They say "different toilet, same crap." Well, Giannis Antetokounmpo had had his fresh start with the Miami Heat, and he looked like prime Giannis. The only problem? The Miami Heat got badly outclassed by the Minnesota Timberwolves. In all fairness, the Timberwolves also just had an extreme makeover, but the game was put on National television precisely because the NBA wanted these two teams to show off their new duds.
Well, despite Giannis' efforts, the Heat simply couldn't keep up with the Timberwolves on their home floor. It's a long season, but games like these show why Milwaukee probably preferred Giannis with the Heat instead of the Boston Celtics: the stronger likelihood is that he will fail in South Beach than he would have in Beantown.
For what it's worth, Antetokounmpo is still one of the very best players in the NBA, but after all the Heat's moves, their defense should be good. But oh boy, that offense? Their best pure three-level scorer on that roster is Tim Hardaway Jr. Nothing against him, but, uh, yikes.
Compare that to Boston. If the Celtics had won the Greek Freak sweepstakes, it would have paired Antetokounmpo with Jayson Tatum, two of the NBA's best players. It very well could have made the Celtics the favorites for the rest of the 2020s.
That wouldn't have been the Bucks' problem as a team going forward, but for that same reason, it's why the Heat's future draft assets held more appeal.
Miami's assets had potential to be much better than Boston's
The first-round picks the Heat sent to Milwaukee for Antetokounmpo could actually be very valuable down the line, especially if this doesn't work out for the Heat. Since it sounded earlier like Antetokounmpo wasn't exactly making any long-term commitments to Miami, his sentiment, along with their blowout loss, confirms that they are banking on those assets being worth something.
Trading him to Boston for their first-round picks instead would have been much riskier, because if Giannis and Tatum panned out as a duo, those picks would decrease in value. For that reason, the Heat had the edge.
It's a long season, that's for sure. Despite what any Celtics haters will tell you, Tatum won't play like he did on opening day. It should all go up from here. For that same reason, the Heat deserve that same grace. Keep in mind, though, that Boston barely lost to the No. 1 seed in the East last year on the road; Miami just got their asses beat on their home floor by a team in the same tier as Detroit.
And any time that happens, it's music to Milwaukee's ears.
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