The early season for the Bucks has been very up and down, filled with defensive struggles and streaky offense. One big discovery in the early going has been the Giannis Antetokoumpo–Matthew Dellavedova pick and roll. Traditionally most teams have the larger player screen for the smaller ball handler, but the Bucks have found success doing just the opposite. Having Delly be the screener with Giannis handling the ball has been one of their most effective offensive sets in the early season.
There is precedent for this kind of screen and roll action. The Cavaliers have used this kind of action to great success in the Finals against the switch happy Warriors to get a matchup that favored LeBron. The Bucks are doing the same type of thing, except to get a favorable matchup for Giannis. Putting a guard in the pick and roll makes teams more inclined to switch, leaving a guard trying to matchup with the 6 foot 11 inch “Greek Freak”. That will spell trouble for just about any point guard in basketball. Giannis has proven that if you put smaller players on him he will not hesitate to attack the basket and man-handle that guy all the way to the basket. Delly is a capable shooter, so if teams try and hedge to force Giannis to give the ball up he can pop from that screen and get a good look from distance. Either scenario puts the defense in a bind. Guards are not used to defending the roller in a pick and roll scenario, and exploiting that may be the best way for the Bucks to consistently get good looks on offense.
Teams will naturally adjust, most likely by placing a bigger defender on Delly in order to make switching a more viable option. That forces a smaller defender onto one of the Bucks larger offense players, most likely players like Mirza Teletovic or Tony Snell. In that case the Bucks can simply adjust by having those guys screen for Giannis, or have Delly attack that larger, slower player off the bounce. Either way teams are stuck having a matchup that is less than ideal when defending the Bucks.
Having front-court players like Greg Monroe or Miles Plumlee screen for Giannis creates a log jam in the paint for a Bucks team that sorely lacks in shooting. What having a smaller player act as the screen does is take teams out of their normal defensive set and force them to adjust on the fly against one of the most athletic playmakers in all of basketball. Giannis has proven that he is an extremely effect passer, once he beats his man and the defense starts to rotate. This creates open shots for the few shooters the Bucks do have, or allows allows Giannis to shovel quick passes to big guys underneath for easy dunks.
Fixing the Bucks spacing issues is not an overnight task, but look for them to continue to have players like Delly act as screeners for Giannis in order to create mismatches that help remedy the situation.