Minnesota Sports Forum

Q, I don't know if Ant's inconsistent and sometimes indifferent defense during the regular season would ever disqualify him from an MVP race. I think MVP will always be determined by raw stats like PPG and how successful your team is. Now one might argue that underperforming defensively is a major reason for the Wolves not finishing on top during the regular season, but I don't think the voters look at net rating when they vote for MVP.

But it's so clear how important defense is in net rating. Rudy, Jaden and Donte are all having terrific defensive years, and they are the team leaders in net rating (I'm leaving Bones out of the equation due to small sample size). In contrast Ant, Ju and Naz are very good offensive players, but they don't show up strongly in net rating. Defense wins championships as OkC showed us last year.

The frustrating thing is both Ant and Ju have shown us they can be plus defenders...look at Ju bodying up Wemby last night! But as I've said in other threads, as long as they both pick it up in the playoffs, all will be forgiven!

FNG wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 8:47 am Q, I don't know if Ant's inconsistent and sometimes indifferent defense during the regular season would ever disqualify him from an MVP race. I think MVP will always be determined by raw stats like PPG and how successful your team is. Now one might argue that underperforming defensively is a major reason for the Wolves not finishing on top during the regular season, but I don't think the voters look at net rating when they vote for MVP.

But it's so clear how important defense is in net rating. Rudy, Jaden and Donte are all having terrific defensive years, and they are the team leaders in net rating (I'm leaving Bones out of the equation due to small sample size). In contrast Ant, Ju and Naz are very good offensive players, but they don't show up strongly in net rating. Defense wins championships as OkC showed us last year.

The frustrating thing is both Ant and Ju have shown us they can be plus defenders...look at Ju bodying up Wemby last night! But as I've said in other threads, as long as they both pick it up in the playoffs, all will be forgiven!

But Jokic and SGA didn't win MVPs because of their defense. I'm looking at the pure box score stats like PER which doesn't really measure defense. If you just look at the counting stats, Ant doesn't get enough assists and rebounds to keep up with the likes of Giannis and Jokic. Yes, Ant's PER is the best on the Wolves but it is significantly lower than the most recent MVP winners. Those guys are simply more productive.

Ant's path to an MVP is elite scoring and better play making. We know that in addition to defense that Ant is still a pretty rudimentary passer. I would really like to see him work on his passing in the offseason, as he has literally eliminated every weakness as a scorer. It's a testament to his work ethic in the offseason.

Oh, and Ant is also leading the league in clutch shot making. That was another issue we used to give him a hard time about and he's completely turned around.

Q-is-here wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 9:17 am

FNG wrote: ↑Mon Jan 12, 2026 8:47 am Q, I don't know if Ant's inconsistent and sometimes indifferent defense during the regular season would ever disqualify him from an MVP race. I think MVP will always be determined by raw stats like PPG and how successful your team is. Now one might argue that underperforming defensively is a major reason for the Wolves not finishing on top during the regular season, but I don't think the voters look at net rating when they vote for MVP.

But it's so clear how important defense is in net rating. Rudy, Jaden and Donte are all having terrific defensive years, and they are the team leaders in net rating (I'm leaving Bones out of the equation due to small sample size). In contrast Ant, Ju and Naz are very good offensive players, but they don't show up strongly in net rating. Defense wins championships as OkC showed us last year.

The frustrating thing is both Ant and Ju have shown us they can be plus defenders...look at Ju bodying up Wemby last night! But as I've said in other threads, as long as they both pick it up in the playoffs, all will be forgiven!

But Jokic and SGA didn't win MVPs because of their defense. I'm looking at the pure box score stats like PER which doesn't really measure defense. If you just look at the counting stats, Ant doesn't get enough assists and rebounds to keep up with the likes of Giannis and Jokic. Yes, Ant's PER is the best on the Wolves but it is significantly lower than the most recent MVP winners. Those guys are simply more productive.

Ant's path to an MVP is elite scoring and better play making. We know that in addition to defense that Ant is still a pretty rudimentary passer. I would really like to see him work on his passing in the offseason, as he has literally eliminated every weakness as a scorer. It's a testament to his work ethic in the offseason.

Oh, and Ant is also leading the league in clutch shot making. That was another issue we used to give him a hard time about and he's completely turned around.

Oh, I agree about Jokic and SGA...defense has little to do with becoming MVP. They won because they had terrific raw stats and their teams were successful. And Ant has improved his scoring in every way this season, including clutch play. I agree that Ant can be in the MVP race without improving his defense if he continues scoring and improves his passing.

