Judgement Day - Wolves at Thunder Game 5 GDT

[Q-is-here]

I guess you didn't watch KAT single handedly carry the Knicks to -a win over the Pacers. He played great against Jokic last year. 38%? Guys a career 50% plus shooter and for a big, he's one of best outside shooters and free throw shooters in the game. He's a better defender than Randle. And overall, he's much better than that turnover machine Randle who folds when he's pressured.

One more item about KAT, he's made the conference finals two years in a row with two different teams and he beat the returning champion twice: Denver in 2024 and Boston in 2025.

He played great against Denver, but the major points remain. The dude is a rollercoaster, from great to trash and it's about a coin flip every game in the playoffs (see Mavs series). You see the upside but ignore his glaring weaknesses. You simply can't have a sieve for a center and win a championship IMO. That is the ultimate bottom line. Then when he shoots 38% in the WCF and fails miserably at what he is suppose to be good at? No thanks bud.

As a guy with a KG logo you should know that defense matters most in the playoffs. You give me great offense 50% of the time but never great defense (not paired with Rudy). No thanks.

I'm not defending Ju here either, his defense is lackluster and lazy way too much also. You could give me KAT for free, I'd pass.

KAT was never the problem. He's certainly has his flaws, but what Wolf doesn't have flaws? He's not a great defender, but he's not a sieve like DLO or Ju either. He's very elite offensive player with career regular season averages of 52.4, 40.0 and 83.7. How many players have better offensive percentages across the board? Very few. Ju is more flawed than KAT, so he's a definite downgrade and I'd gladly give Ju away for free and maybe even add a pick to help get rid of him. KAT is better player than all the Wolves except for Ant. Maybe Jaden if he got better coaching and started asserting himself more on offensive has the potential to be better, but he's not there yet.

KAT's playoff Net Rating this year: -1.4
Julius's playoff Net Rating this year: +3.5

KAT's playoff TS% this year: 60.3%
Julius's playoff TS% this year: 62.2%

KAT's playoff TOs + Fouls per game: 6.4
Julius's playoff TOs + Fouls per game: 6.3

KAT's playoff PPG: 21.3
Julius's playoff PPG: 21.7

KAT rebounds more, Julius assists more.

I agree both are flawed players, but you make Julius out to be this albatross hanging over the franchise while pining for the halcyon days of KAT. I'm struggling to see the massive gap you are describing.

[Wolvesfan21]

I guess you didn't watch KAT single handedly carry the Knicks to -a win over the Pacers. He played great against Jokic last year. 38%? Guys a career 50% plus shooter and for a big, he's one of best outside shooters and free throw shooters in the game. He's a better defender than Randle. And overall, he's much better than that turnover machine Randle who folds when he's pressured.

One more item about KAT, he's made the conference finals two years in a row with two different teams and he beat the returning champion twice: Denver in 2024 and Boston in 2025.

He played great against Denver, but the major points remain. The dude is a rollercoaster, from great to trash and it's about a coin flip every game in the playoffs (see Mavs series). You see the upside but ignore his glaring weaknesses. You simply can't have a sieve for a center and win a championship IMO. That is the ultimate bottom line. Then when he shoots 38% in the WCF and fails miserably at what he is suppose to be good at? No thanks bud.

As a guy with a KG logo you should know that defense matters most in the playoffs. You give me great offense 50% of the time but never great defense (not paired with Rudy). No thanks.

I'm not defending Ju here either, his defense is lackluster and lazy way too much also. You could give me KAT for free, I'd pass.

KAT was never the problem. He's certainly has his flaws, but what Wolf doesn't have flaws? He's not a great defender, but he's not a sieve like DLO or Ju either. He's very elite offensive player with career regular season averages of 52.4, 40.0 and 83.7. How many players have better offensive percentages across the board? Very few. Ju is more flawed than KAT, so he's a definite downgrade and I'd gladly give Ju away for free and maybe even add a pick to help get rid of him. KAT is better player than all the Wolves except for Ant. Maybe Jaden if he got better coaching and started asserting himself more on offensive has the potential to be better, but he's not there yet.

He is bad on defense, he fouls too much, gets into foul trouble and then is a cone for the other team. I tried to defend him as avg on defense, but eventually I had to realize he wasn't. Why do you think we brought in Rudy and all of a sudden were a title contender? DEFENSE.

