This is worth watching in its entirety.
“I wouldn’t be the person I am today without this city. You don’t play for the name on the back. You play for the name on the front”
— Justin Wills (@itsjwills) January 4, 2023
Look at the looks on the faces of the fans standing and watching this interview last night. It’s the same look I had on my face watching it at home. This city, this fan base, LOVES this man. Like LOVES him. Not loves him because he’s the best on the planet, not loves the stat lines he posts every night, not loves him because he’s collecting trophies for something every season, we just love him for who he is and how he has become the adopted son of Milwaukee. He wins, he dazzles, he brings home titles, but he’s humble, hard working, self deprecating and self aware.
And when I think back over my years of being a Packer/Brewer/Bucks/Badger fan, what superstar has had THIS kind of relationship with the fan base? I can only think of two: Brett Favre and Robin Yount. Maybe there’s someone I’m missing, maybe there’s someone from the 50’s or 60’s that I’m not thinking of (Bart Starr?), but what Giannis has cultivated with the Bucks’ fan base is truly rare. Yount spent his career in Milwaukee, got the team to a World Series, and was truly likeable on and off the field. We know the Packer fan relationship with Favre has been more strained since that final game he played for the green and gold in 2007, but in the moment I’m not sure a fan base has loved a superstar more than Packer fans loved Favre from 1992-2007. That’s what Bucks fans have with Giannis right now. My only regret is that it will never be as big as the Favre/Packer dynamic because the Bucks will never be as big as the Packers. The Bucks could win two more titles in the next three years and they’ll never approach the popularity of the Packers even in a bad season.
But man, the era we’re in right now is truly a delight. Giannis dropped 55 last night, but could have EASILY scored 65 or 70. And he should have had a triple double if his teammates could hit 3’s more consistently. All of this after becoming the first player since Moses Malone in 1982 to post back-to-back 40+ point/20+ rebound games. Unreal.
And we can’t mention a double nickel for a Bucks player without the highlights of the last time it happened:
Wild to remember that night and hoping that Jennings would be the one to lead the resurrection that we’ve seen with Giannis. I remember watching this game in my apartment and audibly yelping during a Bucks game for the first time since 2001. Young Buck.
Related: It is kind of a shame that Bud didn’t leave Giannis in for the final minute and thirty seconds of last night’s game. He would have passed Redd’s franchise record of 57 points easily (appropriately for the Redd Era, he posted that total in a loss). Ah well.
PS: Good to see Jrue back last night from what feels like his 4th or 5th non-COVID illness of the season. Need to get Khris back. I get that some Bucks fans have been frustrated recently and plenty of them want to make trades. Fine. If you want to make a trade on the margins and swing Grayson to Phoenix for Jae Crowder, or look to see what it would take to pry Jordan Clarkson away from Utah, I have no problem with that. But the solution to the Bucks winning another title is already on the roster. You need to get Jrue, Khris and Giannis all healthy, and all playing to 85 or 90% of their peak powers by March. That means Giannis playing MVP level (no problem there), Khris playing All Star level, and Jrue playing borderline All Star level. If you have that, this team can win a title. If you don’t? None of the other moves matter. I’d rather have that trio completely healthy and be a 6 seed in the playoffs than force them out there and limp into the playoffs as a 2/3 seed.
