Minnesota Sports Forum

Starting lineup of DLo-Ant-KAT-PatBev-Vando are 8-2 this season and have the best net rating in the NBA as a lineup

kekgeek1 wrote:

Q12543 wrote:Ant might be one of the most scary 33% 3-point shooters in the NBA. I mean, you never know when he might just go absolutely nuts from outside. Too many games with a lot of clanks though. Would be nice for him to use the fear factor to get to the rim and draw more fouls.

He is such a home run hitter. I don't know how much he makes his teammates better at this time in his career but when he has it going he is a top tier talent. Hopefully, his strikeouts become doubles (sort of what Dlo has become when his shot isn't falling this year)

Yeah, I'm worried it's just the statistical gods doing their thing. If you jack up enough 3's without conscience, every once in a while you are going to catch fire. But on most nights, Ant is 33% or less and that's probably OK to most opponents versus him getting into the paint scoring and finding Vando for dunks or DLO and KAT for wide open 3s. So no, he's not really making others better yet.

Peak James Harden is a guy that would just kill you because, yes, he would jack up a lot of difficult 3's, but he was even more dangerous getting into the paint because he was so great at passing and drawing fouls. How many wide open dunks did Capela flush down because he played with Harden? He had two seasons in Houston with over 200 dunks! How many corner 3's did Trevor Ariza get where he could just stand there and line it up?

Ant has a long ways to go to make others better....fun to watch on nights like tonight though.

kekgeek1 wrote:Starting lineup of DLo-Ant-KAT-PatBev-Vando are 8-2 this season and have the best net rating in the NBA as a lineup

They've got to get these guys some help. Bench isn't good enough.

Anthony Edwards tonight:

38 PTS
5 REB
14-21 FG
10-14 3P (franchise record)

He is the youngest player in NBA history with 10+ threes in a game. He has also made the most threes in a game so far this season.

Minnesota is 0-6 in games D-Lo doesn't finish with each loss by double digits this season. They're 13-9 in games that he does finish. That's... quite the difference. I think that speaks to his immense value to this team, obviously, but I also see that as a big sign that Minnesota needs to add another shot creator for the long haul. I mentioned Derrick White in the other thread, but a capable combo guard (or better) should be high on this team's list of priorities before the deadline.

I understand why this team is good when healthy, it puzzles me why we got so bad with DLo out. Clearly Pat Bev is just not a pg, but its really hard to not have a legit back up option to DLo. Cam's Derrick White idea seems to be the right vein of what we are missing in terms of an insurance policy.

Fun game. Almost everyone played well (Beasley had a rough night shooting). Vando really is the heart of this team. As much as I love the skill players on this team his motor makes such an enormous difference.

Big games coming up!!

thedoper wrote:I understand why this team is good when healthy, it puzzles me why we got so bad with DLo out. Clearly Pat Bev is just not a pg, but its really hard to not have a legit back up option to DLo. Cam's Derrick White idea seems to be the right vein of what we are missing in terms of an insurance policy.

I honestly think it's because they have no other playmaker. Ant and Kat are super special talents but I don't they get the likes of Pat Bev, Beasley, Naz, Vando, Mcdaniels, Okogie, Prince easy shots. I think Ant and Kat can still do their thing but the role players really take a step back when Dlo is not in.

In general if the Wolves trade for a player, I would rather use the assets on a playmaker, like Lavert or Warren then a big like Turner even though Turner might be the better player overall.

Really fun to watch the replay of a wire to wire win over a division rival. Our starting five (most effective in the association right now) was stellar again, and it was nice to see Jaden hit some threes off the bench. It's amazing to me that Vando can have such a positive impact only taking 3 shots, but that's what he does! Russell continues to be our most important player...it's absolutely extraordinary that a player who has generally been a negative contributor his entire career is now indispensable to an improving team. His ankle looks fine right now, and we need to hold our breath that he can stay healthy.

FNG wrote:Really fun to watch the replay of a wire to wire win over a division rival. Our starting five (most effective in the association right now) was stellar again, and it was nice to see Jaden hit some threes off the bench. It's amazing to me that Vando can have such a positive impact only taking 3 shots, but that's what he does! Russell continues to be our most important player...it's absolutely extraordinary that a player who has generally been a negative contributor his entire career is now indispensable to an improving team. His ankle looks fine right now, and we need to hold our breath that he can stay healthy.

Agreed, the entire starting lineup played great. Only issue is that they can't really repeat that kind of performance repeatedly and are inconsistent. When I say repeat I don't expect that shooting to happen as it's essentially impossible to shoot that hot. What I am concerned about is the consistency.