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Dude needs a scottie pippen and instead got a julius randle

This is the difference. I love ant but all I had to hear last year was how he’s the new face of the league and better than Luka, SGA, etc… These players dismantle doubles and traps like it’s nothing, it’s very obvious that ant has a tough time with it. His comments post game only reinforce that.

He's depressed from the KAT trade. And he's handling the situation like a 12 year old. He stands around, starts game very slowly, and his coaches help him none. How about putting pressure on the D through isolation post ups? How about spending six minutes shooting pull ups in practice vs 15000 threes?

The real issue is the lack of spacing. No more KAT and Conley/McDaniels cannot hit 3s. It is time to either get a new PG who can hit 3s (no one is available) or just bite the bullet and start playing Dillingham.

Ant should try getting the ball in the high post more. That way he can make quicker reads on double teams and if it's late he only has to beat one man to get to the rim. He did it briefly against the Mavs in the WCF and had success but went away from it.

I feel Randle is such a huge factor in why Ant is struggling and forcing shots. Randle was an absolute black hole through 3 quarters against BOS and while he started to move the ball more in the 4th, I don't think Ant trusts him as an option to score effectively or pass back to attack a shifted defense. Trade Randle (for literally anything), start Naz, bring Minott off the bench, open up a 9th rotation spot for Rob. It can all click into place without Randle.

Start Conley Ant Naw Reid Gobert give less minutes to Randle and Jaden and more minutes to Rob

Where’s his creativity? He used to have more of a diverse dribbling and finishing package in previous years. This year all he does is straight line drives into a spin move attempt if he gets cut off. Doesn’t even attempt to dunk over anybody. He has a step on holidays going to the rim late last night and couldn’t have dunked it but slowed down and tried to lay it in and get the foul and got neither the hoop or the foul. At least give me some of those euro steps to the basket like you used to. I don’t get why he can’t do that in a crowd.

Personally I would change the starting lineup I would put ddv in for Conley and naw for Jaden McDaniels both have been the only bright spot for mn the last couple games it would give more spacing to ant and also I would give Naz, minott, dillingham, and Terrance Shannon jr more playing time because they have offensive game so it’s not just on ant to score

Ant doesnt wanna be in Minnesota anymore.

I personally like this for him , to have to face the defense more now because KAT is gone should just develop him even more.

One thing that has always bothered me is that Gobert likes to run right next to or into the back of Ant after he sets a screen for him. When he does this he almost always gets in the way. This wasn't to pile on Gobert, its just one of the many things that should have been at least addressed. Also, Ant is rarely on the court with three to four shooters. There is no reason he should not be on the court with DDV, NAW, Naz, and, at this point, Minott for at least 10 - 15 minutes a game minimum so he can at least get some proper spacing from time to time. Finch helps him little with the lineups he consistently plays him in.

We don’t have enough facilitators either. We underestimate how much Kyle Anderson boosted him.

Finch features him in lineups that have 3 players people can cheat off of to guard him. They just dare Conley, McDaniels, and Gobert to take open shots and it’s been working

Should they be playing Minott more? He at least seems to have the willingness/ability to drive to the rim. The offense is so stagnant

I'd like to see Dillingham and Shannon get some playing time. They might be nice sparks for the offense...

The gm choosing gobert and Conley over Kat is the reason why they suck not to mention bad coaching and roster rotation

I think we've peaked with Finch. He's still a great coach, but his inability to make obvious adjustments is stifling Ants abilities. Why he continues this starting line-up of non-shooters and a ball hog is beyond me. I understand there are politics involved, but can we stop pussy footing around and hold people accountable? It's easy to do when you're winning, but no one is responding now.

We need the ASB desperately

Look at what happens when Rudy sits... Just sayin...

Take Your Time Young Man 👏🏾 ANT they will figure this out 🙏🏾

McDaniels needs his minutes reduced or maybe even come off the bench. He's not playing like a starter in the NBA

The thing is, Ant is being double-teamed everytime he gets the ball, which is also due to his unprecedented run during the playoffs last year. He also can't get enough catch-and-shoot chances because teams know he has a 40% 3pt, no other player in their starting lineup can collapse defense and force double teams, so every opposing team's plan is to lock him up off-ball and play 4-on-4, which is a good plan since their starting lineup consists of an old PG having his worst season, shooting 35% from the field, a 3-and-D SF that has a 30% 3pt, ball-dominant PF that is bad off-ball on both sides of the court, and a C that teams completely ignore on offense.

No matter how the Wolves are doing, I can always count on a great video from you.

Mike Conley NEEDS to be replaced by a competent point guard. Love Mike but he's washed and its pretty obvious

There is far too much sterile dribbling from a lot of guys in attack… in result, the rythm is not fluid and it ends too many times in pathetic iso.

I feel Ant is going through the same learning curve as Tatum and Brown did a couple years back (especially against Golden State in the finals). Developing his playmaking will take some time. And McDaniels has been terrible so far offensively, if you look at 2-man line-ups he is the only guy on the roster to basically have a negative rating with every other rotation guy.

ant is playing more as a point guard now that conley isn't playing as many minutes, no one is getting him open

Ant's comments after the game were really jarring. He's acting like he's the only guy getting double teamed in the league. Make them pay for it Ant! All the joy from last year is gone, i'm sad.

