Minnesota Sports Forum

AbeVigodaLive wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 3:46 pm

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 2:24 pm

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 1:08 pm

He's no Luka, but you're blind if you haven't seen some improvements.

He does nothing but look for his own offense, and the ball stagnates when he is playing lead guard. I'm sorry fanboys, it's the truth.

Not everything is black/white or absolute.

We all know your dislike for Edwards is growing... and growing. It's pretty obvious. Lol. But these things can all be true... Edwards is improving (or even pretty good) as lead guard, he's taken it more seriously, and the ball sure seems to stick or stagnate when he has it more than it does with others.

The rub is do we really want Edwards to play the lead guard spot like a Mike Conley? The ball SHOULD stick with Edwards more than with other players. That's just the game of basketball.

The guy is averaging 29 ppg on 50/40/80 splits and the team is 7th in offensive rating. I get that it's not everyone's style to watch Edwards "get his" at times. But one thing I've learned after playing, coaching and watching A LOT of basketball over the past few decades... sometimes you just need bucket getters. There are times they're easy to love... and other times, frustrating as hell or even easy to hate. But it's good to have one, especially if they're efficient like Edwards has proven to be.




[Note: As for PGs/lead guards who get everyone involved. That's my favorite type of player. Ever. If you want to call me a fanboy... I'm all in if you're accusing me of being a Steve Nash, John Stockton, or even Isiah Thomas fanboy. You'd be 100% accurate.

Mike Conley had a great quote today that sorta shows his value to the team. He talked about knowing when to get certain guys involved. I consider it a skill... or even an art. An intrinsic ability to just feel the game. The rub with that is that it's 2026. Those guys are being phased out of today's game. They're being replaced by lead guards who can manipulate the entire floor.

Trust me... nobody will miss the Mike Conley type more than this 6'0" pass-first PG who hopes to play that way into his 70s or 80s... but that doesn't mean I'm going to scream at clouds about it either. The NBA game has changed.]

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 2:24 pm

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 1:08 pm

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 12:22 pm Point #7 is bullshit

He's no Luka, but you're blind if you haven't seen some improvements.

He does nothing but look for his own offense, and the ball stagnates when he is playing lead guard. I'm sorry fanboys, it's the truth.

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 6:33 pm

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 2:24 pm

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 1:08 pm

He's no Luka, but you're blind if you haven't seen some improvements.

He does nothing but look for his own offense, and the ball stagnates when he is playing lead guard. I'm sorry fanboys, it's the truth.

Yes there are times I yell at the tv for Ant, Randle, and Naz to pass the ball. Sometimes Rudy when he's in no mans land near the post. He's a superstar in the Jordan and Kobe mold, they are going to stagnate with the ball. Jordan did get better at passing later in his career. Ant is working on his game every single night and offseason. It's going to be a long 3 years, 5, years, or even 15 years for you if you can't separate Ant in real life and Ant on the basketball court. He is going to be here for as long as he wants to be here, and unless he asks for a trade out, our play style is not going to change. He will continue to hone his game and evolve along the way.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 5:40 pm Thanks for the rundown Lip! Very good information. Also a good thing for them it came off a 3-game win streak. Not sure how the tone would have been if it happened after the Atlanta game!

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 6:33 pm

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 2:24 pm

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 1:08 pm

He's no Luka, but you're blind if you haven't seen some improvements.

He does nothing but look for his own offense, and the ball stagnates when he is playing lead guard. I'm sorry fanboys, it's the truth.

Yes there are times I yell at the tv for Ant, Randle, and Naz to pass the ball. Sometimes Rudy when he's in no mans land near the post. He's a superstar in the Jordan and Kobe mold, they are going to stagnate with the ball. Jordan did get better at passing later in his career. Ant is working on his game every single night and offseason. It's going to be a long 3 years, 5, years, or even 15 years for you if you can't separate Ant in real life and Ant on the basketball court. He is going to be here for as long as he wants to be here, and unless he asks for a trade out, our play style is not going to change. He will continue to hone his game and evolve along the way.

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 10:15 pm

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 6:33 pm

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 2:24 pm

He does nothing but look for his own offense, and the ball stagnates when he is playing lead guard. I'm sorry fanboys, it's the truth.

