Three-time All-Star Khris Middleton discuss his current relationship with Giannis Antetokounmpo

On his podcast, JJ Redick alluded to Khris Middleton playing for five head coaches during his career, and with Adrian Griffin being his fifth head coach, Middleton spoke about how he hopes to fit into Griffin’s plans.

“I see myself stay as a great player in his system I don’t think that changes.” Middleton said. “I don’t think that necessarily changes my game, I think they want to change style, change the way we play, but I don’t that necessarily affects the way I play the game.”

Not the most shocking answer. To be successful offensively, the Bucks should keep the elements that make them great. Giannis driving to the basket and Khris Middleton in the mid-range area are two areas to build around on offense, and if they can fine-tune the other areas offensively, mainly three-point shooting, and get consistent scoring from players outside of Giannis and Middleton, then this could be a top-five offense in the NBA.

Khris Middleton on what happened in the Heat series, “We just didn’t play our best basketball.”

Khris Middleton gave his honest reaction to what happened in the Miami series.

“We just didn’t play our best basketball,” Middleton stated. “I think everyone saw what Miami did, what Jimmy did especially in that series credit to them we just weren’t good enough.”

Miami has always given Milwaukee fits on paper. Milwaukee is a more talented team, but the Heat have one of the best coaches in the NBA. Erik Spoelstra does a good job of game-planning and taking away your team’s best player. That’s why Giannis always has a challenging game against Miami, because they make everything for him tough, which forces other role players to step up, and Milwaukee isn’t built to win if Giannis or Khris are having an off night.

Later, Middleton gave his perspective on his relationship with superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Milwaukee Bucks F Khris Middleton on his relationship with Giannis: and the Batman/Robin narrative.

Middleton was asked by JJ Redick, “If there’s ever been a struggle on who is one and who is two?”

“No there’s never been a struggle about who is one and who is two between us,” Middleton said. “Our first early days we were fighting against each other every day in practice because we were fighting for minutes so our practices used to be intense.” “We knew it was going to make us better, I thought I was pretty good, and he thought he was pretty good even though we probably weren’t s***t back then, but that’s the way we trained our minds, and trained ourselves…

“As we got older, there was a respect that was formed and bonded, between those intense practices, and then as time goes on, we realize none of this matters once we get into a game we had our battles in practice, now our job is to go out and win.” Middleton said. “So we go out and win whoever is one, two, three, four, five, that doesn’t matter as long as we win, everything is taking care of itself, everybody gets paid, everybody’s happy, everybody gets to go to where they want to go that’s just the way we learned.”

Middleton on if he’s been okay not being the guy in Milwaukee.

“Yeah everybody wants to be the guy, but sometimes it’s ok not being the guy.” Middleton said. “I have no problem not being the guy, I know some nights it’s going to be my night he (Giannis) has no problem with that, a lot of nights it’s going to be his night as long as we win, I’m happy.”

“If you realize you want to win, you have to sacrifice something so I think we’ve all had this mindset that at some point we have to sacrifice something within our game, within ourselves to be on the winning team, and luckily that happened organically with us.”

This is why Khris Middleton is beloved in Milwaukee. He knows exactly what role he plays for the Bucks, and he executes it. Not every talented player is meant to be the guy. Look at Kyrie Irving. He had two chances to be the guy and failed miserably. Paul George, Kevin Durant, and Anthony Davis are three examples of players who tried to be the guy, but it didn’t work out, and now are on contending teams with co-stars.

Khris Middleton plays a vital role in Milwaukee, and he’s been a big part of the Bucks’ ascension. This team with Middleton’s return, is ready to contend for another championship, and with Brook Lopez coming back, there’s a special season brewing in the Cream City.

If you want to check out the full episode; check it out here.