MN7725 wrote:DrModesty wrote:MN7725 wrote:
Malcolm Brogdon on a minimum contract
I think the Thunder would play him off the floor, and we have also seen in the past that when he is tasked at being a primary playmaker that those teams have struggled badly. Brogdon is a secondary ball handler and always has been.
all true
and would still be an improvement
Possibly. I prefer the clinical decision making of Mike Conley to Brogdan, but I think they would be close enough in effectiveness that sometimes Brogdan would be more effective than Conley and vice-versa.
To get a real difference maker though, I think you have to look at point guard play the level of a Fred Van Vleet or equivalent, and as we are seeing, that type of player commands a hefty price tag. FVV in particular was overpaid because the Rockets were bad and had huge cap space to 'convince' veterans to join a bad team. But I think he probably still would have gotten 30ish at the time in a typical market.
Ultimately game manager is a quite rare trait in the league, and when you have a super star shooting guard it makes a game manager less useful too. The Cavaliers for example have a genuine game manager in Garland, but Mitchell (Who is very similar caliber to Ant right now) can't help but take over the game as it is what his talent and skill set demands. We saw the same to an extent with Mitchell paired with a closer to prime Conley, though that team had a terrible perimeter defense to overcome as well.
Ant has to be the man to level up here. We have seen guys like Shai, Tatum, Giannis, DeRozan and Zion all become more effective playmakers over time without a high base line, so it can be done. But none of these guys (even Shai) are elite at it, and I feel like Ant has quite a long way to go to even reach their levels. Something else that doesn't help Ant and the Wolves here is that their other players don't have too much to contribute in this area either, other than Randle. Gobert, Naz, NAW, DDV, McDaniels are all average to below average passers and team creators relative to position.
I really dislike the side of Ant that we see off the court with the absenteeism, but he is an exciting player so I hope he can round his game out for Minnesota's sake.
