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Khris Middleton And Jrue Holiday Join Michael Jordan in USA Men’s Olympic Basketball History

Khris Middleton And Jrue Holiday Join Only LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen as only players to win the NBA Finals, and USA Men’s Olympic Gold Medal in the same summer.

Khris Middleton And Jrue Holiday Win Gold Medal

“I guess me thinking about it and me telling y’all that story,” Holiday said minutes after the final buzzer, “that’s a hell of a summer.”

“He’s a NBA champion,” Holiday said of Middleton. “He’s an Olympic gold medal winner. He’s my brother, you know, us over these last few months has been crazy and we’ve done it together. I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else.”

The Star Studded USA Men’s Basketball Team won Olympic Gold at the 2020 Tokyo Games after beating Spain 87-82 in the Gold Medal Game. Kevin Durant scored a game-high 29 points to lead Team USA to the win. Durant continues to make a strong case that he’s the greatest player in the world right now.

65,000 Bucks Fans Packed Deer District As Team Won Title

MILWAUKEE – The economic impact of the Milwaukee Bucks title run has been huge for downtown Milwaukee and the Deer District. More and more fans showed up game by game and night by night rather the team was home or on the road. People showing up means people buying food, buying drinks and buying merchandise.

Bucks Fans Packed Deer District

So when the buzzer sounded and the Bucks had won their first title is 50 years on their home court. 65,000 pumped up and excited fans were outside of the arena going crazy as the fireworks went off to celebrate the win. Not to mention the almost 20,000 people inside Fiserv Forum, lets just say the roads were packed headed home from he game.

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – JULY 20: Fans gather outside of Fiserv Forum to watch as the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Phoenix Suns in game 6 of the NBA Finals to win the championship on July 20, 2021 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This was the first championship for the Bucks in 50 years. Scott Olson/Getty Images/AFP

The excitement reached a total climax as the time ran down and the fans came too the realization that the Milwaukee Bucks were going to be NBA champions in just a matter of seconds. Fans went crazy and some even began to climb light poles in celebration of the victory.

Fans watch Game 6 of the NBA basketball finals game between the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns Tuesday, July 20, 2021, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)(Jeffrey Phelps | AP)

It’s safe to say the the fans of the Milwaukee Bucks have got the NBA worlds attention and have set a standard for team support. Many teams around the league are already trying to figure out how they can create there own viewing parties outside of home arenas like the Bucks have done with Deer District.

Milwaukee Bucks Win the 2021 N.B.A. Championship

MILWAUKEE — 50 years ago, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor, along with Oscar Robertson led the Milwaukee Bucks to their first championship in 1971. Tonight the Milwaukee Bucks led by International Super Star Giannis Antetokounmpo have delivered the city its first championship in 5 decades.

Milwaukee Bucks Win the 2021 N.B.A. Championship

On its home courting Milwaukee, Bucks defeated the Phoenix Suns, 105-98, in Game 6 of the NBA Finals to capture the title. Giannis Antetokounmpo aka the Greek Freak played the game of his life. The 26 year old scored 50 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, blocked 5 shots well going 17-19 from the free throw line.

“Don’t let nobody tell you what you can’t be or what you cannot do,” Antetokounmpo said. “People told me I can’t make free throws. I made my free throws tonight. And I’m a freaking champion.”

Going into the season, there was speculation that Giannis might leave the Bucks in free agency. But Antetokounmpo was loyal to Milwaukee in December by signing a contract extension worth nearly a quarter of a billion dollars. In return Giannis delivered an NBA title the same year and cemented himself as arguably the best player in the world.

“This is my city. They trust me. They believe in me. They believe in us,” Antetokounmpo said. “Even when we lost the series, they were on our side. Obviously, I wanted to get the job done.”

Antetokounmpo then made comments about the “easy” decision made by some N.B.A. stars to leave in free agency or ask for trades so that they could team up and play with other stars.

“I could go to a superteam and just do my part and win a championship,” he said, adding, “But this is the hard way to do it.”

