Zach Lowe on Giannis’ Path to MVP, Bucks’ Breakout Guards & Early NBA Trends (Hear District Ep. 87)

Zach Lowe on Giannis’ Path to MVP, Bucks’ Breakout Guards & Early NBA Trends (Hear District Ep. 87)

If there’s a dude that’s doing everything for their teams right now, it’s Giannis. More than even Joic and I think more than even Webyama. People are suckers for a gargantuan individual effort to carry a team. That’s exactly what he’s done so far. Five time allstar Marcus Johnson alongside Marcus Johnson. What’s up everybody? Hey, this is the here district captain of this vessel and I got my first mate, my number one son, Christian Johnson. What up? Talk to me. Holla. Let it rain, man. Let it rain. I guess I go. Guess what? We’re going back. Yeah. Can’t pass all the break. Go fight. Welcome everybody to the here district. Marcus Johnson. You’re listening to a Bucks Plus audio production on the Bucks Plus network. Your weekly pulse on the Milwaukee Bucks straight from a Bucks legend. This is Here District with Marcus Johnson alongside his son and 1995 NCAA champion Chris. Here’s MJ. All right, welcome to Here District. I am the captain of this vessel, Marcus Johnson. I got my first bait, Chris Johnson. What’s up, Chris? What’s up, MJ? It is all good. We are the fantastic voyage. Where can the people find us out there if they want to listen to the Here District? Well, if they want to listen to Here District, you can subscribe Apple Podcast or Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. You can also check us out on the Bucks official YouTube channel. Give us a like, comment, share, tap in. Man, this is the time to do it because the season is underway. The regular season, the the games that matter, the games that count. This is the time that we have all been waiting for. Had to get that out of the way before I introduce introduce our guest here. and uh Zach Low, one of the tops in the podcast industry, man. We welcome you to Here District, man. Welcome. It’s an honor to be here. You and I have done stuff together before on my show, Marcus. It’s always a hit. Chris, it’s good to see you. And yeah, let’s celebrate. It’s early. Yeah. Yeah, it’s still it’s early. But first, let’s talk about you, man. Um Oh, god. Now, I I always got to grab some context because when it talks about you falling in love with the game of basketball as Mark Jackson and some of my favorite the game of basketball, when you fell in love with the game of basketball, you were a young Celtics fan growing up in Connecticut. Accurate so far? Now, the context you’re doing good. Who are on the Who are on those Celtic teams? This is what I need to know. Oh, I’m I’m 48 years old. So I was the perfect age, you know, seven, eight, nine, 10 for the big three. And my dad is from New Hampshire. He grew up a Celtics fan. So, you know, the CBS Steam song, the NBA on CBS back then, all the Celtics, Celtics, Lakers, all that stuff. And like what a great team to introduce someone to the sport like that team playing the Lakers and Magic. It was like I, you know, you grow up with when you’re a kid with a team like that, you just think my my teams are going to be awesome all the time, right? And then you become a Mets fan and it’s like it’s it’s uh it’s not great all the time. So when you say so when you say big three for our younger fans, you’re not talking Pierce, Garnett, and Ray Allen. Oh yes, I real you’re talking about you’re you’re talking about the real deal consistently in the NBA finals every other year or whatever it was or every two or three years. You talk about Bird, M. has that big three. Bird, male, parish, and uh as great as b as bird was, male was always the one who spoke to me, spoke to my basketball soul. I used to go out into my backyard. We had a little hoop in the backyard. And I would try to imitate all the up anders and the pump fakes and all the trickery that he would have in the low post and just assume that yes, I could master all of these things. even if I don’t grow to be 6’11, I’m just 5’11. And you know, but that was he was he was a he was and even as a young age, I was like Bird seems like a psycho and Kevin McKill seems like a normal dude that would have a beer. Now Bird would have a beer with me, but they would have a normal more normal guy. I could relate to him. Yeah. and and and you know just from personal experience I mean I mean Kevin Mccuel for me was a much tougher matchup to score against because I I was quicker than Bird so I could take him out on the perimeter and do some things but Muel was was um he was quicker than people realized and then plus if if they measured wingspan and I don’t know that they did for but he’d be 74 Chris I mean his wingspan was just incredible and he just had a knack for playing defense for playing the game he had snack Zack for just just playing the game man that was u on a whole different level. I think he had some 23 24 point per game seasons like you know after he’d been in