FNG wrote: ↑Fri Mar 13, 2026 3:24 pm
Yeah, Ant might be considered a rich man's Zach Lavine, which is far from the worst thing in the league. But as to your point about the guys having to hit shots, only the Lakers and the Nuggets have a higher shooting percentage than the Wolves' 48.4%, and Ant is barely above average on the team at 49.2%. I'll grant that Ant is better than anyone on the team in creating his own shot, but he's no better than average in making his shots. Getting the ball to open teammates would do so much for this offense.
This is an extremely disingenuous representation of how basketball even works. FG% isn't all the helpful of a stat either cause it explains nothing about what kind of shot was taken.
Anyway, I listened to the episode as well and it was certainly gloomy haha.
I'll point out however, that even Dane mentioned -and I agree- that the difficulty with beating two on the ball defences for this team is that the outlet is often Rudy.....which when it doesn't work is pretty ugly, which lowers confidence in future possessions.
In both the Lakers game and Clippers game, Ant actually tried several times to get Rudy the ball out of the double team and I don't think a single on of those possessions led to a positive outcome.
Now I'm not really trying to defend Ant cause his defense was just atrocious in the clippers game, just awful, and I also really don't understand how he is such a bad passer- and seemingly worse this year. In the past he's also been pretty good at drive and kicks to the corner- which is a play that has almost completely disappeared. He also did all this work on his mid game and I really hoped that would open up playmaking from that spot of the floor, lobs in particular, which just hasn't happened.
For me, at the end of the day, there are fundamental problems with the roster and executing within its context. I actually wonder if this isnt a least part of the reason for the difficultly or unwillingness to follow the game plan.
I think Ant can pass well, but he has focused more on getting his own. Too many tough 2 point shots which are really low EFG% shots. Now I guess it's fine to work on them in the regular season as they can be viable down the stretch late game situations in the playoffs, but I'd much rather see a pass to the corner / top of the key as you say be the priority in the playoffs, versus the tough 2. I think thats more reserved for later game spots.
I think the right blend will come in time, but maybe we're asking too much for it to be this year/postseason.
FNG wrote: ↑Fri Mar 13, 2026 3:24 pm
Yeah, Ant might be considered a rich man's Zach Lavine, which is far from the worst thing in the league. But as to your point about the guys having to hit shots, only the Lakers and the Nuggets have a higher shooting percentage than the Wolves' 48.4%, and Ant is barely above average on the team at 49.2%. I'll grant that Ant is better than anyone on the team in creating his own shot, but he's no better than average in making his shots. Getting the ball to open teammates would do so much for this offense.
This is an extremely disingenuous representation of how basketball even works. FG% isn't all the helpful of a stat either cause it explains nothing about what kind of shot was taken.
Anyway, I listened to the episode as well and it was certainly gloomy haha.
I'll point out however, that even Dane mentioned -and I agree- that the difficulty with beating two on the ball defences for this team is that the outlet is often Rudy.....which when it doesn't work is pretty ugly, which lowers confidence in future possessions.
In both the Lakers game and Clippers game, Ant actually tried several times to get Rudy the ball out of the double team and I don't think a single on of those possessions led to a positive outcome.
Now I'm not really trying to defend Ant cause his defense was just atrocious in the clippers game, just awful, and I also really don't understand how he is such a bad passer- and seemingly worse this year. In the past he's also been pretty good at drive and kicks to the corner- which is a play that has almost completely disappeared. He also did all this work on his mid game and I really hoped that would open up playmaking from that spot of the floor, lobs in particular, which just hasn't happened.
For me, at the end of the day, there are fundamental problems with the roster and executing within its context. I actually wonder if this isnt a least part of the reason for the difficultly or unwillingness to follow the game plan.
I think Ant can pass well, but he has focused more on getting his own. Too many tough 2 point shots which are really low EFG% shots. Now I guess it's fine to work on them in the regular season as they can be viable down the stretch late game situations in the playoffs, but I'd much rather see a pass to the corner / top of the key as you say be the priority in the playoffs, versus the tough 2. I think thats more reserved for later game spots.
I think the right blend will come in time, but maybe we're asking too much for it to be this year/postseason.
He absolutely can pass well, but to my memory the quality of his passes have become a lot worse or lazier this year
Thankfully Ant's assist average has risen every year during the postseason. Over the last 3 years he goes from an averaging 4.7 assist a game to 5.7 during the playoffs. Perhaps we'll see a similar jump this year
