Giannis Antetokounmpo in the center is Milwaukee’s secret weapon, but will the Bucks really use it?

We call this a first world problem: the Milwaukee Bucks are too good to use their best formations. Their basic rotations have been so great all year round that they have not felt the need to experiment many times. There is no difference between winning by 20 and winning by 30.

Eventually, things will become more difficult. Even the Warriors started sweating when the playoffs rolled. Their response was to downsize. When the calendar arrived in April, Draymond Green became a center. Even though they barely used it, the same cheat code remained in Milwaukee’s back pocket all year round. On the rare occasions when Mike Budenholzer thought it appropriate to move Giannis Antetokounmpo to the center, the Bucks were practically unbeatable.

These formations scored 116.5 points per 100 possessions, according to Cleaning the Glass. This is just a shadow under the Dallas Mavericks, the most efficient crime owners in the history of the NBA at 116.7 points per 100 possessions, throughout the season. They were even better on the defensive. The Bucks allow the fewest points per 100 possessions in the NBA, only 102.3 in total. With Antetokounmpo in the center, that number drops to 94.8. The only constant was Giannis. Although he played 418 total possessions in the center, no single line-up under that umbrella played more than 10 total minutes. If Golden State had the Death Lineup, Milwaukee has only one killer player.

The trainings work on a unique combination of shooting and athletics. When everyone on the floor can dribble, shoot, pass and improvise, possessions like this are obtained, in which the defenses are completely broken down after all these traits have been unleashed on them simultaneously.

Giannis operates at the nominal and figurative center of the operation. The downsized formations that already operate according to the protection of the circle by committee are fully aware of what Giannis can do as a driver in a spaced lane. See the defenders of Dallas in this comedy. All five have their eyes on the MVP. Three are ready to converge on the point of attack. Two others are waiting for help to the cart. Of course, this creates passing opportunities.

Milwaukee tortures opponents by arming his shots in ways that are only possible when there is no great man on the floor. One of their favorites is the use of a shooter – in this case, Kyle Korver – to set up a rear screen for Giannis in pick-and-roll. With even a big shot like Brook Lopez nesting in a corner, the defenses are at ease in spinning his man as the protector of the circle and trusting the two defenders in the game to turn off Korver’s shot. But with three other shooters? Defense freezes. Follow Korver in his pop and Giannis slips into the trash. Play conservatively and take a look at the best shooters of all time. For obvious reasons, defenses struggle with that calculation in the split second that is given to make a decision.

Giannis is one of the very few players who can excel at the two ends of the pick-and-roll. The defenses are aware of the fact that he can play comfortably both the point guard and the center and, apart from the very few combinations of players who can pass effectively against him, they have not found a way to adequately cover both. Watch as he passes so quickly as a roller ball handler against Golden State that Omari Spellman, like so many others, is frozen in indecision.

The icing on the cake of all this is that Giannis can actually operate as a traditional center. Smaller players put into play to fight him in that position, however, cannot. Milwaukee draws fouls on a stellar 24 percent of his belongings with Giannis in the center. Markieff Morris doesn’t exactly have a long list of options when Giannis publishes it here. He can make a foul, he can make Giannis score, or he and a teammate can double him just to watch helplessly while a shooter rains down on fire. He chooses the lesser of the three evils.

Milwaukee grabs an excellent 29.2 percent of offensive rebounds available with these formations on the floor for the same reasons. He can bounce like a center, but the small ball players that his opponents throw at him cannot.

The most important advantage here comes when the Bucks realize that there are no other great people on the pitch, so they can essentially fade the goal line to Giannis knowing that no one else can reach the ball.

Many of the same principles apply to defense. The Bucks don’t take a hit with Giannis in the center because he already does everything a center does anyway. It forces opponents to shoot 19.5 percent worse on the edge than they do on average, for NBA.com. This is by far the best figure in the NBA, which is why the Bucks hardly have to change their pattern without a big traditional man on the floor. Giannis is more than comfortable playing dropback coverage and denying anything on the board.

What makes these units work defensively is that, as usual, Giannis also does the rest. This is not even rim protection. It is a protection for paint. It is covering the float and the trash simultaneously.

Without a good way of attacking these formations, the crimes tried to force Giannis to defend the perimeter just to get him away from the basket. The problem? It also does so at the elite level.

Choose practically any area: shooting, rim protection, rebound, passing, turnovers and Bucks with Giannis as the center do it at a high level. Counters are also quite disappointing. Every Milwaukee guard who appears to be in the playoff rotation, except Eric Bledsoe, has fired at least 37 percent on 3 wide-open pointers this season, so the failure of role-playing players doesn’t seem exactly feasible. Their Marvin Williams mid-season pickup allows them to put more overall dimensions on the floor, so they shouldn’t sacrifice aggregate length in the name of mobility or spacing. A handful of teams have big men who might be feasible with Giannis both inside and out, but it’s not like Joel Embiid’s growth on trees.

The question, in this sense, is not whether such formations would work or not, but rather, how much Budenholzer will be willing to use them. Milwaukee played in the center of Giannis for a total of nine possessions during the 2019 playoffs. They haven’t even used the lineups this season. Budenholzer developed his reputation as an uncomfortable coach in adapting to the playoffs. Forget positions, Budenholzer had a 24-year-old MVP and played him only 34.3 minutes per game in last season’s playoffs.

The Milwaukee system works. They have not been the best NBA team in the regular season in consecutive campaigns by accident, and it is too early in their contest window to suggest any kind of fatal post-season error. They could be good enough to win the championship as it is. Again, we are dealing with first world problems. The Knicks would like to discuss what kind of role Giannis should play.

But these kinds of first world problems are what ultimately determine championships. Golden State has taken the plunge and moved Draymond to the center. A moment of truth will come at some point on the bubble. The unstoppable Bucks of the regular season will be challenged by someone. And when that time comes, Budenholzer’s willingness to slip into his back pocket and deploy his secret weapon could make the difference between championship or bust.