Milwaukee Bucks: Pros and cons of Giannis Antetokounmpo at center

Giannis Antetokounmpo at center creates more efficient opportunities offensively

The main advantage for the Milwaukee Bucks of having a lineup with Giannis Antetokounmpo at the five involves the spacing offensively. More opportunities and high percentage shots emerge on offense when they enter the half-court offensive set as a result.

Since Antetokounmpo is so dominant in the interior offensively, opposing defenses will likely try to build a wall to prevent his penetration into the paint. However, that involves committing more bodies near the restricted area, which ultimately opens up more passing lane options to the perimeter for Giannis to find an open teammate. In addition, coach Budenholzer intelligently surrounds Giannis with four other shooters when he’s at center, making it difficult for defenses to communicate properly.

In the clip above, Giannis is at center with George Hill, Kyle Korver, Wesley Matthews, and Pat Connaughton filling out the rest of the lineup in this offensive possession. Initially, notice how all five Orlando Magic players are located near the paint when Giannis possesses the ball just inside the arc. Once Giannis penetrates toward the rim, the Magic continue to shift closer to the paint in order to stop him from getting to the basket, and as a result, he’s able to find Connaughton for a wide-open 3-point attempt on the perimeter.

Giannis could have also dished it out to an open Hill or Korver beyond the arc as well. More options are being created all due to the concern of Giannis reaching the restricted area. If Orlando doesn’t send help to block off his penetration, it would likely result in another dunk and mean mug from The Greek Freak.

This offensive sequence from the Bucks is a prime example of how dangerous they can be offensively when Antetokounmpo is playing at the center position. They’ve always been about forming comfortable spacing at a high level, and Giannis at the five appears to cause even more constant problems for defenses to handle. Teams will experiment with different defensive schemes when the Bucks utilize this lineup, but nothing seems to consistently work.

Here’s the Magic opting to defend with what looks like to be a 2-3 zone (possibly an unintentional 2-3 zone) in Milwaukee’s Game 3 win on Saturday, but Giannis is easily able to find his sharp-shooting teammate Kyle Korver for an open 3-pointer.

In this case, all five Buck’s are outside of the perimeter waiting to let it fly, so zone defenses will most likely pay the price if Giannis is at the five while being surrounded by 3-point shooting threats. There’s just not enough space to cover all dimensions of the court while playing zone in that situation.

Another benefit of having Giannis at center would be that he can take advantage of the opposing team’s center guarding him. Most true centers in the league can’t cope with Antetokounmpo’s quickness and lengthy strides, but they’re basically forced to defend him when the Bucks don’t have one of their own true centers on the court. Giannis has outplayed Magic center Nikola Vucevic for the most part when Vucevic has attempted to defend him, and he’ll normally have his way with most true centers in the league defending him one-on-one.

Overall, the spacing and mismatches with Giannis Antetokounmpo at the five has proved to produce more efficient opportunities offensively.