Is Giannis Even A Top Ten Player?

Heim

EOG Master
I don't care what the PER numbers say....I'm not buying the hype. I can rattle off 10 players I'd rather have now than him. His offensive
skills are still very raw not to mention the shaky shooting from both lines. How many times is he going to drive right and spin left in a game?
Still raw no freak by any means and certainly not their go to guy late. He's been exposed this series.
 

FairWarning

Bells Beer Connoisseur
He'll have to learn to trust his teammates, it took Jordan a long time to do also. You can't have him on the bench at the end though, teams have to account for him.
 

John Kelly

Born Gambler
Staff member
But HEIM makes a good point about Giannis.

What made Jordan, Kobe and LeBron so great is that they added a new move to their offensive games every single season.

Dominique did not.

Dwight Howard did not.

And right now, The Greek Freak's overall game needs improvement.

I also don't like the overreliance on his freakish athleticism.

There's no nuance to his game.
 

John Kelly

Born Gambler
Staff member
Giannis is a better regular-season player than postseason player right now.

Could be accused of being a bully or cripple-shooter.
 

FairWarning

Bells Beer Connoisseur
Can't have him in when you need 3s.......can you?
The play where Mil was down 3 with roughly :30 left - they had the ball and the FG takes it to the hoop only to kick it out to the contested shooter in the corner, who lost the ball off his leg. To me, teams would give up that lay up (or a Giannis dunk if he were in) . There was still time not to go for the 3 and he draws someone away from a shooter also. Also he could get a star call from the refs.
 

John Kelly

Born Gambler
Staff member
I thought we were going to watch Giannis against Durant in the NBA Finals.

Turns out, neither star may appear in the championship series.
 

choslamshe

EOG Master
Maybe this series is proving that Leonard is the best player in the NBA - hands down. He has put his team (offensively) on his shoulders and his defense has been even better.
 

kane

EOG master
Maybe this series is proving that Leonard is the best player in the NBA - hands down. He has put his team (offensively) on his shoulders and his defense has been even better.

The argument can be made that Kawhi is the best player in the game right now, for sure the best two way player
 

John Kelly

Born Gambler
Staff member
Too bad that's not how NBA players are judged.

Point production AND point prevention.

Klay Thompson deserves more love for being a fabulous two-way player.

In fact, he's likely to guard Kawhi if Toronto reaches the NBA Finals.
 

Heim

EOG Master
I don't watch a lot of NBA during the season but tune in during the playoffs. Amazing when you watch a player every other day how clear the picture gets. I think social media has a lot to do with hype on some of these guys. You see Giannis take a Euro step from the free throw line to the rim and dunk & Twitter blows up.
 

Foresthill

EOG Addicted
Kyrie, LBJ, Durant, Harden, AD, Embiid, Kawhi, Aldridge, PG, Curry

What about Klay Thompson? Almost as good a shooter as Stephen Curry and a better defender (courtesy of former Washington State and current Virginia coach, Tony Bennett).

I posted this before reading the rest of the thread -- sorry for the redundancy.
 
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kane

EOG master
In fairness to Giannis, it's easier to defend a guy in a playoff series when you can prepare to play him every other day in a long series, and he's being guarded by Kawhi, there are a lot of great players who wouldn't look so great if they were being guarded by him
 

Heim

EOG Master
In fairness to Giannis, it's easier to defend a guy in a playoff series when you can prepare to play him every other day in a long series, and he's being guarded by Kawhi, there are a lot of great players who wouldn't look so great if they were being guarded by him


This is true......there is a breakdown of the Raptor defense this series on twitter. Raptor's are literally sagging off their men and forming a four
man wall when he gets the ball top of the key. No room to operate. The problem is he still feels a need to penetrate and it's not working.
 

kane

EOG master
This is true......there is a breakdown of the Raptor defense this series on twitter. Raptor's are literally sagging off their men and forming a four
man wall when he gets the ball top of the key. No room to operate. The problem is he still feels a need to penetrate and it's not working.

For him to take his game to the next level and become a truly great player, he needs to develop a consistent outside shot, he doesn't need to be a great shooter from distance, but if he can consistently knock down a mid range shot, he becomes almost unguardable. Dwyane Wade was like that the first part of his career, he wasn't a good outside shooter and would take everything hard to the rim, eventually defenses adjusted and tried taking away the paint from him, he knew he needed to develop a consistent outside shot to keep the defense honest, he eventually developed a reliable mid range shot and defenses had to respect that part of his game, and he became a super star. Another guy in this situation is Ben Simmons, except Simmons has no shot whatsoever, the guy is afraid to even take a shot outside the paint, at some point he'll need to develop some sort of outside shot to take his game to the next level
 
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