the league five or six seven years really became a really great scorer after a few seasons. Yeah, he was my guy and the up and under was my move. Yeah, I’m looking at he had 26 a game 1987. Fourth in MV fourth in MVP voting that year which is 8687 that’s a tough crowd to crack you know when your teammate is Bird. Yeah. Yeah. What? What? What? So, give me some other numbers. Some points per game numbers right around that time. He had like a little run there, right? Yeah. He goes 21 26 22 and a half 22 and 1/2 21 and then a quick decline as his foot and you know all that stuff sort of ended his career a little early. Yeah. So, no. So, he he was definitely legit. So, now you joined Sports Illustrated in 2010. You started with Grantland and ESPN two years later, man. And and says here that you were a history teacher. I was I was a high school that that’s the road not taken for me. I thought I I was a history major. I had no idea what to do with myself. Both my parents are public school teachers. And I thought I like kids. I like school. I’m good at school. Like I I’m not good at a lot of things. I’m good at school. Could I make school my job? And I was a history teacher for two years. And uh quickly realized I am not cut out for this. It’s way harder than I thought and I’m way dumber than I thought and I need to get way smarter and more well read if I’m going to do this job. and uh took a couple sideways paths and never never went back to it. But when I got that job because of how I grew up with my parents, I thought, “All right, I’m 22. I’m going to have this job for 35 years, same school, retire, and like I’ll never have to worry about anything again for the rest of my life.” Little little did I know. Yeah. What What kind of school was it? Was it was it a public school, private school, upper crust? Tough school. It was a p It was a public school in Bergen County, New Jersey, which is kind of like upper middle class suburban New Jersey. It was mostly good, upwardly mobile kind of families, good kids, hard kids who who studied hard but also cared a lot about their grades. Like if you got an A minus instead of an A or a B+ instead of an A minus, you’d hear about, oh, Mr. Low, you know, I need to why can’t you just round me up? You know, tough tough. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Chris and I have that that round round me up, round me down discussion all the time. I average 25.6 my second year. I like to say 26 a game. He’s always trying to get me down to 25. So yeah, but it was No, I’m not. Yeah. Yeah, you like to round down. I keep telling them you round up. So, you talk about Upperly Mobile. So, let’s go to these Bucks, man. Giannis Kmpo, man. Giannis at the the start to the season, Eastern Conference player of the week. 36 points a game over his first few games, rebounding the ball like crazy, dropping dimes all over the place. Um, and it’s early. It’s early and we can’t be prisoners of the moment. But, but the the broader question, Zach, for you is just what will we got? And you talked about this a little bit on your podcast, but what what what what what has he what has to happen for him to be able to shake out of that third place spot in the MVP voting that he’s been locked into for for for a past couple of seasons now, man? We’re already doing MVP voting. See, well, we we we got to plate Giannis, man. We we got they call this a gap year. They call this a gap year. and when Dave first went there before all the stuff happened and the and the stretch and all that. And so the whole idea was for Giannis to have this great season to keep him happy so you know he would be inspired to to finish out his career here in Milwaukee. So that’s just from that context more than anything else. But but the do the Bucks I guess do the Bucks have to be a top five team in the East? Do you see those things as being you know dependent upon each other? History would suggest that you are very unlikely to win an MVP if your team is not in the top four, no matter how dominant you are. There have been a couple of exceptions. I think one of Joic’s year they might have been sixth, but he was just so otherworldly and the standings were so jam-packed. There was like no difference between sixth and third. Um, in the East, yeah, I think you got to get fourth, fifth at at worst. But look, if he keeps playing like this, Shay’s off to a good I mean, she had 55 already in a game. Like they’re all it’s a like these top guys and you throw Webby in there now, too. It’s just every single night something ridiculous happens. So, you have to hope that there’s maybe a little bit of voter fatigue with some other guys as Giannis has suffered from before himself, I think. And the Bucks, look, if he plays anything like this and the Bucks sniff 50 wins with this roster, I people are suckers for a a a sort of just gargantuan individual effort to carry a team that doesn’t look like it should be winning as many games as it should. And