Members of the Milwaukee Bucks‘ coaching staff have made the trip to Cyprus to watch Giannis Antetokounmpo in action at EuroBasket 2025. Assistant coach Darvin Ham is part of that group, and he was asked by BasketNews if he sees Antetokounmpo in a different role with Greece as compared to the Bucks.
“Absolutely,” Ham said. “It’s more team-oriented, more sets, and all of that here is different. They don’t play as fast as we do in the NBA, but in the NBA, his usage rate is off the charts. He constantly has the ball in his hands, so a little bit different role for him over there.
“He does a great job to include his teammates,” Ham added. “I can’t stress that enough… Allowing things to happen and take place. With us, he has to be Superman. But it’s good, it’s good to see him be able to do both.”
It is a sign of a great player that they can do both. Bucks fans would probably like to see their coaching staff run some more sets for Antetokounmpo, instead of him having to be Superman all the time. That approach would be far less taxing for the 30-year-old.
Bucks head coach Doc Rivers is also in Cyprus with Ham, and he told BasketNews that he will be stealing some of the plays that he’s seeing.
“I love watching the movement and how they play,” Rivers said. “I always steal plays, I watch it, and I take some of these plays back home and I run them. Yeah, I love all the movement, all the elbow action.”
Rivers did add, though, that while Antetokounmpo is going to the post more, he is still playing in a similar way to how he does with the Bucks. He doesn’t seem to be seeing as much of a change as Ham, who was previously head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, is.
Whatever the case may be, Antetokounmpo put in a dominant performance in Greece’s 75-66 win in their opener against Italy on Thursday. The nine-time All-Star had 31 points (14-20 FG), seven rebounds, two assists, and one steal on the night.
Italy’s head coach, Gianmarco Pozzecco, had joked about using a sniper to stop Antetokounmpo, and that might have been the only solution.
What was quite interesting about this game, though, was that Greece was +12 when Antetokounmpo sat on the bench. We have seen the Bucks crumble whenever he’s not on the court, but that didn’t happen with Greece. It will be interesting to see if this was an aberration or if it becomes a trend.
Greece will take on Cyprus next on Saturday, and the Bucks’ staff is likely to attend that contest as well. They’ll be hoping Antetokounmpo gets through that game and the rest of the tournament unscathed.
The Bucks are going to be more reliant than ever on Antetokounmpo, who averaged 30.4 points, 11.9 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 0.9 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game in 2024-25, moving forward. With Damian Lillard out of the equation, he’s going to be carrying that offense on his back, and some more sets might make life a bit easier for him.
