FAFO Suns @ Wolves GDT

[AussieWolf3]

I know this is kind of a dumb question and wish casting as well, but can we just get Ant to watch what Ayo did in this game and tell him, "do that, play like that. Be a Goku, Super Saiyan version of that and we'll be great"
Any chance of that?

[kekgeek]

I know this is kind of a dumb question and wish casting as well, but can we just get Ant to watch what Ayo did in this game and tell him, "do that, play like that. Be a Goku, Super Saiyan version of that and we'll be great"
Any chance of that?

I only saw the 4th Q tonight but my hope is similar to what happened last year with Randle. Ant sees what happens when you move the ball. I also think this is good for Randle to get into rhythm again

[Coolbreeze44]

Tell me if this resonates with any of you. Ant is perhaps the most talented player in the entire league. This year he has added more to his game including clutch play. Nonetheless, I see his talent and feel it is far greater than his impact on winning games. He has great competitiveness but it seems to be more against himself than the opponent. His gravity should make the game easier for his teammates, but it doesn't quite work out that way. I equate him to an old player named Dominique Wilkins. I know most of you probably don't remember him, but Nique was an immensely talented and athletic player who never played in the finals and never won an MVP. Like Ant he didn't share the ball well. His team (Atlanta) usually won about 50 games. He took a lot of shots, leading the league 3 times in that category. He is a hall of famer and no one would dispute his greatness, but there were always better teams in the conference and he always came up short in the playoffs. When it's all said and done I believe Ant will have a similar legacy.

[kekgeek]

Here's Ayo Dosunmu talking about what he's reading in pick and roll coverage and why he's taking more midrange shots in Minnesota after those were prohibited in Chicago.

"In Chicago, midrange shots was really prohibited. It was 3s and layups, no midrange shots unless it's the end of the shot clock. Here, we got Rudy, he's setting big screens. So if you can set up pick and roll, you come off Rudy, you open."

Dosunmu took 4 "long" midrange shots in 45 games in Chicago this season before being traded to Minnesota. And he's taken 12 in 15 games for the Wolves. Dosunmu has also nearly doubled the frequency in which he's taking shots from floater range.

Dosunmu took 86% of his shots in Chicago at the rim or from 3. In Minnesota, he's becoming a three-level scorer. And his eFG% has stayed almost exactly the same.

-Dane Moore

Thought this was interesting

[FNG]

LOL, Jaden does NOT like Booker. Results in some dumb fouls along the way but fun to watch.

I actually think it might be the most hatred anyone has for a player in the league

To honest I hope no one here ever has to experience the hatred that Jaden carriers for one Devin Booker

Yeah, it's a real thing. I wonder how much of it has to do with Booker causing Finchy's knee injury by shoving Conley into him in Game 4 of the playoffs. I was in Phoenix for that game and was watching the play from across the court through my binoculars, and I was outraged by what Booker did. You could see how pissed off he was as the game slipped away from then and a sweep was imminent, and I'll never be convinced Booker's move wasn't intentional...I've hated him ever since, and maybe Jaden does too.

[FNG]

Well, we did what we had to do in our first game of what might be without Ant. It wasn't always pretty, but beating a team we needed to beat to stay out of play in contention was vital, and beating them by double digits without Ant was impressive. I think last night was a blueprint of how we intend to survive without our most prolific scorer:

1) Defensive intensity: The Wolves have a defensive rating of 109.8 when Ant is not on the court, equal to Detroit who is #2 in the Association. After a sloppy first quarter, our defense stepped up and held the Suns to just 65 points in the final three quarters. Everyone, yes even Ju with 3 steals, looked good on defense. We're not going to score as many points with Ant out, but if we play defense like this, we will be fine. It should be noted that because of the effectiveness of our Ant-less defense, our net rating is .6 better with Ant out despite less offense.
2) Better ball movement and protection: It was fun to see the ball moving last night, and the result was 28 assists. And 16 turnovers was not too bad considering how much we passed the ball. The bench was especially effective with 16 assists and only 5 turnovers! The only disappointment was Julius, who turned the ball over 6 times with only 2 assists.

3) Ju scoring more: Okay, I ripped Julius above, but it's clear that Finchy wants him to pick up the scoring slack with Ant out. Ju averaged 34 PPG efficiently in the two games Ant missed in January, so his 32 last night on only 17 shots was not a surprise. We need him to get more assists too, but frankly, I think he saw that the Suns couldn't stop him last night, so I had no problem with his shot selection.

The one negative last night was Donte missing all 8 of his shots while getting only 1 rebound. He is usually so good at running down loose balls, but last night he just seemed off...there were some 50/50 balls he usually gets that ended up with the Suns. I think we have to recognize that the Wolves have two prolific 3-point shooters in Donte and Bones who are also erratic. One or the other is going to have an off night occasionally, but let's not ignore they are both around 39% for the season. We're going to struggle without Ant on nights that both are shooting poorly, but I think usually at least one of them is going to be hitting his treys.

