He was pissed. Learn the Incredible Story of Basketball Superstar James Harden! Read on your PC, Mac, smartphone, tablet or Kindle device! Limited time offer: If you buy the print edition, you can keep the Kindle edition for yourself! “I’m not saying that in a cocky way or a disrespectful way. From February on in that 2015-16 season, the stretch in which Jason Kidd and the rest of the basketball world reached an agreement on him being a point guard, Giannis published a help portion of 28.1 percent. Just watched. “You know, a feather can blow him over,” Kidd said, turning to his assistants. “I think about where I was four years ago, on the streets, and where I am today, able to take care of my kids and my grandkids and their grandkids,” Antetokounmpo marvels. Giannis wasn’t even the best offensive player; Brandon Knight clearly was. He was, as Grantland put it, “a human wormhole—all infinite limbs and impossible strides, twisting our conception of space inside out.”, Giannis played well at the point in that Jazz game, dropping 15 points, five assists, four rebounds, and three steals despite committing four turnovers. But Hammond, desperate for that elusive star, was ready to take a risk. The announcement sent shockwaves through the NBA as national pundits started dreaming up fantasy rosters featuring a seven foot tall point guard and wondering how Antetokounmpo would handle covering the Chris Pauls and Steph Currys of the … Kidd tried to hide a faint smile. He didn’t want to forget any detail that could potentially help them. “Look at him,” Oppenheimer said. he thought then. This book will fascinate any basketball fan who wants the inside story of how LeBron James became the young superstar shouldering the weight of an entire NBA franchise. Chock full of facts and analysis. It was the way Giannis saw plays ahead of plays. While with the Nets, he paid $50,000 for an extra timeout. His Bulls teammates used to watch that video of him on YouTube to fire them up. “I was trying to put him under the rim,” Randolph recalls. Found insideThis is the team that brought excitement back to the Garden, and therefore to one of the most storied franchises in all of sports. But the further Giannis gets from his childhood, the more it resonates, in different ways. Bucks coach Jason Kidd was happy about that; he demanded that competitiveness from everyone. Hammond, it turns out, proved himself wrong, and possibly twice. Bucks coach Jason Kidd said after Tuesday's practice that Giannis Antetokounmpo will be the team's starting point guard at the beginning of next season. He is usually attributed for ‘unlocking’ Giannis Antetokounmpo’s potential as a ball handling playmaker by forcing him to being the point guard for the Bucks. He has 24 points in the first half, Milwaukee has 73, and the Cream City Clash in Section 222 chant: “Can’t Stop Gian-nis!” He looks as long as Durant, as strong as Davis, as ferocious as Westbrook. That’s what a point guard does. He touched the soles, staring at them, realizing they were his. A bit offended. He scrunched up his cheeks, tightened his nose, dubbed it his “ugly face.”, Then he softened, unwrinkled his forehead, and smiled. In the NBA, the rumblings in New Jersey in 2004 were that Kidd was behind the firing of Byron Scott and the elevation of Frank to head coach. When Geiger visits, Antetokounmpo hands him the Wingstop menu, with the addendum, “I’m buying!” And when Kostas left home for the University of Dayton this fall, big brother drove six hours to move him into his dorm, stopping only at Wal-Mart. He did just that with a breakout performance in Game 3, as Kidd shifted him to power forward, scoring 17 of his 25 points in the first half—adding 12 rebounds. Giannis would pepper Jared Dudley, the veteran teammate who was becoming a mentor to him, with questions on how he could improve. Memories of the trip have become blurred in the recounting: Antetokounmpo’s coach, idling outside the gym on a scooter, smoking a cigarette; Antetokounmpo’s teammates, nearly twice his age, coming straight to pregame warmups from their day jobs; Antetokounmpo’s parents, sitting high in the stands, as their beanstalk son deftly ran the point for Filathlitikos in the Greek second division. Growing up, his customers occasionally mentioned his cartoonishly long limbs, but he shrugged. “But one thing he did was he laid the tradition of a winning team. There was no pressure. Kidd, however, didn’t want Giannis to shoot from long distance much at all at first, especially 3s—or, according to several of his assistant coaches, he didn’t want Giannis to get consumed by, or obsessed with, shooting. Or when he had to go over something again. He storms out of the Bradley Center in full uniform, from home locker room to player parking lot, and hops into the black Explorer the local Ford dealer lent him. Kidd joined the Los Angeles Lakers as an assistant in 2019 and won a title with them that season. Much of his backstory has been told, how Charles and Veronica Antetokounmpo emigrated from Nigeria to Greece in 1991 for a better life, had four boys there, and bounced from one eviction notice to another. But he noticed some fans lingering in the lower bowl with their cellphone cameras and he didn’t want