Giannis Criticism Is Invalid
Giannis Antetokounmpo has built a lot of individual success, winning two MVP’s and a DPOY. He has been a top-5 player for the past two seasons and he has deserved it. But with the last two disappointing playoff exits, people seem to think that it is all Giannis’ fault, when it’s not his fault. Today I will be going over some Giannis criticisms and find fault in those criticism, proving that Giannis has done nothing wrong.
The basis of this is simple. I will go over some criticisms I have seen for Giannis and tell you what I think about them.
Giannis Has Help
This one if pure comedy gold. People say that Giannis has a lot of help, which isn’t necessarily true. He has a couple of above average role players like Khris Middleton and Eric Bledsoe. Bledsoe hasn’t been great in the playoffs and Middleton isn’t a superstar, and he isn’t consistent enough. But the Bucks roster isn’t that good. Lebron always has a roster tailored to fit him, a lot of shooting and good passers. Mostly veterans.
And when Giannis struggles because he has a sub-par roster around him, people don’t seem to care. The Bucks don’t have any playmakers, just shooters who stand and watch Giannis. If Giannis had some sort of playmakers on the perimeter, he would benefit a lot. But Giannis is one of the few superstars that hasn’t played with a completely stacked team. If Giannis fails with an actual good team, then you can criticize. Until then, don’t criticize Giannis for “failing” with a good team.
Giannis Didn’t Deserve Either of his MVP’s
Giannis is a 2-time MVP, winning the 2019 and 2020 trophies with great performances in the regular season. Giannis and the Bucks dominated these past two seasons. And yet people still say that Giannis didn’t deserve the award.
In 2019 Giannis averaged 27.7 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 5.9 assists with 1.3 steals and 1.5 blocks. He shot 58% from the field and had a defensive rating of 99 and an offensive rating of 121. He did all of this in just 33 minutes per game. Giannis was dominant. His “competition” for the award that season was James Harden. Harden averaged a lot of points and assists, but his team wasn’t as dominate as Milwaukee who won 60 games that season. Harden was also nowhere near the defender that Giannis was. Harden had an offensive rating of 118 and a defensive rating of 108. This gave Harden a net rating of 10, while Giannis had a net rating of 22. Not really close.
So even though the Bucks blew their chance to go to the Finals that season, Giannis deserved the award, and I don’t why people contested this at the time.
In the 2019-20 season, Giannis averaged 29.5 points, 13.6 rebounds, and 5.6 assists. He also had 1 steal and 1 block per game. He shot 55% from the field. Giannis had a 97 defensive rating (best in the league) and a 116 offensive rating. This gave him a net rating of 19. He played just 30.4 minutes per game.
His “competition” this year was Lebron James. James had, normal stats for him at year 17 of his career. But Lebron had just a net rating of 10, and Giannis rightfully ran away with the award.
So both times Giannis has won MVP, he has been the best player in the regular season. Again, to all the people at home, the MVP is a regular season award. Not a playoffs award, a regular season award. So Giannis definitely deserved those MVP Awards, and there is no debating that.
Giannis has a chance to be a very special player once he gets the right players around him. The Bucks haven’t made a great roster around him and Mike Budenholzer hasn’t done a great job giving Giannis a system to succeed in the playoffs. Giannis might become a free agent and he might leave to find greener grass and more success. But most of the criticism’s of Giannis are very harsh and unfair. Just give him time to continue building on his career, and then we can critique him.
Are The Criticism’s Of Giannis Fair? Leave A Comment Down Below!
Follow My Instagram To Never Miss A Post: @hoopnotions
