NFL
By: Melo Williams
The Milwaukee Bucks have a player that 29 other teams wished they had by the name of Giannis Antetokounmpo, the most dominant player since Shaq, and with that being said the Milwaukee Bucks will be the 2023 NBA Champions!
Ok, I know it’s not that easy to win a game just because Giannis is on the floor but he gives you the best chance to win a game more than any other player in the league. In 2021-2022 Giannis averaged 29.9 PPG 11.6 RPG 5.8 APG while shooting 55.3% from the field.
The biggest reason why the Bucks will be 2023 NBA Champs is because they’re the best team in the league from top to bottom and the Bucks are one year removed from being the Champs of the NBA. The continuity the Bucks have is key. Besides the Warriors, there’s not one team that has equal or more continuity than the Bucks. #FearTheDeer fans feel like if Khris Middleton didn’t injure his knee in game 2 in the first round in the playoffs against the Chicago Bulls, the Bucks would’ve repeated as NBA Champs in 2021-2022.
When asked about the Bucks chemistry and continuity Jrue Holiday told reporters, “Having everybody back, I think, kind of puts us ahead,” said Holiday, Bucks guard. “Being comfortable with each other, fighting each other during training camp, but even before that, everybody pretty much being back here and playing pickup and working out together definitely gives us camaraderie early.”
Like all teams, the biggest obstacle every year is health, but for the Bucks, health has been their Achilles heel even after winning the Finals in 2020-2021. If the Bucks ever stay healthy with the team that’s currently constructed they’d be in contention for challenging the Warriors 73-9 record.
That won’t be the case this year, however. Heading into training camp this season the Bucks will be without Khris Middleton and Joe Ingles. Middleton had surgery on his wrist in July and his return to the floor is unknown, but speculation is Khris will probably miss the first two weeks of the season.
Joe Ingles is still recovering from a torn left ACL. His return won’t be until January at the earliest. I believe the Bucks are taking Ingles recovery as a slow process because the Bucks roster is so deep, so it’s not a need of the team to have him playing.
Word in the press is that the only thing on Giannis Antetokounmpo mind is another NBA Championship. He didn’t like how the season ended last year and that it left a bad taste in his mouth and a feeling that wasn’t good.
Giannis said “I want to win a championship and either, anyway or the other, I’d get it done,” said Antetokounmpo, Bucks forward. “The feeling that I felt, it was a nice feeling, and you know, I kind of got jealous of Golden State, you know, seeing them in the parade and the ESPYS and like, you know, that feeling now, you know what’s getting stripped away from you, so hopefully, God can bless us to win another one.”
“I think a lot of people are going to have expectations for us,” said Antetokounmpo. “We might achieve it, we might not, but at the end of the day, it’s like, what are our goals, which is to win a championship and the expectation out there, it doesn’t really matter because as a group, that’s all we think about.”
The Bucks are a deep team and deep enough to manage Khris Middleton missing the start of the season and getting Giannis Antetokounmpo some rest after playing EuroBasket with Greece this summer. The Bucks will still win games because of coaching, the whole team is returning, and they play defense.
Projections
Bucks finish number one in the East with a 57-25 regular season record
2023 NBA Champions
Giannis Antetokounmpo wins his third MVP
Projected Starters
Jrue Holiday: Lock down defender/Scorer
Grayson Allen: Shooter
Khris Middleton: Shooter/Scorer
Giannis Antetokounmpo: Offense/Defense Unstoppable
Brook Lopez: Defender/Rebounder
Reserves
Pat Connaughton
George Hill
Jevon Carter
Joe Ingles
Bobby Portis
Wesley Matthews
MarJon Beauchamp 24th pick in the 2022 NBA Draft 6-foot-6 swingman
