younggunsmn wrote:Wolves fan have watched KAT for 9 years.
1. The offensive skill is real. Best shooting big man of all time is not an exaggeration.
But no longer much of a post threat and completely incapable of bully ball.
Teams were very effective guarding him with smaller guys even before Gobert arrived, but will absolutely torch players his size with average or worse athleticism. Expect teams to go small against you. A lot.
Game is mostly pick and pop and attacking closeouts off the dribble now.
Pretty mediocre passing out of the double team which is what has really held him back from taking that step into superstardom.
2. Needs to be in an aggressive defensive scheme. One of the worst drop coverage bigs of all time.
Hunted mercilessly in pick and roll for most of his career. Was very successfully playing up high in the trap/high wall scheme two years ago with long athletic guys in McDaniels and Vanderbilt protecting as the low man.
Was very successful this year playing help defender to Gobert, who was taking massive responsibility in a drop scheme with 3 aggressive elite perimeter defenders who almost never got beat one on one.
Thibs is a great coach and you have some great defenders, but if you let teams put KAT on an island you are going to have a really bad time, and good teams will focus their entire game plan around scheming to attack him.
3. Foul trouble has been a constant throughout his career and KAT is going to do stuff sometimes that make you want to throw a brick through your TV.
Offensive foul after offensive foul. Constant complaining to the refs.
Trying to make the home run play instead of the easy pass.
Always falling to the floor on his drives.
4. Offensive efficiency goes in the toilet when the lights get bright and teams ratchet up their defensive intensity.
Had an absolutely horrible playoff series against Memphis 2 years ago and again against Dallas this summer.
This trade would never have happened if he were on a regular max contract instead of a supermax.
We were not going to be able to put enough players around Ant to win in the long term with KAT's deal on the books.
I hate this trade from a value perspective. I absolutely loathe Julius Randle and am tempted to just stretch his contract for fear of what a bad fit he is going to be between Ant and Gobert, if I weren't certain he was going to exercise his player option and leave next summer.
That pick from Detroit is likely just a high 2nd round pick.
I love Divencenzo though, and he should fit well with what we are trying to do as a plus defender on the wing and a guy with a quick trigger who can shoot 40% plus on volume.
If we had him last year instead of NAW, maybe that Dallas series turns out differently.
Plus he's on a bargain contract for 3 more years which is also huge.
This trade might also allow us to re-sign Naz Reid next summer, which was not going to happen without shedding some serious salary.
If we are going to get Ant to a chip, it's only going to happen by growth from within from guys like Naz, Jaden McDaniels, and Rob Dillingham. Maybe add Donte to that as well.
As a Minny fan, this trade stings in the moment, but it may actually allow us to extend our window out another 3 or 4 years as a market that can't pay 100 mil+ in luxury tax every year (we were at about 300 mil in tax and salary before this trade for this year, which IMHO was only even possible because of the ownership fight).
All of this just to pretty much just hate on the guy that was your franchise cornerstone for almost a decade. Damn
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