NBA Finals

[Coolbreeze44]

Appreciate the sentiment Lip and Monster. 50 years is a long time. I watched the first one in the tiny town of Rothschild, Wisconsin at age 8. And then this one 2000 miles away in Oregon. So I've got titles with the Bucks twice, Twins twice, Notre Dame football 3 times, and Gopher hockey 5 times. Just need the Wolves, Vikings, and Wild to add their stamp.

I don't think the gravity of what Giannis accomplished is going to hit me for a while. Shear will and determination won the day. Mad respect for what he is on and off the court. The cool thing about this late season is we don't have to wait long for 2021-22 to start up. I'm ready to go now. Bring on the draft, summer league, and training camp!

[bleedspeed]

All of this just reinforces why we took Shabazz

[Monster]

I also want to put my hand up and say I was wrong. Back in the day would argue with Cam saying I would take Wiggins over Middleton. I think I can officially say I was wrong on that one. Haha

To be fair... there are threads on this forum with people saying Wiggins >>> Giannis and Wolves future >>> Bucks future.

I enjoyed the discussion way back when we were comparing Giannis and Lavine.

[Monster]

Personally I thought the Bucks did some things to win this we're that were different et than how they started the series. They played different and even ran out that super big Giannis Lopez Portis lineup. Maybe Coach Bud isn't an idiot after all and now he is a championship coach.

Good point about Bud, Monster. I was thinking the same thing.

I have to agree about Coach Bud. He's much maligned here, but I've always seen him as an effective coach. He seems to have a magic touch in turning journeymen NBA players into effective contributors. Guys like Bobby Portis and Pat Connaughton were not very good players before they came to Milwaukee, but their careers totally turned around under Bud and they both made huge contributions off the bench in this playoffs. Great coaches know how to get the most out of their role players.

I'm gonna disagree with you a bit here. Pat Connaughton had come off an effective season with Portland playing for an organization that had been turning out solid players. He elevated his game with the Bucks (and the Bucks do deserve credit for that) and was fantastic in the finals but he wasn't a bad player before he came to the Bucks he was more of a young role player looking to be on the rise. He was a guy I wanted to sign a few years ago but alas.

I've always liked Pat's game too even going back to Notre Dame (he wasn't very good last night though) but if you look at his last year at Portland compared to his first in Milwaukee, it's a pretty remarkable improvement...12/7.4/3.5 per 36 compared to 10.7/3.9/2.2, and a big improvement in TS%. And Portis made even a more dramatic improvement under Bud. Maybe Bud was just lucky and happened to be the coach when these guys made their leap, but I'm guessing coaching had a lot to do with it.

I only suggested Connaughton was a valuable player for the Blazers and in your post it made it sound like he wasn't any good with the Blazers. Maybe I misread what you meant. Regardless we agree guys have improved with Bud.

Personally I still think Connaughton contributed positively to the Bucks last night regardless of some of the numbers. He continued to rebound (8 rebounds and flying everywhere sometimes to get them) and defend well despite honestly not being that big of a guy. The hope with Jake Layman was that he would take a step up in a similar way that Connaughton did although I don't think he was a proven as much as Pat was at a similar point in their career but did have more physical gifts. One guy went to a good team (I believe that's partly why Pat signed cheaper) that added an accomplished coach who learned under one of the best coaches of all time. The other guy went to one of the worst organizations in the NBA and was coached by Ryan Saunders. Yeah a little bit of a difference. Let's hope Finch can make guys better. Like I have said in the past I would settle for what Flip was able to do back in the day as he often got something out of some bargain bin signings. I still think there could be a guy currently on the roster that's basically thought to be just a guy that could end up being pretty valuable like Portis or Connaughton or for the Suns Cam Payne etc.

[thedoper]

Is Giannis the best Center ever? He was everywhere last night. These playoffs showed again that whatever you do, do it well. You can still dominate inside it seems.

[Coolbreeze44]

Is Giannis the best Center ever? He was everywhere last night. These playoffs showed again that whatever you do, do it well. You can still dominate inside it seems.

He's more PF than C. I think the question is how does he stack up against Duncan, Malone, and Barkley. I wish he would forget about his 3 point game and spend a couple months working with Kevin McHale on post moves. If he could add that to his arsenal forget it. It's one way an already great player could be even better.

[thedoper]

Is Giannis the best Center ever? He was everywhere last night. These playoffs showed again that whatever you do, do it well. You can still dominate inside it seems.

He's more PF than C. I think the question is how does he stack up against Duncan, Malone, and Barkley. I wish he would forget about his 3 point game and spend a couple months working with Kevin McHale on post moves. If he could add that to his arsenal forget it. It's one way an already great player could be even better.

I can see that, but he plays D like a Center. Last night he looked like peak KG defensively with even more speed. It was really incredible. I'm with you on him ignoring the 3, what is the point. Keep dominating the interior.

[Monster]

Is Giannis the best Center ever? He was everywhere last night. These playoffs showed again that whatever you do, do it well. You can still dominate inside it seems.

He's more PF than C. I think the question is how does he stack up against Duncan, Malone, and Barkley. I wish he would forget about his 3 point game and spend a couple months working with Kevin McHale on post moves. If he could add that to his arsenal forget it. It's one way an already great player could be even better.

Personally I think he should play pretty much exactly how he played in the finals. I'll agree with you Cool he can pretty much abandon the 3 point shot but he shouldn't be kept from the perimeter though. As long as there are some other pretty talented players around him he will be difficult to stop. Honestly I'm not sure what position he is. The guy he actually reminds me of to some extent is KG. Giannis is probably a little stronger but they have a strength that goes beyond their body type and they play their butts off. KG was a better shooter but Giannis is better at being able to attack.

There are a bunch of people that will tell you that Duncan was a center. I'm not convinced but it's a fair debate. The reality is at this Point Giannis has a lot of tile to write his place in his NBA career. We have some really unique players in the game today with legit size like Giannis and Jokic. It can be a great time to be an NBA fan.

[Lipoli390]

I don't think I can peg Giannis to a specific position. He's a freak. He's a C, PF and even a SF with some PG all rolled into one. The only thing he can't do is shoot from behind the arc. He's the most unstoppable player scoring inside in the League today. And he's a super elite defender. I love the guy.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I don't think I can peg Giannis to a specific position. He's a freak. He's a C, PF and even a SF with some PG all rolled into one. The only thing he can't do is shoot from behind the arc. He's the most unstoppable player scoring inside in the League today. And he's a super elite defender. I love the guy.

I don't know about his future though... His dietary choices seem suspect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPN8DZv2iAY

That's A LOT of chicken nuggets...