Draymond Green recently shared his take on why he doesn’t consider Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo the best power forward of this generation.
During an appearance on The Draymond Green Show, the Golden State Warriors forward was asked whether he agreed with the idea that the Bucks star is currently the top player at that position.
“I’m going to disagree,” Green told Baron Davis. “And the reason I disagree is this. Giannis has played in an era where it kind of became positionless basketball. And I don’t necessarily think that Giannis is a power forward and has been [during his career]. And that’s why I disagree with that.
“Because Giannis is one of the greatest players of this era, and the game was kind of positionless. What made people start calling Giannis a power forward is because you had to start putting power forwards in the center [position] on Giannis [to guard him].”
Antetokounmpo is widely known for his rare mix of size, athleticism, and ballhandling, which makes him tough to categorize by traditional positional standards. Green acknowledged how the Bucks have tailored their roster to fit his strengths, which may contribute to people assuming he plays the four.
“The team that you build around Giannis because his skillset is so great driving and getting downhill, that you put a lot of shooting around him,” Green said. “So then when people look at the game, they’re like, ‘Oh, well Jrue Holiday must be this position, and Chris Middleton must be this position, and Brooke Lopez is the five,’ ok great, so Giannis is a power forward.
“But if you look at the great power forwards. Giannis doesn’t play like Tim Duncan; Giannis doesn’t play like Kevin Garnett. So, I think people are being lazy and don’t understand what they’re looking at, and so they pigeonhole him into the power forward position. And I just don’t think that’s very accurate.”
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