anybody to think he was putting on a show. It wasn’t necessarily discussed as a glaring weakness, as it would be in the coming years, but it just wasn’t something he needed to do much of throughout his youth. At the end of the 2015-16 season, Bucks head coach Jason Kidd made it clear that Giannis was going to be Bucks point guard advances. He winks at Alex, his youngest brother, behind the courtside seats. Everyone scored on Giannis. But you cannot tell me this. And given that he had miraculously sprouted two inches, to 6-foot-11, since arriving in the NBA, Giannis, Kidd felt, could morph into one of the most versatile players in the league. “This is my new thing,” Giannis told his teammates. In January 2018, the Bucks fired Kidd after the team held a 23-22 record midway through the 2017-18 season. Much has been said about Jason Kidd and his time as head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. He viewed himself less as The Greek Freak than a Greek grinder. “It was a reminder,” says Sweeney, the assistant coach, “of, ‘Hey, we’ve got some of these skills, but we’re not quite ready for that responsibility.’”, As the season began, Giannis was mostly playing small forward and would excite with a play or two, a big rebound, a loose-ball dive, but his coaches wanted more. Found insideThroughout the course of this powerful narrative, depression’s universal themes come to light, among them, struggles with identity, lack of understanding of the symptoms, the challenges of work-life, self-medicating, the fallout of the ... “He’s trying to figure this whole thing out, what he’s going to be,” Hammond says. “I didn’t figure it out.” He glances down at his 12-inch hands, bigger than Kawhi Leonard’s, bigger than Wilt Chamberlain’s. “You’re not going to break this kid,” [then Bucks GM] John Hammond says. The first ten thousand fans received the smiling Giannis bobblehead. And in a Game 5 win, Giannis swatted four shots, including a critical block on Rose, who charged down the lane with 39 seconds left. An award-winning Sports Illustrated writer recounts the championship 2005-2006 season with the popular NBA team, describing their revitalization of team play strategies, the contributions of such figures as Steve Nash and Mike D'Antoni, and ... “I don’t want to sound negative,” he says. “You gotta work on your roar,” Knight would sarcastically advise Giannis. Hammond flashed back to a line that coach Larry Brown once told him. “We all knew Giannis was going to be good,” Dudley says. Geiger was Antetokounmpo’s best friend in Milwaukee, the one who oversaw his graduation from EDM to hip-hop, and instructed him on which lyrics he could sing in public and which he could not. Afterward, Giannis told reporters he had played “angry.” Then he showed them what he meant, showed them his scowl. “That made Giannis a hero forever,” says Jim Kogutkiewicz, a longtime fan who was at that game. “Try not to be stressed,” he said to Alex one game, placing his hand on Alex’s small orange jersey. Kidd said the team would wait for him and then run more. You see things that no one else does. “It was a small thing, but you couldn’t help but think, ‘Maybe this is meant to be.’”. “I want to shoot threes,” Antetokounmpo argued. He still carries the little black college-ruled, spiral-bound Mead notebook wherever he goes today—even if he’s nowhere near a basketball court. On defense? Giannis’s teammates found it hilarious when he’d attempt the scowl after a dunk, something he started doing toward the end of his rookie season. Next to the site is a billboard, featuring Antetokounmpo’s muscled back, over the slogan the future looks strong. We can win this series,” Giannis told Carter-Williams, “even though the odds are small.”, Carter-Williams nodded. Giannis’s release was low, almost below his eyes and off his shoulder. Butler hounded Giannis in Game 1, making it difficult for Giannis to find any kind of rhythm. He was trying to look more aggressive, less adorable; more intimidating, less innocent. The Bucks had clinched a playoff spot as the no. Pick up this unauthorized biography today to learn the inspiring story behind superstar guard, Damian Lillard! This is the perfect basketball book for kids or basketball fans of all ages. Originally published: Toronto: Random House Canada, 2013. “Oh,” Giannis said casually in a “this old thing?” kind of tone, “I took it from Westbrook.”, Giannis’s scowl seemed out of place. “Good,” Kidd said. If you want to understand how the modern NBA came to be, you’ll need to read this book.” —Nate Silver, editor of fivethirtyeight.com From the leading expert in the exploding field of basketball analytics, a stunning infographic ... Kidd won’t suddenly place Porzingis at the point guard … “Guys like Magic are looking through a window that’s so high. When is it going to be my turn? The Fire That Forged Giannis Antetokounmpo. Not for a second. "An oral history of basketball"-- “I’m just writing,” Giannis will say, his hand moving quickly. “Show me,” Kidd said, confident he was right. In the locker room afterward, players scatter for Christmas, two days away. Giannis was infuriated. 