew up, Sepolia, in his hometown of Athens, Greece. Not only figuratively, but also literally.

 

On Thursday, the Milwaukee Bucks forward posted photos of an outdoor court featuring a giant painting of himself going up for a shot. He also tagged his fellow "Antetokounbros" -- Thanasis, Alex and Kostas -- and mentioned in the caption that the outdoor space is the court on which they all grew up playing.

 

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An incredible aerial shot shows the colorful court in contrast to the surrounding city.

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The massive painting was completed by Athens-based artist Same84, who noted in his own post that the project was a collaboration with Nike.

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Favorite current Yankee: GARY SANCHEZ

 

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http://cdn.newsday.com/polopoly_fs/1.13494907.1492646628!/httpImage/image.jpeg_gen/derivatives/display_600/image.jpeg

 

http://images.performgroup.com/di/library/omnisport/c2/e3/gary-sanchez_u3bueg3t2ur415nymommpvwl8.jpg?t=1498230947&w=960&quality=70

 

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2961789.1485986340!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_750/sanchez2s-1-web.jpg

 

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http://cdn3.volusion.com/crkje.vfspj/v/vspfiles/photos/17880-2.jpg

 

I can not leave the St. Louis Cardinals without a nod to the team's greatest player, the late Stan Musial. I saw Musial play in National League parks when I was a child. What a thrill.

 

Ted Williams too.

 

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Baseball Yadier Molina St. Louis Cardinals, one of the best catchers ever in callings for pitches and many other baseball skills which I could list at length.

 

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Tennis Novak Djokovic

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Aaron Rodgers

 

 

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http://a.abcnews.com/images/Entertainment/GTY_aaron_rodgers_jt_160727_16x9_992.jpg

 

http://media.balltribe.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/aaron-rodgers.jpg

 

http://img.wennermedia.com/social/512943642_aaron-rodgers-zoom-bf2b19ef-0e47-4b06-af0d-fb85d0a9b7e3.jpg

 

http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/e34f0e17d3298e4b9db9b1c277cf5506e66da4dd/c=0-74-4395-2557&r=x1683&c=3200x1680/local/-/media/2015/10/07/WIGroup/GreenBay/635798349805762111-Aaron-Rodgers-Prevea-2015.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...
THE GREEK FREAK

 

Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo is incredibly close to his family. They grew up very poor in Athens and relied on each other — at points Giannis used to have to work selling trinkets during the day to feed the family at night — which is part of why the family was so tight. They remain close, and Giannis — who is very proud he can provide for them — has brought his entire family over from Greece to Milwaukee.

 

Which is why this news is especially sad: Charles Antetokounmpo, Giannis’ father, passed away Friday from a heart attack at age 54.

 

“The Bucks family is heartbroken about the sudden death of Giannis’ father, Charles,” the Bucks said in a statement. “The entire organization, his teammates and coaches are here to support Giannis and his family during this incredibly difficult time. Charles was a big part of the Bucks and will be terribly missed by us all. On behalf of ownership, we express our utmost condolences and offer our prayers to Giannis and his family.”

 

Charles leaves behind his wife, Veronica, and five children, including former Knick Thanasis (who was playing in the Greek league but is flying to the United States for the funeral, which will be in Milwaukee.

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I don't follow sports. I could not tell you who won the last Super Bowl or World Series. The only athlete I recognize both by face and voice is Shaq and that is only because of all the commercials he's done. I couldn't tell you what team he played for.

 

But if I had to choose I'd pick Priscus and Verus

 

http://modernnotion.com/the-happiest-and-actually-true-gladiator-story-there-ever-was/

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  • 3 weeks later...

The Giannis experience: How MVP leader Antetokounmpo captivates even opponents

Steve Clifford's Charlotte Hornets notched an 18-point win Friday night against the Atlanta Hawks in their home opener. The moment that game ended, the clock started ticking: 70 hours to prepare for a Monday night game against the Milwaukee Bucks and the player who has been the story of this week-old NBA season, Giannis Antetokounmpo.

 

By the next morning, the coach started catching up on tape of the Greek Freak. Clifford freely admitted it: It was fun. He took joy in watching such a transcendent player, especially one who is so young and is blossoming into a superstar before our eyes.

 

For the first day of watching Bucks' tape, Clifford enjoyed it like a fan. He was like all of us who have been transfixed by the numbers of Giannis' first three games -- averaging 38.3 points on a ridiculous 67.2 percent shooting, with 9.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 2.7 steals -- as well as his unprecedented style as a seven-footer running point and dominating every facet of the game.

