Since the Bucks acquired Damian Lillard, there have been questions around who will have more touches of the ball – Dame or Giannis Antetokounmpo? But Giannis has made his intentions clear.
“At the end of the day,” Giannis told The Athletic. “I feel like this is the first time in my career that I really don’t — I don’t want to say I don’t care because I care a lot — I don’t mind with my usage being 25. I want him to be the primary point guard. He’s the point guard of this team. He’s the guy that’s going to make a lot of decisions with the ball in his hands — in early offense, in late offense, early clock, late clock, early offense, late in the game. He’s going to make a lot of decisions for this team and I trust him. I’ve been playing with him for a few days, like, I know, he’s gonna to find me.”
Adding Lillard to the Bucks offense, who can shoot from almost anywhere and combining that with Giannis’ ability to attack the rim will certainly cause rival teams big headaches.
As for the question of who will have the lion’s share of possession, Giannis says it will unquestionably be Dame.
“For me, now, I’m 28. I’m not a kid no more,” Antetokounmpo said. “You cannot have—obviously, you have to have friendly competition within your team to try to push one another and to be great and be better prepared for the game—but this is not, in no shape or form, any competition between me and him, who’s going to have the ball more. He will have the ball more and I trust, I believe he’s going to find me and not just me, he’s going to find our teammates and put us in the right position.
…But at the end of the day, man, like, it’s literally the first time like I’m ‘OK, we have to let Dame be Dame and if that means that me and Khris have to take a step back.’ Not back, but you know, from ball handling. As players, we have to take a step forward.”
If Giannis can be Giannis and Dame can be Dame, rivals teams will definitely have a big problem on their hands.
Add defensive master Brook Lopez, as well as Khris Middleton and Bobby Portis into that equation and Milwaukee’s competition may have an even bigger problem to deal with.
Following the Dame trade, the Bucks shot to title favorites, but the Celtics aren’t far behind them after acquiring former Buck Jrue Holiday.
The start of the NBA season can’t come soon enough!
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