Minnesota Sports Forum

FNG wrote:Lip, you're going to like jim Pete's comment during the game about Ant, because it's exactly what you said. The game is slowing down for him, and it is reflected most in his finishing. He used to finish too hard anticipating the contesting, resulting in layups that would bounce out. Now he is using his athleticism to hang in the air or adjust his angle, and the result is a softer, less-contested and higher percentage finish.

The other great point that Peterson made is that even when Ant doesn't finish the layup, he collapses the defense and creates an open lane for an easy put back. So true. If his finishing percentage is 60%, his actual success rate is higher because of the easy cleanup he leaves for KAT, vando, et al.

Ant was my choice at #1, and he is now exceeding my expectations on offense...and he's only going to get better...much better. His D is a work in process though, and again with apologies (tongue in cheek) to the PMP, he will continue to have a negative impact until his effort and smarts on D reach an acceptable level.

Meanwhile I'm going to enjoy his offense!

I actually think Ant terrible defensive possessions happen when he has a bad offensive possession. He had a couple last night where he missed a layup and then either complains to the ref or puts his hands up and mad at himself and does not hustle back. Same thing happened last night when he has a bad entry pass to Kat leading to a fast break layup.

It's a bad habit he is picking up but when he is set on D he has been ok. Offensively Ant has been taking a step up. You can see teams are starting to hedge him in screens now. Teams gameplans are changing because of Ant Offensive improvements

FNG wrote:Lip, you're going to like jim Pete's comment during the game about Ant, because it's exactly what you said. The game is slowing down for him, and it is reflected most in his finishing. He used to finish too hard anticipating the contesting, resulting in layups that would bounce out. Now he is using his athleticism to hang in the air or adjust his angle, and the result is a softer, less-contested and higher percentage finish.

The other great point that Peterson made is that even when Ant doesn't finish the layup, he collapses the defense and creates an open lane for an easy put back. So true. If his finishing percentage is 60%, his actual success rate is higher because of the easy cleanup he leaves for KAT, vando, et al.

Ant was my choice at #1, and he is now exceeding my expectations on offense...and he's only going to get better...much better. His D is a work in process though, and again with apologies (tongue in cheek) to the PMP, he will continue to have a negative impact until his effort and smarts on D reach an acceptable level.

Meanwhile I'm going to enjoy his offense!

Ant's ability to collapse the defense is a critical attribute. In my view, your dominant ball-handler in today's NBA has to excel at driving the lane and collapsing opposing defenses. I think that's especially true for the Wolves. You could see it in Minnesota's two best post-trade deadline games last season - against the Clippers and Heat. JMac's play was decisive in both wins and it was largely because of his ability to penetrate with the ball and collapse the opposing team's defense. That's why I don't like DLO as our lead guard or as the lead guard on any team in today's NBA. He stifles ball movement and isn't good at dribble penetration. And that's also why I think the key to the Wolves becoming a contender down the road will be the development of Ant into a good defender and ultimately our lead guard who handles the ball and runs the offense.

kekgeek1 wrote:

FNG wrote:Lip, you're going to like jim Pete's comment during the game about Ant, because it's exactly what you said. The game is slowing down for him, and it is reflected most in his finishing. He used to finish too hard anticipating the contesting, resulting in layups that would bounce out. Now he is using his athleticism to hang in the air or adjust his angle, and the result is a softer, less-contested and higher percentage finish.

The other great point that Peterson made is that even when Ant doesn't finish the layup, he collapses the defense and creates an open lane for an easy put back. So true. If his finishing percentage is 60%, his actual success rate is higher because of the easy cleanup he leaves for KAT, vando, et al.

Ant was my choice at #1, and he is now exceeding my expectations on offense...and he's only going to get better...much better. His D is a work in process though, and again with apologies (tongue in cheek) to the PMP, he will continue to have a negative impact until his effort and smarts on D reach an acceptable level.

Meanwhile I'm going to enjoy his offense!

I actually think Ant terrible defensive possessions happen when he has a bad offensive possession. He had a couple last night where he missed a layup and then either complains to the ref or puts his hands up and mad at himself and does not hustle back. Same thing happened last night when he has a bad entry pass to Kat leading to a fast break layup.

It's a bad habit he is picking up but when he is set on D he has been ok. Offensively Ant has been taking a step up. You can see teams are starting to hedge him in screens now. Teams gameplans are changing because of Ant Offensive improvements

Chris Finch on how the Timberwolves defense began to fall apart in the second half:

"The missed layups hurt us. If you miss a layup in the NBA right now it's a turnover, and it's going right back on you."

