Bucks' Terry says Giannis wants to be great: 'He's like a sponge'

When you enter the visiting team's dressing room at Toronto's Air Canada Centre, there are two lockers on either side of the door. These tend to be reserved for the visiting NBA club's stars, and/or established veterans. Notable seasoned pros to have used them over the years include Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, and LeBron James.

With the Milwaukee Bucks in town on Monday, the two stalls were occupied by Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker, two players that are a combined 43 years old - or, the same age as their head coach, Jason Kidd.

Young NBA teams are nothing new, but the Bucks stick out given the extremity of that youth and their talent. Antetokounmpo in particular is enjoying a breakout campaign, tantalizing observers with the sort of joy a fan could take from a 6-foot-11 athletic freak with point guard skills. The NBA's longtime habit of comparing youngsters to greats has this time around brought about likening Giannis to names like LeBron and Garnett.

What helps the case is when other players concur.

"No I haven't," Jason Terry - the Bucks' resident old man at age 39 - told theScore when asked whether he's seen a skill set like Antetokounmpo's. "And I've been around a while. There's certain similarities not to just one of the great players, but to three or four. I look at Scottie Pippen, the way he can defend multiple positions … LeBron James, the way he facilitates, and then you look at a guy like Dirk Nowitzki where he can post up in the free-throw line area and be effective.

"You know if you put all those together, and add his athleticism, which is uncharted, I just think he's going to be one of the great ones when all is said and done."

This is strong stuff, and it may not be unwarranted.

In addition to trying to become the first Bucks All-Star since Michael Redd in 2003-04, Antetokounmpo is proving how indispensable he is to Milwaukee - especially in the absence of Khris Middleton. Going into Thursday's TNT game against the Chicago Bulls, the Bucks' on/off-court net rating difference is 13.1 points more per 100 possessions with him.

For the sake of comparison James' with the Cleveland Cavaliers is 12.

Among the "Greek Freak's" accomplishments so far this season is a top-10 PER and top-20 usage percentage. He's also currently on pace to become only the fourth player in NBA history to average two blocks and two steals in a season (a list that includes two Hall of Famers and, oddly, Gerald Wallace).

Yet for every dunk he throws down or steal he reigns in with his Boeing 777-like wingspan, Antetokounmpo just turned 22 on Dec. 6. After a two-game stretch in which he logged 13 turnovers, Kidd was quick to point that out.

"As you get older, those turnovers tend to be lower," the coach said. "You have some very quality, high-intensity basketball players who understand where he might be going with the ball, deflections, charges … so for him it's just a matter of going through it and understanding how they're trying to play him."

Antetokounmpo didn't turn the ball over in the blowout loss to the Raptors, but he was far more aggressive - especially on offense, and inside - in the second half. Veteran DeMarre Carroll in particular checked him well throughout. After spending part of pregame in the video room, he knew after the defeat that more game footage was in his immediate future.

"Try to be positive in the mind, and keep moving forward," was all he offered to reporters. Yet that mental approach is another reason Terry is impressed with him.

"His willingness to retain information and apply it to what he's learned," Terry said. "It doesn’t take him long. He's like a sponge, man. He soaks it all up."

Thon Maker, at age 19 another extremely young Buck, sounds like Antetokounmpo's work ethic is rubbing off on him as well.

"He's not satisfied with anything," Maker said. "He's always working."

For 18-year veteran Terry, the incredible level of fledgling talent in this locker room is like a fountain of youth.

"It makes you feel young," Terry said. "Being around a team like this, it energizes you. I told somebody the other day, physically I'm in a great place, and mentally, because we're around this type of youth, it just breeds life. And it’s not just a bunch of old guys with nagging injuries, talking about the grind. These young guys are literally in here bouncing off the walls, and willing to learn, and coming to me like, 'what you got today?'"