If Jason the “Jet” Terry ever runs out of fuel, he can always cop the “Mouth” as a new nickname – the man can talk for hours, no matter the topic.
It was no different during Media Day, when he shut down the notion that Milwaukee Bucks swingman Giannis Antetokounmpo was similar to his former Atlanta Hawks teammate Shareef Abdur-Rahim.
“No way,” Terry told Charles F. Gardner of the Journal Sentinel. “Shareef don't pass. He's been retired for seven years and if I was open in the corner, he still wouldn't pass to me. Giannis is a giver, man. He's so selfless. He sees the floor. He can play multiple positions. You can post him at the free throw line, the logo. Give it to him off the outlet. He's a one-man fast-break. Two totally different players.
“The only guy that has some semblance of Giannis is Scottie Pippen. I mean, the way he defended, the way he could facilitate and play the point guard at that size is very similar.”
Pippen tormented opposing stars for more than a decade and was a formidably versatile player that was too big for guards to cover and too fast for big men to stay in front of.
“I've seen how (Antetokounmpo) has grown already and developed the mid-range jump shot,” Terry said. “The next development in his game will be to step out and shoot threes. A lot of kids in this league say, ‘Man, he can't shoot.' No, it's not that he can't shoot. He just doesn't. If he takes more threes, he's going to make more. Mid-range, he's already gotten better.”
Pippen was never a great three-point shooter but was a reliable one, shooting a career-best 37 percent in the 1995-96 season. In fact, just like Antetokounmpo he was a non-existent three-point threat during the first six years of his career.
But if Giannis can be like Pippen – a player that won six titles – he'll likely be a happy camper.
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