To your point, kek. You can't be sloppy getting back on defense against LeBron, and the Wolves transition defense was terrible last night. Some of that is on Ant, but without going back and reviewing some of the fast break baskets given up, I wonder if Rubio and Nowell might be guilty too. When Ant is driving to the basket, we want our center and PF following to clean up if he misses. It's then imperative that our guards get back to prevent the break. I'd like someone's opinion on who was to blame on all those easy buckets, but I suspect finch knows and hopefully will correct it.

That said, I still think Ant's rotations and team defense are terrible. His on-ball defense is reasonably solid, as it often is with athletic, strong guys. But he is far too often confused and lost on defense. Some guys never get it (LaVine, Beasley, Beal etc), but it's far too early to write off Ant as a defender. He seems to be a sponge with respect to coaching. If the light bulb comes on, we may have something truly special here.

Just finished watching. Ugh. I think that actually would have been a winnable game if we'd have actually tried on the defensive end.

That was some truly terrible defense we were playing, especially in the second half. LeBron was just killing us in the pick and roll. We definitely need to communicate better and play with more energy. There were several blown defensive assignments where a Laker would cut and his defender seemed to assume another guy was going to pick him up.

There's a lot to like about Ant, but there were a couple of defensive plays that he should have been benched for. One time was so egregious. He was guarding Wes Matthews on the right side of the floor as LeBron brought the ball up and the big (Harrell, I think) came up to LeBron to set the pick. Matthews relatively casually cut across the baseline to the left corner while Ant was just staring at LeBron with the ball, like he forgot he was covering Matthews. And then out of the pick, LeBron just hit Matthews wide open in the left corner for the open 3 and Ant never seemed to even realize that was the guy he was guarding. Unless that was supposed to be a zone defense, and it sure didn't look like it from the other guys, that was just inexcusable. He wasn't alone in playing such poor defense, but that was truly terrible.

This might sound crazy, but I would have benched his ass for that, then put him back out there later and put him on LeBron and challenged him to make up for it. He's capable of playing good defense, but he's much better on the ball, and he seems to be the kind of guy who might respond well to being challenged like that. The way he plays offensively shows he's got a big ego and plays with pride. He clearly seems to relish the spotlight on the offensive end. Well, put him under the interrogation light a bit on the defensive end then too. He can't be allowed to learn that the offensive end is the only end that matters. He needs to feel shame for that defense, and he needs to be given the chance to earn back some pride on that end too.

We still would have lost, but that was a foregone conclusion at that point. He needs to be held accountable, which benching would do. And then putting him on LeBron later would have shown that we have high expectations for him on the defensive end. If he'd been lazy about that too, bench his ass down the stretch because then we'd clearly have a problem. My guess is you'd get better effort out of him though. If he weren't effective despite the effort, at least you'd have tape of him showing effort you could use to praise him and also humble him at how ineffective he could be. And if he'd actually have succeeded a bit, well, then you'd have proof for him that he CAN defend when he's engaged which you could use to motivate him, and justification for holding him accountable like that in the future as well. At this point, he's proven he can score. But Finch needs to get on his ass and get him to prove he can defend, hopefully on a consistent basis. And actually, I think a guy like LeBron might actually be easier for him to deal with than Schroeder was last night, who burned him with his quickness a couple of times.

You're a renaissance man, Drew...knowledgeable in both Western European history since the Age of Enlightenment and NBA defense! I noticed the same play with Ant last night, as well as many more. And I agree that there are times Finch needs to yank him and let the coaches explain what he did wrong while he sits on the bench. Some rookies might go into a shell with tough coaching, but you're right...Ant's confidence and ego makes him the ideal candidate for accountability coaching.

NBA offenses are so sophisticated these days that you simply can't afford any breakdowns on defense or you are going to give up a wide-open three...especially when the opponent has an elite passer like LBJ. And NBA players generally make wide-open threes...um, except for Josh Okogie. If just one of the five defensive players doesn't work in synch with his teammates on rotations, you end up with open looks and giving up 137 points like last night. There are some great offensive players in this league who continue to be defensive liabilities like Beal, DLO and Zach, and it's often because they either can't or won't play basic team defense. Ant is in that group now too to a lesser extent, but he's young...there's still time for him to become a great 2-way player. The way he pays attention when Finch, Vanterpool and Ricky pull him aside gives me a lot of hope he wants to become a good defender.