It's nice to know that Reggie Evans, who's seen just about everything there is to see in an NBA career that's spanned 13 seasons with seven teams, has the exact same reaction that most of the rest of us do whenever we look at Milwaukee Bucks wunderkind Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Check out this delightful interaction between Evans, now a reserve big man with the Sacramento Kings, and Antetokounmpo during Wednesday night's meeting between the Bucks and Kings at the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee, as captured by Eric Buenning of SB Nation Bucks blog Brew Hoop:
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Your full transcript (based on my inarguable lip-reading):
Evans: "How old are you, kid?"
Antetokounmpo: "Twenty."
Evans: "Twenty?"
[Antetokounmpo nods]
Evans: "... Damn."
The box score suggests the second-year man from Greece had a relatively pedestrian outing in the Bucks' 111-103 victory over the listing Kings, putting up numbers (13 points on 4-for-9 shooting, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals, two turnovers in 35 1/2 minutes) that fall pretty neatly in line with his season averages. But there's nothing really ho-hum about this particular sophomore; watch him for a few minutes at a time, and you're just about assured of seeing something eye-popping.
Case in point: his early-third-quarter explosion of a Sacramento possession, which saw him deflect a cross-court pass intended for Derrick Williams, knock it into the open court, track it down and burst into the open floor before making a trip of about 27 feet with one dribble and throwing down some two-handed thunder:
"Damn," indeed.
Antetokounmpo's remarkable wingspan, massive strides and explosive athleticism are impressive enough on their own. When I watch him unfurl into passing lanes and strike, I find myself thinking of characters like the prawns from "District 9," and when I see him cover the length of the court in just a few steps, I flash on the Hulk clearing counties, because I don't think I've got any actual, non-fictional humans in my memory banks that are that big and cover that much ground. What's made him such a favorite of so many fans across the league, though, is the sheer joy he seems to take in doing what he does:
It's thrilling to see a young man so thrilled by the seemingly unchecked growth — like, literally — in his frame and his game, of all that it already allows him to do and the boundless possibilites it still holds for the future. He's certainly not a finished and polished product — his 3-point shooting has taken a big step backward from Year 1 to Year 2, he's not yet a great ball-handler, he at times makes missteps and misreads in the heat of the moment, etc.
But those shortfalls don't nearly eclipse all the things he already can do — like, for example, guarding all five positions, as Brett Koremenos notes at Grantland — and only really serve to generate further excitement at what Giannis (who, let's remember, was playing in Greece's second division just two years ago) could become once he gains the experience and seasoning that so many young players pick up with increased reps. As SB Nation's Mike Prada puts it, "The NBA has never seen a 6'11 guard that runs and jumps like a gazelle while processing information like a super computer" ... and again, he's only 20.
After helping the Bucks win their 30th game of the season, making them the first team in NBA history to double their prior season's win total by the following All-Star break, Antetokunmpo headed to New York to take part in Friday's U.S. vs. the World Rising Stars Challenge and Saturday's Sprite Slam Dunk Contest, which could provide a launching pad into household-name status for the "Greek Freak" (or, if you prefer, "The Big Feta"). It's still anybody's guess as to what Giannis will look to pull off to wow the judges, but he told SLAM's Adam Figman that he's been watching film of 1984 Slam Dunk Contest champion Larry Nance and eating lots of pancakes, so: competition beware, and get your Ron Simmons clips ready, everybody.
Hat-tip to Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
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