3–seeded Bulls, first up against the Bucks, were stacked, with Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Pau Gasol, and Joakim Noah leading the roster. “If I work here,” he says, “I get the results. He set rules. Dubbed “Black Picasso” with a resumé that includes Yale and Belichick, the Giants defensive boss is building something unique in a way only he can. “Here is Giannis at midnight, with 80% of the freshman class, walking up and down the hallway carrying bedsheets,” recalls Dayton coach Archie Miller. Found insideBasketball legend Kobe Bryant presents this illuminating follow-up to the #1 New York Times bestseller The Wizenard Series: Training Camp—a story of strain and sacrifice, supernatural breakthroughs, and supreme dedication to the game. Some fantasized that the pair could become the Batman and Robin of a potential new era in Milwaukee, but Giannis didn’t want to be Robin. They needed this team to stay in Milwaukee. “I’m more handsome. But it is a crazy story, isn’t it?”. He had to say his mistake out loud. Whether you're a die-hard from the days of McGlocklin and Dandridge or a newer fan who's fallen in love with Giannis, these are the 100 things all fans need to know and do in their lifetime. Mil-wau-kee! Sanders emerged as a defensive force in his first full-time minutes in 2011–12, finishing second in the NBA in blocks. “He just had his way of getting his point across,” Knight says. Kidd thought Giannis had made the mistake. Nate Wolters, Antetokounmpo’s best friend on the team, was waived. About five games before the playoffs, Giannis became frustrated in practice. “Your legs, your body, you’re sore everywhere. What he wanted to do well. Far from that. He never gave players answers, wanting them to figure it out on their own. Kidd flirted with having Giannis at point guard beginning in 2014 summer league, though Giannis’s official position was listed as center in two of four of the games. I’m closed too.”, The Crossover's 10 Best NBA Stories Of 2016. “He was one of those guys that was like, ‘It’s great if I score, but if I get an assist, I’m happy.’”, Still, Giannis didn’t quite know how to control the tempo of a game. His lips would curl, and then he’d let out a grunt. Kidd oversees the project, but assistant coach Sean Sweeney runs it, accompanying Antetokounmpo to his midnight workouts, deconstructing his pick-and-rolls, furnishing him with clips of Magic but also less predictable influences such as Kiki Vandeweghe’s post moves and Shawn Kemp’s transition dunks. That’s coaching.”. The coaches had given him too much, too soon. Antetokounmpo hung a photo of himself, facing up against the Raptors, in Sweeney’s office. “It really, really pissed Giannis off,” says Johnny O’Bryant III, “the way they guarded him. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The defender had to cut off the dribble, not allowing 3s (or any bucket, really). Meaning he needed to not only carry himself with a certain swagger, a certain meanness, but he needed his game to back up that kind of demeanor. A true killer. When Giannis inked his four-year, $100 million extension in September—after postponing the signing by four hours to accommodate a morning workout—he called Bucks co-owner Wes Edens at his hotel in Ireland. DALLAS -- Jason Kidd is coming back to Dallas again, this time to replace the coach he won a championship with as the point guard of the Mavericks 10 years ago. One night they were watching a game on television when Antetokounmpo shouted, “Whoa! “You don’t see that much in today’s game.”. Giannis and Parker went at each other in every drill. © Copyright 2021 Endgame360 Inc. All Rights Reserved. “I had swag too.” Then he stiffened back up and explained his approach from there on out: “I try to be angry when I play,” he said. “No partying,” Dudley told him. "In ‘Vitalese’, this book is simply awesome, baby." —Dick Vitale, ESPN/ABC basketball analyst "A terrific guide for coaching youth teams. “He’d just brutalize people,” says another ex-player. Mil-wau-kee!” fans chanted after the final buzzer, as if to say, “We’re still here. He dunks over Kelly Oubre, Otto Porter and Markieff Morris, flexing as they wince. Another play, Giannis received the ball at the top of the key. And he wasn’t going to help somebody get there when he thought he had the same amount of ability to get there.”. One former player called his coaching style “psychological warfare.” When asked questions about Kidd, many players and coaches replied, “On the record or off?”. Jason Kidd is coming back to Dallas again, this time to replace the coach he won a championship with as the point guard of the Mavericks 10 years ago. Here is a preview of what is inside this book: Childhood and Early Life NBA Career: Getting Drafted, Rookie Season, Working Under Jason Kidd, The Largest Point Guard in the League, and Becoming an All-Star Reaching Elite Superstar Status, ... Waited until film the next day to expose him. One practice, Giannis got a little animated. *Rivaling the nonfiction works of Steve Sheinkin and Daniel James Brown's The Boys in the Boat....Even readers who don't appreciate sports will find this story a page-turner. Earlier this week, Jason Kidd announced that Giannis Antetokounmpo will serve as the Bucks’ point guard next season. Milwaukee fans had a lot of respect for Giannis in that moment too. Kidd was upset about it and made the team run because Kidd felt that Maker not getting an iPhone was an example of the team not being united. The young fella wanted it.” Giannis, who scored a then career-high 18 points, 12 of which came in the fourth quarter, reminded Randolph of a young Pippen: long, athletic, all over the court, good knack for the ball. “Bro, are you all right?” they asked. Giannis started attending Alex’s rec-league games, sitting in the crowd, tracking every play like a hawk. I think he would just take it out on players and just verbally go at them. RELATED: The Milwaukee Bucks are Reconstructing Their Bench and Loading up for a Second Consecutive NBA Title Run. “Who thinks we’re a playoff team?”