Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks is called “The Greek Freak” for a reason. The kid’s a freak of nature. He’s 6’11 with a ridiculous wingspan and the most massive hands you’ve ever seen. Antetokounmpo primarily plays small forward, but he is by no means limited to that position. Bucks’ head coach and former superstar point guard Jason Kidd has talked about the Greek Freak playing point guard, and now Bucks’ GM John Hammond is talking about him playing center.
From the Baseline NBA Podcast(transcribed by Frank Madden of Brew Hoop):
I love the fact that with our roster, I think moving forward, I love the thought of small-ball for us, potentially if there’s ever a matchup situation where you say “they’re going to go small, how do we match up with that,” whoever that team may be, I think you play Giannis Antetokounmpo at center. And he’s 6’11”, so it’s not really small-ball per se, but his ball skills and know-how of how to play will give us the ability to do that and I think that could be a really fun team to watch someday if you do look at small-ball theory.”>I love the fact that with our roster, I think moving forward, I love the thought of small-ball for us, potentially if there’s ever a matchup situation where you say “they’re going to go small, how do we match up with that,” whoever that team may be, I think you play Giannis Antetokounmpo at center. And he’s 6’11”, so it’s not really small-ball per se, but his ball skills and know-how of how to play will give us the ability to do that and I think that could be a really fun team to watch someday if you do look at small-ball theory.
Giannis is way too skinny to play center in a traditional sense(imagine him trying to guard Dwight Howard down low), but he could definitely slide in at center in small-ball lineups for limited minutes.
Playing center, even for limited minutes, would be a big adjustment for Giannis to make, but he’s got the physical tools to do it. Plus, he’s only 20 years old. He’s got plenty of time to figure out how to play any(like every) position.
With the league headed in a smaller direction, having Giannis’ level of speed and athleticism at center could prove to be a terrific weapon for Milwaukee down the road.
