Minnesota Sports Forum

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Fri May 01, 2026 8:43 am Timberwolves are the 1st Minnesota men‘s team in 41 years to advance past the 1st round in 3 consecutive seasons (1983-85 North Stars). The only other men’s team that’s ever done it: 1949-55 Minneapolis Lakers (7 seasons). The 2011-17 Lynx are the recent champs, also 7 seasons in a row

[Gleeman] Timberwolves now have more playoff wins in the last three seasons (22) than they had in the previous 34 seasons combined (21).

FNG wrote: ↑Sun May 10, 2026 10:43 am Thanks for taking the time to do this, Q...I'm sure we all have mixed emotions reviewing this. Yes, I'm sure Donte would blow everyone away in the 2-way stats...so impressive we're having a decent postseason without him.

But the Ant/Ju stuff highlights the bizarre nature of this team...can we really consider ourselves a championship contender when our "stars" don't perform like true contenders' stars? We can choose to use the injury excuse for Ant, but he's not even on the injury list for the second consecutive game. And unfortunately he ranked near the bottom of the team in deep analytics during the regular season too while he was healthy. It ain't the knee. guys. If you were to compare Ant's numbers in the categories you document...both for the playoffs and the regular season...it would be easy to see that two teams likely to meet in the finals have a true star that stirs their drink and we don't. He is so offensively gifted, dynamic and charismatic, it's easy to bury our head in the sand and say Ant is okay. But just like the ball, the numbers don't lie.

The silver lining? We have Finchy and his coaching staff and a terrific supporting cast behind Ant...they are collectively so good we have been able to be competitive in this postseason without Donte and with not enough at all from Ant. And while Ant took a big step back on defense this season, he made some positive progress in his offensive game as he seems to do every offseason and I also think in his maturity. The rest of our roster and coaching staff are so good we don't need Ant to be SGA or Wemby. But we need his deep analytic numbers to be closer to theirs than they are to Bones Hyland's. Ant is both the current thing holding us back from being a true contender, and the solution. I'm not giving up on him...yet.

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Sun May 10, 2026 10:47 am

FNG wrote: ↑Sun May 10, 2026 10:43 am Thanks for taking the time to do this, Q...I'm sure we all have mixed emotions reviewing this. Yes, I'm sure Donte would blow everyone away in the 2-way stats...so impressive we're having a decent postseason without him.

But the Ant/Ju stuff highlights the bizarre nature of this team...can we really consider ourselves a championship contender when our "stars" don't perform like true contenders' stars? We can choose to use the injury excuse for Ant, but he's not even on the injury list for the second consecutive game. And unfortunately he ranked near the bottom of the team in deep analytics during the regular season too while he was healthy. It ain't the knee. guys. If you were to compare Ant's numbers in the categories you document...both for the playoffs and the regular season...it would be easy to see that two teams likely to meet in the finals have a true star that stirs their drink and we don't. He is so offensively gifted, dynamic and charismatic, it's easy to bury our head in the sand and say Ant is okay. But just like the ball, the numbers don't lie.

The silver lining? We have Finchy and his coaching staff and a terrific supporting cast behind Ant...they are collectively so good we have been able to be competitive in this postseason without Donte and with not enough at all from Ant. And while Ant took a big step back on defense this season, he made some positive progress in his offensive game as he seems to do every offseason and I also think in his maturity. The rest of our roster and coaching staff are so good we don't need Ant to be SGA or Wemby. But we need his deep analytic numbers to be closer to theirs than they are to Bones Hyland's. Ant is both the current thing holding us back from being a true contender, and the solution. I'm not giving up on him...yet.

If you don't think Ant is injured you are blind. He's not on the injury list, because he is playing. He is giving you everything he has, this is not regular Ant. We've seen regular playoff Ant, and he is one of the best playoff performers in the world.