 

"That's one of the nice things about this league," Clifford said. "We played Friday, so Saturday you start watching the other team. And Saturday you can sit and enjoy his greatness. It's not just his size and his athleticism -- he has an energy level and a flair and a passion for playing that's fun to watch.

 

"And by Sunday night," Clifford said, "you're like, 'What are we going to do?' "

 

Every time Antetokounmpo takes the floor these days, it is a moment. Doesn't matter when, whether it's Friday night prime-time matchup against LeBron and the Cavaliers or just a low-key Monday night in Milwaukee, against the Hornets, a 103-94 Bucks victory that didn't require quite the same theatrics as he needed Saturday night vs. the Trail Blazers.

 

People come out for Giannis because they realize they could be experiencing a generational talent coming into his own. The numbers themselves are awe-inspiring. Like what Giannis did last season, becoming the first player in NBA history to rank in the top 20 in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals, which gained him his first All-Star berth. But more inspiring than any statistic is seeing this joy-filled young man in person, and the crowd that comes out for him.

 

"If you enjoy basketball, there's no way you're not a fan of his game," Hornets forward Marvin Williams, a 13-year NBA veteran, said in the locker room before the game. "You want to try to do everything you can to slow him down – you're not going to stop him. He's made that very, very clear. It's almost scary – what is he, 21, 22? It's almost scary how much longer he's going to play and how much better he's going to become."

 

Scary because he's doing all this without having in his toolbox the skill that most dominates today's NBA: an outside shot. Giannis has averaged 1.6 3-point attempts per game over his career and has only made them at a rate of 27.6 percent. He didn't even attempt one Monday night against the Hornets, scoring his 32 points on 13-for-21 shooting from the field and 6-for-8 from the line. That's not good, but what is good is the underlying mechanics, and the fact that he has steadily improved his free-throw shooting in his short career, to 77 percent last season.

 

He makes his living dashing into the paint and scoring in an array of creative ways. He's the type of player who would dominate in any era. The fact he's dominating in an era that's defined by outside shooting is remarkable. He's bigger than Durant, as explosive as LeBron. If he learns to shoot adequately from 3 -- no, when he does -- well, that's what opponents both fear as Giannis' adversaries but enjoy as NBA fans.

 

"I don't know if I've seen anything like him," Williams continued. "His game is so unique, because he's so big, so strong, so fast. A lot of times he's a one-man fast break, which is crazy. And he does it every night. I'm sure he'll do something where we'll look at the film tomorrow and be like, 'Damn – what could you do to stop that?' And more times than not, it's probably nothing. He's just one of those special, special talents."

 

The game tipped, and Giannis quickly scored the Bucks' first seven points. He came straight at Jeremy Lamb in transition and stepped around him with a Eurostep; Lamb turned his back to Giannis and tried to get out of the way, but he was still called for the foul. When Giannis stepped to the free-throw line, the arena chanted, "MVP! MVP!" The Bucks' rowdy fan section, the Clutch Crew, waved a Greek flag.

 

In the middle of the second quarter, he stole the ball from Lamb at the top of the key, saved it from going out of bounds, stepped around Frank Kaminskyand dished it to Tony Snell for an easy dunk. A minute later, he grabbed a rebound, pushed the ball in transition, subtly shoved Treveon Graham out of his way and laid it in over Kaminsky, getting the and-one. On the next play, he ably hounded Kemba Walker on the perimeter and forced him into a contested 3 that Walker missed. Giannis kept working the ball into the paint -- he currently leads the NBA in points in the paint -- and then he kicked it out to 7-foot center Thon Maker, who drained a 3. Later, he was on the break when he tossed a behind-the-back pass to Mirza Teletovic, who knocked down a wide-open 3. In the closing seconds of the third quarter, three Hornets defenders swarmed Giannis on the block, but he calmed tossed it to an open Teletovic for another 3 at the buzzer.

 

Kaminsky threw his hands up in the air. You couldn't stop him.

 

In the end, the Bucks improved to 3-1. Giannis' 32 points came with 14 rebounds, six assists and two blocks. Afterward the telecast flashed an absurd stat: That Antetokounmpo had broken Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's Bucks record for most points in the first four games of a season. Nobody cares about that record. But the fact that this 22-year-old unfinished product was being mentioned in the same breath as Kareem underscores his greatness.

 

In the locker room afterward, the televisions were tuned to Monday Night Football. Giannis leaned forward and flipped through his phone, a towel around his waist and his left foot in a big red ice bucket. Another remarkable game, but just a regular night for him. The room was steamy from the nearby showers. Giannis took a chug from his Cool Blue Gatorade.

