NBA: 5 unhelpful observations after the first quarter of the 2019-20 season

4. Giannis is Still the Best Player in the NBA

Antetokounmpo won an NBA MVP award without a jump shot of any kind. It has been the age-old argument that he would become unstoppable if he could develop a consistent enough shot and perhaps knock down a 3-pointer every now and again.

Now he does have some stiff competition for this award with the ridiculously good play of LeBron James, Luka Doncic and the scoring prowess of James Harden.

But this season, Giannis is going through a caterpillar-to-butterfly type transition. Except his transformation is from ‘Greek Freak’ to ‘Greek God.’

His story is one for the ages from selling items on the street in Greece to the top of the basketball world, Giannis looks like a man on a mission this year. He has led the Bucks on an 11-game winning streak, and they sit back on top of the East with a 17-3 record.

If you get the chance to watch a Milwaukee game, you will see the watching Giannis against oppositions defenses is like an 18-year-old playing in an Under 14 local league, it just looks too easy.

What Giannis is doing this season is nothing short of scary for the rest of the NBA.

He is taking a career-high average of around five 3-point attempts per game and hitting on around 30 percent of these. This shows that he is not scared to pull-up and attempt the deep ball anymore and will continue to develop this as the season goes on.

He has also upped his points-per-game average from 27.7 during his MVP campaign to 31.2 this season (2nd in the NBA), despite only converting on 59 percent of his free throw attempts. He is also averaging a career-high in both rebounds (4th in the NBA) and assists, leading the Bucks to be the best offensive team in the NBA.

Antetokounmpo was clearly devastated by the Bucks Conference Finals exit to the Raptors last season and has started the 2019-20 season like a man with a point to prove.

Giannis is also developing his vision on the court, learning to dish out to open shooters when he drives to the hoop instead of taking shots with four players surrounding him. His incorporation of the team around him is helping take the Bucks to new heights and is a big reason why the Greek Freak is the best player in the NBA right now.

I feel sorry for defenders who go to sleep at night knowing they have to wake up and guard the colossal Giannis on the floor the next day. I would imagine some teams have sleepless nights wondering how they are meant to guard him and stop him from taking over games.

Heck, I would not want to be the one tasked with trying to restrict a 6-foot-11 giant as he flies down the court towards you.

Antetokounmpo deserves to be a front-runner for MVP again this season and if he keeps this pace up, will be well and truly on track to becoming an all-time great of the NBA.