He then pounded the table for emphasis!

Giannis Antetokounmpo: Unknown Facts

Milwaukee Bucks star player Giannis Antetokounmpo is quickly becoming one of the best and most popular players in the NBA. The Greek Freak is one of the most driven and hard working players in the league. The Bucks are building there entire franchise around him and betting that he can take them to the top. Giannis was league MVP for the 2018-2019 season and he even made the cover of 2k18, increasing his worldwide popularity. Your about to learn some things that even some of the biggest Giannis fan wouldn’t know!

Giannis Antetokounmpo’s hands are 12 inches long. Thats almost 3 inches longer then Los Angeles Lakers Superstar player LeBron James.

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Giannis Antetokounmpo: Taking The Leap

Giannis Antetokounmpo: Taking The Leap: Everyone knows the Greek Freak is out of this world, starting the season with a bang going 25-18-9 and then 26-15-5 but a more interesting question is to gaze a little bit further into the future. I’d like to consider where he could take the most obvious leaps and where we could perhaps see Giannis Antetokounmpo take his game over the course of the season. A good place to start is to look at some advanced metrics predictions where there is a bit of good news, FiveThirtyEight’s CARMELO Model, arguably the most effective publicly available model says he is merely the fourth best player in the league.

I’d love to dig into what all of these juicy numbers mean but for all intents & purposes, it takes your everyday ‘plus-minus’ from the box score, splits it into offensive & defensive possessions and adjusts for level of competition. The special sauce is fancy math but to cut to the chase, it means to expect great things. What’s interesting here is the +2.4 which is a 41% bump in the right direction, reverting more to 2017 Giannis on defence whilst keeping a lot of those improvements he saw on the offensive end during 2018. Even better, it further supports what our eyes told us in the play-offs last year but how he has played in the first few games of this season suggest the offensive end could be even brighter.

The biggest change the Buck’s early going can tell us by just looking at box score can tell us is that he is feeling a lot more comfortable from behind the arc, well above previous rates through the preseason & game 1. In the 2018 Regular Season, only 1 in 10 shots was behind the arc which is notable. It’s well below other high usage, hyper versatile Point Forwards like Kevin Durant or Lebron James who during the same period who took a three nearly 1 in every 4 shots. This year could be the year we see Giannis Antetokounmpo take that jump forward and find his spots around the arc. It’s easy to say the early data is encouraging with him lifting those numbers to nearly 1 in 5 and this is going to make his life an awful lot easier when he does drive into the lane.

Giannis Antetokounmpo: Taking The Leap

As a player who currently scores efficiently almost exclusively at the rim, where 49% of his shots were attempted last year taking a step forward beyond the arc is critical to that next step. Right now, his opponents are free to just crowd his path to the rim and forcing him to either find the open man or to take a bad shot at the rim, or on the way there. With more attempts beyond the arc, this becomes a very bitter medicine for a defender who is forced to play tight lest Giannis burn him 3 or 4 times a game at 3. This will only give Giannis more & more room to turn the corner and get around his man.

Obviously, taking the jump is essential to entering the promised land where the ‘Perpetual MVP’ conversation that Lebron has seemingly existed in for over a decade. Before we run away with our imagination, I must issue a single caveat that the newly coached team around him is going to play a huge part of whether he is able to take the next step so young, so soon & really achieve the blindingly brilliant promise he is so clearly capable of.

By: Zachary Fitzpatrick

New Culture, New Success, New Bucks

A new era dawned in Milwaukee when Bucks owner Herb Kohl sold the team to the investment team of Marc Lasry and Wes Edens. That was the first step in the long and frustrating process of changing the culture of the stagnant Bucks. We had not won a playoff series since 2001, although we did make first round exits on 03, 04, 06, and 2010. From being stuck in the worst place to be in the NBA: the middle. We were not quite good enough to do anything in the playoffs but not quite bad enough to get a lottery pick. Our Bucks were a team of predictability and mediocrity. However, we have seen a brand new team assembled piece by piece right before our very eyes.

