Giannis is having a crazy season

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

But chew on this statistic: Antetokounmpo has held shooters 15 percentage points beneath their average when he’s defending scorers within six feet of the basket, according to NBA’s tracking data. That number, on five such shot attempts per game, is neck and neck with Golden State’s Draymond Green (-15.4%) and Memphis’s Jaren Jackson Jr. (-15%) for the best rate in the league among guys defending at least four rim attempts per contest.

Players Defense Dash < 6FT | Stats | NBA.com

A table featuring defense information for each player in the league based on selected filters.

www.nba.com

The problem with this is, he's only defending 4.8 shots within 6ft of the rim - there's 81 players in the league who defend more shots in that space than he does. Whereas his teammate Lopez, defends 8.1 shots within 6ft of the rim (almost 2x as many) and holds opponents to -11.2% below their average.

That’s actually not a “problem” …That’s by design and a function of his defensive versatility and the way the game is played…Giannis’ numbers fluctuate from game to game but the original cut off from that stat was 5 shots defended at the rim…Giannis is the best in the league at the rim while at the same time basically matching Jrue at defending the 3pt line …Brook has been awesome no doubt but having Giannis allows him from getting targeted the way we see a lot of centers do

It is a problem, because you're trying to make it seem as if he's having this great defensive impact inside the paint, when really the volume is too low to take anything meaningful out of it, given Lopez is the one anchoring that space of the floor for the team (whereas the shots Giannis defends inside the paint are more when he picks and chooses). In fact, Lopez defends the most shots in the entire league at 22 per game, and Giannis isn't even in top-80 in volume, which is an even lower rate if you take into account he averages 33 minutes.

In terms of reps/volume, responsibility and impact he's behind both Lopez and Jrue. He has the luxury of coming and going as he pleases during defensive possessions. Jrue is the one who's typically guarding the best perimeter player, anchors their PnR defense, calls out coverages and is the centerpiece to all that they do on that end; Lopez takes care of everything inside the paint and works in unison with Jrue.

Giannis has the best defensive situation of any star player: he plays alongside arguably the best defensive guard, one of the best paint protectors, and some of the best defensive role players going around.

Now THIS is what you call “downplaying” @Thavoiceofthevoiceless

Son done spent untold man hours touting Draymond as one of the greatest rim protectors in basketball, defending the rim at more or less the same volume the same rate as Giannis this year over the course of the entire Warriors dynasty….

But when Giannis does it “the volume is too low to take anything meaningful out of it”

You got it dog, Giannis not one of the best defensive players in the league, he’s just coasting riding Jrue and Brook’s coattails…the best defensive situation for a star in the league that he has no part in…just enjoying the vibes

Important to read that I'm comparing Giannis' impact on his own team to Lopez. Dray doesn't have a Lopez on his team. If he did, I wouldn't be singing his praises on defense to the same degree. You have to ask yourself, if Dray had a big man on his team who was defending twice as many shots in the paint as he did, at relatively the same effectiveness, why would I try and put all the emphasis on his rim protection? He would merely be a subplot on his own team defending the paint.

Giannis isn't the main character in his team's paint defense, and that's a fact.

Dray has typically been the main rim protector and/or taking on the main reps defending the paint for the Warriors, which is why you'll see he defends more shots in the paint than any other Warriors player this season. He doesn't have the luxury of picking and choosing when to. Whereas Lopez is the main rim protector for the Bucks, and he defends nearly 2x as many shots in the paint as Giannis does. Furthermore, Dray has an extensive history of being one of the best rim protectors, anchoring championship defenses, so you must understand the context in which his defensive capabilities are spoken about in relation to someone that hasn't done the same on that end.

It would be a different scenario if Giannis was the main rim protector for the Bucks, then it wouldn't necessarily matter about the volume, itself, because we could determine his impact on his team.

You also conveniently left out total defensive FGs defended over those years:

Dray in 2015 - #11 in the league
Dray in 2016 - #2 in the league
Dray in 2017 - #3 in the league
Dray in 2018 - #23 in the league
Dray in 2019 - #22 in the league
Dray in 2021 - #24 in the league
Dray in 2022 - #25 in the league.

Whereas Giannis has never ranked in the top-30 in his entire career.

And besides shots defended, most importantly, Dray leads the way in almost every single defensive role imaginable for the Warriors, where protecting the paint is only one part of all that he covers on that end. Giannis doesn't do that for his team, so you can't possibly compare their situations..

