Minnesota Sports Forum

monsterpile wrote:I'd be interested to hear from people who have watched the games. I was noticing looking at the stats that Nowell really doesn't take a big volume of 3's it's the lowest amount per 36 although we all realize his NBA career is kind of a small sample size overall. He is shooting more 2 point shots and while he isn't taking the dreaded long 2's he is taking more shots this season from 3 feet out to 16 feet. The percentages aren't amazing in some of those zones (he also won't keep shooting almost 85% at the rim) but they are solid enough. Has Finch and his staff been more willing to let guys do their thing more than just do the supposed modern at the rim shots and 3's?

Monster, first, you need to start watching some games my friend! This is probably the most fun team in a while, so not sure why you've tuned out.

Nowell is unique among the rest of the team in that like KAT, he truly is a three level scorer and probably has the best "close-mid-range" game, meaning in that awkward 3-12 foot range, of anyone on the team. And that's the shot a lot of defenses give folks these days, so he's very valuable because he can beat a good defensive scheme by making the shots they want to give to players. I think Finch knows this and has given him a ton of rope to go out and create shots for himself.

I think he was originally used more as a spot up guy in his first two seasons, but the 3-ball never really came around so he just wasn't that effective. Finch has used him much more as a primary or secondary ball handler this year and he's really got a lot more shake and athleticism than perhaps the early eye tests indicated with him. He's made some dunks this year that I never even saw in his G-league games.

Q-was-here wrote:

FNG wrote:Nowell was fabulous tonight and had a lot to do with this win, but I still say Ant is more effective by a large margin. Ant really impressed me with his on-ball defense tonight (the Knicks announcers noticed it too) while I still see Nowell a little shaky on that end. Ant's a better 3-point shooter too.

Q, tell us where you're coming from with this question.

I give the nod to Ant as well, but honestly, it's close for me. Ant gets the nod primarily because of defense - you simply can't pick on the guy in one-on-one matchups. He still has lapses as an overall team defender, but he is a very switchable defensive presence one on one and teams rarely seek him out. Not the case with Nowell.

On offense however.....This is where it's really close to me. I think the ability to handle the ball, create shots, and generate assists while keeping turnovers down is a really undervalued skill, but it's a big deal to me. Nowell does that. Ant doesn't. For all of Ant's explosiveness, he still has too loose of a handle and makes some ill-timed/advised passes. He's going to get better at it, but I trust Nowell more, even though he doesn't take my breath away like Ant can over stretches. And Nowell is not THAT far away from Ant as a shot-maker/creator. He is sooooo good in that close mid-range area and he's increasingly getting himself to the line too.

That's fair. I agree that he is money on the mid-range...only DLo rivals him on this team in ability to create and make the mid-range jumper.

I'm not sure I'm on board with Cam's take above though that he would take Tyus Jones over Nowell though. I mean, Tyus only went 11-2 filling in while Ja was out. I think Nowell could have easily gone 12-1 or even 13-0 replacing Ja ;).