that that’s exactly what he’s done so far. Where where are you at on Ryan Rollins right now? Early in the season, obviously, but you know, he’s shown some defensive chops. Um, is this a sustainable is is he on the verge of breaking out or is this like a small sample size for for for Rollins in your opinion, Zach? I mean, I kept telling people Ryan Rollins is pretty good. Um, and he just hasn’t got a lot of tick previously in his NBA career. And no, and it’s funny, nobody guards him from three and he shot, what do you shoot? He shot over 40 last year. He defends hard. He’s a decent passer. He’s got some hops, too. Like, he’s had some highlight plays on both ends of the floor already this year. I think he Oh, yeah. I think he is um any any guard who hits enough threes and defends well and can be a secondary ball handler but maybe is a little overstretched as a primary ball handler is a really good fit next to I like I don’t know how much he’s going to break out but I nothing he’s done so far has been like I don’t think wildly unsustainable to me. I think he’s a solid player. And you talked about Zach, you mentioned Giannis winning 50 games, the Bucks winning 50 games with Giannis having a great year with this lineup. I I mean, so that would seem to indicate that you’re not overly blown away just with with I mean, just just the individual pieces. Let me let me put it that way. I mean, coming together, it could be affected, but the individual pieces don’t don’t don’t don’t strike a lot of fear in your hearts or too many people’s hearts out there. Well, I just like I mean, how many guys do you trust to initiate offense over 82 games, right? Like I’ve I’ve always liked Cole Anthony. He’s come on my podcast before. He had a great game the other night in Toronto. You know, he couldn’t even make the rotation last year for Orlando. Kevin Porter Jr. has had an up and down career to say the least. And it’s and again, he has moments. He’s been really good for the Bucks almost since they got him and really consistent. Um, but you know, it’s not someone you’re like, “Oh, that that that’s the floor general of a 55 win team in the NBA.” Koozma, I think, will bounce back after last year, but it just goes to like who’s the second best offensive player on the Bucks and how big is the chasm between the best and the second best? And if the second best is Miles Turner, which I’m not sure it is offensively, you know, he’s not going to initiate a lot for you. Just the load on him. This is the number one thing that I’ve come away with is like if there’s a dude that’s doing everything for their teams right now, it’s it’s Giannis more than more than even Joic and I think more than even Wyama in in the early season. The guy is just doing everything on both ends of I mean you mentioned the rebounding Marcus as of yesterday he led the entire league in rebounding rate. He was averaging almost five offensive rebounds a game. Like those are crazy numbers. You think he’s doing too much Zack? I mean, I just think, look, the numbers, these crazy numbers that all these guys are putting up will come down, right, over the course of 82 games. But I I just I do worry that the burden on him is so heavy that if they don’t get a little bit more diversity to how they can attack teams that he he will wear down or or there’ll be an injury, not a serious one, God willing, but just something will pop up midway through the season where just the burden becomes so so because it’s not like he’s slacking on defense either. Yeah, I thought I think his defense has been pretty damn good to start the season. Chris and I had talked about that at the start of the season. Kind of projected him to be somewhere between seven and eight plus assists a game this year. Um, I mean, is there is there enough around him to make that happen? I I you know, I thought so coming in. And it’s interesting, Zach, how, you know, there’s a reason why the the the pundits and and the prognosticators can usually be pretty reasonably close to to what they’re talking about. Um, do you think with this roster that there’s going to be enough sustainable and and I’m talking I’m not talking about a legitimate second option that has averaged 20, but just that maybe second option by committee. Well, first of all, aren’t you a pundit and a prognosticator, too? Don’t you count don’t you count as one? Yeah. Yeah. I am I Chris? I don’t know. I I I don’t know. I I punditry is not my my strong suit. I mean I I I I’m more of a I’m more of a I try and be a realist. I try and be a realist, but but also with a little little sprinkle of of optimism kind of kind of thrown there in there too, especially with the I’ve watched these guys. I watch these guys up close and personal and you see the great signs, but then all of a sudden, like last year, Zack, they talked about the Bucks being a playing team and I was adamant like, “Well, no way in hell we’re a play team.” and then the first part of the season it’s