Minnesota Sports Forum

FNG wrote: ↑Mon Apr 24, 2023 8:04 am

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Mon Apr 24, 2023 8:00 am Ant leading all players in the playoffs in VORP, Box Plus Minus, and PER.

He has been terrific at both ends of the court. He worked so hard last night...I got exhausted watching him! I liked Finchie giving him a breather at the start of the 4th quarter, but I was also glad to see him come back at the 8 minute mark. I would love to see the Wolves get Ant more easy buckets by working their offense, but they seem to prefer watching him play one on one (or two, or three)...much like he played in college. Oh well, at least it worked last night.

Part of that is Ant's fault too, as he just seems to prefer to isolate and size up a guy.

Have you ever seen an ally-oop thrown to Ant in a halfcourt set? To your point, it's incredible that Finch hasn't drawn up more back-screens/backdoor type plays that would get him some easy looks over the top of the defense. I get that something like that is hard to pull off all the time, but like I have never ever seen it done once with Ant.

Want to know something funny by BPM Ant is having the 9th best postseason in NBA history. Haha

kekgeek wrote: ↑Mon Apr 24, 2023 3:40 pm Want to know something funny by BPM Ant is having the 9th best postseason in NBA history. Haha

Ha, that is nuts and very encouraging. Good to know he comes to play during the post-season!

I think one of the things helping him with the advanced stats that sort of weighed him down in those categories in the regular season is the turnovers. He's averaging 1.8 TOs a game, which is really low when he is carrying a 30%+ usage. He's also getting to the line a ton which helps his efficiency.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Mon Apr 24, 2023 3:48 pm

kekgeek wrote: ↑Mon Apr 24, 2023 3:40 pm Want to know something funny by BPM Ant is having the 9th best postseason in NBA history. Haha

Ha, that is nuts and very encouraging. Good to know he comes to play during the post-season!

I think one of the things helping him with the advanced stats that sort of weighed him down in those categories in the regular season is the turnovers. He's averaging 1.8 TOs a game, which is really low when he is carrying a 30%+ usage. He's also getting to the line a ton which helps his efficiency.

Also the sample size is so small. Like Hakeem is #3 on this on a year that lost 3-1 in the first round

Final VORP from the series:

0.6 Edwards
0.1 Conley
0.1 Gobert
0.1 Anderson
0.0 NAW, Pince, Rivers, Minott, Knight, Moore Jr.
(0.1) Towns (negative)
(0.1) McLaughlin (negative)
(0.2) Nowell (negative)

I was a little surprised that Towns was still a negative. It looks like he was 6 for 24 from 3 point territory in the series. Most guys that post on here can likely shoot better than that. Disappointing.

My take aways...
Edwards showed up BIG.
Conley/Gobert/Anderson were "ok". But not enough help/difference makers. We needed more from them.
Nowell..can now be referred to as "LOL"
JMac...not sure what happened to little Mac, but PG needs to be addressed this offseason
The Zero VORP guys...most of them didn't play much other than NAW. I'm OK with NAW coming back - he showed some flashes. But I wouldn't pay his option cost. He's gotta come back on a team friendly deal otherwise they could just as well sign someone like Rivers for Vet Min and get similar production.

Happy Offseason!