The Milwaukee Bucks are off to a strong start to the season at 3-1 thanks to the play of their 22-year-old superstar and emerging MVP candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo. Through four games, Antetokounmpo is averaging 36.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 2.3 steals per game and he’s making the entire league is take notice.
Kevin Durant and LeBron James have both heaped praise on the up-and-coming star recently and it’s impossible not to be impressed by his abilities and consistent improvement from year to year. The one weakness in Antetokounmpo’s game, however, is his perimeter jump shot. He’s 1-of-6 from three-point range this season, and rarely ever hoists from downtown, knowing that’s his weakest point. A career 27.6 percent shooter from beyond the arc, Antetokounmpo gives defenders one slight hope against him, which is sagging off and being able to more easily anticipate the drive.
Antetokounmpo will be back on the national stage on Thursday night when the Bucks host the Celtics on TNT, and on the call will be one of the NBA’s all-time great sharpshooters Reggie Miller. Miller spoke with Dime Magazine about Antetokounmpo’s game and explained why of all the players in the NBA, Giannis is the one he wishes he could come back as, with one stipulation.
“I tell people, if there are basketball gods, I want to come back as Giannis Antetokounmpo in my next life,” Miller said. “The only thing I want to add, I want Giannis Antetokounmpo’s game but my jump shot. No one would be able to touch me. No one! I would destroy the great Michael Jordan if I had Giannis Antetokounmpo’s game and my jump shot! That’s all I want. It’s not asking a lot, is it?!”
Any time Michael Jordan’s name is evoked there’s an immediate reaction from many fans to recoil in horror and cry foul at the recency bias of dare bringing in the greatest of all time into a conversation about a current player. However, Miller’s probably right. Antetokounmpo as a 40 percent three-point shooter would be an unstoppable force in this league and likely the greatest basketball player of all-time.
Now, he’s a long way from that, but Miller says of all the skills a basketball player can improve on, shooting is the easiest of them all. He even pointed to Jordan as evidence of how adding a perimeter shot can make a great player the greatest.
“That’s something, out of all the things you mention, will probably be the most easy fix,” Miller said. “Cause that’s just going to be time and repetition in the gym, and him being comfortable shooting under duress and shooting those shots. We said the same thing about Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan was a freak athlete those first couple years in Chicago, but he wasn’t a great jump shooter. Man, once he got into the lab and worked on his jump shot, you couldn’t touch him. There was no way to defend him. He was too quick, he went around you, and when you slumped off of him, he knocked down that three-point shot and that midrange game. I think that is the last thing, the hole in his game is he does not trust that jump shot yet. But that will come with time. He’s what, 22? Jesus Christ. Wow.”
Since he was drafted, the conversation around Antetokounmpo has been about his potential. Incredibly, having emerged as an apparent MVP candidate and arguably one of the league’s five best players, there’s still potential for incredible growth of his game. If he stays in the lab and becomes the shooter Miller seems to think he can be, the rest of the league is in serious trouble.