like well maybe they some of these people knew what they were talking about. So that’s I just come from that from that perspective. I’ve got this kind of optimistic thing with these guys that that you could get blinded when you’re really close to it. So I like to get that viewpoint from somebody who’s kind of looking at the broad overview. On the on the one hand there is the thing of you can get too close to it. On the other hand, if you’re going to live with this team for 82 games, you might as well be optimistic because if you’re pessimistic and a Debbie Downer, it’s going to be a long ass year on Giannis’s on Giannis’s passing six and a half assists each of the last two seasons. Seven so far this year. Yeah, I think he can I think he can get seven seven and a half for sure just because they do have shot makers on the team. I mean, they sort of famously led the league in three-point percentage last year. Didn’t take enough, but they they I will they lead the league again? Probably not. But they’re they have good shooters on the team and he’s just going to have the ball so much in so many different contexts where the defense is going to swarm him. Whether it’s posting up and getting double teamed or screening in the pick and roll and getting swarmed and he had that one pass almost behind his head the other day to I don’t know who it was in the right corner that was one of the best passes. Miles, Miles, Miles, Y um and you know in transition and just all of these situations where he’s going to have the ball x amount of times a game with two and three defenders on him and if they just make enough jump shots I do think he’s got a chance to have have that many assists for sure. I mean like someone’s got to get assists on this team and he’s going to be the number one guy. Well, and to that point, so Doc has been really, really effusive in his praise for uh the Archbishop Malloy flashback having point guard that I keep talking about. I mean, Archbishop Malloy is close to my heart, Zack Chris, because my teammate Brian Wyers played for Jack Kern there. Kevin Joyce was his teammate. South Carolina guys. I I’ve heard about Archbishop Malloy since the, you know, since the the late 70s and just the the great jobs. Yeah. Yeah. just just just the whole, you know, dynasty, especially guards that have come out of there. But but talk about Cole Anthony, Zack, in terms of what do you see as a sailor for him? I I I guess he got lost down in Orlando, but between Suggs and and the who’s the other Anthony Black or Anthony Black, the taller guard, I mean, they went more with size, couple of bigger guards that could play a little bit better uh effect, more effective, let me put it that way. Bigger defensive players. Uh but but god he looks he looks really really good and comfortable playing with Giannis so far. He can break down a defense. He’s a very creative offensive player. Um he’s a decent passer and he’s undersized and that’s why he fell out of the rotation in Orlando because if you’re that kind of that team Jamal Mosley made a decision that look the wins beared out is a smart decision. We are defaulting to defense and size across the board and we’re just going to go all in on that and see how many wins that can get us and if you don’t fit that puzzle and in his opinion Cole Anthony didn’t compared to the other options you might not play. Milwaukeee’s got different priorities and different needs and he can break down a defense and he’s undersized but I’ll tell you he fights man that dude fights. If you watch him rebound on both ends of the floor, he will go in there against four or five bigger guys who just throw his body around and pinball around and he’ll come out with rebounds. Like he’s a fighter and he’s just one of those guys where he’ll go on a heater for two weeks and he’ll win you the fourth quarter of this game or blow open the second quarter of this game and maybe slump the next game and you’re like, Cola didn’t bring too much this game. But like every team needs those guys. this if this is a guy over the course of the regular season like oh yeah he swung the fourth quarter these four times for us that’s what they’re hoping for. Yeah and and to his credit I mean Cole and Ryan Rollins again still early but they’re really they’ve really been effective and the one area that the Bucks were were just uh not good at all in last year and that’s forcing turnovers defensively and and that’s one thing Doc I think likes about that triumvirant as I call them Gary Trent Jr. and Kevin Porter Jr. and AJ Green. I mean, they were really good, Zach. I think they had a defensive turnover percentage last season of about 16% which would have been top five in the league. So, I mean, you see an importance this whole idea of just coming into the modern era, quote unquote, of of of faster pace and more three-point shooting and more pressure. I mean, do you do the Bucks have enough to to to to to be a player to be a player as a