Milwaukee Bucks: Grading the starters after 1 month of games

Power Forward: Giannis Antetokounmpo

Pages upon pages of words have been typed on the season Giannis Antetokounmpo is having, and with good reason. After winning the league’s Most Improved Player award last season, Giannis has burst onto the MVP scene thus far this season.

His 30.6 points per game are second only to James Harden, who recently passed Antetokounmpo with a few Herculean performances against porous defenses. The Bucks’ superstar leads his team in points, rebounds, steal and blocks, and trails Khris Middleton by just six assists for most in that category.

Antetokounmpo has been unstoppable in transition, knifing through defenses and easily getting to the rack, but he has also upped his half-court game this season, punishing defenses that lay off him to Euro-step into finger rolls and extension dunks. The rim is never more than a step or two away.

The same knock on every member of the Bucks applies to Antetokounmpo as well. Despite a rotation flush with long, athletic players with strong defensive chops this Bucks team cannot creep above mediocre on that end. Otherwise he has put together every bit the season he needed to in continuing his rise into the league’s highest tier.

Grade: A+