Is Giannis a villain now?

No.

Nov 21

Good morning. Per usual for Mondays, this newsletter is too long for most email clients. Click the headline to open in a browser window. Let’s basketball.

On Friday night, Giannis Antetokounmpo went 4/15 from the line in a game the Bucks lost to the Sixers by eight. That stings. So right after the game, he went back onto the court — in Philadelphia, mind you — to get some free throws up.

Then all hell broke loose.

Here’s the video version of what went done. A condensed narrative version follows.

Giannis is shooting with a couple of Bucks staffers rebounding. Montrezl Harrell and a Sixers staffer come over with a ball of their own; Harrell rebounds a Giannis make and walks away with the ball, occasionally yelling at Giannis to “go home.”

Giannis appears to be flummoxed at the anti-social behavior. Trezz and the Sixer staffer take both balls to the other end of the court and Trezz starts shooting. Arena crew moves a ladder to where Giannis was shooting, reportedly to remove the electronic equipment from the top of the basket.

Giannis goes off the floor … and comes back with two balls! But the ladder is in the way. Giannis tries to move it but the arena staff moves it back as the Bucks staffer negotiates. Giannis, clearly frustrated at this point, shoves the ladder to the side … and it falls over! It’s a very tall ladder! Giannis gets at least one more shot up (a make). Trezz yells at Giannis a little bit more from the other end of the court.

Here’s what Giannis had to say afterward as video began to circulate:

“I don’t know if I should apologize because I don’t feel like I did anything wrong, except the ladder just fell. I feel like it’s my right for me to work on my skills after a horrible night from the free-throw line. I think anybody in my position that had a night like me would go out and work on his free throws. And if they didn’t, they don’t really care about their game.”

Trezz tweeted about it, of course.

Montrezl Harrell @MONSTATREZZ

Aye make sure you get the complete story I ask the man can he get off the court so I can workout they had to change the court over he ignore me so hey that’s what you get! Respect is respect! GOODNIGHT!

Nice try, Trezz. Your claim makes no sense. A) if they have to change the court over, how are you going to work out? B) you did go get shots up on the other end, where there seemed to be little activity. Trezz may have come out to get some work in (he received 4:57 of playing time in the game) but taking the ball from Giannis and yelling at him to go home: that is straight hateration. The least you could do is own it.

Harrell is the villain here — he instigated everything. Had Trezz not taken Antetokounmpo’s ball, the ladder would have never moved into place. The staffer would have waited patiently to get into position. Giannis should definitely treat arena staff better than he did, and while he may very well have a right to work on his free throws and while Harrell was completely anti-social and aggravating, you can’t let your frustration leak over toward someone else just trying to do their job.

My question is why it took so long for literally anyone else to get involved. You would think some Sixers or Bucks PR staffer at minimum would come out, recognize the situation and tell the ladder person to stand down for a few, or tell Giannis that lots of cameras are on him and he should find a way to exit the stage without looking like he got punked by Trezz. Where are the teammates? (I think I see Thanasis Antetokounmpo in the ladder scene, but that’s it.) Assistant coaches? Security?? Someone other than the Bucks staffer in the backpack and the Sixers staffer with Trezz has to step in here.

Giannis is the best basketball player in the world, but he is also a human. Humans get emotional and frustrated. That was a pretty tough loss for Antetokounmpo, and it included a dirty shot to the midsection (see below) and came against an opponent that is one of the few rivals Milwaukee has these days. It’s all understandable. I’m just surprised that on the road in a hostile environment the Bucks aren’t better prepared to protect Giannis from incidents like this.

All that said, I’m looking forward to the ladder jokes on the road. ...