team in this modern era of of basketball that that Okay. OKC and the Pacers did a great job of of implementing last year. Well, and now everyone’s trying to fullcourt press, right? Because the Pacers did it and it was successful. You see teams all over the league doing it. And like the the first couple weeks of the season is always this sort of funhouse where every coach’s talking points from the preseason actually carry over for two weeks. Everybody plays super fast. Everybody takes a ton of threes. Everybody presses. And the numbers are like, what is going on in the NBA? Like there’s a million turnover turnover rates way up because people are pressing. and we’ll see how long it sustains. But yeah, Doc’s teams have traditionally been pretty conservative teams in a lot of ways. They haven’t forced a lot of turnovers unless they have a bunch of ball hawks on their team. They don’t offensive rebound because he wants to get back on defense at all costs. And it’s interesting to see when a coach like that sort of is willing to let his team dictate a little bit more outside of his comfort zone. And maybe those guys are able to do that because look, the margins all matter. You can create three, four easy possessions every game if you get steals. And all those guys are are pretty I’m glad you mentioned AJ Green. AJ Green is good. Like the guy the guy’s just made himself into a good player and he’s a decent defender. People don’t think he is, but he is. And yeah, if again every little marginal upgrade the Bucks can make is is important because they don’t have the Drew Chris, you know, peak borderline allstar all-star kind of talents around Giannis anymore. But I think it speaks to just sort of his mindset for this season and that he’s going to throw guys out there. He’s throwing the young fellas. he’s he’s he’s he’s bought into this concept of the modern NBA and so and I think we kind of saw that a little early with with that particular substitution. It’s early, right? And everyone tends to fall back to what they’ve been comfortable with their whole careers. Um, and I think one of the sort of not great stories for the Bucks over the last three or four years has been the front office drafting pretty raw prospects, young and raw prospects for a coaching staff and a team that is not really built to be patient with their development. And some of them are now scattered all over the league, including AJ Johnson and Washington. Maybe they amount to nothing. Maybe they amount to something. Who knows? But yeah, that believe me, when he was in the game, I had to like, all right, let me see. I don’t even know who that guy is. I got to Google Mark Sears. Okay, let me learn a little bit more about him. I was a little surprised. And look, it’s 82, man. You can’t play like it’s the same thing with Minnesota. At some point, Rob Dillingham’s going to have to play like you’re just going to have to play a lot of guys. It’s a long season. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and Miles Turner. So, let’s let’s turn to Miles. I mean, he’s not shot the ball. He’s not played well offensively as he is capable of doing to start the season, but he’s done some good things at the defensive end. But, you know, you look at the numbers he and Jiannis on the court together have not been as effective here early on. It’s still early and we always got to, you know, just just use that as the caveat. Man, it’s still early. But, what do you think the ceiling is, Zack, for Miles Turner? Just just straight numbers, points per game. What would the ceiling have to be for him in order for the Bucks to hit kind of their optimum level of efficiency and and and production for for Miles? What’s a good year for him? What’s a great year for Miles Turner? I think it’s got to be similar to the last couple years in Indiana. I don’t think he’s going to suddenly become a 20 21 22 point a game score. It’s just not his game. Um but 16 to 18 feels reasonable to me. Shoot the three well. And I think the thing that he really got better at as his as his career progressed in Indiana was if you got a mismatch, punish him. Don’t settle for the 12-footer or 13oot turnaround. He got better at just like I’m going to put you in the basket or I’m going to draw a foul. And because of all the attention Giannis draws, because of how they play in transition, because of cross matches and all that, like he’s gonna have some mismatches. And again, for a team that doesn’t have a lot of super easy options other than Giannis just doing stuff, um it like Miles exploiting those and just creating five extra points in a game, manufacturing them with with muscle and size is is important. He got better at that. So, I think I just think that I just don’t think you’re going to get many more points than that. But 16, 18, good shooting, good defense. I think that’s a that’s a recipe for that duo to be successful for sure. And Gary Trent Jr., are you a fan? Oh, I’ve always been a fan. Um, I