 

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(continued)

A few lockers down, Jason Terry, the 40-year-old vet, marveled at what he's be seeing. He's borne witness to this before, when a teammate went from about-to-be-a-star to a megastar. He with Dirk Nowitzki when Dirk made that jump in Dallas and with James Harden when Harden made that jump in Houston. With both Dirk and Harden, the jump was about mentally taking their game to the next level. But Terry said that with Giannis, there's something a little different. A little more special.

 

"He's had to grow and develop his game at the same time as his mental side, and he's been able to do so at such a rapid rate," Terry marveled. "Each year he's added a new element to his game. He's yet to become a finished product, but you still can say he's one of the top five players in the league."

 

Or maybe top three?

 

"Top three?" Terry replied. "It's not far-fetched. It's not crazy when you see the work ethic he has, when you understand he's a student of the game who is seven feet and all the physical tools of a guard. That's what keeps me smiling, keeps me coming to the gym every day, every night. It's a joy to watch."

 

Giannis tugged on a green hoodie and zipped it up. He turned to Snell, whose locker is next to his, and told him that he still owes him $17: "I have to pay you!"

 

"Take your time," Snell said. "You know where I'm at."

 

Giannis turned to face the media who had been lingering in the locker room. A reporter asked if he could keep up this type of production over an entire season. The subtext to that question? If he does and if the Bucks continue to win, Giannis will likely become the youngest MVP since Derrick Rose.

 

"I know when I can score the ball now," Giannis said. "In previous years I was just taking the ball and just racing guys. Now I kind of know my sweet spots when I get the ball. If I'm in the middle of the court, I'll be able to make plays. I just know when to score and when to make a play."

 

What's most impressive about Giannis is that he is this good and yet still has so much room to grow. That's what makes opposing coaches and players sounds like fans when they talk about his game. And it's why every time Giannis sets foot on a basketball court, it's an event. Because instead of seeing a fully realized superstar at the height of his powers, we get to watch a superstar as he grows into his powers. And I'm not sure if there's a more fun experience in sports than that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Giannis Antetokounmpo finished with 32 points, 14 rebounds, six assists, two blocks and one steal during Monday's 103-94 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.

 

In doing so, he became the first player in NBA history to accumulate 147 points, 43 rebounds and 21 assists through the first four games of a season, per the Elias Sports Bureau (ESPN.com).

 

The Greek Freak is coming off an impressive 2016-17 campaign where he won the Most Improved Player award and was voted on to both the All-NBA and All-Defensive second teams. He also became the first player in NBA history to finish in the top 20 of all the major statistical categories, perNBA.com.

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Roger Federer. He is the greatest tennis player of all time. In addition, arguably the greatest athlete of this century. What he does on the tennis court is breathtaking amazing "balletic" with a passion hunger and competitiveness that makes this man unequalled.

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The Year of Giannis: Is ‘Greek Freak’ already the league’s best player?

For four years, John Henson has looked across the locker room at Giannis Antetokounmpo. He remembers the skinny, 6-foot-9, 196-pound teenager who began hisNBA career with little fanfare. And he marvels at the rock-solid, 6-11, 222-pound superstar Antetokounmpo has become.

 

“When you saw his older brother [Thanasis], you knew he was going to be big,” Henson said, laughing. “But, man, I didn’t know he was going to be this big.”

The biggest story in the first week of the NBA season is the player who is still growing. At 22, Antetokounmpo is coming off a 22.9-point-per-game season that culminated with some hardware — the NBA’s Most Improved Player Award. Through four games this season, Antetokounmpo is averaging 36.8 points on 65.9 percent shooting — and has found himself in the conversation for MVP.

 

Ask Bucks officials to pinpoint the reasons for Antetokounmpo’s rise, and the answers are similar. They begin with his work ethic. “It’s right up there with LeBron’s, with Kobe’s,” Bucks coach Jason Kidd told The Vertical. “He lives in the gym.” Almost literally. When the Bucks moved into a new $31 million practice facility this summer, Antetokounmpo asked Jon Horst — “Mr. Jon”, as Antetokounmpo refers to Milwaukee’s 34-year-old GM — if he could buy the old one. He wanted to convert it into a house. Horst told Antetokounmpo that for the cost of the facility, he could buy a new house and build a gym in it. Antetokounmpo agreed.

 

Said Horst, laughing, “He’s passionate about gyms.”