Rudy/Randle skeptics like myself seen this coming from continent over should’ve just built this team around Ant as if they wanted him to be the smallest player with big spacing wings and a spacing big but alas I didn’t get lucky and draft Nikola Jokic

One thing is true, and hilariously not accepted by a certain group of Wolves fans-- this has nothing to do with the Kat trade. Nothing, nada, zilch. Jaden's flat lining offense, MCs dramatic regression, and the lack of a break (two consecutive international off-seasons and a deep playoff run last season) has left him pressing/tired/burnt out. He'll be fine, but he desperately needs some help from his coach. Finch is a good coach, but so was Doug Collins. Ant is at the trickiest part of his development, transferring individual greatness into the transcendental sort which elevates the entire team. That's very challenging, and he's still young -- the coach needs to be his partner in this, or we need to find another coach who is capable of it. Golden State was good, then they hired Kerr and became great. The Bulls were good, then they hired Phil Jackson who unlocked that level 10 and became great.

If we’re gonna be mid… why are we not playing Rob? I’m sorry but Mike isn’t helping and would prolly LOVE coming off the bench. Dudes 3 years older than me like cmon Finch. Also, Jaden needs to do something about that shot 🤦🏻‍♂️

Ant has always needed to have strong vocal veterans in order to raise his game and keep it in check. The unaware GM and coach get rid of these players and replace them with Julius Randle, a selfish player without strong leadership skills. What a joke of a coach and GM this team has to waste a year of the most talented Timberwolf plater I've seen.

KAT was ANT’s Thanasis 😭

You would think Ant figured this out from the playoffs last year.🤷🏾‍♂️ Ant needs to get in a rhythm and that starts off ball. That would force teams to play on man.

I think the answer is extremely simple: he has no spot on the floor he wants to go constantly. All the other superstars in the league have that spot they constantly go to to get an easy bucket. Not only does Ant not have this spot, his dribble moves lead him to nothing since he has no intention in the first place. He starts busting out moves just hoping that he can get past his defender just to be met by another one and he stops. This is probably the main reason why he can't get easy buckets and the offense struggles as a whole. When Ant touches the ball, it gets sticky. Same thing with Randle. They constantly try to take things into their own hands and play iso ball which is something the team clearly does not want them to do. They also do not move off ball at all. I've watched Finch for his entire career with different players and it was always the same stagnant offense for the majority. When the ball moves, they are a good team. When the ball sticks, they suck. And if the coaching staff can't get this message across, then fire them.

this team is hell to watch

Yes the starting lineup is not a good fit next to Ant, but when things go wrong, true superstars find unique ways to impact the game. Grab 12 rebounds, get to the line 4-5 times, play elite off-ball defense, set screens for others. Ant just needs to do more I do believe once they surround him with better offensive pieces, Ant will go back to his dominant self once again

Every team is playing against the wolves like Dallas did in the wcf. Double and triple Ant and dare someone else to beat you. Chris Finch refuses to bench Rudy, Jaden and Conley. McDaniels (-54) has been by far the worst player on the team and the only rotation player with a negative +/-. Jaden needs to find himself in the dunker role more often instead of jacking up 3s at 30%

Unfortunately, they traded the other threat on offense in KAT that is why Ant is now easier to guard due to non-threat shooters around him

He’s doing too much because the team around him is bad. I loved mcdaniels but dudes terrible offensively, Rudy is just a big Jaden, finch won’t play the rookies, and they traded their only other scoring option in KAT. they blew this team up. A very Minnesota thing to do.

Good video. Ant (and Randle too) is playing in a terrible offensive environment with poor spacing and not enough playmaking around him, but Ant himself isn't making the good, quick reads that we've seen SGA and Tatum make against us. It's been frustrating for him and for us to watch. Another thing I've never heard anyone bring up about Ant is that his handle is fairly insecure for someone with high ball usage. He struggles at times to wriggle through tight gaps in driving lanes. Per bballref he's averaging 1.15 lost ball turnovers per game, which is a number that's a far cry from elite ballhandlers like Luka and SGA and more similar to other shaky ballhandling wings (e.g Lavine at 1.10 and funnily enough, Randle at 1.06). You've pointed out that Ant's passing out of the double/blitz is subpar, but he's also way too quick to pick up his dribble when defenses commit two at him, and when he does nobody tends to move toward him to receive the pass and help him out of a pickle. It's a shitty situation all around.

He just seems to hate the team around him. If they aren't careful Minnesota will lose him. Better make a trade soon!

I always knew this trade would pay off and it has to things take time gotta trust the process

Reminder if we kept KAT, NAW and NAZ would be gone after this season.

Randle and Divo need 35+ min each and needed 25 games along with team mates to form cohesion. And Randle unable to practice with contact until he arrived due to surgery needed time to shake off rust. Team is on fire now. OKC and Celtics games will be huge test and when Wolves come to MSG Randle and Divo will be looking to avenge loss at home like rest of team but those 2 more so because of lack of loyalty from Dolan, Rose and Tibs!

Imagine how good this offense could be if Ant decided to join the off ball movement party.

The Wolves get outscored with Conley n McDaniels on the floor together. Since Finch refuses to take McDaniels out of the starting lineup then Conley needs to switch with DiVincenzo. That way Conley's minutes are reduced. Conley's not a starter anymore n it's time to get Dillingham more playing time. I wonder if Mike Brown would do something like this..

Donte can't be traded now, he is the team's third offensive option.

Donte must has found a girl up in Minnesota he not crying to get trade now.