Depth may be the biggest issue with Ant out, and especially if anyone else gets hurt (Naz looks like he may need a night off). I had no problem with Finchy playing just 8 guys last night, and all of them played at least 18 minutes (and Naz would have played more if he hadn't twisted his ankle)...he did what he needed to do to win an important game. But he's going to have to play more guys tonight in a back to back game. I expect to see double digit minutes for TJ and Clark tonight, and maybe even the return of Mike (is he mommy or daddy?).

Knee jerk conclusions after one game? We are going to be just fine if Ant only misses a couple weeks. We might lose a game or two that we would have won if he were playing, but as I've been saying for a couple weeks now, we are destined for 6th place with or without him. I think we will look back at this as a good thing as he rests up for the playoffs and others get more involved. Plus I think several of us think we're more fun to watch when Ant is out, even if we're not nearly as potent on offense.

[AussieWolf3]

Tell me if this resonates with any of you. Ant is perhaps the most talented player in the entire league. This year he has added more to his game including clutch play. Nonetheless, I see his talent and feel it is far greater than his impact on winning games. He has great competitiveness but it seems to be more against himself than the opponent. His gravity should make the game easier for his teammates, but it doesn't quite work out that way. I equate him to an old player named Dominique Wilkins. I know most of you probably don't remember him, but Nique was an immensely talented and athletic player who never played in the finals and never won an MVP. Like Ant he didn't share the ball well. His team (Atlanta) usually won about 50 games. He took a lot of shots, leading the league 3 times in that category. He is a hall of famer and no one would dispute his greatness, but there were always better teams in the conference and he always came up short in the playoffs. When it's all said and done I believe Ant will have a similar legacy.

I'm a yunnun, so I never got to watch Wilkens, but funny enough I've thought of him as well in relation to Ant.
As a fan, it wouldn't be the worst thing to witness that legacy, but obviously no ship would be disappointing.

I'll say this as a counter argument- I don't believe Ant is a selfish player, at least not in the sense that he would rather inflate his box score than win, but I think he legitimately thinks that the best way for him to help the team win is by scoring as much as he can.

He's mistaken in this thinking, but many players of his talent type have had to learn similar lessons- even the GOAT. It'll be interesting to see the story his career writes, but more than anything Ant has shown that he is uniquely gifted at quickly learning and implementing new skills. He has also a been notably better playmaker in the playoffs.

We'll see the direction things take for him, but it'll be interesting to watch nonetheless

[AussieWolf3]

Good sum up FNG.

What I am most concerned about without Ant is that the team already lacks ballhanders, so losing Ant is going to hurt. The Sun tried to ramp the pressure up on Bones and it's clear he doesn't have a lot of answers for it and I'm concerned that may cost them.

Sidenote: it really is pretty disappointing the difference in defense rating with and without Ant, and even the Net Rating for that matter. Your best player should be able to elevate that more

[FNG]

Tell me if this resonates with any of you. Ant is perhaps the most talented player in the entire league. This year he has added more to his game including clutch play. Nonetheless, I see his talent and feel it is far greater than his impact on winning games. He has great competitiveness but it seems to be more against himself than the opponent. His gravity should make the game easier for his teammates, but it doesn't quite work out that way. I equate him to an old player named Dominique Wilkins. I know most of you probably don't remember him, but Nique was an immensely talented and athletic player who never played in the finals and never won an MVP. Like Ant he didn't share the ball well. His team (Atlanta) usually won about 50 games. He took a lot of shots, leading the league 3 times in that category. He is a hall of famer and no one would dispute his greatness, but there were always better teams in the conference and he always came up short in the playoffs. When it's all said and done I believe Ant will have a similar legacy.

Interesting comparison, Cool. I think Ant and Nique are arguably the most exciting players of their respective generations, and neither one is praised for their defense. Many say Nique is not on the top 50 list because of his defense, but I think it is more because he was not an efficient scorer. I'm not going to look it up, but I suspect Ant's TS% is far better than Niques.

[FNG]

Good sum up FNG.

What I am most concerned about without Ant is that the team already lacks ballhanders, so losing Ant is going to hurt. The Sun tried to ramp the pressure up on Bones and it's clear he doesn't have a lot of answers for it and I'm concerned that may cost them.

Sidenote: it really is pretty disappointing the difference in defense rating with and without Ant, and even the Net Rating for that matter. Your best player should be able to elevate that more

Yeah, Finchy is going to have to make some adjustments without having Ant to turn to as his primary ballhandler. I think the answer is more minutes for Kyle. He played 25 last night, by far the most he has played since he returned to us, and he looked very good handling the point...6 assists and only 1 turnover. As several have pointed out, our offense looks quite bad when Rudy is out there with Kyle, and they are going to have to be paired a lot if Kyle is going to get 25 minutes. But I think the offensive struggles will be offset by Kyle's ball handling and defense.