 

Sean Sweeney knows. Since coming to Milwaukee with Kidd in 2014, the assistant coach has been Antetokounmpo’s shadow. “He goes everywhere with me,” Antetokounmpo told The Vertical. “Spain. Greece. Fresno. All over the place.” When Antetokounmpo gets up in the morning, often there is a text from Sweeney telling him he’s at the gym. “Some days, I tell him, ‘I’m tired of seeing your face,’ ” Antetokounmpo said, smiling. “Some days, he says it to me.”

 

An Antetokounmpo workout can happen anytime. In 2015, Antetokounmpo was unhappy with the way he defended in a road game. When the Bucks’ plane touched down back in Milwaukee, he asked Sweeney to come to the practice facility to run through a few drills. “The gym is his sanctuary,” Kidd said. “It’s his home.”

 

The Bucks have mined Antetokounmpo’s talents masterfully. It began in 2013, when then-coach Larry Drew played Antetokounmpo 25 minutes per game, a trial by fire that team officials say accelerated his development. Kidd has guided him to the next level. He has shown tough love (benching him in 2015) and empowered him (making him a part-time point guard last season), pushing him to become an unstoppable, two-way player.

 

“He can be Magic Johnson and KG [Kevin Garnett],” Kidd told The Vertical. “When he puts his mind to it, he can do everything defensively.”

 

Kidd recruited Garnett, his former player, last season to swing through Milwaukee on his post-retirement tour. He put Garnett with Antetokounmpo and Thon Maker, the Bucks’ stringy, 7-1 then-rookie center, in the hopes that KG could “breathe that spirit into them.”

 

“I wish I had a GoPro [camera] for that,” Kidd said. “They were just locked in to everything KG was saying.”

Antetokounmpo remembers Garnett’s words well. “Have a killer mentality,” Antetokounmpo told The Vertical. “Go out there and play to kill. For me, I’m not going to say I was born with it, but it’s coming. I want to win. It’s hard, you know? With back-to-backs, a lot of games, sometimes you think, ‘I’ve got to take a day off today.’ But you have to push through it. The greats did. KG said you have to have that mentality. If you are hurt, you have to fight through it.”

 

 

Veteran guard Jason Terry played two seasons with Garnett. He sees similarities with Antetokounmpo. “Not so much the physical, the mental,” Terry said. He recalled a play against Boston, in Milwaukee’s season opener, when Antetokounmpo barreled down the lane, finished at the rim and drew a foul. “He thumped his chest and said, ‘That’s what I do,’ ” Terry said. “It’s a kill mentality. Our team vs. them. He’s oozing confidence right now. Not overconfidence — just a confidence knowing [he] put the work in, believes in his skills and trusts his training.”

 

 

“He’s gotten everybody’s attention,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. “He just keeps getting better. He’s figured out what works for him. Everyone goes into the game with the same scouting report on great players, whether it is [Russell] Westbrook, [stephen] Curry or [Kevin] Durant or Giannis. You try to limit them as much as possible. But they are great for a reason.”

 

Great — and getting better. As good as Antetokounmpo is, he is years from reaching his full potential. He’s electrifying in the open floor and impossible to defend off the dribble. He has a rapidly developing step-through move — think Manu Ginobili’s, but longer — and great touch around the rim. But he is a non-factor from three-point range and his low-post game is still developing. On Monday, Antetokounmpo found himself switched on to Dwight Howard. Instead of facing Howard up, Antetokounmpo dropped his shoulder and tried to overpower him.

 

Said Kidd, “He was trying to show his strength.”

 

Kidd smiled as he spoke. The occasional slip-up is a small price to pay. He sees the confidence growing in Antetokounmpo, the floor opening up in front of him. The potential is limitless.

 

“I kind of know when I can score the ball now,” Antetokounmpo said. “In previous years, I was taking the ball and just racing guys. Now I kind of know my spots, where are my sweet spots. If I’m in the middle of the court, I’ll be able to make plays. I know that guys can’t guard me one-on-one. …

I just know when I’m able to score, when I’m able to make a play. My first few years it was always a turnover. I was always getting offensive fouls because I was running fast, speeding up myself. It’s slowed down a little bit for me.”

 

“I don’t think he knows how good he can be,” Terry said.

Edited by samhexum
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  • 2 weeks later...

The calls started coming in over the past two springs as Giannis Antetokounmpo's talent began to come into focus. Trainers to some of the NBA's top-level superstars wanted Antetokounmpo to work out with their clients during the offseason. Among the suitors, LeBron James' camp -- the NBA's equivalent of being tapped for Skull and Bones, the society of the young NBA elite.

