I'll start with a bold statement, Giannis in my opinion is the best all around player. When I say all around I mean all-around defensive play, and all-around offensive play, and rebounding ability. Putting all those factors into the conversation, the edge has to go to Giannis.
Giannis these last 2 years has really emerged into the player I described in the first paragraph. I can't seem to find the exact numbers he produced when switching to the point guard position in 2016 later in the season, but I assure you he was nearly averaging a triple double in that span. But in the 2017 season he picked up a bigger role literally carrying the bucks.. he averaged 22.9 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 5.4 apg, 1.6 spg, 1.9 bpg, on 52.1 % shooting. Now what's most
Impressive about his numbers and season is the fact that he led the Bucks in every major category and he did this while playing 80 games in the season, joining only Lebron, Garnett, Pippen and Cowens to lead their teams in every category. But topping that, Giannis is the first player ever to rank top 20 in all major statistical categories.
Giannis is so versatile that I'm sure most won't even be able to identify him by a certain position, because one second you may see him running point and the next you may see him protecting the rim as a center. Since I brought up rim protection, His 41.5 Defensive Field Goal Percentage held opponents 4.8 percent below their normal efficiency, and around the basket, he was one of the NBA’s best rim protectors, limiting opponents to 51 percent on shots inside of six feet — 11.2 percent worse than they’d normally shoot, per NBA.com. I should just continue on about his overall defense. Last season Giannis defense was arguably better than kawhi's. Oh yeah I said it, and I truly believe it. In fact Kawhi defensive production dipped a little bit with his offensive production rising (which isn't surprising).. Giannis was top 11 in steals, top 6 in blocks, and was top 15 in defensive rebounds, third amongst SFs behind only Durant and Lebron.
Giannis is only 23 years of age and is easily a top 10 player in today's game.. That's scary for the league!
Bro, great article! Giannis is so very good that it's scary. Dude could play until he's 45 with the way medicine is. He's gonna finish as a top 25 player all time imo.