FNG wrote: ↑Sun May 10, 2026 11:10 am

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Sun May 10, 2026 10:47 am

FNG wrote: ↑Sun May 10, 2026 10:43 am Thanks for taking the time to do this, Q...I'm sure we all have mixed emotions reviewing this. Yes, I'm sure Donte would blow everyone away in the 2-way stats...so impressive we're having a decent postseason without him.

But the Ant/Ju stuff highlights the bizarre nature of this team...can we really consider ourselves a championship contender when our "stars" don't perform like true contenders' stars? We can choose to use the injury excuse for Ant, but he's not even on the injury list for the second consecutive game. And unfortunately he ranked near the bottom of the team in deep analytics during the regular season too while he was healthy. It ain't the knee. guys. If you were to compare Ant's numbers in the categories you document...both for the playoffs and the regular season...it would be easy to see that two teams likely to meet in the finals have a true star that stirs their drink and we don't. He is so offensively gifted, dynamic and charismatic, it's easy to bury our head in the sand and say Ant is okay. But just like the ball, the numbers don't lie.

The silver lining? We have Finchy and his coaching staff and a terrific supporting cast behind Ant...they are collectively so good we have been able to be competitive in this postseason without Donte and with not enough at all from Ant. And while Ant took a big step back on defense this season, he made some positive progress in his offensive game as he seems to do every offseason and I also think in his maturity. The rest of our roster and coaching staff are so good we don't need Ant to be SGA or Wemby. But we need his deep analytic numbers to be closer to theirs than they are to Bones Hyland's. Ant is both the current thing holding us back from being a true contender, and the solution. I'm not giving up on him...yet.

If you don't think Ant is injured you are blind. He's not on the injury list, because he is playing. He is giving you everything he has, this is not regular Ant. We've seen regular playoff Ant, and he is one of the best playoff performers in the world.

Rap, players (including Ayo and Ant) regularly play even though they are listed as questionable...the fact that you suit up doesn't mean you're off the injury list. You're not allowed to mess with the injury list...if Silver thinks Ant is injured and he's not on the list, Fnchy is facing a big fine. And when you look at some of the athleticism he has shown on a couple blocks, I'm not seeing an injured guy. And as I said above, ultimately we have to look at the overall value the analytics tell us he is providing...he ranks about as well in the playoffs as he did all season. One of Ant superpowers is his insane ability to bounce back from injuries that would be sidelining a normal human...I think he has done it again, and that Finchy is not going to be fined for not including him on the injury list. But we need more from him than we have gotten all season...play off ball and work to get some catch and shoot opportunities, hustle and be smart on defense, and hit your treys. Do that and we have a good chance of tying up this series.

FNG wrote: ↑Sun May 10, 2026 10:43 am Thanks for taking the time to do this, Q...I'm sure we all have mixed emotions reviewing this. Yes, I'm sure Donte would blow everyone away in the 2-way stats...so impressive we're having a decent postseason without him.

But the Ant/Ju stuff highlights the bizarre nature of this team...can we really consider ourselves a championship contender when our "stars" don't perform like true contenders' stars? We can choose to use the injury excuse for Ant, but he's not even on the injury list for the second consecutive game. And unfortunately he ranked near the bottom of the team in deep analytics during the regular season too while he was healthy. It ain't the knee. guys. If you were to compare Ant's numbers in the categories you document...both for the playoffs and the regular season...it would be easy to see that two teams likely to meet in the finals have a true star that stirs their drink and we don't. He is so offensively gifted, dynamic and charismatic, it's easy to bury our head in the sand and say Ant is okay. But just like the ball, the numbers don't lie.

The silver lining? We have Finchy and his coaching staff and a terrific supporting cast behind Ant...they are collectively so good we have been able to be competitive in this postseason without Donte and with not enough at all from Ant. And while Ant took a big step back on defense this season, he made some positive progress in his offensive game as he seems to do every offseason and I also think in his maturity. The rest of our roster and coaching staff are so good we don't need Ant to be SGA or Wemby. But we need his deep analytic numbers to be closer to theirs than they are to Bones Hyland's. Ant is both the current thing holding us back from being a true contender, and the solution. I'm not giving up on him...yet.