Around the League - '23-24 Season

[Lipoli390]

I cheer for the name on the front of the jersey, not the one on the back. Sure I have my favorite players, but I always view the franchise as ours whereas the players are just renting the name Wolve for a period of time.

It's easy for me to root for the Wolves while not necessarily having a ton of respect for some of the players. And let me be clear, I've lost some respect for AE through learning this. I'm a man of faith and as a Catholic Christian it bothers me to see any child lose their chance at life. However, it's not my job nor my intent to condemn anyone who has gone through it. The phrase piece of shit doesn't align with my desired character, and my use of it was a reflex to learning the disappointing news. But the loss of respect is real. One of the worst moments of my life was the day I discovered one of my adult daughters had had an abortion. I don't love her any less, but the sting of that event will never go away. Ant hopefully has a long time to make good on any and all mistakes he's made. I've gotten 2nd chances at things in life, no reason he shouldn't be afforded the same. But the sad part to me is the aborted baby won't get any 2nd chances.

Great post, Cool! I appreciate your perspective and have great respect for you as a thoughtful member of this Wolves community.

[WildWolf2813]

Truth be told, what's happening between Ant and his side chick is none of our business. Was Ant dumb for being reckless? Sure. 22 years old sowing my oats everywhere, I don't know if I'd be even more reckless than he was. Regardless of how anyone feels about abortion and all that, that's not the rabbit hole I wanna go into, but I totally get why he'd ask a side chick to abort a baby. $100K to abort >>>>> millions of dollars worth of aggravation he'd have to deal for the rest of his life. Now, it's aggravation he caused for not dealing with the right woman, but at 22 with millions of dollars, long term ramifications aren't crossing his mind when he's in the heat of the moment.


At the end of the day, I don't need Ant (or any athlete) to be my hero, let alone one I'm 15 years older than. I would hope they can avoid these situations but they're athletes with millions of dollars who are always gonna be targeted because of that. They tell these NBA players this during their rookie symposium. All you can do is hope he moves smarter. That's all. At the end of the day, if there's a distraction that's caused it'll be for Ant and Ant alone, not the rest of the team or the fanbase. I doubt anyone's gonna ask teammates about Ant's relationship situation, not if they respect their jaw.

[Coolbreeze44]

I cheer for the name on the front of the jersey, not the one on the back. Sure I have my favorite players, but I always view the franchise as ours whereas the players are just renting the name Wolve for a period of time.

It's easy for me to root for the Wolves while not necessarily having a ton of respect for some of the players. And let me be clear, I've lost some respect for AE through learning this. I'm a man of faith and as a Catholic Christian it bothers me to see any child lose their chance at life. However, it's not my job nor my intent to condemn anyone who has gone through it. The phrase piece of shit doesn't align with my desired character, and my use of it was a reflex to learning the disappointing news. But the loss of respect is real. One of the worst moments of my life was the day I discovered one of my adult daughters had had an abortion. I don't love her any less, but the sting of that event will never go away. Ant hopefully has a long time to make good on any and all mistakes he's made. I've gotten 2nd chances at things in life, no reason he shouldn't be afforded the same. But the sad part to me is the aborted baby won't get any 2nd chances.

Great post, Cool! I appreciate your perspective and have great respect for you as a thoughtful member of this Wolves community.

Thanks Lip, you as well. We have a bunch of great regulars on here, and I know we come from different backgrounds and socio-psycho-biological environments. I appreciate all of you, even when you smack me down when I'm inappropriate. I need to be put in my place once in a while.

[WildWolf2813]

I'm having a tougher time compartmentalizing this one, Lip, and it may take a little time. Here's my problem. I understand that NBA players are not like us, and are regularly going to engage in behavior that most of us find questionable...I'm long past worrying about that. My issue here though is with the cavalier way in which Ant is handling this. His "here's $100K so just take care of it and go away" attitude is revolting...especially when directed toward a woman who tells him a prior abortion had been difficult for her.

Ant is a complex guy. I've long thought he might be one of the dumbest guys in the Association, and frankly that has been part of his charm...he acts like a child, and it's often endearing. But in this case I think it's incumbent upon him to act like a man, not a spoiled child. And as a Wolves fan, I worry about whether Ant has some Ja-like self-destruction potential. Last year he had the homophobic instagram post (which fortunately his agent/attorney guided him toward a positive statement, and he didn't lose too much from a PR standpoint). Now only a year later, we get this ugly incident. What are we going to get next with Ant...how close is he to brandishing a gun in a strip club? I suspect he's not too far away from escalating bad behavior. His handlers are again going to direct him toward a proper PR statement, but I suspect this one is not going to be as easy for him. He has already lost his position of most popular T-Wolf to Naz Reid, and I think he is going to lose some fans from this one...maybe even me.

And if we boo Josh Giddey every time he touches the ball, how should we respond to Ant?

All good points, FNG.

