WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:26.840 13 years ago, the Milwaukee Bucks selected the youngest player in that year's NBA draft. 00:26.840 --> 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. 00:35.480 --> 00:43.120 But Giannis grew up, he put the Bucks on his shoulders, he won fans' hearts, and he made Milwaukee a champion. 00:43.120 --> 00:48.120 That love affair is over now after the Bucks dealt Antitikumpo to the Miami Heat. 00:48.120 --> 00:52.760 Here to discuss what Giannis meant to the city and where things went wrong is Milwaukee 00:52.760 --> 00:55.640 Journal Sentinel columnist James Causey. 00:55.640 --> 00:57.640 James, welcome. 00:57.640 --> 00:59.120 Hey, thanks for having me. 00:59.120 --> 01:08.160 So, I suppose it's an emotional time, any time that a star player like Giannis gets dealt for the fans. 01:08.160 --> 01:14.120 But it just seems to me like he had such an attachment to the city of Milwaukee. 01:14.120 --> 01:18.920 How would you characterize it and, you know, what did he mean to the city? 01:18.920 --> 01:21.400 Well, I like to put it to you this way. 01:21.400 --> 01:22.920 Giannis was our son. 01:22.920 --> 01:26.640 I mean, he came to us as a young man, very, very young. 01:26.640 --> 01:31.240 And the city wrapped his arms around him and he embraced us. 01:31.240 --> 01:34.440 He was our unicorn. 01:34.440 --> 01:36.360 He was a guy who got us a championship. 01:36.360 --> 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. 01:43.800 --> 01:48.000 And somebody saw him on the side of the road and picked him up and dropped him off. 01:48.000 --> 01:49.520 That's who Giannis is. 01:49.520 --> 01:51.040 And that's who he was to us. 01:51.040 --> 01:55.760 So losing Giannis is like losing a big part of our city. 01:55.760 --> 02:01.480 He played for us for 13 years, one of the longest reigns in the NBA. 02:01.480 --> 02:03.920 And he's going to be dearly missed. 02:03.920 --> 02:08.320 But it was time for him to pursue other endeavors. 02:08.320 --> 02:09.760 He's sort of a thoughtful guy, too. 02:09.760 --> 02:15.360 Is he not the way he talks about success being a journey and living in the moment? 02:15.360 --> 02:16.320 Oh, yeah, of course. 02:16.320 --> 02:19.000 And, you know, he was more than just a basketball player. 02:19.000 --> 02:28.880 He also organized a diaper drive that was critical for young moms who needed diapers for your babies. 02:28.880 --> 02:32.720 Him and his wife were very sponsored that. 02:32.720 --> 02:36.480 He was seen a lot in the community. 02:36.480 --> 02:42.160 He was, like I said, he was our son and we embraced him and we loved on him. 02:42.160 --> 02:46.240 And, you know, he got us our championship, our first championship in 50 years. 02:46.240 --> 02:48.920 So that's something that can never be erased. 02:48.920 --> 02:51.960 Yeah, I mean, it strikes me that his story is such a perfect storm. 02:51.960 --> 02:54.960 He got so much better, so fast. 02:54.960 --> 02:59.440 And, you know, then this Milwaukee downtown was rebuilt. 02:59.440 --> 03:03.560 He had this state-of-the-art arena, the house that Giannis built. 03:03.560 --> 03:04.800 You won the championship. 03:04.800 --> 03:07.960 It just seemed like everything was going so great. 03:07.960 --> 03:10.600 So why did it fall apart? 03:10.600 --> 03:17.160 Well, it fell apart because, honestly, I believe it was a lot of bad moves by the Bucks, 03:17.160 --> 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. 03:27.480 --> 03:31.440 And what we're hearing now is, like, not keeping Giannis in the loop. 03:31.440 --> 03:35.320 And he was a person who honestly wanted to be kept inside the loop. 03:35.320 --> 03:39.800 He wanted to know what was going on, what was the team's direction moving forward. 03:39.800 --> 03:43.840 And it seemed like he was not privy to that type of information. 03:43.840 --> 03:49.240 For a young man who gave his heart and soul to the team and to the city, 03:49.240 --> 03:53.520 I wish that it could have been better and that communication should have been better. 03:53.520 --> 03:57.640 And we know one thing, he always wanted to win. 03:57.640 --> 04:01.760 And I think the Bucks tried to satisfy that, but at the same time, 04:01.760 --> 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. 04:07.320 --> 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 04:12.960 --> 04:14.800 since they were on top of the world. 04:14.800 --> 04:17.040 Why can't they just kind of force it? 04:17.040 --> 04:18.640 Try a little harder, fix this thing. 04:20.160 --> 04:21.400 Well, that's the NBA. 04:21.400 --> 04:22.880 That's sports, actually. 04:22.880 --> 04:27.200 You know, you think you're part of a dynasty and quickly things could change. 04:27.200 --> 04:28.640 But it was a lot of things that happened. 04:28.640 --> 04:30.200 No tin got hurt. 04:30.200 --> 04:33.200 You know, the team seemed like it got old overnight. 04:33.200 --> 04:40.760 The lead changed to a three-point shooting team and not so much downhill that made Giannis famous, 04:40.840 --> 04:43.000 you know, charging to the basket. 04:43.000 --> 04:47.680 So the league really adapted and changed and I don't think the Bucks were able to keep up 04:47.680 --> 04:51.840 with those changes in how the league changed so quickly. 04:51.840 --> 04:57.880 So Giannis is going to come back to Milwaukee this next season and that famous last name 04:57.880 --> 05:01.240 is going to be on another team's jersey. 05:01.240 --> 05:03.600 How do you think he's going to be received? 05:03.600 --> 05:08.040 Oh, he's going to receive one of the loudest ovation ever. 05:08.120 --> 05:12.160 One thing that I could say, Giannis never wanted to be the bad guy in this situation. 05:12.160 --> 05:17.800 He never came out and we didn't hear him demand a trade even though, you know, some 05:17.800 --> 05:23.800 rumblings within the Bucks organization that he wanted out, but he never made that public. 05:23.800 --> 05:25.800 So I have to give him credit for that. 05:25.800 --> 05:31.800 I really think he wanted it to work here, but he's going to receive probably a lot of 05:31.800 --> 05:37.080 dissolvation ever for this city. 05:37.080 --> 05:40.120 So I look forward to it and it's going to be the hottest ticket in town. 05:40.120 --> 05:42.360 All right, James, we'll leave it there. 05:42.360 --> 05:44.960 Thank you so much for joining us. 05:44.960 --> 05:46.840 Thank you for having me. 05:46.840 --> 05:52.840 For more on this and other issues facing Wisconsin, visit our website at pbswisconsin.org and 05:52.840 --> 05:55.040 then click on the news tab. 05:55.040 --> 05:56.240 That's our program for tonight. 05:56.240 --> 05:57.560 I'm Sean Johnson. 05:57.560 --> 05:58.320 Have a good weekend.