shrink wrote:Peregrine01 wrote:shrink wrote:On the other hand, how does DEN handle Ant? They don’t have Brown this year, and the only player that could maybe defend him is Gordon. However, Gordon is the ONLY option they have to defend Towns size and scoring ability. Towns shoots over smaller guys, and drive past bigger, slower defenders.
With a guy like Ant, you force him to make reads, clog the paint and invite him into tough pull-up jumpers, which he seems very willingly to oblige. Honestly haven't been impressed with him at all on offense - he doesn't have great feel.
To be honest, Ant’s ability to make reads varies every night, sometimes even within games. The problem he creates though is that he is too athletic to not just blow by most one-on-one defenders. He can also make tough jumpers. If you watch the Suns, who also don’t have a good option, they try to double team him, and then pack in underneath, like you suggest. Sometimes Ant just dominates that. They really need two Aaron Gordon’s, or bring back Brown.
Having blow-by ability doesn't mean that a guy suddenly lives at the rim. Against a putrid Suns defense, Ant is really not getting to the rim all that much and spends way too much time pounding the rock. He dribbles into tough shots way too often and an offense relying on a heavy diet of tough jump shots is not going to be what beats Denver especially considering what Jokic gets on the other end. There's a reason why Conley still runs the Wolves' offense and not Ant.