The new era we have entered into officially began on April 16, 2014, the day Kohl sold to Lasry & Edens. Following the ownership shift came changes to the team’s colors, logo, coach, stadium, and most importantly: culture. This culture change has bred a new spark for the team, a team I’m officially declaring as the New Bucks. The years of satisfaction with middle-of-the-pack finishes have been replaced with a yearly expectation to make at least a good playoff run. Instead of the tried and true red and green we now have a new, vibrant color scheme accompanied by a fresh, sleek logo. The ever-reliable Bradley Center gave way to a new modern marvel of architecture in the Fiserv Forum (or as I encourage people call it: the Four-One-Forum). But flashy colors and Mezzanine overlooks can only do so much. We fired our head coach, general manager, and superstar. Instead of Larry Drew, John Hammond, and Brandon Jennings, the New Bucks boast the names of Budenholzer, Horst, and Antetokounmpo. All these changes have pushed the Bucks from consistently playoff possible to a group that should finish with no less than a 3 seed in the weakened Eastern Conference.

We should be proud of how we have gone about building our team. Rather than flashing a bunch of money in the faces of big time free agents, we cleaned house, rebuilt from the bottom, and went through our years of losing records. But now it is time for us to reap the rewards of our patient work by making a serious run in the playoffs and possibly competing for a championship. We are finally on the cusp. The ugly weed of stagnation and mediocrity was ripped out by the roots and in its place the seeds of competitiveness, passion, and winning were planted. Opposing teams will no longer make the game winning shot over our defenders outstretched fingertips. No, instead our New Bucks read the pass, jump the lane, and force that key turnover to seal the game. Gone are the days of players pursing their lips while high-fiving frustrated teammates after missing a crucial free throw to put the game away. No more dejected fans walking out of the Bradley Center lamenting the teams performance while reciting the phrases “we’re young” or “just wait until we develop.” Those days are over. We have developed and we’re only going to improve. New Bucks force that turnover, they sink that free throw, and they send their fans out cheering in the streets beaming with pride knowing that Milwaukee Bucks Basketball is back. This team is ready to win right now and thanks to the utter dismantling of our old culture, followed by the complete and total installation of our New Bucks, we will. Go Bucks!

By: Brad Bosak

New Culture, New Success, New Bucks

Exit: Bradley Center, Enter: Fiserv Forum – New Stadium, Same Soul.

For mid-October it was really, really cold outside. Though over two decades ago, I remember my first Bucks game vividly down to the slush I jumped into as we approached the Bradley Center. I went with my dad for my seventh birthday, and at that time
the Bucks had the soon to be legend Ray Allen, along with other greats such as Sam Cassel and Glen Robinson. Even though the Bucks didn’t make it far that season, it didn’t matter. For me I felt as if I was among a community of people who had pride in not only these amazing players, but the city itself seemed to come alive. The people cheering added an enthusiasm I’ve never felt before and the arena lights were just as enticing.

Now, it is 20 years later and that boy outside of the Bradley Center is now a man outside of the Fiserv Forum. I’m amazed at the structural beauty of the new arena, adding more anticipation for this upcoming season. However, it is not only about the building that has Milwaukee eager to fill the new arena seats. With an exciting roster of young talent lead by Giannis, the Bucks have once again become competitors in the league for years to come.

The Milwaukee Bucks have been around since 1968, and they, like the city itself have had their share of ups and downs. One thing however hasn’t changed, and that’s hope within the community. No matter what the record was, Bucks fans always seemed to show up eagerly to represent their pride. With that determination and patience, it seems that our time is now! Go Bucks Go!

Exit: Bradley Center, Enter: Fiserv Forum

By Cesar Cornier

Milwaukee Bucks 2018/2019 Roster Is Set!

Milwaukee Bucks Coach Mike Budenholzer has finished the final cuts and the roster for the 2018/2019 Regular Season is now set! The roster features some familiar faces and also some new ones. The Milwaukee Bucks 2018/2019 Roster Is Set!

