Minnesota Sports Forum

Carlos Danger wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2024 10:00 am

FNG wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2024 9:39 am

Carlos Danger wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2024 8:13 am

Sounds like BOTH guys have things going on behind the scenes:
https://www.si.com/nba/timberwolves/new ... %20friends.

That said...as a fan, I feel like I should be able to react to what I see on the court without having to know everyone's whole back story. I'm sure there are plenty of guys dealing with plenty of stuff but we never hear anything about it.

I guess I have a lot more sympathy for KAT than Ant in their respective situations. I suspect that many of us have fathered children, and perhaps some of us have lost friends (one of my best friends died at a very early age)...having a friend die impacted my job performance far more than the joyous birth of my children. But perhaps my situation wasn't as complicated as Ant's, because I didn't have multiple women pregnant at the same time.

I get where you are going LST. My point was simply that we are fans and should be able to just react to what we see on the court. I'd be willing to bet there are plenty of other players going through things that are just kept private. And I'm ok with that. None of us know what another person is going through or how it effects what they do.

Oh, I agree...I mostly just wanted to slip in a snide comment about Ant

When Kat puts the ball on the floor he has a 10.3 tov% which is the worst in the entire NBA. He also passes on only 19.6 percent of his drives, 3rd worst in the league. He's pretty bad.

Crazysauce wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2024 11:39 am When Kat puts the ball on the floor he has a 10.3 tov% which is the worst in the entire NBA. He also passes on only 19.6 percent of his drives, 3rd worst in the league. He's pretty bad.

I wouldn't go so far as to say he's bad. But he certainly has his weaknesses some of which you just pointed out. Still, he's an All Star and the second best player on this team. We could do a lot worse - lol.

Sorry I guess I should clarify, his decision making is awful. And not just since his friend passed. Great skills but not very intelligent.

Crazysauce wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2024 11:39 am When Kat puts the ball on the floor he has a 10.3 tov% which is the worst in the entire NBA. He also passes on only 19.6 percent of his drives, 3rd worst in the league. He's pretty bad.

I also saw those stats today. So because I love extra context to stats I am going to add them. Kat averages 9.7 drives per game. So on average he is turning the ball over about 1 time for every 10 possessions he drives what like the stats above show he is turning the ball over the highest amount of the NBA. So I was curious how he is doing in the possessions that he is not turning the ball over.

So Point per Drive/Points and Ast per Drive for every player on the wolves over 3 drives a game
Ant: .755/.832
Kat: .784/.845
Conley: .333/.507
Slow Mo: .468/.581
Jaden: .660/.723
Naw: .359/.487
Naz: .771/.943


So as you can see that outside of Naz, Kat is the most effective driver on the team making it either points for him or an assist for others. So yes he turns over the ball one every ten times he drives but those other 9 possesions are better than any other player on the wolves when they put the ball on the floor besides Naz. I just wanted to add context.

Kat timberwolves rank based on points per touch (of rotation players)
Points per touch (1st)
Points per elbow touch (3rd)
Points per paint touch (2nd)
Points per post touch (3rd)

Kat timberwolves rank on catch and shoot opportunities
FG% (4th)
3Pt% (3rd)
eFG% (4th/Monte Morris is 3rd is a small sample)

Kat Timberwoles rank on pull up opportunities
FG% (4th)
3pt% (4th)
eFG% (4th)

Kat drawing in the NBA
FT% (96th percentile)
Shooting Foul drawn (55th percentile)
Non shooting foul drawn (86th percentile)
And1% (63rd percentile)

Kat On/Off rankings with the Wolves and compared to the rest of the NBA
Net Ranting (3rd), (70th percentile)
Offensive rating (2nd), (94th percentile)


So I would say, yes Kat is does make some dumb turnovers and his basketball IQ can be low at times but I would say he is an elite offensive basketball player and one of the best in the league with opportunity. That is not counting the wolves being in the 91st percentile defensively with Kat on the floor and Kat without rudy the wolves are in the 93rd percentile.

So in conclusion I don't think he is a bad player. Just a thought.