Kekgeek grades G56 vs Bucks

[kekgeek]

I was in the arena tonight but ugly game

Conley: C
Ant: F
Mcdaniels: F
Kat: B
Rudy: B-
Naz: D
Naw: B+
Slow Mo: C
Morris: C


Lip, I have a question for you because you are at more games than I am. Does Ant normally not run through the line in introductions? Also does he normally wear sweats and a random hoodie before going on the court. I legit thought he was a late scratch because in the pre game huddle all the other starters were in jerseys and Ant was in a hoodie and casuals sweats. Thought it was so weird.

Overall always fun to be in the arena, had a fan behind me going batshit crazy at the officials what drove me nuts but besides that had good seats and it was fun to watch Giannis and Dame in person.

[Porckchop]

How does Rudy get a B- as the only starter with a plus rating at +5 12 pts 19 rebs and 2 blocks ? Genuinely curious. Your grades are always on point.

[FNG]

Kek, sorry about you having to shell out $$$ to see a disappointing loss, but still it's fun to see Giannis and Dame. I'm going to take issue with several of your grades though.

Ant: C- I sense you might be frustrated with his poor offensive game, and so am I. Poor shot selection, an inefficient 28 points, and a team-worst -16. But I thought his one-on-one defense when he was matched up on Dame was about the best I've seem from him. But a C- from the guy who is supposed to be our star is not good enough...despite his great defense, I thought Ant cost us a winnable game. He needs to be better if we want to compete for the #1 seed.

Rudy and KAT: A I thought both of them were terrific in this game. 34 points and 33 rebounds (12 offensive!) and tough play at both ends of the court. They did everything they could to offset Ant's bad game.

SloMo: B+ SloMo plays his role against a zone defense so well that teams are forced to exit it quickly...love the way Finchie puts him in the lane and lets him find the open man for a 3. 6 assists, 2 steals and 4 for 4 shooting led to a team-best +9. He made a few sloppy passes though, so no A for him.

Jaden D. His offensive game seems to be broken, and Finchie is going to seriously have to consider giving NAW more of Jaden's minutes, but once again his defense was solid. Nobody can stop Giannis one on one, but I liked what Jaden did.

I'll agree with Conley's C, but I thought he had a very uninspiring game and maybe should be graded worse. We're not going to win many games when our PG has more turnovers than assists.

As always Kek, thanks for teeing up this grades thread most games.

[Carlos Danger]

McDisappear. I'm starting to worry about that contract extension he signed....

[FNG]

McDisappear. I'm starting to worry about that contract extension he signed....

It's a real issue, Anthony. He continues to play solid defense, albeit with too many fouls, but he certainly does disappear on offense. I'm not too worried about the contract, because I think we could trade him for good value if we wanted too. But I think we will keep him and hope that he develops. Perhaps give NAW more of this minutes while he is struggling.

[Carlos Danger]

McDisappear. I'm starting to worry about that contract extension he signed....

It's a real issue, Anthony. He continues to play solid defense, albeit with too many fouls, but he certainly does disappear on offense. I'm not too worried about the contract, because I think we could trade him for good value if we wanted too. But I think we will keep him and hope that he develops. Perhaps give NAW more of this minutes while he is struggling.

Maybe this is reactionary after a shitty game, but with some people worried about the second apron and who to trade...

I'd deal McDaniels for a couple draft picks - problem solved. That's saving $27M/year for the next five years. I think you could push NAW into the starting line up with very little drop off. Then back fill NAW by signing another Troy Brown Jr. or similar. Doing so would come close to bringing us back "whole" from the Rudy trade deficit (in addition to keeping us under the apron). Then draft and develop going forward.

Disclaimer: I reserve the right to change my mind on this. I'm just miffed that McDaniels is not showing up well in any of the stats I track regularly - especially after getting his extension.

[Q-is-here]

McDisappear. I'm starting to worry about that contract extension he signed....

It's a real issue, Anthony. He continues to play solid defense, albeit with too many fouls, but he certainly does disappear on offense. I'm not too worried about the contract, because I think we could trade him for good value if we wanted too. But I think we will keep him and hope that he develops. Perhaps give NAW more of this minutes while he is struggling.