Also Rudy is a far better player then KAT. I blame the other players/coaching for not learning to throw easy lob dunks to him consistently. That's his bread and butter.

Utah had I believe the number 1 and number 3 ranked offenses with Rudy. Think about that. Is Spider that much better then Ant? I don't think so.

[Wolvesfan21]

He played great against Denver, but the major points remain. The dude is a rollercoaster, from great to trash and it's about a coin flip every game in the playoffs (see Mavs series). You see the upside but ignore his glaring weaknesses. You simply can't have a sieve for a center and win a championship IMO. That is the ultimate bottom line. Then when he shoots 38% in the WCF and fails miserably at what he is suppose to be good at? No thanks bud.

As a guy with a KG logo you should know that defense matters most in the playoffs. You give me great offense 50% of the time but never great defense (not paired with Rudy). No thanks.

I'm not defending Ju here either, his defense is lackluster and lazy way too much also. You could give me KAT for free, I'd pass.

KAT was never the problem. He's certainly has his flaws, but what Wolf doesn't have flaws? He's not a great defender, but he's not a sieve like DLO or Ju either. He's very elite offensive player with career regular season averages of 52.4, 40.0 and 83.7. How many players have better offensive percentages across the board? Very few. Ju is more flawed than KAT, so he's a definite downgrade and I'd gladly give Ju away for free and maybe even add a pick to help get rid of him. KAT is better player than all the Wolves except for Ant. Maybe Jaden if he got better coaching and started asserting himself more on offensive has the potential to be better, but he's not there yet.

KAT's playoff Net Rating this year: -1.4
Julius's playoff Net Rating this year: +3.5

KAT's playoff TS% this year: 60.3%
Julius's playoff TS% this year: 62.2%

KAT's playoff TOs + Fouls per game: 6.4
Julius's playoff TOs + Fouls per game: 6.3

KAT's playoff PPG: 21.3
Julius's playoff PPG: 21.7

KAT rebounds more, Julius assists more.

I agree both are flawed players, but you make Julius out to be this albatross hanging over the franchise while pining for the halcyon days of KAT. I'm struggling to see the massive gap you are describing.

Nice stat dig. I agree that they are even comparable. The other thing with KAT is that he doesn't use his 3 ball or can't very much in the playoffs. I wonder what his playoff 3P percentages are along with attempts, versus regular season. He was never shooting or making it enough for us as my overall thought.

Then factor that Ju makes nearly HALF of what Kat makes? Is it even close???

[KG4Ever]

The only way Ju ever favorably compares to KAT is when you resort to small sample sizes. So these anti-KAT posts pick and choose a small period of time that works to your advantage. Lets start with career numbers and do honest comparisons.
I don't have the time to educate nitwits.

[KG4Ever]

He played great against Denver, but the major points remain. The dude is a rollercoaster, from great to trash and it's about a coin flip every game in the playoffs (see Mavs series). You see the upside but ignore his glaring weaknesses. You simply can't have a sieve for a center and win a championship IMO. That is the ultimate bottom line. Then when he shoots 38% in the WCF and fails miserably at what he is suppose to be good at? No thanks bud.

As a guy with a KG logo you should know that defense matters most in the playoffs. You give me great offense 50% of the time but never great defense (not paired with Rudy). No thanks.

I'm not defending Ju here either, his defense is lackluster and lazy way too much also. You could give me KAT for free, I'd pass.

KAT was never the problem. He's certainly has his flaws, but what Wolf doesn't have flaws? He's not a great defender, but he's not a sieve like DLO or Ju either. He's very elite offensive player with career regular season averages of 52.4, 40.0 and 83.7. How many players have better offensive percentages across the board? Very few. Ju is more flawed than KAT, so he's a definite downgrade and I'd gladly give Ju away for free and maybe even add a pick to help get rid of him. KAT is better player than all the Wolves except for Ant. Maybe Jaden if he got better coaching and started asserting himself more on offensive has the potential to be better, but he's not there yet.