Ant's passing is more frustrating to me than his defense. I've posted before that too often Ant seems to pass only because there isn't a scoring chance for himself rather than trying to get a bucket for a teammate. And then I get excited when he makes a perfect pass for an assist like he did a couple times in the second Cavs game. But his next pass is just as likely to end up at his teammate's knees! Guys like Ju, Mike and Donte are very good at delivering the ball chest high and at the exact right time to lead to a bucket. Even Rudy has gotten better at this! We've seen Ant dedicate himself to improvement in a certain area every off season, and precise passing needs to be his next goal. If he learns to deliver the ball better, he could become a 10 assist per game guy like Cunningham. And if he does that, he'll be in the MVP race even if he doesn't improve his defense.

Jake Paynting
@JakePaynting
I think we gotta start acknowledging that despite his flaws (and slow start to the season) the Wolves are just built for Naz Reid minutes.

Since Dec 1:

Naz + Rudy: +7.8

Naz + Rudy + Ant: +12.6

Naz + Rudy + Ant + Jaden: +18.2

Naz + Rudy + Ant + Jaden + Donte: +20.9

It works

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 27, 2026 9:22 am Jake Paynting
@JakePaynting
I think we gotta start acknowledging that despite his flaws (and slow start to the season) the Wolves are just built for Naz Reid minutes.

Since Dec 1:

Naz + Rudy: +7.8

Naz + Rudy + Ant: +12.6

Naz + Rudy + Ant + Jaden: +18.2

Naz + Rudy + Ant + Jaden + Donte: +20.9

It works

Wow, really interesting, rap...provides some ammunition for the "trade Julius" crowd. Can you do the same thing with Julius instead of Naz so we can compare?

FNG wrote: ↑Tue Jan 27, 2026 9:46 am

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 27, 2026 9:22 am Jake Paynting
@JakePaynting
I think we gotta start acknowledging that despite his flaws (and slow start to the season) the Wolves are just built for Naz Reid minutes.

Since Dec 1:

Naz + Rudy: +7.8

Naz + Rudy + Ant: +12.6

Naz + Rudy + Ant + Jaden: +18.2

Naz + Rudy + Ant + Jaden + Donte: +20.9

It works

Wow, really interesting, rap...provides some ammunition for the "trade Julius" crowd. Can you do the same thing with Julius instead of Naz so we can compare?

Those stats align with my eye test and common sense. Naz’s game (skill set and style) that meshes well with Ant and Jaden. But it would be interesting to see the post-Dec. 1 comparables for Julius. I’ve come around to thinking TC should try to deal Julius by the deadline before his value declines.

Naz appears to be moving better on defense the past month or so. More active on the boards and has stayed with smaller players on switches. I am on the trade Randle bandwagon, and have been for a long time. TC needs to keep making moves and Randle has the highest value, even if he is Finch's 2nd favorite player behind Conley. Make the trade to decrease rhe tax liability if nothing else. Restock the pick coffers if possible.

DNatagal wrote: ↑Tue Jan 27, 2026 2:38 pm Naz appears to be moving better on defense the past month or so. More active on the boards and has stayed with smaller players on switches. I am on the trade Randle bandwagon, and have been for a long time. TC needs to keep making moves and Randle has the highest value, even if he is Finch's 2nd favorite player behind Conley. Make the trade to decrease rhe tax liability if nothing else. Restock the pick coffers if possible.

If Randle is traded, then we absolutely need another shot creator/play maker that can make plays and shots off the bounce, whether it's a super-6th man or starting caliber player. I thought Shannon was the guy to do this based on how he looked in the pre-season, but alas, we'll have to go outside to get this type of player via trade.

rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 27, 2026 9:22 am Jake Paynting
@JakePaynting
I think we gotta start acknowledging that despite his flaws (and slow start to the season) the Wolves are just built for Naz Reid minutes.

Since Dec 1:

Naz + Rudy: +7.8

Naz + Rudy + Ant: +12.6

Naz + Rudy + Ant + Jaden: +18.2

Naz + Rudy + Ant + Jaden + Donte: +20.9

It works

Naz/Rudy vs. KAT/Rudy and Julius/Rudy pairing through the years:

2022-23: -12.7 Naz/Rudy vs. +.6 KAT/Rudy
2023-24: +9.2 vs. +8.6
2024-25: +12.4 Naz/Rudy vs. +4.6 Randle/Rudy
2025-26: +6.1 vs. +7.1

Naz has always been a fairly significant net positive when paired with Rudy with the exception of Rudy's first year here, where they were quite terrible when on the floor together.

The only caveat to this data is that they are rarely paired together against the other team's five starters, so Reid benefits somewhat from being paired with Rudy against groups that are a mix of bench and starters. Perhaps Naz's net rating with Rudy would go down a bit if he was our full-time starting PF.

I do agree with DNatagal that Naz's defense and rebounding seems marginally better this year...still problematic at times, but just a bit less so. And he is obviously a much better floor spacer than Randle, whose 3-point shot is pretty volatile from month to month and year to year. Teams can't soft-close on Naz like they can on Randle.