Better basketball player : Ant or Drexler

[lessthanjake]

Except perhaps for one peak year, Drexler was always a bit of a second-tier superstar. He was akin to Jimmy Butler in terms of his status in the league at the time. He probably peaked a bit higher, since he really did have at least a year where he was a top-tier superstar (for instance, he actually was a close 4th in the league in BPM in 1992 and was 2nd in playoff BPM that year). But, for the most part, he was Jimmy-Butler-esque IMO.

As for the comparison with ANT, I think Drexler was better, though ANT has been a playoff riser so far, so I think there’s a reasonable argument for taking ANT above Drexler as a playoff performer. I think I’d need to see a larger sample size to definitively conclude that ANT systematically rises in the playoffs though.

[ShotCreator]

Drexler is better. Less playoff resilient in a lead role however.

But on the flip side, he is better as a secondary guy. He would allow a guy like KAT to really play his full game next to him.

Tremendous cutter, finisher, offensive rebounder and passer. Compared to Ant.

[falcolombardi]

Drexler is better. Less playoff resilient in a lead role however.

But on the flip side, he is better as a secondary guy. He would allow a guy like KAT to really play his full game next to him.

Tremendous cutter, finisher, offensive rebounder and passer. Compared to Ant.

He is better cause he is not good enough to play first option?

[penbeast0]

Drexler is better. Less playoff resilient in a lead role however.

But on the flip side, he is better as a secondary guy. He would allow a guy like KAT to really play his full game next to him.

Tremendous cutter, finisher, offensive rebounder and passer. Compared to Ant.

He is better cause he is not good enough to play first option?

No, he's saying he's better at most of the things other than scoring off the bounce that make up a great wing than Edwards; not the same thing. Example, Curry is great off ball as well as on ball allowing the Warriors to fun a variety of sets instead of being as heliocentric.

[falcolombardi]

Drexler is better. Less playoff resilient in a lead role however.

But on the flip side, he is better as a secondary guy. He would allow a guy like KAT to really play his full game next to him.

Tremendous cutter, finisher, offensive rebounder and passer. Compared to Ant.

He is better cause he is not good enough to play first option?

No, he's saying he's better at most of the things other than scoring off the bounce that make up a great wing than Edwards; not the same thing. Example, Curry is great off ball as well as on ball allowing the Warriors to fun a variety of sets instead of being as heliocentric.

The comparision to curry off ball play is odd because edwards is arguably closer to curry as a shoter than drexler is to edwards (or at least a similar gap) so the one adding more spacing and catch and shoot value as a 2nd option wouldnt be drexler

And does on ball scoring stop mattering past the first option? What about the minutes the 1st star sits? What about possesions he takes a break? Possesions he gets doubled and the 2nd option needs to become the on ball scorer/creator?

Someone like jalen williams is a better defender than drexler, arguably a better shooter, is a capable passer albeit not quite as good a rebounder

Could easily argue he provides more without being the main ball handler than drexler did

Is he also on par with drexler?

[Hair Jordan]

Clyde Drexler had zero on the ball basketball talent. This is a joke comparison, as were most of perimeter superstars from the 90s.

Peak Drexler crushes any version of Ant we’ve seen. In fact, playoff Ant reminds me of a poor man’s Latrell Sprewell at this point.

[ShotCreator]

Drexler is better. Less playoff resilient in a lead role however.

But on the flip side, he is better as a secondary guy. He would allow a guy like KAT to really play his full game next to him.

Tremendous cutter, finisher, offensive rebounder and passer. Compared to Ant.

He is better cause he is not good enough to play first option?

You can believe that I guess. But I wouldn’t take that from what I said.

I made it a point to say Drexler is definitely better, first. Then talked resiliency. I said he was less resilient, not worse.

You would preferably not have Drexler or Edwards as your clear #1 option offensively in the first place. And if you have a clear #1, you take Drexler in every situation if you want to win.

But Drexler is better at practically everything. Scoring is the only thing even kind of close because of Drexler’s shot creation issues in the PO at times.

[GSP]

This series perfectly showed the best and worst of Ant. I'm even more confident this is Glide now. Ant has a higher ceiling game to game w/ his pullup 3 and is more explosive in the half court but Glide is one of the Goat transition players, better defender and one of the best off ball Sgs ever specially among those who don't have a great jumper.