Now @Thavoiceofthevoiceless this is what downplaying a player looks like when you’re an insecure autistic dweeb that realizes you’ve been caught up making a dumb ass nonsensical point that contradicts the last 8 years of narratives you’ve spent obsessing over on a messageboard…so you beg for a grown man’s attention all day on Valentine’s Day, and respond to the same goddamn post like 6 times with walls of text of parsing bullshyt

When you watch Bucks regularly - Brook Lopez is mostly unplayable most nights especially against teams with athletic wings hence Bucks always struggle against young athletic teams. And he’s useless against bugs that can shoot cos they always cook him. Muscala & Blake Griffin cooked him yesterday & Valanciunes dropped almost 40 on his head earlier this season.

Giannis is the heart & soul of Bucks defense & it’s ludicrous to argue otherwise. Numbers won’t show how Giannis’ length alters a lot of things & he can switch from 1-5. They don’t record some of his stats & a classic example is the game sealing steal against Grant Williams yesterday.

Because it’s a “Giannis is having a great season” thread …the fact he’s leading the league in multiple defensive fg% alteration metrics speaks to the topic of the fukking thread

Giannis is having one of his least impactful defensive seasons in recent memory.

I've constantly reiterated this to you and backed it up with actual statistical data accompanied with the appropriate context. Whereas you've just mindlessly referenced some tweets that just throw stats at the wall and see what sticks. I doubt you've watched more than a handful of Bucks games this season. I've told you that Brook, Jrue, Jevon and Grayson all have higher defensive matchup possessions than he does, so he's essentially playing minimal defense on the that end. I've seen this with my own two eyes throughout the entirety of the season where he's conserved energy on that end, with the role players taking on all the reps and he's just positioned himself to grab the rebound and start the break/offense.

I know exactly why you're trying to force this narrative about his defense, but it doesn't hold up in reality this season.

- Giannis didn't make either team
- Both Jrue and Brook made the 1st team
- shyt, even Dray made the 2nd team (despite your embarrassing efforts to try and get me in a gotcha moment)

Every single agenda-driven talking point of yours blown up into a million pieces. I told you exactly what the case was of Jrue and Lopez anchoring the defense for the Bucks and you continued to keep ignoring it, over and over.

Next time your dumbass will listen. You and @Bonk, @Inertia Creeps, @Biscayne, @gtj1982, @Gotright and @Ganso Bomb.

 

[Left.A1]

Anthony Davis didn’t make All Defense … I guess that proves he wasn’t that impactful this year guys …that’s that

 

[Gotright]

- Giannis didn't make either team
- Both Jrue and Brook made the 1st team
- shyt, even Dray made the 2nd team (despite your embarrassing efforts to try and get me in a gotcha moment)

Every single agenda-driven talking point of yours blown up into a million pieces. I told you exactly what the case was of Jrue and Lopez anchoring the defense for the Bucks and you continued to keep ignoring it, over and over.

Next time your dumbass will listen. You and @Bonk, @Inertia Creeps, @Biscayne, @gtj1982, @Gotright and @Ganso Bomb.

Dam all I said was he is the best player in the NBA.

 

[Long Live The Kane]

- Giannis didn't make either team
- Both Jrue and Brook made the 1st team
- shyt, even Dray made the 2nd team (despite your embarrassing efforts to try and get me in a gotcha moment)

Every single agenda-driven talking point of yours blown up into a million pieces. I told you exactly what the case was of Jrue and Lopez anchoring the defense for the Bucks and you continued to keep ignoring it, over and over.

Next time your dumbass will listen. You and @Bonk, @Inertia Creeps, @Biscayne, @gtj1982, @Gotright and @Ganso Bomb.

https://pr.nba.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/46/2023/05/2022-23-Kia-NBA-All-Defensive-Team-Voting-Results.pdf

He received the 9th most votes for all defense on a list that has 10 selections ….only didn’t make the team because of some arbitrary positioning qualifications that had Bam and Dillion Brooks make it despite having less votes….

On top of coming in 5th in Defensive Player of the Year voting

https://pr.nba.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/46/2023/04/2022-23-Kia-NBA-Defensive-Player-of-the-Year-Voting-Results.pdf

Giannis was one of the best defensive players in basketball this year, and had an amazing season….why this has triggered your functioning retarded ass so much I will never know…but i implore you for like the 10th time now, STOP STALKING ME YOU WEIRD ASS nikka…please go get some p*ssy or start a hobby doing puzzles or building model trains or something, anything that can free your obsessive autistic addled brain from stalking men on message boards