don’t really understand why he just has to cycle through these minimum contracts like this. I understand that the league appears to have soured on offense first, maybe slightly undersized two guards, but Gary’s not like that undersized and he’s a pretty scrappy defensive player and he’s a heady player who does a lot of things well. I’ve always liked him and and I don’t kind of understand why he’s fallen through the cracks every single summer. Yeah. I mean, Gary, you know, it’s it’s I was looking at his numbers today and the first thing that jumped out at me, Chris, I mean, they got you listed at 66. I mean, you know, and I thought about it and I’ve been next to him, it’s like, okay. I mean, that’s that’s Yeah, 66 is is what he is. And and but you you watch him play. Well, I’m just saying, you know, the way he the the the way he’s out there deep in the on the perimeter. You know, I just I I forget that he’s actually taller than than than what people, I think, think he is. So, um yeah. And then finally, Zach, Bobby Portoris. Got to got to got to got to touch on Bobby. Uh Bobby Poris, you know, he um again, he’s another guy that’s gotten out of the shoots a little slower than probably what he’s like liked to have in terms of shooting the ball, scoring the basketball. But what does Bobby Poris have to have to bring to this team this season? There’s a lot of things in my life that I worry about. One thing that I do not worry about it at all is Bobby Poris scoring the ball. Bobby Portoris can get off to a slow start. Bobby Poris can go through slumps. Bobby Portoris is going to average 14 points a game. He’s going to shoot pretty well. He’s going to back you down and shoot over you from 18 feet, 12 feet, 10 feet, and he’s going to make more of those. He’s going to he’s got I just love how old school his game is. I love watching him play. Defensively is always a little hit or miss, but he’s had moments where they’ve switched with him over the years and he’s done better than I expected. Like he he he can bring it, I think, a little more than he gets credit for defensively. Not a rim protector. never going to be a rim protector. They’ve decided the interesting thing is like how much is he going to play with Turner? I I believe the first couple games he didn’t play with Turner much at all and then the last couple of games we’ve seen a little bit more of that. Uh no, actually I take that back. I think he’s been playing with Turner every game. We haven’t seen the Portis Giannis Turner super duper big trio yet. Maybe it’s just too big, but they’ve learned to sort of protect him defensively based on who he’s playing with. I I He’s just rock solid, man. I don’t worry about Bobby Forest. He’s also one of those guys. It doesn’t it feel like he’s 36 years old and he’s and he’s I think he’s 30. He’s just 30. Yeah. Yeah. I call him Sweet Water. He actually played Earl Lloyd in that movie, but I call him Sweet Water. Just kind of one of them old school throwback kind of dudes, man. And to your to your point, Zach, so what Doc is doing defensively with Bobby has really been been interesting. Instead of having him play that drop defensive position like Brook Lopez was really good at, he’s got Bobby actually up up to touch. So he’s kind of blitzing screens cuz Bobby I think you know one of one of the the the things that he he he that’s a challenge for him is that when when that offensive small picks up ahead of steam you know what I mean it’s just tough like Emanuel Quickley it’s just tough for him to kind of stay kind of stay Yeah. stay in front of guys like that. So, I think that’s a good adjustment. But, and as a coach, man, you got to make those adjustments to have players kind of play away from their from their weaknesses, right? Yeah. Is it we by is it weird not to have Brooke around or does Miles play so much like Brooke that you don’t notice it? But but yeah, he’s he was around for so long. He was such a core guy. I mean, all the guys that have come and gone from the championship team and the team that was going deep in the playoffs, Brook was just a rock for those teams. You just knew exactly what you were going to get from him every every game. It’s weird. We miss Brook. So, let’s go around the league real quick, man. We had what, four or five guys drop 50 points here in this early part of the season. But let’s start with let’s start with the with the guy who who hung out at the Shaolin Shaolin Temple over where was he? Was he in Tibet? I’m not sure where he was, but he was someplace in the Far East hanging with some monks during the offseason, man. And you know what it reminds me of, Zach? And I don’t know, I haven’t seen this correlation yet, but there there’s a old picture of Kareem and Bruce Lee. Do you remember that in the game of death, but there’s a Kareem studied martial arts with Bruce Lee uh for for a number of years? And then to see Wimi kind of take a same or similar approach, man, and then to come out