From an athletic piece published yesterday: “It’s been hard because so many changes, so many injuries, so, so many things,” Antetokounmpo told The Athletic. “A lot of things, up and down. Changes, as I said, game plan, structure, all of the BS. “We can start from f—— ownership, changed. Coach, changed. Coach, changed again. Star players, changed. From Khris being in and out. Like so much f—— s—. It’s just up and down. Up and down. So many things changing, man. But we got to stay together, I don’t like to victimize myself. I don’t like to feel bad about myself. That’s not who I am.” *** “I just had to do it. I had to be more vocal this year,” Antetokounmpo said. “Things (weren’t) the way they were supposed to be, how can I say it? The last couple of years, I’m used to a specific structure of things, a specific culture, there’s a certain way that you have to do things in order for you to win games, you know? “And if that level is not being met, as a leader, you have to push that envelope. Push everybody, your coaching staff, your teammates.” *** “Some peace of mind,” Antetokounmpo said. “He’s tough. He’s Doc f—ing Rivers. He knows his s—. Same thing for Coach Bud. Same with Joe Prunty, J-Kidd. And Coach Griff was a great coach, a great person to work with, but, at the end of the day, it was his first time. “He was figuring things out, how to lead a group of guys, how to operate with star players and sometimes, that might be hard. I think everybody did a good job. His coaching staff did a good job too, helping him and making him adjust and I think he did a tremendous job leading us to a 30-13 record, but Coach Doc has won 1,100 games. So it’s totally different.” LOL, this f--king guy. I've always had a bone to pick with Giannis not personally but dating back to 2019, when he was shoveled into the "good guy" model minority hardworking African immigrant role next to the evil, cheating, boring foul merchant, lazy out of shape African-American James Edward Harden Jr. (even though Giannis smashed all the FT shooting records with nary a peep and just...ran into people over and over again) - by most of the ever-present NBA commentariat. But...man does this guy listen to himself talk? Milwaukee - even with the HOlidary for Lilliard deal - has probably had as much if not more roster continuity than any team since 2020. 6 of the top 10 players getting minutes in 2020-21 are still in the rotation. I mean they've had Thanasis for years now. Thanasis! They just resigned super old Lopez and creaky borkd Middleton to new deals just to keep it going. The coaching changes - from teh BUd fire to the Griff hire to the Griff fire (who he now thinks is great? Lol?) to the Doc hire - were all done with his approval & sign off. The whole damn franchise has been tailored to his liking for the last 4 years, or longer. I can't even can't with this dude anymore.
I just want to do some extra dragging on this part We can start from f—— ownership, changed. Coach, changed. Coach, changed again. Star players, changed. From Khris being in and out. Like so much f—— s—. It’s just up and down. Up and down. So many things changing, man. But we got to stay together, I don’t like to victimize myself. I don’t like to feel bad about myself. That’s not who I am.” I went back and looked at the top 8 guys by minutes played in the playoffs from the Bucks Championship year (21) and removed the ones not there anymore Middleton Antetokotumpo, G. Holiday Tucker Lopez Connaughton Portis Forbes Now let's do the same for their opponents that playoff run Brooklyn Durant Harden Irving Harris Brown Griffin Green Shamet Atlanta Young Huerter Collins Capela Bogdanovic Gallinari Williams Okongwu Phoenix Booker Paul Bridges Ayton Payne Thomas Crowder Craig I haven't bothered to run the numbers but in terms of minutes carrying over to the same core group of players from 2021 - I can't think of any team other than the Bucks , with maybe the Warriors or the Celtics and the sad sack Hawks close, that has had less roster minutes turnover than Giannis and Thanasis family business in Milwaukee.
