Kekgeek grades G30 vs Mavs

[kekgeek]

Conley: B-
Ant: B+
Mcdaniels: B-
Kat: D-
Gobert: A
Naz: C+
Naw: C+
Slow Mo: B-
Brown: B-

Finch: B


I know Ant is the controversial one but man after that first stint in the first Q. He was so selfish with the ball, iso after iso, numbers average and pulls for mid range jumpers, his sloppiness with the ball I think lead to an overall team laziness. So he gets credit for carrying offensively from a point standpoint but man watching the game I didn’t think he was great (outside of his first stint where he was fantastic)

[Q-is-here]

Agree with your grades. Yeah, despite the big numbers, Ant threw the ball away 6 times and often failed to make quick, simple passes that would have led to better shots. This is why he's in that 2nd tier of stars versus the top tier.

[Coolbreeze44]

Conley: B-
Ant: B+
Mcdaniels: B-
Kat: D-
Gobert: A
Naz: C+
Naw: C+
Slow Mo: B-
Brown: B-

Finch: B


I know Ant is the controversial one but man after that first stint in the first Q. He was so selfish with the ball, iso after iso, numbers average and pulls for mid range jumpers, his sloppiness with the ball I think lead to an overall team laziness. So he gets credit for carrying offensively from a point standpoint but man watching the game I didn’t think he was great (outside of his first stint where he was fantastic)

I wouldn't give Ant more than a C+. That type of play will kill us eventually.

[Lipoli390]

Agree with your grades. Yeah, despite the big numbers, Ant threw the ball away 6 times and often failed to make quick, simple passes that would have led to better shots. This is why he's in that 2nd tier of stars versus the top tier.

You’re absolutely right about Ant. He’s just not ready yet to be the #1 guy on a championship team and that’s a big reason why I wouldn’t bet on the Wolves becoming champions or even making the League Finals this season. I’ve always thought this team won’t be ready to compete for a championship until Ant is ready. I don’t think he’ll be ready for another couple years when he’ll turn 24. Think about it. Two years from now he’ll still be only 24 years old.

Rudy’s done everything we could possibly expect of him so far this season. I just wish he was 25 and not 31. And I wish Conley was 26, not 36. KAT’s still barely 28, but I get the sense that his body’s starting to break down and we saw him experience a mental regression tonight with 5 turnovers and 5 fouls.

The Wolves still lead the Western Conference so I’m not going to entirely count them out. Let’s hope KAT’s knee feels better and that his mental regression tonight is a rare exception the rest of this season. Management is clearly all in on this season as they should be. But if they’re going to make any moves by the trade deadline, I would suggest they not trade any of their high-upside young talent. In my view that obviously puts Jaden off limits but also Miller and Minott. Unfortunately, without picks (because of the Gobert trade), financial flexibility or excess talent on the roster, I can’t think of any meaningful moves the organization could make to shore up the team’s chances of winning a championship this season. I think it’s a matter of waiting until Ant is ready and hoping that Jaden continues to develop his offensive game and reduces his propensity to commit fouls over the next two seasons. Meanwhile, I’ll continue to enjoy this season and we’ll see where things end up. Perhaps Ant will have a breakthrough mentally and step up into the top tier of stars by the end of the season.

[FNG]

I know this has been said often, but this post-game grading is a fun new feature on this board...thanks Kek (and others)!

We probably look foolish piling on a guy who just scored 44 points. But to me it's an example of the basketball smarts of this board...we are looking more at the big picture than just one game. Finchie said last night that we need to be more mature as a team, and I think we all know who is talking about. Echoing some of the sentiments above, we need Ant to play in a more mature fashion if we are going to challenge for a championship. He frustrates the hell out of me, but if he gets anywhere near his ceiling, he is going to be really special. If...

Terrible game for KAT...how bad is his knee?

SloMo is too good a facilitator to keep throwing sloppy passes to Rudy.

I'm going to bifurcate my grade for our defense last night:

Rotation, help and awareness: D

Steals and blocks: A

Let's go get the Lakers Saturday! They're coming off a win they can be proud of with 41 assists and only 11 TOs (very nice game for DLo)...we're going to have to be much better than tonight to prevail Saturday night.

[Wolvesfan21]

I've always been much more concerned about Ant developing into more of an assist guy then scoring chucker (like he has been a bit to start his career). You like the points to a certain extent. But you do need to make the smart play the vast majority of time. His assists the last couple years haven't been close to all time greats like Wade and LeBron. His leap has to be continuing to up his assists. That will unlock the offense to an even higher level. Not just middle of the pack.

[Q-is-here]

I've always been much more concerned about Ant developing into more of an assist guy then scoring chucker (like he has been a bit to start his career). You like the points to a certain extent. But you do need to make the smart play the vast majority of time. His assists the last couple years haven't been close to all time greats like Wade and LeBron. His leap has to be continuing to up his assists. That will unlock the offense to an even higher level. Not just middle of the pack.

Agreed. The good news is that he has been on an upward trajectory every year, so let's hope that continues. While he hasn't taken a big leap this year, he has improved. One or two more years of improvement at this rate will get him to superstar status. Even if he plateaus at his current level, he's still probably a top 15 player. Just tough to win a title without a top 5 player and he isn't there yet. The NBA is packed with more elite talent than ever.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I get the vibe that Edwards' improved enough as a facilitator to get his 5 or 6 assists nearly every game. That's not bad at all.

The next step is if he's willing to go for 12 or 15 assists (or gulp... get hockey assists) on those nights when defenses are loading up on him.

We all know NBA players check their stats. (A LOT!) Edwards knows how many assists he has in the course of any game.

[thedoper]

All of our offensive options need to be going for this team to look better than decent. When KAT is this bad Ant is going to hog the ball because he is the best option, that is the reality until there are more options. This team isnt really destined to play beautiful basketball offensively because of its personnel.

[60WinTim]

I only saw the 4th quarter last night and it was puke ball. But I watched the 1st quarter this morning and for the most part it was beautiful! It was very Ant-centric, but not only was he on a heater, he was doling out assists, too. Even KAT looked good.

So it must have all gone out the window after that! I’ll try to watch the 2nd and 3rd quarters tonight.