and see what’s happening on the court. I mean, how long before we like give the league to Wimby? How long before the NBA is his league? Is it It looks to be headed in that direction. He’s going to be the best player in the league sooner than I think anyone anticipated. I I it you you can’t you can’t start shifting that crown from Joic or Shay, whoever you prefer. I prefer Jokic or Giannis or whoever based on I mean WB’s only played like 110 games. So like part of greatness is just doing it over and over again year after year after year, but he’s going to be right there in the conversation with those guys. I mean what he’s done so far this season is ridiculous. Um, I was high on the Spurs before the season in part because I just thought he’s going to be so good that it’s it’s hard for me to imagine they’re a 500 team with that if he’s healthy enough to play. And he was healthy his rookie year. People kind of have dinged him with the well, is he going to be available? He was pretty damn available as a rookie before the blood clot thing happened or whatever the right terminology is for it. So, I mean, like he’s the best defensive player in the league already. I don’t even think it’s close. and um just the force he’s playing with on offense and they haven’t even had Fox yet, you know? I mean, Fox Fox will help him a lot. It’s it’s pretty scary what that dude can do, particularly on defense. He’s just he’s a one-man wrecking crew in a way that I don’t think anybody has ever been before. He’s taking less threes this year, but he’s averaging more points and like, you know, he’s 60% from two. The handle also, it looks like he really worked on his handle. He’s a 75 guy getting that load to the ground and then shifting guys up the court, bringing it 94 ft. Straight up incredible. Yeah, the handle is interesting because you you certainly notice like the pace that he can dribble at. Like he can the pitter pad of his dribble in and out. He’s got control of the location of the ball and the speed he’s dribbling at. And you forget like a lot of tall guys with handles, you’re you’re almost scared they’re going to get picked at any moment because the dribble’s so high. And like you for somehow when he dribbles you are simultaneously aware of how tall he is because it looks crazy that this guy’s dribbling but also not aware because he doesn’t dribble like a 75 guy should be able to dribble or seven seven whatever. I don’t know what God only knows what he is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. At all. And so these 50 point breakouts Austin Reeves and and Lorie Markin and Aaron Gordon and Shay not unexpected double overtime game. But but what’s going on Zack? I mean, is is an anomaly just early season anomaly? Is it we’re going to see a lot more of this this year? Just huge numbers by player Austin Reeves type players that maybe you know the the Tyrese Maxi averaging what 37 a game and Sixers and VJ Edgecomb starting off the is this is this sustainable or is this just kind of this early season uh magic that’s happening in this season? It’s interesting because as you lift remember a couple was it two seasons ago when like Luca had 70 and Embiid had 70 and Booker had 60 and like there was this panic in the league of like his offense too easy and they kind of switched the officiating halfway through the league. I don’t sense that same sort of dialogue happening yet in part because as you list those games they’re all kind of anomalous in their ways like Shayes is a double overtime game. Their second best offensive player is out. Reeves is doing it without Luca and LeBron. Maxi is doing it with Embiid being in and out of the lineup. Aaron Gordon has a game where he just goes absolutely bananas from three in a way that will never happen again. So, they’ve all kind of been different. They’re not all just the same. You know, you hear the term heliocentric, like the same guy that just runs the offense every single possession, just kind of just has a hot night and scores 58 points. They haven’t they haven’t been like that. So, I don’t know what the common thread is in between them other than offense is just really elite around the league and guys are taking advantage and free throws are a common denominator, right? Reeves had what 21 free throws? It’s crazy, man. It’s crazy. And then finally, um any of these teams that jump out of the box early, getting off to a slow start, do you think you know the glass slipper you think is, you know, the Bulls are playing great basketball right now, the Sixers are playing and and it’s real early. It’s real early, but do you think any of these teams can sustain this this surprise? And any of the bad teams, the Hawks, the Magics, teams that are struggling right now, you think that they’re headed for more issues as the season progresses. So, I remember now, and I’m not comparing any of these hot start teams to this particular team or making any comparisons, okay? But I remember