http://www.basketballinsiders.com/nba-pm-giannis-antetokounmpo-ready-for-increased-role-new-position-bucks-milwaukee-point-guard/The article is quite long, but here's the beginning part of it:
Entering the 2014-15 NBA season, Milwaukee Bucks sophomore Giannis Antetokounmpo has a new head coach, a new star teammate, a new owner and even a new position. Jason Kidd was hired as the team’s coach over the summer and he wants to move Antetokounmpo from small forward to point guard.
Kidd believes the second-year player has the skill set to thrive as a floor general, and envisions him being a match-up nightmare with his 6’11 frame and 7’5 wingspan. The 19-year-old has been working out in Milwaukee with teammates and is prepared to make the transition to the one.
“I’m not going to say I was shocked by it,” Antetokounmpo told Basketball Insiders when asked about the move to point guard. “It’s something that I feel comfortable with and I’ll play wherever Coach wants me to play, especially when it’s Coach Kidd who thinks that I can play point guard. That makes me feel like, ‘I can play it. I can play point guard.’ I’m going to try my best and just listen to Coach. I’ll do whatever Coach says to do and I’ll get more comfortable.”
In addition to learning from Kidd, the Bucks have hired Gary Payton as a special adviser. He’ll work with Antetokounmpo as he adjusts to playing point guard. Antetokounmpo is ecstatic that he’ll get to learn from Kidd and Payton, and realizes this is an opportunity that most players don’t get.
“Oh man, it’s really important and nice, since they’re some of the best point guards in NBA history,” Antetokounmpo said of Kidd and Payton. “Not only are they great point guards, they’re great basketball players and can help us all basketball wise. Whatever they say, that is what I’m going to do. I’m so happy to have guys like them as I figure out the position and to have them teach me. I’m really excited. I’ve talked with Jason Kidd and he’s a really good coach, but he’s also a really great guy. He treats us really well.”
Kidd had Antetokounmpo play some point guard during the Las Vegas Summer League and said that he’ll continue the experiment during the regular season. In Vegas, Antetokounmpo played well. He had the ball in his hands a lot and averaged 17 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, a steal and a block.
“I was comfortable playing point guard during Summer League, but the pressure and the [competition] level of Summer League is different,” Antetokounmpo said. “Okay, there are some NBA players, but it’s not the same. For sure, it’s not the same [as the regular season]. So, let’s see. Let’s see how training camp goes. The guys are ready. Brandon Knight, who is one of our point guards, will sometimes give me the ball so that I can be the point guard and he can be more of a scorer. I’ll just see how it goes in training camp, playing point guard, and then during the season see how I do.”
Initially, Payton wasn’t sure if Antetokounmpo could succeed as a point guard. However, after talking with Kidd and watching him closely in Las Vegas, Payton is a believer.
“When Jason said to me that he intends to use him as a point guard, I told him to stop making jokes. ‘Gary don’t talk before you see him,’ was his answer and I watched him during the Las Vegas Summer League,” Payton said, according to Eurohoops.net. “He can handle the ball, he can drive, he is smart and he is really athletic. That’s why I was asked to go to Milwaukee during the training camp in order to help him adapt to the demands of the modern point guard position.”
Antetokounmpo isn’t sure how much time he’ll spend at point guard versus small forward this year, but he’s expecting to play both positions. It sounds like the team is playing it by ear and seeing how he does in training camp and the preseason before locking in his minutes at one position over the other.
An interesting consideration now that Jabari Parker on board at SF. Sounds like Kidd and company will evaluate GA at point guard in training camp and if all goes well, he'll get a nice amount of minutes at PG come regular season. This wouldn't be the worst case scenario even if he ends up struggling, since they're lottery bound anyway and Brandon Knight clearly isn't a long-term solution at PG.
I haven't seen GA play much - basically only the minutes where Milwaukee was playing against the C's - but this is very intriguing. He'll have a hard time at PG to start out for sure, but you can see the raw potential. And to have 2 Hall of Fame point guards as your mentors? Intriguing indeed.
Regardless of what happens, I still embrace using our pick on Kelly Olynyk. He won't be an All-Star, but I think he'll be a solid role player in the NBA for a long time. We could have done much worse. I certainly wouldn't have minded having GA on board though.
Thoughts?
Topic: The Greek Freak to play point guard? (Read 906 times)