Stephen Curry is the most highly touted example of incredible basketball mechanics, and there’s good reason for it. His mastery of the three point ball and general shooting motion has literally changed the way this game operates across the league. Once dominated by talented and physically gifted big men, who played stout defense and controlled the paint are now being phased out in favor of an unstoppable downpour offense beyond the arc. Cleveland, Houston, Brooklyn, and of course Golden State all live in the three point heavy offense, and for at least three of those mentioned teams, it has worked out for them exceptionally well. Last year, Golden State and Cleveland met in the NBA Finals, Houston obtained the third seed in the Western Conference, and Brooklyn… they had a good offseason (and currently are second in the league in PPG, just behind the ever dominant Warriors). A pattern of success arises for the teams who prioritize the three, it succeeds because, most simply put, three points are more than two points and scoring more points wins you games. Certain squads have been able to compete against these teams, consistently; San Antonio, Memphis, Boston, and Detroit are a few, all teams with obvious personnel advantages in out-rebounding and out-defending a team playing mostly outside the arc. The focus of this piece is about a different team though, the Milwaukee Bucks, who, despite being located in the bowels of Wisconsin, are a storied and accomplished franchise. Kareem, Oscar Robertson, Michael Redd, Ray Allen are all examples of a continued ability to diagnose and develop talent. Today, the Bucks possess an up and coming roster in the Eastern Conference that showed its maturity by taking a battle-tested Raptors’ squad to six games last year with a group that has a plethora of young talent and potential. The most promising of those is none other than Giannis Antetokounmpo, previously thought to be a star in the making, has come out the gates this season a superstar. Leading the league with 32 PPG, averaging 10 RPG, 5 APG, and 1.7 BPG - it would be hard not to recognize is astronomical leap into MVP contention.
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