Minnesota Sports Forum

Conley: C+
Ant: F
Mcdaniels: B
Kat: A-
Gobert: B
Naz: A+
Slow Mo: C+
Naw: A-
Brown: B

Conley: B+
Ant: F
Mcdaniels: B+
Kat: A
Gobert: B+
Naz: A+
Slow Mo: B
Naw: B-
Brown: B

Heh, Naz was the easy one. Man, he saved our butt on offense with Ant shooting the ball so poorly.

I would actually bump Ant up to a D+ or C- because he still attracts a lot of attention and he dealt out a lot of assists, including two final dagger 3s by Conley and KAT.

Looks like the grades so far are consistent with two exceptions. I noticed a big disparity between Kek and Cool on Conley and NAW. It’s always interesting when two obviously good basketball minds have a significantly different take on a player’s performance. I didn’t watch the game so it will be interesting to see where I come down on Conley and NAW after watching the replay tomorrow. Will my grades align with Kek or Cool? Hmm. Tune in tomorrow night for the answer.

Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 14, 2023 10:12 pm Looks like the grades so far are consistent with two exceptions. I noticed a big disparity between Kek and Cool on Conley and NAW. It’s always interesting when two obviously good basketball minds have a significantly different take on a player’s performance. I didn’t watch the game so it will be interesting to see where I come down on Conley and NAW after watching the replay tomorrow. Will my grades align with Kek or Cool? Hmm. Tune in tomorrow night for the answer.

I know that Kek grades relative to the expectations/role of the player. NAW played a really clean game overall and his efficient offense along with Reid helped offset Ant's terrible shooting night. He wasn't all that effective on Doncic (too small) and didn't do much else besides the efficient offense. But given his role, he had a pretty good night.

I wouldn't give anyone an F tonight. Great road win with solid D. Everyone who played did something nice tonight. This team is good.

Lip, enjoy the replay...this was a great win. And since you know the ending, you won't even be depressed with the 17-2 start!

I'll weigh in on the Kek/Cool grading disparity...Kek is more correct on NAW, and Cool is more correct on Bite Bite. And I'll add one more grade...an A+ for Finchie. Luka is a magnificent offensive player, and perhaps because Jaden is not 100% yet, Doncic was handing him his lunch in the first quarter. I'm not faulting Jaden because he was working his ass off trying to stop Luka, but he was having no success at all. Luka had 12 points and Dallas led 17-2 when Finchie swapped NAW in for Jaden. And we all know what happened...NAW totally frustrated him with his elite pestering defense, and got us back in the game...he even forced Luka into a technical foul. Don't get me wrong...Jaden is still a better overall defender than NAW (NAW is still too inconsistent in his team defense). But I'm starting to think NAW is the best on-ball defender in the league. His ability to fight through screens and stick to his man is exceptional. NAW's defense and Naz's shot making turned this game around.

As for Conley, his ability to make the right play at the right time (at both ends of the court) is amazing, and it was on display tonight. He prefers to stay in the background on offense, but when we really need a bucket, you can see him work to get in the right place for an open three-pointer. And he did it again tonight. Combine that with some excellent help defense, and I conclude Kek's grade is too low.

I highly endorse the A's given to KAT. We've talked many times in this forum about a lack of toughness in this team in the past, but I'm now ready to call KAT a tough player. He gets the tough contested rebounds, plays tough defense, and drives to the basket fearlessly even though he knows he is going to repeatedly get hammered. KAT's physicality is a big reason for our turnaround this season.

My biggest issue with the grading is the F given to Ant. Sure, he's rusty after a layoff and his shooting was an F. But I'm never going to give a player with a +20 an F, and there are good reasons for Ant's +20 tonight...great defense and good ball movement. I thought both his on-ball and help defense were the best I have ever seen from him, and you can't ignore his team-leading 11 assists (although I didn't like the 5 turnovers). And beyond all this, I really liked the joy he showed on the sidelines. He really wants to win, and he wasn't going to let a poor shooting night get in the way of his sideline giddiness...he knew the rest of his game was good tonight. I give Ant a C tonight (An A in defense and being an exceptional teammate, a B in distributing and an F in shooting).

What a win, huh guys?

Good stuff. I'm still not watching games (early to bed, early to rise), but I really enjoy reading everyone's takes the next morning.

Regarding Edwards and grades, IMO - he should at least get some extra credit points for being out there. I'm assuming he's still sore and possibly not 100%. But he's still out there and that means a lot (at least to me).

Such a fun year so far. Part of me wants to break down and buy a package to start watching games. But the superstitious part of me says don't change anything and keep going to bed early!

Carlos Danger wrote: ↑Fri Dec 15, 2023 7:59 am Good stuff. I'm still not watching games (early to bed, early to rise), but I really enjoy reading everyone's takes the next morning.

Regarding Edwards and grades, IMO - he should at least get some extra credit points for being out there. I'm assuming he's still sore and possibly not 100%. But he's still out there and that means a lot (at least to me).

Such a fun year so far. Part of me wants to break down and buy a package to start watching games. But the superstitious part of me says don't change anything and keep going to bed early!

I buy the single team edition of NBA league pass and stream the games on that. You can watch live or the replay with their app.

https://fishkernba.com/

I'm an early to bed and early to rise guy also, Anthony...and I'm also cheap! So I often access the replay of the previous night's game on fishkernba.com. And it's free! Only once this season has he failed to download a Wolves game I wanted to watch. And I find I can watch a game in about an hour if I fast forward through free throws, timeouts and halftime.