PF – Giannis Antetokounmpo

PG – Eric Bledsoe

PG/SG – Malcolm Brogdon

SG/SF – Sterling Brown

SF – Pat Connaughton

PG- Matthew Dellavedova

SG – Donte DiVincenzo

C – John Henson

PF – Ersan Ilyasova

C – Brook Lopez

PF/C – Thon Maker

SG/SF – Khris Middelton

SG/SF – Tony Snell

SF – D.J. Wilson

PF/C – Christian Wood

There you have it.

The Milwaukee Bucks 2018/2019 Roster Is Set!

Giannis Antetokounmpo is a Defensive Menace

As is typical during the terminal stage of the regular season, media figures are beginning to turn attention to awards ballots; at least for those awards and All-NBA designations that are somewhat still in flux. Defensive Player of the Year and the All-Defensive teams are drawing particular interest. Consensus seems to be that—while still elite—Draymond Green’s play on that end has waned significantly enough as to not warrant top-ballot consideration. Rudy Gobert seems like a lock for many, unless you’re queasy about handing it to a guy who will end up with 56 games played. Kevin Durant and Paul George have gotten their share of hype throughout the year for shot blocking and disruption on the wing, respectively.

Lost in all the talk (except for Zach Lowe bless his heart) is Milwaukee Bucks Swiss-Army defender Giannis Antetokounmpo. Three national articles during this past season have promoted George’s candidacy while Durant has enjoyed a seemingly season-long parade of adulation in the press: Antetokounmpo has zero mentions.

Looking at the numbers it’s hard to see why. For all of George’s active wing defense, opponents actually shoot 2.2% better when he’s guarding them while Antetokounmpo’s matchups shoot 4.6% worse. Durant garnered early attention for his rim protection, while over the course of the season Antetokounmpo has proven more impactful. When Durant defends a shot within 6 feet of the hoop, opponents shoot 6.1% worse as opposed to 7.2% worse when Antetokounmpo contests. Giannis also defends a larger share of shots at the rim, 41% as compared to 35% for Durant.

Taking a broader view of their impact as measured by Defensive Rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) the divide becomes even starker. When Durant is off the court, the Warriors defense is 6.2 points better while during George’s absence the Thunder defense remains roughly the same. Antetokounmpo taking a rest brings disastrous results for Milwaukee. The Bucks are 8.7 points worse on defense with him on the bench, by far the largest impact on the team.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is a Defensive Menace

But what about compared to the reigning DPOY? Despite league-wide recognition of a slight dip in effort, Kevin Pelton of ESPN selects Draymond Green as his First Team All-Defense Power Forward. Pelton says Giannis has “the most defensive upside…when fully engaged” while he excuses Green whose “intensity hasn’t been the same” when awarding him First Team honors, citing his being 28th in deflections per-36 and “a plus rim protector for the position”. (Notable names ahead of Green in the deflections per-36 category are Russell Westbrook and Corey Brewer; two players not generally lauded for defense.)

Antetokounmpo and Green have nearly identical steal percentages and Giannis rates as a better rim protector. Differences in defensive ratings show Giannis as the superior player, with a positive impact more than eight points better than Green’s and a Defensive Player Impact Plus-Minus (DPIPM) much higher than Green’s as well. (DPIPM is a statistic from Nylon Calculus’ Jacob Goldstein which measures +/- accounting for opponent quality and other factors). In the defensive categories of overall shooting, 3pt shooting and shots within 6 feet, Antetokounmpo holds opponents to a lower percentage across the board.

All of this is not to say Antetokounmpo is deserving of the award hands down, but simply of consideration rivaling that of his peers. Rudy Gobert and Joel Embiid have been tremendous on the season while each having the additional bump of anchoring a Top-5 defense. Milwaukee’s defensive struggles make overlooking an elite defender on a middling team somewhat understandable, but it is encouraging to envision that with a schematic overhaul and defensive team success a DPOY could easily be in Antetokounmpo’s future.

By: Daniel Gaenslen