Maybe this is reactionary after a shitty game, but with some people worried about the second apron and who to trade...

I'd deal McDaniels for a couple draft picks - problem solved. That's saving $27M/year for the next five years. I think you could push NAW into the starting line up with very little drop off. Then back fill NAW by signing another Troy Brown Jr. or similar. Doing so would come close to bringing us back "whole" from the Rudy trade deficit (in addition to keeping us under the apron). Then draft and develop going forward.

Disclaimer: I reserve the right to change my mind on this. I'm just miffed that McDaniels is not showing up well in any of the stats I track regularly - especially after getting his extension.

Yeah, I think that is definitely something that might be considered. Dane Moore thinks Naz is the more likely one to get traded. Bigs are easier to replace than 3 & D wings. And don't forget we have Leonard Miller in the pipeline. May be the front office has more faith in Miller than I do!

Naz won't yield two firsts, but we can probably get one 1st plus salary relief.

[kekgeek]

Kek, sorry about you having to shell out $$$ to see a disappointing loss, but still it's fun to see Giannis and Dame. I'm going to take issue with several of your grades though.

Ant: C- I sense you might be frustrated with his poor offensive game, and so am I. Poor shot selection, an inefficient 28 points, and a team-worst -16. But I thought his one-on-one defense when he was matched up on Dame was about the best I've seem from him. But a C- from the guy who is supposed to be our star is not good enough...despite his great defense, I thought Ant cost us a winnable game. He needs to be better if we want to compete for the #1 seed.

Rudy and KAT: A I thought both of them were terrific in this game. 34 points and 33 rebounds (12 offensive!) and tough play at both ends of the court. They did everything they could to offset Ant's bad game.

SloMo: B+ SloMo plays his role against a zone defense so well that teams are forced to exit it quickly...love the way Finchie puts him in the lane and lets him find the open man for a 3. 6 assists, 2 steals and 4 for 4 shooting led to a team-best +9. He made a few sloppy passes though, so no A for him.

Jaden D. His offensive game seems to be broken, and Finchie is going to seriously have to consider giving NAW more of Jaden's minutes, but once again his defense was solid. Nobody can stop Giannis one on one, but I liked what Jaden did.

I'll agree with Conley's C, but I thought he had a very uninspiring game and maybe should be graded worse. We're not going to win many games when our PG has more turnovers than assists.

As always Kek, thanks for teeing up this grades thread most games.

I strongly disagree with you on Ant. Ant was so lazy, shot terrible (besides when he got hot when the game because a 3 possession game late), he was not the reason Dame struggled with Conley being his primary defender and Jaden guarding him late. Yes Ant had a couple good defensive possessions on Dame but that was far and few between.

With a minute left wolves down 6. Bucks ball, Dame and Portis ran a PnR and Ant was on Giannis at the top of the key. Dame misses the layup and Ant was in Lala land and put 0 effort in boxing out or getting a rebound and Giannis sprints in for the put back and gets fouled.

Very next possession after Ant hits a 3 to make it a 4 pt game with 45 seconds left, Ant sends a double out of nowhere and the Bucks get to play a 2 on 1 against Rudy for Crowder easy layup. Now I don’t if they called for the double but because they wolves had not doubled all game and Rudy and Finch reaction after the layup I’m thinking Ant did this by himself.

Along with this Ant stared down Stephen A Smith the whole game after he made a bucket (to be fair it was only 4 times until Ant got hot late in the game). That’s why I asked Lip if Ant never participates in pre game this with his teammates because he didn’t come out in introductions, wasn’t in the players only pre game huddle, was wearing a different hoodie and sweats as the rest of the team and they had to wait an extra 30 seconds for Ant to enter the court because he did not have his warmup gear off. I legit thought he was a late scratch.

All this along with Ant being quoted after the game saying “you know how it after the break, I’m out of shape right now” makes me think Ant ate like shit over the all star break.

I’m still cool with my Kat grade, he just didn’t shoot well. I agree that Rudy and Slow Mo probably deserve a slight upgrade.

But Ant deserves the F, he’s 22 but he was so bad last night and it was not just his terrible shooting night that made me think that.

[FNG]

I'm not going to go overboard defending Ant last night, Kek...I thought he cost us the game.