And another thing Ant has shockingly bad conditioning for such a young and athletic player. Glide motor was worlds better be never got tired and he was always moving, cutting, defending. Ant spends entire quarters and halves just drawing a double and passing out and letting the defense take him out of plays. We've seen him exhausted from guarding Kyrie to point he needed an oxygen mask and had to be taken out crucial periods of 4th quarters. It's astounding ppl don't talk about this more maybe if he looked like Jokic or Luka itd be more of a story. Defense is really inconsistent too.

[TheGOATRises007]

ANT's motor is actually a concern. He seems to gas out way too quickly.

I know the pace at times is breakneck, but other players seem to have a better motor than him.

[One_and_Done]

ANT's motor is actually a concern. He seems to gas out way too quickly.

I know the pace at times is breakneck, but other players seem to have a better motor than him.

Playing D takes alot of energy.

[TheGOATRises007]

ANT's motor is actually a concern. He seems to gas out way too quickly.

I know the pace at times is breakneck, but other players seem to have a better motor than him.

Playing D takes alot of energy.

He's not the only player in the league playing defense

[One_and_Done]

ANT's motor is actually a concern. He seems to gas out way too quickly.

I know the pace at times is breakneck, but other players seem to have a better motor than him.

Playing D takes alot of energy.

He's not the only player in the league playing defense

Drexler might as well not have been, compared to what wings like Ant do today.

[Jaivl]

No, you see, running in the 90s is like crawling...

[TheGOATRises007]

No, you see, running in the 90s is like crawling...

I'm not even bothering anymore.

I was comparing Ant's motor to other players today and he's still going on about how players then all sucked and only walked during games.

Tedious and pointless engaging.

[TheGOATRises007]

Playing D takes alot of energy.

He's not the only player in the league playing defense

Drexler might as well not have been, compared to what wings like Ant do today.

Never ever brought up Drexler's defense compared to Ant.

But sure. Go on. I'm not responding again.

[penbeast0]

Again, some of you are skating close to warnings. If you have a problem with a poster, particularly a consistent problem, use the IGNORE button. Posters like that are what it is for.

[ball_takes23]

Clyde for now.

I still feel like the idea of Ant the player doesn't really correlate with the player he actually is. Like his impact numbers in the RS don't scream 'face of the league' nor in the playoffs. His last 2 playoff series were good, but they weren't outstanding or anything.

But he's been really good the past 2 games vs OKC.

This is very accurate. Ant was dominant last game ppl remember that game 4 performance as if its his baseline avg level. Then next game its 16pts on 13 shots, 5 turnovers. He had 2pts at halftime. But these offnights arent factored in as much as the highs for Ant. Hes still really inconsistent and goes through stretches, quarters even halves barely doing much

Yeah I'm trying to think of someone recent where the way they're regarded is always based on their last good game (kind of the anti harden treatment). Every time he scores 30 he's the face of the league and every off night just falls away.

Kawhi

[One_and_Done]

If Ant's teams for the last 5 years had played from 1985 to 1989 with the same style they did from 21-25, then they would have multiple titles and Ant would be regarded as the best player in the league by many. He'd likely be viewed as better than Jordan.

[penbeast0]

If Ant's teams had for the last 5 years had played from 65 to 69 with the same style they did from 21-25, then they would have been well below .500 and Ant would be regarded as a Pete Maravich style gunner (and badly overrated like Maravich was). His shooting percentage of 44% would be a bit below average and he and most of his teammates other than Gobert would have turned the ball over consistently trying to dribble and travel. See how that works. Different eras have different playstyles.

[One_and_Done]

If Ant's teams had for the last 5 years had played from 65 to 69 with the same style they did from 21-25, then they would have been well below .500 and Ant would be regarded as a Pete Maravich style gunner (and badly overrated like Maravich was). His shooting percentage of 44% would be a bit below average and he and most of his teammates other than Gobert would have turned the ball over consistently trying to dribble and travel. See how that works. Different eras have different playstyles.

Disagree. They'd have made the minor dribbling downgrade needed to adjust to the rules and won 5 titles.