Camden wrote:I might be in the minority here. I'm a fan of Ant's weight and strength gain. I haven't seen a decrease in explosiveness this preseason, but I have seen him more effectively use his chest/leverage on defense. He can't be easily moved off his spot. I also think the additional weight will make him tougher to stop in the paint. Specifically, I think he'll be able to drive into bigs walling up and dish some punishment while still having the strength to convert the lay. One area we need to see Ant grow this year is free throw rate. My hope is that with the added mass he'll be more aggressive in seeking contact, which will result in more trips to the charity stripe, therefore resulting in an even more efficient scorer.
That's all speculation on my part, but I see his weight gain as a positive.
To me the ascension of Edwards into being a top ____Player is more about what he can do on defense than offense. The guy is already good as an offensive player (yes there is room to improve) there is lots of scoring available and he will he playing next to a PG most of his minutes. Below is a clip of his D with multiple efforts on one possession. I think last year Edwards became a 2-way player but if he becomes a legit good defensive player night in night out and giving consistent effort on that side. Damn.
Camden wrote:I might be in the minority here. I'm a fan of Ant's weight and strength gain. I haven't seen a decrease in explosiveness this preseason, but I have seen him more effectively use his chest/leverage on defense. He can't be easily moved off his spot. I also think the additional weight will make him tougher to stop in the paint. Specifically, I think he'll be able to drive into bigs walling up and dish some punishment while still having the strength to convert the lay. One area we need to see Ant grow this year is free throw rate. My hope is that with the added mass he'll be more aggressive in seeking contact, which will result in more trips to the charity stripe, therefore resulting in an even more efficient scorer.
That's all speculation on my part, but I see his weight gain as a positive.
To me the ascension of Edwards into being a top ____Player is more about what he can do on defense than offense. The guy is already good as an offensive player (yes there is room to improve) there is lots of scoring available and he will he playing next to a PG most of his minutes. Below is a clip of his D with multiple efforts on one possession. I think last year Edwards became a 2-way player but if he becomes a legit good defensive player night in night out and giving consistent effort on that side. Damn.
It's very easy to envision a scenario where Ant was drafted by a franchise completely rebuilding (take Houston for example) and he'd be given the keys to the offense right away. You have to wonder if he'd ever develop into much of a defender on a team where he'd carry a super high usage and have multiple 20 or 30 win seasons to start his career. We know that Ant's natural tendency coming out of Georgia was to hunt shots and take a back seat on defense
The presence of DLO, KAT, and a head coach like Finch means that Ant has not been given the keys to the offense and therefore has had to develop himself into 2-way player. Hopefully that process continues this season.
Camden wrote:I might be in the minority here. I'm a fan of Ant's weight and strength gain. I haven't seen a decrease in explosiveness this preseason, but I have seen him more effectively use his chest/leverage on defense. He can't be easily moved off his spot. I also think the additional weight will make him tougher to stop in the paint. Specifically, I think he'll be able to drive into bigs walling up and dish some punishment while still having the strength to convert the lay. One area we need to see Ant grow this year is free throw rate. My hope is that with the added mass he'll be more aggressive in seeking contact, which will result in more trips to the charity stripe, therefore resulting in an even more efficient scorer.
That's all speculation on my part, but I see his weight gain as a positive.
Agree here. Ants long term value will be learning to utilize his strength akin to
Lebron rather than just athleticism. He doesnt need to be much heavier than now but if he can regularly finish through contact (and start getting those calls) he's going to get even more room for his shot.
Camden wrote:I might be in the minority here. I'm a fan of Ant's weight and strength gain. I haven't seen a decrease in explosiveness this preseason, but I have seen him more effectively use his chest/leverage on defense. He can't be easily moved off his spot. I also think the additional weight will make him tougher to stop in the paint. Specifically, I think he'll be able to drive into bigs walling up and dish some punishment while still having the strength to convert the lay. One area we need to see Ant grow this year is free throw rate. My hope is that with the added mass he'll be more aggressive in seeking contact, which will result in more trips to the charity stripe, therefore resulting in an even more efficient scorer.
That's all speculation on my part, but I see his weight gain as a positive.
Agree here. Ants long term value will be learning to utilize his strength akin to
Lebron rather than just athleticism. He doesnt need to be much heavier than now but if he can regularly finish through contact (and start getting those calls) he's going to get even more room for his shot.
I think Ant is almost TOO good at getting to the rim because his footwork and ability to finish on either side makes it hard to hack him even if the defender wanted to. He uses his big body to shield the defender, so he avoids contact on his shooting arm and the refs are less likely to call fouls when it's more body to body.
