I hope you’re doing well.

I’m reaching out from the online sportsbook Betway. We recently spoke with two-time NBA Champion Matt Bonner, who shared his thoughts on Giannis Antetokounmpo and whether a strong season will convince him to stay in Milwaukee long-term.

Here are some of the key points discussed with Bonner:

Key Topics:

The Bucks have surrounded Giannis with shooters, but his workload is huge — everything runs through him.
He’s not old, but he’s not a spring chicken. Over 82 games, will he be healthy for the playoffs?
If Giannis isn’t 100% in the postseason, they have no chance — that’s been an issue in recent years.
Does Giannis want to keep doing everything himself, or look for a team with more help like when they had Damian Lillard?
Milwaukee has mortgaged its future to stay competitive during his prime. Does that loyalty matter, or will he explore other options?

You can read Bonner’s full thoughts in our blog here: https://blog.betway.com/basketball/matt-bonner-wembanyama-shows-face-of-the-nba-potential/ 

Feel free to use these quotes in any upcoming coverage. All we ask is that you credit Betway as the source with a link to https://betway.com/g/en/sports/grp/basketball/usa/nba or the blog article above.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Thanks,
James

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The Milwaukee Bucks have made a good start. Do you think a good season will convince Giannis Antetokounmpo to stay long-term?

I don’t know. If you watch the Bucks this year, I like what they’ve done as far as putting a bunch of shooters around Giannis, but I just worry about Giannis’ workload. When you watch them, he has to do everything. Everything runs through him. At the end of the games, he just looks so tired.

He’s not old, but he’s not a spring chicken anymore. I’m just curious, over 82 games of getting beat down with that workload, by the time the playoffs come, is he going to be healthy? That’s been an issue for him the last few years, and if he’s not 100 per cent going into the playoffs, they have no chance, obviously.

So I guess if you’re Giannis, you’re looking at it like, “do I like this? Do I like having to do all this stuff in order for us to be successful?”

Or would it be nice to go to a team where he has a little more help at the point of attack, like when we had when they had Damian Lillard. Someone else who can take that workload and give them a break here and there.

He’s been in Milwaukee his whole career. They’ve always taken care of him. They’ve always done everything they can. They’ve mortgaged their whole future – they don’t have any draft picks, ever. They’ve done everything they can to try be competitive while they have him in his prime. Does that mean something to him? Or is it like, “man, I need some help. What else is out there?”

++ENDS++

Thank you — yes I loved Zander’s writing and analysis. What an exciting feeling to see that book on the shelf. You have a treasure on your hands!

That is Funny. Laughed out loud.

I still remember Hollander on Benoit Benjamin in the 1994 edition: “to say he has stone hands would insult rocks”. (-:

Quentin Grimes? RJ Barrett who was getting 40 min a game while Cam wasn’t playing?

Cam accidentally threw a lot of people under the bus. He’s young; he made a mistake. Hope he plays with more hustle going forward.

Thanks for reading and for the comment!

Terrific Points. On the money I remember these disasters well; had forgotten to mention them.

Thanks for reading and thanks for contributing!

2010 draft, Lance Stephenson (who was at times billed to be a top 3 pick before getting in trouble/college) went undrafted for 37 picks. Donnie has TWO picks 38 & 39. Indiana, with 40. Donnie balked drafting Andy Rautins (who went onto play 5 games) and Landry Fields (who would end up being the incorrect guy to make untouchable in the Melo trade fumble). Stephenson went to Indiana and helped beat us in the playoff series in ’13. This was as bad as the ’99 Weis/Artest blunder, but no one talks about it.

Trade deadline 2010. He traded Knicks ’09 pick, Jordan Hill (who would go onto find a role on Kobe’s playoff Lakers) and ’12 future 1st. And 1st swap to Houston for T-Macs large expiring contract. While this was the deadline to have his max slots cleared for summer free agency, he did so by having to trade picks. A big no-no for any rebuild/reset.

Overall, Walsh was given 2 free seasons to punt, so long as he would have two max slots for summer 2010 and the LeBron sweepstakes. In a pass/fail world, he passed. So casual fans will remember Donnie for being great.

In reality, he showed no creativity, and found no young hidden gems. Traded ZBo way too early for nothing. Neutral swapped Craw for Al and got no assets for either. Exhiled Marbury to China, again for no assets. All we had to show in 2011 was Rony Turiaf (for DLee).

In retrospect, after he quit and returned to Indiana, I wonder if he wasn’t still aligned with the Pacers the entire time. He earned Dolan’s checks by doing the bare minimum to get the cap space Dolan asked for. I wonder if he had any real intentions of setting the team up for future success after that.