1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:26,840
13 years ago, the Milwaukee Bucks selected the youngest player in that year's NBA draft.

2
00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:35,480
Giannis Antitikumpo, a lanky 18-year-old from Greece, was seen as a role of the dice by a struggling small market franchise.

3
00:00:35,480 --> 00:00:43,120
But Giannis grew up, he put the Bucks on his shoulders, he won fans' hearts, and he made Milwaukee a champion.

4
00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:48,120
That love affair is over now after the Bucks dealt Antitikumpo to the Miami Heat.

5
00:00:48,120 --> 00:00:52,760
Here to discuss what Giannis meant to the city and where things went wrong is Milwaukee

6
00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:55,640
Journal Sentinel columnist James Causey.

7
00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:57,640
James, welcome.

8
00:00:57,640 --> 00:00:59,120
Hey, thanks for having me.

9
00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:08,160
So, I suppose it's an emotional time, any time that a star player like Giannis gets dealt for the fans.

10
00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:14,120
But it just seems to me like he had such an attachment to the city of Milwaukee.

11
00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:18,920
How would you characterize it and, you know, what did he mean to the city?

12
00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:21,400
Well, I like to put it to you this way.

13
00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:22,920
Giannis was our son.

14
00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:26,640
I mean, he came to us as a young man, very, very young.

15
00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:31,240
And the city wrapped his arms around him and he embraced us.

16
00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:34,440
He was our unicorn.

17
00:01:34,440 --> 00:01:36,360
He was a guy who got us a championship.

18
00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:43,800
He was a guy who, a funny story about him one time, he was trying to get to the arena and he got lost.

19
00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:48,000
And somebody saw him on the side of the road and picked him up and dropped him off.

20
00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:49,520
That's who Giannis is.

21
00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:51,040
And that's who he was to us.

22
00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:55,760
So losing Giannis is like losing a big part of our city.

23
00:01:55,760 --> 00:02:01,480
He played for us for 13 years, one of the longest reigns in the NBA.

24
00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:03,920
And he's going to be dearly missed.

25
00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:08,320
But it was time for him to pursue other endeavors.

26
00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:09,760
He's sort of a thoughtful guy, too.

27
00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:15,360
Is he not the way he talks about success being a journey and living in the moment?

28
00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:16,320
Oh, yeah, of course.

29
00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:19,000
And, you know, he was more than just a basketball player.

30
00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:28,880
He also organized a diaper drive that was critical for young moms who needed diapers for your babies.

31
00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:32,720
Him and his wife were very sponsored that.

32
00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:36,480
He was seen a lot in the community.

33
00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:42,160
He was, like I said, he was our son and we embraced him and we loved on him.

34
00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:46,240
And, you know, he got us our championship, our first championship in 50 years.

35
00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:48,920
So that's something that can never be erased.

36
00:02:48,920 --> 00:02:51,960
Yeah, I mean, it strikes me that his story is such a perfect storm.

37
00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:54,960
He got so much better, so fast.

38
00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:59,440
And, you know, then this Milwaukee downtown was rebuilt.

39
00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:03,560
He had this state-of-the-art arena, the house that Giannis built.

40
00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:04,800
You won the championship.

41
00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:07,960
It just seemed like everything was going so great.

42
00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:10,600
So why did it fall apart?

43
00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:17,160
Well, it fell apart because, honestly, I believe it was a lot of bad moves by the Bucks,

44
00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:27,480
trying to keep the team above water that didn't work, you know, the shuffling of the coaches that just didn't work.

45
00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:31,440
And what we're hearing now is, like, not keeping Giannis in the loop.

46
00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:35,320
And he was a person who honestly wanted to be kept inside the loop.

47
00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:39,800
He wanted to know what was going on, what was the team's direction moving forward.

48
00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:43,840
And it seemed like he was not privy to that type of information.

49
00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:49,240
For a young man who gave his heart and soul to the team and to the city,

50
00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:53,520
I wish that it could have been better and that communication should have been better.

51
00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:57,640
And we know one thing, he always wanted to win.

52
00:03:57,640 --> 00:04:01,760
And I think the Bucks tried to satisfy that, but at the same time,

53
00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:07,320
I think he should have been privy to the inside dealings that they were trying to do to make sure that they happened.

54
00:04:07,320 --> 00:04:12,960
You know, it's tempting for me to look at the Bucks and Giannis and think it's only been a few years

55
00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:14,800
since they were on top of the world.

56
00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:17,040
Why can't they just kind of force it?

57
00:04:17,040 --> 00:04:18,640
Try a little harder, fix this thing.

58
00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:21,400
Well, that's the NBA.

59
00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:22,880
That's sports, actually.

60
00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:27,200
You know, you think you're part of a dynasty and quickly things could change.

61
00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:28,640
But it was a lot of things that happened.

62
00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:30,200
No tin got hurt.

63
00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:33,200
You know, the team seemed like it got old overnight.

64
00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:40,760
The lead changed to a three-point shooting team and not so much downhill that made Giannis famous,

65
00:04:40,840 --> 00:04:43,000
you know, charging to the basket.

66
00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:47,680
So the league really adapted and changed and I don't think the Bucks were able to keep up

67
00:04:47,680 --> 00:04:51,840
with those changes in how the league changed so quickly.

68
00:04:51,840 --> 00:04:57,880
So Giannis is going to come back to Milwaukee this next season and that famous last name

69
00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:01,240
is going to be on another team's jersey.

70
00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:03,600
How do you think he's going to be received?

71
00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:08,040
Oh, he's going to receive one of the loudest ovation ever.

72
00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:12,160
One thing that I could say, Giannis never wanted to be the bad guy in this situation.

73
00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:17,800
He never came out and we didn't hear him demand a trade even though, you know, some

74
00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:23,800
rumblings within the Bucks organization that he wanted out, but he never made that public.

75
00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:25,800
So I have to give him credit for that.

76
00:05:25,800 --> 00:05:31,800
I really think he wanted it to work here, but he's going to receive probably a lot of

77
00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:37,080
dissolvation ever for this city.

78
00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:40,120
So I look forward to it and it's going to be the hottest ticket in town.

79
00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:42,360
All right, James, we'll leave it there.

80
00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:44,960
Thank you so much for joining us.

81
00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:46,840
Thank you for having me.

82
00:05:46,840 --> 00:05:52,840
For more on this and other issues facing Wisconsin, visit our website at pbswisconsin.org and

83
00:05:52,840 --> 00:05:55,040
then click on the news tab.

84
00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:56,240
That's our program for tonight.

85
00:05:56,240 --> 00:05:57,560
I'm Sean Johnson.

86
00:05:57,560 --> 00:05:58,320
Have a good weekend.