. More … mean. The arena erupted. It’s that simple. He could become a superstar. He begged teammates to play the shooting game two-for-a-dollar that he picked up from power forward John Henson. During timeouts, Dudley would in turn challenge Giannis with questions: “What do you see? He stumbled, barely recovering his balance. This is from tweets by @FakeTJHawke, linked where applicable. He’s deeply private, and he doesn’t show the notebook to anyone. Kidd told the press that he envisioned Giannis, at 19 years old, being like Magic Johnson, Grant Hill, and Pippen after Giannis played 32 minutes as the primary ball handler against the Jazz in summer league. He was exhausted and stopped closing out hard. This story appears in the Jan. 9, 2017 issue of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. “I try to be mad. I respected him for that. He had earned that after the way he played his first season. The next day, the Bucks played the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Namoc picked up Giannis’s regular sneakers, the ones he’d be wearing that night, and flipped them over, scanned the soles. His closeouts were still weak, half-hearted. It's a “post-grad football academy,” according to Tyren Jackson. “It was Giannis’s coming-out party,” says Aaron Brooks, former Bulls guard. Found inside – Page 13In 2016, Bucks head coach Jason Kidd made a surprising decision. He told his players that Antetokounmpo would be the team's starting point guard in 2017. He was learning to adapt, following his coach’s advice. Before the game, Giannis told Sweeney his plan: he vowed to play angry. He turns them all down, sticking with Bucks staffers. Cleveland’s Matthew Dellavedova, known for full-court, suffocating defense, smothered Giannis. Kidd and assistant coach Sean Sweeney would work out with Giannis multiple times a day. Sanders ended up taking himself to the hospital, where he spent the night. “We can come back. Kidd didn’t. Around familiar faces, like his live-in girlfriend, his innocence is impossible to extinguish. “You gotta work on your yell. I better zip it.’ ”, At 6' 4", Kidd is one of the best point guards who ever lived. Antetokounmpo was always amazed he could rewind live TV. He managed to dribble left, hard to the hoop, taking off for a windmill. Giannis was trying to help Kostas reach his goal of playing Division I college basketball and prepare Alex to play at the high school level. “He knows how to read people and situations. Zac Crain, award-winning journalist for D Magazine who moved to Dallas the same year that Nowitzki began his career in the city, memorializes Nowitzki’s career through a lyric essay reminiscent of Hanif Abdurraqib's Go Ahead in the Rain ... “They were always nervous. … Score angry. He developed a relationship with everyone in the organization. “I have a franchise on my shoulders.”. He looked much improved from his rookie season, though he was still playing too fast, too out of control, with too many turnovers. Against the Grizzlies, Giannis targeted Zach Randolph, the Grizzlies’ 250-pound terror. “Come on,” Giannis said, clutching the ball, swinging his elbows out. He played with Kidd on the Knicks in 2012-13. I was like, ‘Jesus freaking Christ, how can I compete with that? His nose would wrinkle; his forehead would tighten. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel called the move “the Giannis Antetokounmpo experiment.”. This is a portrait of a Wilt that relatively few people, except family and friends, have ever seen. “But where else do I have to be?” he asks. Players looked at each other, paused a second, recognizing there was only one right answer. It’s where I learned to work like this.” He could sell all day, serenade tourists with Christmas carols at night, and return home without enough cash for dinner. Giannis was still goofy, still kid-like. I got you, bro. Kostas will look at him funny, ask him what he’s writing. “Well, if you do it for that game, you gotta keep doing it in all the games.”. Antetokounmpo was self-conscious about his broken English, but Kohl’s top lieutenant, JoAnne Anton, happened to be fluent in Greek. "We're going to go forward with him handling the ball." Giannis Antetokounmpo is learning the nuances of running a team from one of the best point guards and triple-double threats in NBA history. Last Feb. 20 in Atlanta, with the Bucks 11 games under .500 and Michael Carter-Williams coming off the bench, Kidd put the ball in Antetokounmpo’s massive mitts.
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