Wolves Splits when Ant Shoots over/under 45%

[KG4Ever]

Ant shoots over 45%, Wolves are 6-6.
Ant shoots below 45%, Wolves are 4-27.

Quite a stark contrast.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I see 12 games vs. 31 games.

By the way... the league average is 46.5%.

He's been above that 9 times. He's been below 31.7% 14 times.

But let's push for the meaningless ROY award. That'll teach him what's important.

[Porckchop]

Why does Ants first year shooting percentages matter more than our veteran pgs shooting numbers?

[FNG]

Why does Ants first year shooting percentages matter more than our veteran pgs shooting numbers?

Hey, I'm comfortable on the couch here...will one of you guys go in the other room and nudge that needle on the turntable!

ASPM--that's what my sweatshirt reads today, and I think it stands for All Shooting Percentages Matter! Ant's matters, Ricky's matters, everyone's matter. But to answer your question, I think the reason Ant's might matter more to us is that scoring/shooting is really all he gives us...all we are asking or at least expecting of him in his rookie year. Last night he scored 16 points on 37.5% shooting, but didn't give us much else...3 assists (not bad), but only 2 rebounds and 2 turnovers and his usual defensive struggles. Not to mention a (oh, oh...PMP alert!) team-worst -17, although I'm told that might mean he still had a great game because he was our second leading scorer :)

Ricky also had a poor game...for him. The difference is Ricky can put up a double double along with 5 rebounds, 2 steals and a (sorry, Danny) +5 while only turning the ball over ONE time despite handling the ball most of the 34 minutes he was on the court, and many of us define it as a poor game. Because we lost, and we expect our starting PG to lead us to victory. I get that, and I agree that Ricky was not as sharp last night as he has been most nights in the last three weeks. But hopefully we can all agree that if his teammates had been draining open threes with the proficiency OkC was , he might have had 15 assists. But that's another matter.

But since ASPM, let's review Ricky's shooting percentages in the 26 games he has been the starting PG this season: 43.6%, slightly below the league average, and 36.6% on threes, slightly above the league average. And oh, 7.3 assists per game with only 2 turnovers. Most coaches would take that out of their starting PG every night.

[Wolvesfan21]

Another bad game by Ant. Dude has skills but he certainly was jacking up shots and not making them. He has a LONG ways to go to be a good player and I hope he does because this franchise is tied to his success or failure at the moment and next 2-3 years in all likelihood (can we get lucky in the draft then get lucky again and that player is good?)

Not too much pressure kid but it's all on you!

[Wolvesfan21]

Why does Ants first year shooting percentages matter more than our veteran pgs shooting numbers?

Rubio is a problem but he's also going away too in the near or not to distant future. So essentially he is irrelevant as far as the future goes. Ants success or failure will either make or break this team. I don't think if he becomes at best just a bench scorer that we have pieces to become a good team. I have my doubts about DLO making enough of a difference and the other players are mostly meh role players.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Why does Ants first year shooting percentages matter more than our veteran pgs shooting numbers?

You know why... but your deep, deep resentment of the wayward shooting Spanish PG may be clouding your judgement. But while we're here...

Edwards - 38.5% on 16.0 fga... 31.8% on 6.7 3fg... .482 TS
Rubio - 40.8% on 7.1 fga... 31.8% on 2.7 3fg... .532 TS

Neither is good. One is worse than the other. And when it doesn't come with solid to good assist/TO numbers... it's even worse by comparison.


[Note: I don't want to stick up for Rubio after a career in MN where he's been propped up too much already. But sometimes... sometimes... the take on the criticisms seems a bit misguided.]

[FNG]

Why does Ants first year shooting percentages matter more than our veteran pgs shooting numbers?

You know why... but your deep, deep resentment of the wayward shooting Spanish PG may be clouding your judgement. But while we're here...

Edwards - 38.5% on 16.0 fga... 31.8% on 6.7 3fg... .482 TS
Rubio - 40.8% on 7.1 fga... 31.8% on 2.7 3fg... .532 TS

Neither is good. One is worse than the other. And when it doesn't come with solid to good assist/TO numbers... it's even worse by comparison.


[Note: I don't want to stick up for Rubio after a career in MN where he's been propped up too much already. But sometimes... sometimes... the take on the criticisms seems a bit misguided.]

Well said, abe. And I'm every bit as guilty for being one of the Rubio "proppers" because I like his approach to the game as Pork is for criticizing him because he doesn't. It's tough to be objective sometimes when we are passionate about our opinions, but I and others can certainly make a better effort.

And WolvesFan makes a good point too. While I may be enjoying these last few weeks of vintage Rubio, with both the good and the bad, we need to focus on Edwards' performance more than Ricky's, because how he does means a lot more long-term to this franchise than what Ricky does. We know who Rubio is, but we don't yet know who Ant is going to be.

[Wolvesfan21]

Why does Ants first year shooting percentages matter more than our veteran pgs shooting numbers?

You know why... but your deep, deep resentment of the wayward shooting Spanish PG may be clouding your judgement. But while we're here...

Edwards - 38.5% on 16.0 fga... 31.8% on 6.7 3fg... .482 TS
Rubio - 40.8% on 7.1 fga... 31.8% on 2.7 3fg... .532 TS

Neither is good. One is worse than the other. And when it doesn't come with solid to good assist/TO numbers... it's even worse by comparison.


[Note: I don't want to stick up for Rubio after a career in MN where he's been propped up too much already. But sometimes... sometimes... the take on the criticisms seems a bit misguided.]

Well said, abe. And I'm every bit as guilty for being one of the Rubio "proppers" because I like his approach to the game as Pork is for criticizing him because he doesn't. It's tough to be objective sometimes when we are passionate about our opinions, but I and others can certainly make a better effort.

And WolvesFan makes a good point too. While I may be enjoying these last few weeks of vintage Rubio, with both the good and the bad, we need to focus on Edwards' performance more than Ricky's, because how he does means a lot more long-term to this franchise than what Ricky does. We know who Rubio is, but we don't yet know who Ant is going to be.

Yeah I like to look at the big picture and I don't see Rubio in it. I see this season as over which it is relative to any playoff ball. So now we need to see steady growth from Ant and counted improvement in shooting over the course of the season. That's the real story that matters.

Rubio like I said is not a long term answer to this team. I was hard on him when he was struggling in the beginning of the year because the season was still in play, now I just don't care that much about Rubio as far as if he is off. I would love it if he played better of course and we could snag some nice deal for him, but that's about my extent of concern on Rubio at the moment. His trade value.