year one, I don’t know if you guys remember this, year one of the process in Philadelphia when Sam Hinky dismantled the team and they were trying to lose and no one had ever hurt anyone on their team. They won their first three games. Michael Carter Williams was going crazy and everyone had to write the think piece of like, hey, is it possible the Sixers are accidentally good? And it turned out the Sixers were awful and did not win very many games the rest way. So that’s always my cautionary tale of like remember when the 2013 Sixers or 2013 14 Sixers were 3 and 0 and everyone was like whoa maybe I don’t know anything about basketball. Um, but I did I wanted to talk to you guys about sort of the state of the East because that’s where the Bucks live obviously. And I think John Horse big bet with this roster is look, if we were in the West, maybe we can’t really talk ourselves into thinking this roster is good enough to contend for a title with Denver and Houston and Oklahoma City. But in the East, you know, and let’s talk about it like Orlando’s one and three. Their offense is still stuck in the mud. The Hawks are one and three. Everyone hyped them up. I was like the leader of the hype train and just something now they’ve had guys in our lineup but something hasn’t clicked you know the Cavs they look very good they they’re also injured the Knicks you know like are you frightened of the Knicks are you scared of the Knicks if you’re the the Pistons the Pistons kind of a yucky like they don’t have a lot of shooting they’re tough they’re nasty but the the wing position is is like as you look up and down the east are you more optimistic about the Bucks having a puncher chance here less optimistic or same optimistic and like what if and and and what teams have stood out to you as either like maybe they’re a little more vulnerable than we thought or maybe they’re a little more dangerous than we thought. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think like I told you I’m optimistic, you know, I do think, you know, the the Magic will play better, Desmond Bane will shoot better and all the things that they they pointed to in terms of turning them around. I’ve never been a a big big major uh buyer of this whole Hawk fascination um with Porzingis and well fooled me so I’m I’m like I they have fooled me so many goddamn times. I love Jayen Johnson. Love Jaylen Johnson and you know Trey is Trey Wisconsin kid. Yeah. Milwaukee Milwaukee Nicolay High School. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So but anyway uh we’ll see how it plays out. That’s the beauty of being on this fantastic voice man. Just to see how it plays out. It’s been some some some some excitement, some surprises, and some disappointments for some people. But that’s the NBA, and uh man, um it’s a beautiful thing, man, to be a part of. So, we thank you, man, Zach, for being a part of this, and hopefully we can get you back after there’s been a few more games played and things have kind of crystallized a little bit better and we can get a little bit better perspective of what’s real and what’s not real. But we thank you for for joining us here early on the here district, Zach. No, my my pleasure. You guys are the best. So now I got to know next time I come, no matter if it’s even next week, I got to have my MVP ballot prepared. I got to like I got to get I got to start thinking awards. No, but you guys are the best. I appreciate it. I appreciate I hope you have a fun and enjoyable season. I’ll definitely will definitely do it again. All right, man. Thank you so much. [Music]

Renowned podcaster & columnist, Zach Lowe joins Marques & Kris Johnson on this week’s episode of Hear District to dissect the Milwaukee Bucks’ impressive start to the season, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s path to a third MVP trophy and the team’s Playoff possibilities in an unpredictable Eastern Conference.

But first, they discuss Zach’s untraditional path to NBA coverage and how his New England roots inspired his love of the game. They dissect the criteria for NBA MVPs and why Giannis has as good a chance as ever to compete for the trophy. They also dive into Ryan Rollins’ rise, why Cole Anthony is an X-Factor for this team, Bobby Portis’ grit, Myles Turner’s fit with Milwaukee and why Zach has always been a fan of Gary Trent Jr.

They also touch on the Eastern Conference Playoff picture, Victor Wembanyama’s ascension, massive scoring performances to start the NBA season, the biggest early-season surprises, and other trends around the league.

0:00 — Intro
2:08 — Zach Lowe Backstory
7:07 — Giannis’ MVP Path
9:22 — Bucks Rotation & Outlook
26:00 — Wemby & NBA Trends
31:49 — State of the East

Subscribe to the Hear District podcast to enjoy the biggest names in basketball sounding off on your favorite team.

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hear-district/id1733360203
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