NBA Veteran Points Out What Giannis Antetokounmpo Needs to Upgrade to Make Himself Unguardable

The NBA is full of star-studded names who can wow fans with their talent. When some of these players get going, it is really hard for the defenders to take guard and stop them. One such dominating forward is Giannis Antetokounmpo, and 13-year NBA veteran Corey Brewer explained the nightmares of going up against him. 

Giannis Antetokounmpo has cemented his place as one of the best in the league. There’s not really much to argue over on that front as the ‘Greek Freak’ has back-to-back MVP awards under his belt. He earned these accolades due to his unguardable style of basketball. 

“Giannis is tough. He’s still young and he’s getting better, too. Each time you play him, you can see that he’s getting better and that he’s adding stuff to his game. He’s one of those guys where anytime you play him, you’re like, “Man, this is gonna be a long night…” He knows his game,” Brewer wrote. 

Giannis Antetokounmpo and his explosive style makes him unstoppable 

Corey Brewer has been in the league long enough to break down each of Giannis’ strengths and weaknesses. The major advantage in his game is the unstoppable drives to the paint and the thundering dunks.

“Good luck slowing him down. Since he’s put on the weight and muscle, it made him almost unstoppable when he gets in the paint,” Brewer mentioned. 

Giannis has worked his way to become the player that he is now. What about his talent when he landed in the league as the 15th overall pick in the 2013 draft? The world saw a skinny kid from Greece, who had massive aspirations in the NBA. It’s safe to say that he’s accomplished most of them!

“It’s really great to see a guy like that reach that level. As a rookie, he was a skinny kid. It was kinda like, “Oh, he could be good. Yeah, we’ll see… He could be good if he works on his game.” Then, all of a sudden, he puts on the weight, he works his butt off and he gets the confidence,” Brewer further said about Giannis. “Confidence is such an important thing in basketball. When you work your butt off and you’re confident, it goes a long way. That’s what allowed Giannis to become Giannis. He got stronger, he got better and, most importantly, he got his swag.”

What is one aspect of the game that Giannis needs to pick up on?

Giannis is undoubtedly the future of the NBA. He’s just 25 years old and has a long way to go. Crowds have already seen what the Bucks star can do with his explosive talent, but there’s still one quality that he lacks, which is perfecting the jump shot. 

The Greek native has not been proficient with his jumpers, and Brewer did not refrain from pointing it out. “Now, he has to get a jump shot. I’m glad he can’t shoot because if he was a knockdown shooter, he would be unguardable. Literally unguardable,” Brewer mentioned. 

Giannis has an array of skills when it comes to offense. Not always does he make the quick drive to the paint and lay the ball up, but a diversity exists in his game that deceives defenders all ends up. The jump shot is one aspect that still needs to be perfected to make him the ultimate dominant player.

The 4x All-Star attempted a lot of jumpers in the 2019/20 NBA season, and that speaks a lot about the effort he’s putting in to correct his shortcomings. In fact, Giannis attempted 469 jump shots this season, more than his attempted layups (457). 

But here’s the catch; Giannis enjoyed a 62.6% success rate when attempting his favored layups, but made only 32.6% of his jump shots. That’s why Corey Brewer said: “Right now, if I’m guarding him, I want to make him shoot jump shots.”

It is only a matter of time before Giannis strengthens his jump shots. Fans have already seen him make beautiful fadeaways and pull-up jumpers, and there’s more in that area they’re yet to witness.