The Quest for Greatness - Giannis Antetokounmpo
Article by SG Basketball Coach Victor Tan
There can be a huge gulf between good and great coaches. In NBA terms, good coaches can be proficient in developing players or taking certain teams into the playoffs. Great coaches would have led a franchise to a championship at least once in their career. Spare me the “winning is not everything” excuse, whether it is local school competition, National team or NBA, winning a championship is the ultimate key performance indicator of any coach.
Many top players have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, without winning any NBA championship. Names like Charles Barkley and Karl Malone come to mind. The Larry O’Brien trophy however, is the holy grail of all NBA players. Did you catch how Shaq would utilise any possible chance to brandish his championship rings to Charles and mock him on Inside the NBA show?
So what does the future hold for the Milwaukee Bucks and its MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo? Losing to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference semi finals this season and to the Toronto Raptors last season, despite holding the best regular season record for two consecutive years, does shed some light on the head coach, Mike Budenholzer. Twice NBA coach of the year, he is no doubt a very good coach. He won 4 NBA titles as an assistant coach of the San Antonio Spurs. As a former head coach of the Atlanta Hawks, he has proved to be great at navigating a team through the 82 regular season games but pedestrian in pitting wits against a better coach in the playoffs. Winning 4 games against the same team in a high stakes series seem to be his undoing. Is that the furthest he can lead a team, with no disrespect to his resume?
His insistence of playing his best player Giannis less than 36 minutes a game is a head scratcher. Load management in the playoffs? His Bucks could not adapt to the tactical switches made by his opponents. He did not do enough to free Giannis as opponents swarm him in defences designed to stifle the Greek Freak. As far as sports go, if you win, your decisions are unquestioned. Losing invites all the “I told you so” and even trolls on social media. Taking a peep at the Western Conference, if the small ball Houston Rockets can win it all, their coaching staff will be regarded as geniuses. I can imagine LeBron James rolling his eyes and muttering,” Oh please.”
Assuming the Bucks sack Coach Bud and bring in a proven championship coach like Ty Lue. Will this be enough to convince Giannis to stay? Did the Bucks front office do enough to surround Giannis with the correct players to go all the way? Can Khris Middleton be the second best player on a championship team? Any effort will come to naught if Giannis drops the ultimate bombshell that he wants to be traded to another team. Will he do a Kevin Durant and join the Golden State Warriors? In the current era of Super Teams of Big 3 or 4, this seems to be the way to go. Fact is, these top players are going to earn their millions regardless which team they play for. What a luxury to have, in times of Covid 19 and its impact globally.
The writer would like to highlight one exception to the Super Team concept. In 2011. The Dallas Mavericks. NBA champions with only one true superstar in Dirk Nowitzki. Hall of Famer Jason Kidd was at the tail end of his career and looking through the Mavs squad, one can imagine the fantastic work done by head coach Rick Carlisle and his coaching staff. Defeating the LeBron/DWade/Bosh Miami Heat in the NBA Finals was a reminder that forming super teams is not the only route to a Championship.
Train better. Coach better. Play better. Be better. In order to achieve greatness. I hope Giannis stays a Buck and “buck the trend” of “if you can’t beat them, join them.”
Will Coach Bud and Giannis continue to roll together next season?