Yes there are times I yell at the tv for Ant, Randle, and Naz to pass the ball. Sometimes Rudy when he's in no mans land near the post. He's a superstar in the Jordan and Kobe mold, they are going to stagnate with the ball. Jordan did get better at passing later in his career. Ant is working on his game every single night and offseason. It's going to be a long 3 years, 5, years, or even 15 years for you if you can't separate Ant in real life and Ant on the basketball court. He is going to be here for as long as he wants to be here, and unless he asks for a trade out, our play style is not going to change. He will continue to hone his game and evolve along the way.

And remember that it took Phil Jackson and the triangle offense to loosen MJ’s grip on the ball, although he remained ball dominant throughout his career. Finch made clear last night that Ant is a work in progress in this role but the improvement is there. Tim emphasized that Ant and Jaden are still young and haven’t achieved their full potential yet. One of Ant’s best qualities is that he sets his mind to developing particular facets of his game and ends up being highly successful each time he does. He started his NBA careers as a mediocre to poor three-point shooter coming out of college. He’s now elite in that area. Since then he’s devoted himself to developing his low post and mid-range games. Again, he’s been successful in both areas while retaining his elite 3-point prowess. He initially neglected his physical conditioning. He now seems very well conditioned. Apparently, he’s now being challenged be become our de facto lead guard and Finch said he’s taken that challenge to heart. His head coach noted his improvement in that area last night and I think we’ve all seen it recently ourselves. Does he still have a long way to go? Yes. Will he ever be a Mike Conley game manager? No. Is it my preference to have Ant in that role? No. But he can be highly effective in that role just as MJ, Kobe and Dwayne Wade were effective when they served in that role for their respective championship teams.

Over time, I expect Ant to improve his decision making and while he’ll always have sticky hands like all dominant NBA scorers I expect his hands will become a bit less sticky. Maybe we should bring in Kurt Rambis to install the triangle. . I also expect Ant to become more consistent defensively. Those are the challenges in front of Ant and he’s already established a track record of successfully meeting challenges to improve his game.

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 7:13 pm

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 6:33 pm

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 2:24 pm

He does nothing but look for his own offense, and the ball stagnates when he is playing lead guard. I'm sorry fanboys, it's the truth.

Yes there are times I yell at the tv for Ant, Randle, and Naz to pass the ball. Sometimes Rudy when he's in no mans land near the post. He's a superstar in the Jordan and Kobe mold, they are going to stagnate with the ball. Jordan did get better at passing later in his career. Ant is working on his game every single night and offseason. It's going to be a long 3 years, 5, years, or even 15 years for you if you can't separate Ant in real life and Ant on the basketball court. He is going to be here for as long as he wants to be here, and unless he asks for a trade out, our play style is not going to change. He will continue to hone his game and evolve along the way.

I promise you I don't dislike Ant. He's just not MJ or Kobe or any other number of superstars. If I don't lend some objectivity to this discussion, no one will.

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 7:13 pm

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 6:33 pm

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 2:24 pm

He does nothing but look for his own offense, and the ball stagnates when he is playing lead guard. I'm sorry fanboys, it's the truth.

Yes there are times I yell at the tv for Ant, Randle, and Naz to pass the ball. Sometimes Rudy when he's in no mans land near the post. He's a superstar in the Jordan and Kobe mold, they are going to stagnate with the ball. Jordan did get better at passing later in his career. Ant is working on his game every single night and offseason. It's going to be a long 3 years, 5, years, or even 15 years for you if you can't separate Ant in real life and Ant on the basketball court. He is going to be here for as long as he wants to be here, and unless he asks for a trade out, our play style is not going to change. He will continue to hone his game and evolve along the way.

I promise you I don't dislike Ant. He's just not MJ or Kobe or any other number of superstars. If I don't lend some objectivity to this discussion, no one will.

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 09, 2026 5:55 pm

Coolbreeze44 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 7:13 pm

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 08, 2026 6:33 pm

Yes there are times I yell at the tv for Ant, Randle, and Naz to pass the ball. Sometimes Rudy when he's in no mans land near the post. He's a superstar in the Jordan and Kobe mold, they are going to stagnate with the ball. Jordan did get better at passing later in his career. Ant is working on his game every single night and offseason. It's going to be a long 3 years, 5, years, or even 15 years for you if you can't separate Ant in real life and Ant on the basketball court. He is going to be here for as long as he wants to be here, and unless he asks for a trade out, our play style is not going to change. He will continue to hone his game and evolve along the way.

I promise you I don't dislike Ant. He's just not MJ or Kobe or any other number of superstars. If I don't lend some objectivity to this discussion, no one will.

So that's what you call it