Giannis Antetokounmpo should have anticipated the challenges of being Damian Lillard’s pick-and-roll partner

When Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo met, the first thing everyone realized was how “devastating,” “unstoppable,” and “intimidating” they would be as a pick-and-roll tandem.

I was no different. It was and is quite obvious things. Lillard is the best shooter in history not named Stephen Curry, which means two defenders are going to jump on him, which in turn leaves Giannis, the comic book athlete, in a sea of space to rush to the basket.

Where I may have been wrong was in expecting people to realize that the duo’s devastation would be mainly the trickle-down effect of their shared gravity and the predicament of collecting the poison it would leave the opposing defenses in.

Did people honestly think this would be as easy as Giannis rolling unimpeded to the rim for a dunk? Did Giannis think so?

A recent article by Eric Nehm of The Athletic (which is well worth your time to read) makes it sound about the same.

It’s quite confusing. Giannis has spent the last half-decade staring at walls of defenders in the paint, and suddenly he’s either surprised or surprised that they don’t roll out the red carpet to the field just because Lillard initiated the action?

This is standard pick-and-roll procedure. Even Draymond Green, who isn’t nearly as much of a threat as Giannis as a rim shooter, sees multiple defenders in the paint on short shots.

It’s just a math problem. The defense, having sent two to the ball carrier, lost a man. So he’ll have to “zone,” as Giannis calls it, to fend off four forwards with just three defenders left.

It doesn’t take a basketball genius to figure out that these three guards will devote essentially their entire collective attention to stopping Giannis before he goes downhill. If Giannis didn’t think this would happen, again, it’s confusing.

Lillard understands this. For much of the last decade, he was dubbed on ball screens. As he explains in some detail in Nem’s article, he knows it’s literally a game of inches.

The guys behind the three-point line are the ones who will get open looks when the defense gets down on Giannis, and if they can consistently knock down those shots, defenses will naturally start to gravitate towards them a little bit. and thus away from his primary responsibilities – Dame’s pull-up three-pointers and Antetokounmpo’s rolls.

They both only need a piece of open space to kill you.

But for Lillard and Giannis to get those pieces of space, two things have to happen. Shooters have to make shots, and Milwaukee does have a lot of capable shooters. But before this happens, the pass must be delivered to them. This is the fault of Giannis, who is not comfortable making split-second decisions. Wait even a moment and the defense will be restored and any advantage you might have had will be gone.

Previously, Giannis had more time to look at the walls in front of him. He stands on top of the key and watches before taking off like a bull from a chute. It didn’t generate much offense, but it did give an unnatural playmaker programmed to be a wrecking ball time to consider his options. To get an idea of the area. Find his shooters before he moves.

Now he needs to get there and leave, and the processing time is different. This part is clear. Breaking down defenses with short passes isn’t as easy as Draymond makes it seem. What’s not entirely clear, again, is that Giannis didn’t seem to see this coming.

Either way, it’s a trade, and the only way Giannis can feel more comfortable playing in tight quarters is if he does it more often. And that’s where Lillard appears to be sending a message to Bucks coach Adrian Griffin to increase the frequency of such actions, something Griffin has been hesitant to do up to this point in the season for fear of compromising a more inclusive approach. , the crime movement he prefers.

“… I think it just takes reps,” Lillard told The Athletic with regard to his pick-and-rolls with Giannis. “I think we need to be in more pick-and-roll situations together. I think that’s how you get better. That’s how you learn each other better.

I think we just aren’t in a lot of pick-and-rolls where I’m handling and he’s setting. And we haven’t locked in on it enough … I think right now we don’t get enough reps at it in the game against the coverages because we don’t run it all the time, like you would assume. So, it’s just taking some time for us to get it down.”

That’s the point. Good players drawing on multiple defenders as a means of opening up their less capable teammates is a simple basketball principle that can be conceptualized, but can be much more difficult to implement on the fly. The answer to this question is equally simple: the more you do it, the better you get at it.

A lady doesn’t need representatives. His side of the equation hasn’t changed. Giannis is the one in new territory.

There is reason to believe that he is beginning to understand this. Nem quotes Giannis talking about setting up screens higher on the floor so that when Giannis receives a pass, he has a little more space on the floor to make a decision before he gets into the teeth of the defense.

Little wrinkles like these can help him, and it’s nice that Giannis can see all this now. He’s not a very good shooter. Whether it’s on the run, in isolation, no matter the formation, defenders will dive into the paint when Giannis has the ball on the perimeter. Not exactly a new concept.

Again, he simply does not have time to make a decision and pass, and for this he needs more time. Should Griffin give it to him, even if he’s occasionally clunky in the short term, in hopes of picking up what could possibly be Milwaukee’s offensive output come playoff time?

Most, including Lillard, would say yes. We’ll see if this happens in the next few months.