Tag / giannis antetokounmpo

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks, NBA GM Survery, Atlantic Files
by Alex Fischbein

NBA General Managers predict that Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks will win the NBA Finals

It’s that time of year again when the NBA takes a poll from all of the General Managers across the league on a myriad of topics about this season, seasons in the future, and even more. One team, and player, that got a lot of love are the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

One question they always answer is who they think is going to win the NBA Finals this year. Then, they take the votes and show where all the teams land based on these votes. The top four in the East go pretty much as expected whereas the West seemed to be wide open according to the GMs.

Last season, the GMs selected the Brooklyn Nets as the eventual champions with a whopping 72% of the vote. They weren’t going to fall for the same show as last year. This time, the Milwaukee Bucks took home 43% of the vote with the Golden State Warriors behind them with 25%.

Honestly, you can’t go wrong with having the Warriors or the Bucks at the top of the list because both teams either retained all of their good players or their young players got even better. Stephen Curry and Giannis Antetokounmpo are two of the best players in the world as well.

The bigger debates come after those two. A lot of pundits are throwing the Los Angeles Clippers in the mix since everyone is finally getting healthy again. Then, there’s the Boston Celtics who represented the East last season. What about the Denver Nuggets, Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets, and Phoenix Suns though?

Check out a clip from our latest episode to hear what we had to say.

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Donovan Mitchell, trade, cleveland cavaliers, Atlantic files, podcast
by Alex Fischbein

Donovan Mitchell is finally traded to Cleveland | TAF242

This week on the Atlantic Files Podcast, Donovan Mitchell was finally traded and the New York Knicks saga is over. Should the Cleveland Cavaliers be considered a championship team now, Montrezl Harrell heads to the Philadelphia 76ers, Shaq says Kevin Durant is a failure outside of Golden State years, who will the next target be for the New York Knicks, Giannis, Jokic, and Luka all breaking records in EuroBasket, Rudy Gobert flashing improved post game during EuroBasket as well, and our weekly “Whatchu Got” segment!

Trading Donovan Mitchell was an entire saga this off-season. Danny Ainge and the Utah Jazz were holding out for the most draft capital they could get. Finally, they decided to pull the trigger on a non-Knicks deal. The Cleveland Cavaliers swooped in with some more picks and pretty good young players to boot. Now, we might see Mitchell competing for an Eastern Conference Finals title.

Does this trade make the Cavaliers a surefire top-three seed though? Could they even realistically compete for a championship this season?

Now, the New York Knicks have to change their direction of which superstar to target. Which assets are they going to use now to find another disgruntled star? Shai Gilgeous-Alexander may be on the market if the Oklahoma City Thunder continue tanking like they are.

Speaking of players moving teams, Montrezl Harrell is now on his way to Philadelphia. The 76ers have been on the market for a backup big after Andre Drummond left. Especially since Doc Rivers never trusts Paul Reed, Harrell gives them another look behind Joel Embiid.

On Shaq’s podcast, he said that Kevin Durant is essentially a failure outside of his Golden State Warriors days. Is that even fair to say or is it way out of line?

EuroBasket has been moving full steam ahead and some of the NBA’s biggest stars have been showing out. Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo have all been dominating and setting records. Even Rudy Gobert has been flashing an improved post game.

Finally, during our “Whatchu Got” segment, Dennis gives a prepared statement to the commenters on YouTube about Giannis Antetokounmpo, we offer our NBA Finals predictions, and talk about whether we’d pick Cade Cunningham or LaMelo Ball to lead a new team.

Timecodes:
00:00:00 Intro
00:04:27 Donovan Mitchell traded to Cleveland Cavaliers, NOT the Knicks
00:19:19 Are the Cleveland Cavaliers a top 3 seed in the East
00:26:30 The New York Knicks depth would suffer in Donovan Mitchell trade
00:31:10 Who should the New York Knicks target now, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander?
00:36:54 Whose trade package was better, Knicks or Cavaliers?
00:43:28 Rudy Gobert improving post game
00:46:46 Luka Doncic, Nikola Jokic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo dominating EuroBasket 2022
00:50:47 Philadelphia 76ers sign Montrezl Harrell to 2-year deal
00:56:34 Is Shaq correct about Kevin Durant being a failure?
01:04:14 Dennis’ prepared statement about Giannis Antetokounmpo
01:09:05 2023 NBA Finals Predictions
01:12:57 LaMelo Ball or Cade Cunningham to start a new team
01:18:23 Outro

Gilbert Arenas, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks, Atlantic Files
by Alex Fischbein

Gilbert Arenas isn’t entirely wrong about Giannis Antetokounmpo

So Gilbert Arenas, on his podcast, had some things to say about Giannis Antetokounmpo. He mentioned how Giannis doesn’t know how to train his body and that he doesn’t understand basketball nor how to get better at the game. These are some very big words against a player who has won MVPs, a ring, a Finals MVP, and Defensive Player of the Year.

Are all of Arenas’ thoughts incorrect though?

If one would go through and dissect each one of Arenas’ statements, some actually turn up quite true. One of the easiest truths to point out is that Giannis has not improved his three-point shooting.

Time and time again, every media outlet, podcast, and fan alike has said something along the lines of “If Giannis could shoot threes, he’d be unstoppable.” Now, heading into his tenth season, we’re all saying the same exact thing!

I know what a lot of you are going to say, “He’s still won multiple MVPs and a championship without having to add a three!” That’s great, honestly, that’s a feat in and of itself to be this good without having much of a shot at all from outside of three feet. My question to everyone saying that is, wouldn’t you still want him to improve and be even better?!