KAT's playoff Net Rating this year: -1.4
Julius's playoff Net Rating this year: +3.5

KAT's playoff TS% this year: 60.3%
Julius's playoff TS% this year: 62.2%

KAT's playoff TOs + Fouls per game: 6.4
Julius's playoff TOs + Fouls per game: 6.3

KAT's playoff PPG: 21.3
Julius's playoff PPG: 21.7

KAT rebounds more, Julius assists more.

I agree both are flawed players, but you make Julius out to be this albatross hanging over the franchise while pining for the halcyon days of KAT. I'm struggling to see the massive gap you are describing.

Ju milked his stats against terrible GS without Curry and in garbage time in Game 4. Lets look at the regular season, where KAT led the Knicks in plus minus and was like plus 5 or 6 per game (I don't have time to look it up) and Ju was near the bottom of the starters at around plus 1.5.

[KG4Ever]

I noticed that Ju had his best play in the OKC series during garbage time. He was dogsh*t when the game was close enough for OKC to pressure him and he routinely coughed up the ball. When OKC relaxed as the game was out of reach, Ju put on a cape and was a garbage time star. Hope Ju is gone as he is trash!

[Q-is-here]

KAT was never the problem. He's certainly has his flaws, but what Wolf doesn't have flaws? He's not a great defender, but he's not a sieve like DLO or Ju either. He's very elite offensive player with career regular season averages of 52.4, 40.0 and 83.7. How many players have better offensive percentages across the board? Very few. Ju is more flawed than KAT, so he's a definite downgrade and I'd gladly give Ju away for free and maybe even add a pick to help get rid of him. KAT is better player than all the Wolves except for Ant. Maybe Jaden if he got better coaching and started asserting himself more on offensive has the potential to be better, but he's not there yet.

KAT's playoff Net Rating this year: -1.4
Julius's playoff Net Rating this year: +3.5

KAT's playoff TS% this year: 60.3%
Julius's playoff TS% this year: 62.2%

KAT's playoff TOs + Fouls per game: 6.4
Julius's playoff TOs + Fouls per game: 6.3

KAT's playoff PPG: 21.3
Julius's playoff PPG: 21.7

KAT rebounds more, Julius assists more.

I agree both are flawed players, but you make Julius out to be this albatross hanging over the franchise while pining for the halcyon days of KAT. I'm struggling to see the massive gap you are describing.

Ju milked his stats against terrible GS without Curry and in garbage time in Game 4. Lets look at the regular season, where KAT led the Knicks in plus minus and was like plus 5 or 6 per game (I don't have time to look it up) and Ju was near the bottom of the starters at around plus 1.5.

How does one milk his stats against Draymond Green!? It wasn't Curry that was going to be guarding him!

I guess if you are going to totally throw out the playoffs as meaning anything, then what are we even doing here?

I'm not even trying to diminish KAT's accomplishments - just trying to show that there isn't much of a gap in production despite their being a MASSIVE gap in contract value.

[KG4Ever]

KAT was plus 26 tonight helping the Knicks win another game. I am a KAT fan, but I'm rooting for Indiana as I don't like the Knicks or Thibs.

[KG4Ever]

KAT's playoff Net Rating this year: -1.4
Julius's playoff Net Rating this year: +3.5

KAT's playoff TS% this year: 60.3%
Julius's playoff TS% this year: 62.2%

KAT's playoff TOs + Fouls per game: 6.4
Julius's playoff TOs + Fouls per game: 6.3

KAT's playoff PPG: 21.3
Julius's playoff PPG: 21.7

KAT rebounds more, Julius assists more.

I agree both are flawed players, but you make Julius out to be this albatross hanging over the franchise while pining for the halcyon days of KAT. I'm struggling to see the massive gap you are describing.

Ju milked his stats against terrible GS without Curry and in garbage time in Game 4. Lets look at the regular season, where KAT led the Knicks in plus minus and was like plus 5 or 6 per game (I don't have time to look it up) and Ju was near the bottom of the starters at around plus 1.5.

How does one milk his stats against Draymond Green!? It wasn't Curry that was going to be guarding him!

I guess if you are going to totally throw out the playoffs as meaning anything, then what are we even doing here?

I'm not even trying to diminish KAT's accomplishments - just trying to show that there isn't much of a gap in production despite their being a MASSIVE gap in contract value.

Your bringing up irrelevant crap. I'm talking plus minus stats which were easy to pad against a Warriors team playing without Curry.