Giannis Antetokounmpo is an expressive young man, quick with a smile, and quicker still to get above the rim and throw down vicious dunks.
He's creative in the way he attacks the rim, and he makes it a point to finish loudly – like this:
So it's no surprise that a Yahoo! Sports report notes that the second-year Milwaukee Bucks forward will participate in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest during its All-Star festivities in New York, Feb. 13-15.
Antetokounmpo was likely headed to New York anyway to play in the Rising Stars game, which pits the game's top first and second-year players against one another.
The 20-year-old forward is averaging 11.7 points and 6.1 rebounds while shooting 49.7 percent from the floor through the first half of this season.
Jim Owczarski is an award-winning sports journalist and comes to Milwaukee by way of the Chicago Sun-Times Media Network.
A three-year Wisconsin resident who has considered Milwaukee a second home for the better part of seven years, he brings to the market experience covering nearly all major and college sports.
To this point in his career, he has been awarded six national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, breaking news and projects. He is also a four-time nominee for the prestigious Peter J. Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism, presented by the Chicago Headline Club, and is a two-time winner for Best Sports Story. He has also won numerous other Illinois Press Association, Illinois Associated Press and Northern Illinois Newspaper Association awards.
Jim's career started in earnest as a North Central College (Naperville, Ill.) senior in 2002 when he received a Richter Fellowship to cover the Chicago White Sox in spring training. He was hired by the Naperville Sun in 2003 and moved on to the Aurora Beacon News in 2007 before joining OnMilwaukee.com.
In that time, he has covered the events, news and personalities that make up the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, NCAA football, baseball and men's and women's basketball as well as boxing, mixed martial arts and various U.S. Olympic teams.
Golf aficionados who venture into Illinois have also read Jim in GOLF Chicago Magazine as well as the Chicago District Golfer and Illinois Golfer magazines.
