Minnesota Sports Forum

FNG wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 11:29 am

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 11:08 am

FNG wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 8:43 am Clark played 15 minutes yesterday (he was the only rotation player with a positive +/-), but we still lost. The Wolves are now 16-2 when he plays at least 15 minutes. I thought he was by far our most effective defender against Mitchell.

Speaking of Mitchell, Ant's and his offensive stats are nearly identical per 36 (points and rebounds, TS%), although I would argue Mitchell is consistently the better defender. I see Mitchell as the player most like Ant in the Association.

They are so similar, however, in my opinion Ant has already proven to be the better player or at least it's really close. I also don't agree at all about Mitchell being the better defender as that's the biggest knock about him.

Maybe he gives better consistent effort- idk- but Ant can't be hunted, Mitchell can

We'll have to disagree on that one, Aussie...I thought Ant was hunted after the first quarter yesterday. It seemed to me that whoever Ant was guarding (Mitchell, Garland, or Merrill) was given the ball. And it didn't help that Rudy was not as effective as usual covering for Ant when he got beat off the dribble...so many paint points! Mitchell is small, but he has a huge wingspan...and at least yesterday, he seemed to work hard on defense. He has a career defensive rating of 110.1, and that's pretty good.

One area in which I'll give Ant the advantage (and it's a more important area than regular season performance) is that he tends to find a different gear when the playoffs start, and especially on defense. I didn't think Mitchell was very good in the playoffs last season. I'll take Ant over Mitchell on defense any day in the postseason.

60WinTim wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 9:12 am

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 9:09 am

FNG wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 8:43 am Clark played 15 minutes yesterday (he was the only rotation player with a positive +/-), but we still lost. The Wolves are now 16-2 when he plays at least 15 minutes. I thought he was by far our most effective defender against Mitchell.

Speaking of Mitchell, Ant's and his offensive stats are nearly identical per 36 (points and rebounds, TS%), although I would argue Mitchell is consistently the better defender. I see Mitchell as the player most like Ant in the Association.

As Jim Pete said both Ant and Mitchell are the Spiderman meme as in looks the same and plays the same. He said the same thing about Donte and Merrill. I will say Mitchell is 5 years older, played with Rudy in his prime and couldn't get out of the 2nd round of the playoffs. He still hasn't gotten out of the 2nd round of the playoffs on a good Cleveland team, where they keep falling short of expectations.

Umm... I think you beat Cool to it!

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 12:38 pm

FNG wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 11:29 am

AussieWolf3 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 11, 2026 11:08 am


They are so similar, however, in my opinion Ant has already proven to be the better player or at least it's really close. I also don't agree at all about Mitchell being the better defender as that's the biggest knock about him.

Maybe he gives better consistent effort- idk- but Ant can't be hunted, Mitchell can

We'll have to disagree on that one, Aussie...I thought Ant was hunted after the first quarter yesterday. It seemed to me that whoever Ant was guarding (Mitchell, Garland, or Merrill) was given the ball. And it didn't help that Rudy was not as effective as usual covering for Ant when he got beat off the dribble...so many paint points! Mitchell is small, but he has a huge wingspan...and at least yesterday, he seemed to work hard on defense. He has a career defensive rating of 110.1, and that's pretty good.

One area in which I'll give Ant the advantage (and it's a more important area than regular season performance) is that he tends to find a different gear when the playoffs start, and especially on defense. I didn't think Mitchell was very good in the playoffs last season. I'll take Ant over Mitchell on defense any day in the postseason.

This was my point.
Id still take him overall regular season or otherwise, but for the playoffs it's no contest