Giannis only has two seasons in his career where he shot over 40% from between three and ten feet from the hoop. While it hasn’t exactly slowed him down from tons of accolades, his weaknesses are starting to get exploited more and more come playoff time. Over his career, he’s shooting 36.1%, 36.9%, 36.2%, and 28.8% from three to ten feet, ten to sixteen feet, sixteen feet to the arc, and behind the arc respectively. Imagine if those percentages were above 40% from midrange and then 35% or better from three! A lot more space on the floor would be unlocked for him and his teammates.

Now, Arenas also talked about having to train your body just to play 37 to 40 minutes per game. This is quite irrelevant. We’ve seen Giannis play games in the playoffs where he was on the court for over 40 minutes and he held up just fine. Averaging a specific amount of minutes per game doesn’t make anyone great.

What do you think about Giannis’ game, does he have room to improve?

NBA 2k23, Patrick Beverley, Los Angeles Lakers, Atlantic files
by Alex Fischbein

NBA 2k23 ratings & Patrick Beverley trade | TAF241

This week on the Atlantic Files Podcast, we take a look at some NBA 2K23 ratings, give our best and worst ratings, predict some ratings, talk about the Patrick Beverley to Los Angeles trade, Gilbert Arenas comments about Giannis Antetokounmpo, John Wall admitting to some very dark days, RJ Barrett’s extension, and the Brooklyn Nets signing Markieff Morris.

NBA 2K23’s release date is fast approaching. The time is coming when everyone sees what all the players’ new ratings are and then the debates begin while everyone throws insults at the game developers who chose the ratings. Since the ratings aren’t officially out yet, we decided to look at the latest ratings from NBA 2K22 and then come up with who we think should be the new top ten in the latest game.

Patrick Beverley was shipped to Utah in the Rudy Gobert trade, but now he’s on the move yet again. The Los Angeles Lakers shipped out Stanley Johnson and Talen Horton-Tucker to bring in Beverley’s services. He even went on TV and said that if the Lakers had him on their team that they would have won the Finals. Time to put those words into existence.

Gilbert Arenas is making his rounds on the internet again. This time, he talked about how Giannis Antetokounmpo doesn’t really understand the game of basketball or understand how to train his body. Seeing as Giannis is a MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Champion, and Finals MVP, those are some interesting words. Is there any truth to them?

John Wall, in an interview, admitted that he was in a very dark place the last few years. His basketball future was up in the air, and that was bringing a dark cloud with it over his personal life. We’re all hoping he gets back to the John Wall we all knew and loved, and hopefully the dark days are a thing of the past.

We had a couple of signings in the last couple of days as well. RJ Barrett inked a nice extension with the New York Knicks for up to $120M and the Brooklyn Nets signed Markieff Morris to bolster their bench unit.

Finally, we revealed a stat that has only been accomplished by Russell Westbrook, Julius Randle, and RJ Barrett in the last ten seasons!

Timecodes:
00:00:00 Intro
00:06:34 Patrick Beverley traded to the Lakers
00:20:01 NBA 2K23 ratings predictions
00:44:26 RJ Barrett signs extension with the Knicks
00:54:05 Markieff Morris signs with the Brooklyn Nets
00:56:57 John Wall talks about dark days in last three years
01:04:06 Gilbert Arenas comments on Giannis Antetokounmpo
01:20:40 Russell Westbrook, Julius Randle, and RJ Barrett have something in common
01:27:10 Outro

Nikola Jokic, NBA MVP, Atlantic Files, Podcast
by Alex Fischbein

Nikola Jokic wins MVP, we guess | The Atlantic Files Ep227

This week on The Atlantic Files Podcast, Nikola Jokic was unofficially named NBA MVP for the second time in two seasons, Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo have their legions of fans back them up, Almost all of the NBA Playoffs series are tied 2-2, dirty plays and technical foul discussions, Rudy Gobert vs Shaq, JJ Redick’s awesome rant on ESPN, and the Sacramento Kings hire Mike Brown as their newest head coach.

Based on a Woj report, Nikola Jokic will reportedly go back-to-back for league MVP. The big debate now is whether or not he deserved it over Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Jokic had himself a historic season, and the MVP race was one of the closest in recent memory!

The NBA Playoffs are rolling in full force. Most of the series are tied at 2-2 and each one has been very exciting. Lower seeds are grabbing themselves some big wins, and the newer generation of the NBA is really showing its face. Who will move on to the respective Conference Finals and who will flame out?

So far this postseason, there have been a lot of flagrant foul reviews and a lot of talk about dirty plays and scary fouls. Dillon Brooks received a flagrant two and he even got suspended for his foul on Gary Payton II. Ever since then, a lot has been brought up about “the code” of basketball.

Recently on social media, Rudy Gobert commented saying he would lock up Shaquille O’Neal in his prime. This is one of the most laughable statements to have ever been sent into the atmosphere. Are we sure that Gobert wasn’t drunk when he said this?

If you haven’t seen it by now, make sure you go watch JJ Redick’s awesome rant on ESPN when talking about Draymond Green and the undertones of the media. He called out a lot of talking heads that are holding on to very old ways of thinking and we agree with his sentiment!

Finally, the Sacramento Kings have found themselves a new head coach. Mike Brown, the current assistant for the Golden State Warriors will take over head coaching duties next season. They got a great one in Brown, now for the rest of the staff and roster!

Timecodes:
0:00 – Intro
2:02 – NBA Playoffs analysis from Conference Semifinals
35:17 – Did Nikola Jokic deserve the MVP this season
50:40 – Rudy Gobert thinks he could lock up Shaq
53:28 – Sacramento Kings hire Mike Brown
1:01:02 – JJ Redick makes great argument on ESPN