Regarding Josh Giddey, I’ll just note that the girl - GIRL - he had sex with was 16 years old. The woman — stress WOMAN - Ant apparently impregnated was nearly 30 years old and sells her sexuality on Instagram, building a net worth of around $30 million. None of that excuses Ant’s immature callous treatment of the situation, but it provides some important perspective in a world that isn’t black and white. There’s a broad spectrum of moral culpability that profoundly distinguishes what Ant did from what Giddey, Miles Bridges or even Ja Morant did.

Sadly, I’ll bet Ant’s texts are similar to hundreds of messages from professional athletes in all sports, and from rock stars and other celebrities, to women they impregnated. Magic Johnson alone might have sent a hundred such messages. I don’t think Ant’s conduct in this instance is a harbinger of future Ja Morant behavior - i.e., brandishing guns, hanging with thugs and punching teenage boys. It certainly doesn’t suggest a future of physically assaulting women a la Miles Bridges. We need to be honest with ourselves and admit that Ant’s conduct in this instance isn’t different from the conduct of many of our favorite athletes, rock stars, actors, and political leaders throughout history.

I hope that someone he trusts will pull Ant aside and get through to him on sexual responsibility and humility. If I were TC, I’d ask Magic Johnson to come to town and meet with Ant. At some point, I can see Ant growing out of this childish, self-centered phase he’s in as he actually experiences fatherhood and other events in life. Let’s not forget he’s barely 22 years old and hasn’t exactly had a solid childhood. I hope Ant’s life’s lessons won’t include HIV - which is something Magic Johnson could stress with Ant. The birth of Ant’s first child could dramatically change his outlook as it often does.

So I’m disappointed in Ant, but I’m not ready yet to dismiss him as a “piece of shit” even though I understand and respect Cool’s reaction. At some point, I might lose my enthusiasm for Ant down the road if we get more news of behavior reflective of a selfish brat rather than a respectable adult. But even respectable adults have serious flaws that don’t make them bad people. Fortunately, we’re typically unaware of the most serious flaws in those we know and interact with in our private lives - unless we’re interacting with celebrities whose lives are typically on display. Meanwhile, I’ll root for Ant not only as a player but as a person and hope that he matures into a better person as most of us do when we move out of our early 20s.

Some of my favorite athletes of all time are guilty of doing something that is frowned upon. It really depends on your threshold. There's a G League player who's gonna be tried for murder and disposing a body. By comparison, Ant's transgressions don't even register (I don't know any guy who wants to impregnate a side chick, let's be real). In the past, I've always said this franchise and its fans overvalue character. If the player who leads us to glory happens to be a dickhead with a messy home life, it's something you have to accept unless winning isn't that important to you. Why? We've booed and wanted significantly nicer guys outta here simply for not being good enough to win. We're gonna forget all about this soon enough and Ant continues to do his thing and the team continues to flourish, for his personal issues aren't ours.

[Lipoli390]

Back to discussing NBA basketball. I still think the Celtics are the best team in the NBA assuming all their key players are healthy and the right head coach.

Regarding health, Porzingis is again having a hard time staying healthy enough to play. Here’s the latest on him:

Jay King: Kristaps Porzingis (left calf strain management) is listed as questionable for tomorrow’s game at Golden State. Yesterday, Porzingis said he and the staff “just started talking about” whether he would play on both legs of the back-to-back. “We don’t have the answer yet. But they know my stance: I want to play in every game they allow me. But of course, they want to be smart with me and my health. Make sure I’m here for the long picture.” – via Twitter ByJayKing

Staying healthy is probably the most important skill for a professional athlete. Porzingis has had a really hard time staying healthy his entire career.

Regarding coaching, the Celtics seem to be at a disadvantage.

So I’m not even sure the Celtics will make the NBA finals. If they do, I’d put my money on the team coming out of the West - which I hope is the Wolves.

[Lipoli390]

Look out for the Clippers. They scored 151 points tonight. I would appear the team is adjusting to the addition of Harden and it seems to be working. They have incredible offensive firepower in Paul George, Kawhi, Harden, Powell and even Westbrook.

[Q-is-here]

Look out for the Clippers. They scored 151 points tonight. I would appear the team is adjusting to the addition of Harden and it seems to be working. They have incredible offensive firepower in Paul George, Kawhi, Harden, Powell and even Westbrook.

Yeah, I was having a hard time squaring their mediocre start with all that talent, but it looks like talent is starting to win out. The real question is can they stay healthy? If they can, they are absolutely in the conversation as a potential WCF team.

[davemang]

Wait. Wiggins... what?

There were rumors about him finding out that his wife cheated on him and that his 2 kids were actually fathered by someone else, leading to his personal time away from the dubs last year. Turns out he was spending time with his dad who had a serious medical situation and the rumors were just fringe sites trying to drum up clicks with made up bs.

[60WinTim]

Memphis with the unlikely comeback against New Orleans with a Ja buzzer beater in the lane.

Nice to give New Orleans another loss!

[Coolbreeze44]

The Celtics lose and the Wolves stand alone at the top of the NBA