Former NBA Champion Believes Giannis Antetokounmpo Can Succeed Individually Unlike Dirk Nowitzki

Published 10/29/2021, 12:30 AM EDT

Giannis Antetokounmpo became an NBA Champion with the Milwaukee Bucks last season. Therefore, it is natural that the NBA Community widely started comparing him to the greatest Power Forwards of All-Time. Since he almost single-handedly led the team to success. From Defensive Player of the Year to Finals MVP, almost every prestigious individual award has once been in the Giannis’ personal trophy cabinet.

Among the ones he is being compared to is the German Masterclass Dirk Nowitzki. He led the Dallas Mavericks to arguably one of the toughest championship victories in the history of the NBA. Now, former NBA champion Derek Anderson has admitted that despite having played with Dirk, Giannis Antetokounmpo is scarier for defenders than Dirk ever was.

Comparing Dirk Nowitzki's evolution vs. Giannis Antetokounmpo's is simple @DerekLAnderson tells @BallySports.
"Dirk’s always had good teammates around him."
"I think with Giannis is that he’s a freak of nature no matter what team he was on, he was going to dominate." pic.twitter.com/ZTloXp0pY6
— 👑 Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson 📍 (@ScoopB) October 28, 2021

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Former NBA Champion on how Giannis Antetokounmpo is a freak of nature

While talking to Bally Sports’ Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson, Derek Anderson explained how Giannis’ development is going to differ from Dirk’s development. While agreeing that Giannis is a leader like Dirk, Anderson clarified how their games have a stark difference in approach. He said that when teams are defending Giannis, all five players on the court have something to worry about.

He said that Giannis has defenses thinking “We can’t stop this dude at all. We gotta hope he misses free throws. We gotta hope he misses jump shots.” Indeed, a nightmare for an opponent’s defense.

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There is a very valid justification behind the nickname of Giannis Antetokounmpo (The Greek Freak). And it is that he is a freak of nature. He had a dominant display in the last couple of seasons where he won almost every award an individual could in his NBA career.

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From passing to scoring to rebounding, there isn’t any aspect of the game that one could consider Giannis’ weakness. He has now even improved his jump shot and free throw shooting from the previous seasons. So it is indeed scary hours for the opposition when Giannis drives down the court.

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Chaitanya Dadhwal is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports. Even though his journalism is driven by his desire to understand both sides of an argument and give a neutral perspective, he is biased towards Houston Rockets and Arsenal, and he has shown exactly how loyal he can be through tough times. Currently a Law student at Jindal Global Law School, he aims to have his own sports management firm one day and enjoys rap music during his time off.