 

Members of the Milwaukee Bucks' front office and coaching staff encouraged Antetokounmpo to take LeBron up on the invitation. What better way to hone one's game than training with the best player in the world? But Antetokounmpo would have none of it. Though he has a baller's appreciation of James and his place in the game, the Bucks' franchise player has no interest in following LeBron around like a puppy. Besides, why would he want to give his fiercest Eastern Conference rival a free look at his tendencies, vulnerabilities and anything he might be working on for the upcoming season?

 

Summer was for the Greek National Team, for family and for grinding at the Bucks' training facility or wherever business took him. For Antetokounmpo, Bucks assistant Sean Sweeney -- and not LeBron orKevin Durant or anyone else -- would be his preferred workout partner.

 

Antetokounmpo's thanks-but-no-thanks provides a small window into what kind of superstar he might be as he takes up residency in the NBA's pantheon. His response wasn't so much a tacit rejection of the NBA brotherhood, as James likes to call it, as it was a strong signal from Antetokounmpo that he plans to craft a superstar persona that's decidedly less social, less entrepreneurial and more introverted than the prevailing trends of the LeBron era.

 

Antetokounmpo recently read "More Than A Hero: Muhammad Ali's Life Lessons Presented Through His Daughter's Eyes" by Hana Ali, part of an exchange with his girlfriend, whom he gifted "Me Before You" by British novelist Jojo Moyes, a love story. ("So far it's working," Antetokounmpo says of the transaction.) What struck Antetokounmpo most profoundly was Ali's admission that his mental and spiritual lives weren't truly fulfilled until his retirement.

 

Thon Maker. When asked recently whether the Bucks routinely go out to dinner as a team, Antetokounmpo replied that on each occasion they had last season, they'd been blown out the next game. For Antetokounmpo, team-building occurs at the arena and at the facility, leading with his intensity and work ethic. He cited teammate Khris Middleton playing through a severe sickness in Game 6 of the Bucks' playoff series against Toronto last April as the sort of event that bonds a team far more than group dinners or goofing on the team plane.

 

Just as LeBron has been chasing Michael Jordan's ghost as the game's preeminent icon, Antetokounmpo is drawing comparisons to James -- on the court, at least. Though Antetokounmpo is starting to realize that his exceptional talent makes him a marketable product, his inclinations as a professional thus far bear little resemblance to LeBron Inc. Antetokounmpo will almost certainly be on a first name basis with the public -- as much a function of syllables as stardom -- but there are few entrepreneurial ambitions. At a recent round of meetings with leading shoe companies, representatives pitched Antetokounmpo by citing their campaigns and brand-building for other NBA stars. Antetokounmpo, according to those with intimate knowledge of the meetings, found the approach perplexing. These stars were his competitors, and the notion of using their brands or personas as a template seemed backward.

 

Present-day superstars can't escape inquiries into their politics, questions Antetokounmpo will undoubtedly be asked to answer as his star rises. For those who squawk that athletes should just play the game and stay mum about hot-button cultural issues, Antetokounmpo might be the athlete they're pining for. Antetokounmpo has expressed little interest in American politics whose issues are still foreign to him apart from a universal ecumenicism that calls for a general tolerance of difference. He recently started the Charles Antetokounmpo Family Foundation in honor of his father. While the foundation's emphases have yet to be named, Antetokounmpo has expressed interest in providing educational opportunities to youth in the developing world.

 

Teammate Malcolm Brogdonrecently characterized Antetokounmpo as an introvert. To the extent that's an accurate description, much of that can be attributed to his relative newness to the United States and the world of North American basketball. The cultural tropes and idioms of American life are still relatively unfamiliar. Unlike virtually every top-10 player in the NBA, Antetokounmpo didn't grow up on the AAU circuit and he never played in a McDonald's All-American game. When he landed at JFK the night prior to being drafted by the Bucks, he'd never met any of his fellow 2013 classmates (he was introduced to Gorgui Dieng the following day). No college program recruited him and he'd literally never heard of the University of Kentucky.

 

Over time, Antetokounmpo will catch up with his generational counterparts as he hones his skill, develops habits, and carves his own path in the NBA. He'll be exposed to the temptations that accompany fame, and to material wealth incomprehensible to his adolescent self, who grew up in poverty. Dramatic change in a life so young can alter one's approach to life, and Antetokounmpo could transform into a brand of superstar far different than the projections. It's also possible that "Giannis" never grows into the household name "LeBron," "Steph" or "Kobe" became. If Antetokounmpo chooses to pursue the shy, understated route, that kind of superstardom comes with a prerequisite -- an NBA championship.

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