rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 01, 2025 4:27 pm
Ant said he's getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night and will do so all season. When asked how much he slept before, he said ahhh none of your business. Sounds like he is cleaning the little things up that add up over the course of the season.
Interesting. The Wolves have certainly enveloped Ant with a blanket of leadership, positive role models, and coaching since his rookie year. You couldn't ask anymore from the organization in terms of player development. But at the end of the day, it's still on the player to make good decisions and embrace the grind, which Ant can get bored with and at times loses focus.
Three indicators that he's a "changed man" this season: 1) get back to playing elite defense more often (I certainly don't expect him to do it 35+ minutes per night, but can we get 15-20 minutes of it per night??); 2) Take lesser opponents more seriously; and 3) Make better crunch time decisions with the ball in his hands.
Getting a good night's sleep helps with all three of those things since sleep deficits affect people both physically and mentally. It's a bigger deal than we might realize. Will he be able to follow through on it?
rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 01, 2025 4:27 pm
Ant said he's getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night and will do so all season. When asked how much he slept before, he said ahhh none of your business. Sounds like he is cleaning the little things up that add up over the course of the season.
Interesting. The Wolves have certainly enveloped Ant with a blanket of leadership, positive role models, and coaching since his rookie year. You couldn't ask anymore from the organization in terms of player development. But at the end of the day, it's still on the player to make good decisions and embrace the grind, which Ant can get bored with and at times loses focus.
Three indicators that he's a "changed man" this season: 1) get back to playing elite defense more often (I certainly don't expect him to do it 35+ minutes per night, but can we get 15-20 minutes of it per night??); 2) Take lesser opponents more seriously; and 3) Make better crunch time decisions with the ball in his hands.
Getting a good night's sleep helps with all three of those things since sleep deficits affect people both physically and mentally. It's a bigger deal than we might realize. Will he be able to follow through on it?
As someone who has struggled to get sleep most of my life I can't imagine getting good rest as a professional basketball player. Different time zones, having to take at least a couple hours after playing a professional basketball game before I would ne anywhere near ready mentally to go to sleep. Like probably a lot of others here I used to play basketball later in the evening in high school college and in early adulthood. It took me a whole before I was ready to go to bed and that was just pick up ball.
I'm not making excuses I'm just suggesting that it may be quite difficult to find the routine or something that works for Ant and other professional athletes (and other professionals at more typical jobs) to get good sleep. Like Q said it absolutely makes a huge difference in mental and physical performance as well as mental health. I have a family member that has an even more difficult time than I do and often will get just a couple hours of sleep on back to back nights. I don't know how they function...well to some extent they certainly don't function their best. I can see why. Fortunately they have a life where they are able to manage all that reasonably well.
I also know there are things I should do that would help me get more and better sleep. I have bad habits some of which over time I have gotten better at. I'm sure Edwards has some of those he can eliminate too.
I was thinking the other day after seeing Edward's also looking leaner how Edward's and Luka both seem to have some struggles keeping themselves in top shape. Luka has more genetics to fight but also has so much skills and both guys have had so much success it's likely hard to keep pushing themselves. We will see if if either guy breaks through this season in that regard.
rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 01, 2025 4:27 pm
Ant said he's getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night and will do so all season. When asked how much he slept before, he said ahhh none of your business. Sounds like he is cleaning the little things up that add up over the course of the season.
Interesting. The Wolves have certainly enveloped Ant with a blanket of leadership, positive role models, and coaching since his rookie year. You couldn't ask anymore from the organization in terms of player development. But at the end of the day, it's still on the player to make good decisions and embrace the grind, which Ant can get bored with and at times loses focus.
Three indicators that he's a "changed man" this season: 1) get back to playing elite defense more often (I certainly don't expect him to do it 35+ minutes per night, but can we get 15-20 minutes of it per night??); 2) Take lesser opponents more seriously; and 3) Make better crunch time decisions with the ball in his hands.
Getting a good night's sleep helps with all three of those things since sleep deficits affect people both physically and mentally. It's a bigger deal than we might realize. Will he be able to follow through on it?
As someone who has struggled to get sleep most of my life I can't imagine getting good rest as a professional basketball player. Different time zones, having to take at least a couple hours after playing a professional basketball game before I would ne anywhere near ready mentally to go to sleep. Like probably a lot of others here I used to play basketball later in the evening in high school college and in early adulthood. It took me a whole before I was ready to go to bed and that was just pick up ball.
I'm not making excuses I'm just suggesting that it may be quite difficult to find the routine or something that works for Ant and other professional athletes (and other professionals at more typical jobs) to get good sleep. Like Q said it absolutely makes a huge difference in mental and physical performance as well as mental health. I have a family member that has an even more difficult time than I do and often will get just a couple hours of sleep on back to back nights. I don't know how they function...well to some extent they certainly don't function their best. I can see why. Fortunately they have a life where they are able to manage all that reasonably well.
I also know there are things I should do that would help me get more and better sleep. I have bad habits some of which over time I have gotten better at. I'm sure Edwards has some of those he can eliminate too.
I was thinking the other day after seeing Edward's also looking leaner how Edward's and Luka both seem to have some struggles keeping themselves in top shape. Luka has more genetics to fight but also has so much skills and both guys have had so much success it's likely hard to keep pushing themselves. We will see if if either guy breaks through this season in that regard.
One of the keys with sleep hygiene is finding a routine to help wind down and in effect prepare the body for sleep. It's the first thing sleep specialists ask about if someone is struggling with insomnia.
It sounds like the issue with Ant is video games. One can see how you'd lose total track of time if intensely engaged playing a video game late into the evening. On the other hand, I doubt he's the type to read a book or do light yoga, LOL, so I have no clue what strategy he's deploying to get more sleep, but I could see it making a big difference with his energy level.
