The former Bucks point guard breaks down a successful star pairing he teamed up with
On Hear District this week, Marques and Kris Johnson were joined by Bucks great Mo Williams. He of this legendary buzzer beater (which my predecessor Mitchell Maurer witnessed in the flesh!) and very fun five year stretch in Milwaukee, which saw him rise into one of the league’s best point guards. He was traded to the Cavs in 2008, where he made his lone All-Star team, in a deal that brought Luke Ridnour and former head coach Adrian Griffin (who never suited up, instead becoming one of Scott Skiles’ assistants) to the Bucks.
The Jackson, Mississippi native is now the head coach at his hometown Jackson State University (for the record, that is not his alma mater, which was Alabama), a historically-black university. Williams relates to us the challenges of coaching at a mid-major and an HBCU, stuff I had no idea about. I appreciated learning about these and encourage you to support his program in whatever way you’re able.
The meat of the episode, though, is Williams comparing the Giannis Antetokounmpo-Damian Lillard partnership to LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. Williams played in Portland with Dame when the latter was in his second season, but Williams knows LeBron’s game about as well as anyone, having played with him during both of LeBron’s Cleveland stints. It’s the second tenure which is most relevant here, when Williams won a championship during his final season in the league, after bouncing around for a few years. From what Williams says, it seems like how LeBron and Kyrie Irving were able to mesh during their second year together could be instructive for the Bucks star duo. He also talks about LeBron and his Miami big three, which the Bucks’ big three including Khris Middleton could also take some notes from.
Marques also debuted a new Q&A segment called Marques’ Mailbag. Finally, on their About That Action video segment, the Johnsons break down how Pat Connaughton flipped a screen against Detroit, allowing Giannis to drive for an easy bucket, then Giannis’ extra efforts on the defensive end against Toronto.
Check out the entire pod on video below to see all the game footage.
You can also listen to the episode on bucks.com/plus and the podcast platforms below, where we encourage you to subscribe to Hear District.