Is The Greek Freak Done In Brew City?

Well first, let me break the cardinal rule of ranting about sports by answering my own question with; I have no idea. I have never met Giannis Antetokounmpo and I have no access to him, his pals or any NBA teams. What I do have are eyes, a passion for sports, a keyboard, an asshole and opinion (I've been told that everyone has those last 2).

Everything I am about to write is based on the premise that The Greek Freak cares more about winning and having fun playing basketball than he does about living in the 31st most populated city in the US and enjoying it's 49.3 degree average temperature and its... cheese. Not sure what else Milwaukee actually has. I kid. I kid. I actually love Milwaukee. It has an awesome riverfront lined with cool bars and restaurants and some really nice people. But it's still 'mill-e-wah-que', which is Algonquin for 'the good land'. (A full upvote for anyone who can name what movie this quote is from in the comments).

To be honest, The Bucks _deserve _to lose Giannis. Since winning the championship in 2021, the organization has made dumb move after dumb move. You have got to give the Bucks props for figuring out how to compliment an athletic 6'11" freak of nature who is unstoppable around the rim and who can shut down literally anyone on defense. They found the secret recipe of combining Giannis with a Robin Lopez, a giant shot blocking center who can hit threes, Khris Middleton a deadly mid-range and 3 point shooting guard, P.J. Tucker, one of the original 3 and D assassins, and Jrue Holiday, the best perimeter defender in the game who can also shoot the 3. Not a bad recipe. Surround him with defenders and 3 point shooters and watch the opponent crap their pants.

It seems the team got very impatient and entering into the 2023-2024 NBA season. They jumped on the "Role players are no good. We have to have superstars!" trend. Ask the Phoenix Suns, New Jersey Nets, LA Clippers... and basically every team not named the 2012 and 2013 Miami Heat. The Bucks just had to have Damian Lillard.

Dame and awesome scorer. I can completely understand why every team would want him... for free. But when you ask "what do I have to give up to get him?" that is where the Bucks' problems began.

In order to get Dame, the Bucks had to part ways with a first round pick, 2 pick swaps and... Jrue Holiday. That was the problem right there. What they gained from adding the scoring of Dame was not worth giving up the defense... and scoring of Holiday. If they were equal on defense, obviously Dame is the better player. But not even by that much. Jrue Holiday is a very good 3 point shooter and facilitator. Dame is one of the best scorers ever so the advantage goes to Dame. But when you factor in the fact that Holiday is an ELITE defender, the trade was actually a net loss for the Bucks. Factor in the fact that Lillard has a huge contract that made it difficult to keep and attract more bench and role players, and the trade doomed the Bucks to early playoff exits.

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And now Dame has torn his Achilles tendon and will not play again until the 2026-2027 season. Dame will be 36 years old when he returns. And he relies on speed and moving without the ball as a big part of his game. Does Giannis want to wait around for a 36 year old player who he has zero success with? I know I wouldn't.

Hopefully neither will Giannis. While he's contemplating his next move, I hope Giannis remembers that Chicago has a HUGE Greek Community and easy access to all of that Milwaukee cheese!

What do you guys think? Should he stay or should he go now? Did you pick up on my Easter egg trivia question?