saw him as raw talent needing time to develop in the league. Many Milwaukee Bucks fans were pleased with Anteokounmpo being an eighth or ninth man off the bench getting valued minutes and learning how to play the game while contributing a little bit as well. No one saw this coming from the rookie out of Greece. Anetokounmpo will now be involved with two All-Star events as he will be in the Rising Stars Game on Friday night along with the Skills competition Saturday night. The National Basketball Association knows they want to push Giannis and build the Milwaukee team brand harder than ever before in the Internet era.
Honestly, none of this would have happened if the Bucks were a competent basketball team. If Milwaukee with their veterans like O.J. Mayo, Caron Butler and others played .500 basketball, I have a hard time seeing Anetokounmpo making this much of an impact. When Milwaukee had injuries to begin the season, head coach Larry Drew's hand was forced to play Giannis with extended minutes. He responded to the trial by fire with great passion for the game including some big performances. Drew continued to play Antetokounmpo and it has been history since then.For the season, Anetokounmpo is averaging seven points a game with four and half rebounds a game. The numbers do not jump off the page yet he always seems to fill up the stat sheet with points, steals, rebounds, blocks and assists. But more important than his scoring or anything in the stat sheet is he is beloved by the fanbase. Milwaukee has its first fan favorite in a long time. Just like Milwaukee Brewers when Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder were starting to develop in true talents, kids had to have their jerseys and shirt jerseys. The same thing is happening right now with Giannis. This summer, over 50 percent of kids will have something on their body saying 'Antetokounmpo', hell half adults will have something on their body too.
Best thing for the city of Milwaukee is this is not a localized love. Giannis is loved all over the Internet. He is the golden child of NBA Twitter where everyone fawns over cool stuff Anetokounmpo says on Twitter or what he might do on the court. For example, he had over 2,000 retweets for proclaiming his love for smoothies earlier this season. Speaking of which, if a Milwaukee smoothie place has not come up with 'The Giannis', they are doing it wrong. NBA more so than any other professional sport pays the closest attention to what goes on with the Internet. Having Giannis for two nights of NBA All-Star Weekend will be beneficial to them as people want whom already love the guy and he will gain fans in the process whom have not watched a Milwaukee game all season long (Do not blame those who have not seen the Bucks all year).
Remember, this is only the second time a forward is competing in the skills competition and the other one is ... LeBron James. Let that soak in. Also with the NBA's savvy international presence, they know Antetokounmpo can be the first Mediterranean star capitalizing on another part of Europe, they have not been able to get in with original talent. Greece has a huge basketball following yet there is not been a star out of Greece or Italy yet. The closest thing to it is the wealth of talent out of Turkey yet Greece and Turkey mix about as well as tuna fish and peanut butter. Greece needs its own star and this is what Giannis brings the NBA. I would be stunned if Milwaukee does not play an exhibition game next season in Greece or somewhere near it. I can almost guarantee that will happen because it is clear to me the NBA wants to build Giannis's hallmark.
Will the growth of the admiration for Anetokounmpo bring a new arena to Milwaukee? Honestly, there should be belief this will only help things. Investors might be more interested in the Bucks at a low price knowing there is a potential star with a huge following from Milwaukee and around the world. It is Giannis' world and we are just living in it.
Charlie.
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