Minnesota Sports Forum

"Just stop fucking fouling"

https://l.smartnews.com/p-GQg2W/XTA4rM

Ant is awesome

His leadership style is the best. Hypes of his teammates any chance he gets. Is intense, tells the truth, funny. Authentic. Also it sounds like Finch coaches him as hard as anyone so players listen and respect him because he is a sponge and takes hard coaching

I found that moment fascinating. It was a compliment and a criticism wrapped together and delivered in a moment of delirious happiness when people are more apt to take a message like that.

The question is how KAT really responds to that. If KAT and Ant are really on 100% trust level, then he should take it for what it is. But he seems like a really sensitive guy, and if you listen to him in there, he also seems to suggest that fouling more is a consequence of his playing harder D. I'm not a huge KAT guy, but that's partly true. Of course, the other part is that he's just kind of physically undisciplined and takes unnecessary risks, hedging too much on screens, trying to defend a little too much in the offensive player's space, swinging his elbows up and sometimes hooking his opponent on his drives. That's the shit that KAT needs to stop. Obviously, Ant was right not to get that detailed in a public observation about something a teammate can improve on. He could have agreed with KAT that some of the fouling does come with playing harder D and used that as another chance to give KAT some credit for his D--something he's done fairly well and that we need him to continue to do.

The question is, what is the level of trust between those two? If they really are tight enough that KAT won't be bothered by that, then we are in great shape, because it speaks to the kind of chemistry that will help propel this team. But if KAT is going to be bothered by that, then Ant should know better than us, and maybe kept that comment between the two of them. Ask yourself, how many people do you work with who would be comfortable with you saying the equivalent about them to the national media?

"Man, Richard's great accounting is so crucial to what we do, we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him. That's why I keep telling the guy to stop fucking mixing up those invoices so much. If he just does that, then we get so much more awesome accounting from him and we'll ace our annual audit every time!"

Would Richard be cool with that? Maybe? The question here is, would KAT? My gut fear is that he might not be. Ant should know better than we do, so I hope my gut is just my anxiety talking.

Has KAT been called for any hooks on drives lately? It sure looks like he might be listening to the coaching and maybe not his dad.
That type of ribbing between best friends happens. Ant needs to keep it real and not become a taskmaster like Jordan.
I think people like playing with Ant and when he carries a team like he does, those comments have more power but don't cut as deep.
I hope they keep speaking honestly too each other, because they are on a roll right now.

DNatagal wrote: ↑Mon Apr 29, 2024 12:36 pm Has KAT been called for any hooks on drives lately? It sure looks like he might be listening to the coaching and maybe not his dad.
That type of ribbing between best friends happens. Ant needs to keep it real and not become a taskmaster like Jordan.
I think people like playing with Ant and when he carries a team like he does, those comments have more power but don't cut as deep.
I hope they keep speaking honestly too each other, because they are on a roll right now.

I'm not sure Jordan's leadership style would even work with today's NBA player. Back in Jordan's day, there were probably still a lot of task master type coaches at the H.S., AAU, and College level, so perhaps Jordan's style wasn't totally foreign to his team mates.

In other words, I agree that his leadership style is especially better than Jordan's in this day and age (not that it wouldn't have worked back then too).

They were talking on NBA Radio today about Ant's extraordinary ability to "thread the needle" when talking about someone. They used the way he talks about or to Kevin Durant as an example. In the same sentence he trash talks him while simultaneously praising him. It's a gift that allows him to get his point across without alienating the target. Some of the best coaches can do this. Yet another reason to enjoy this guy.

FNG wrote: ↑Mon Apr 29, 2024 7:55 pm They were talking on NBA Radio today about Ant's extraordinary ability to "thread the needle" when talking about someone. They used the way he talks about or to Kevin Durant as an example. In the same sentence he trash talks him while simultaneously praising him. It's a gift that allows him to get his point across without alienating the target. Some of the best coaches can do this. Yet another reason to enjoy this guy.

Now that is a commentary from someone who is actually watching and listening to the Wolves play!