Game 43: MIN vs MEM

[winforlose]

High school coach, I agree. Probably college coach too.

But I don’t know if an NBA coach can risk alienating a team’s superstar. Superstars are adults who hold the power in the franchise.

Are you telling me Pops would put up with Ant's performances?

Note I know that's an extreme, but there must be some semblance of power as the head coach.

Pops is also the de facto GM, his own boss, and a long tenured career with the organization.

But I’m going to say that if Wemby demands the ball at ends of games, and Pops doesn’t give it to him, that’s a big risk for a small market Spurs team. You can’t alienate superstars on this era of player empowerment. Coaches these days have to manage egos, and it has to be a collaboration, rather than the authoritarian rule we are used to.

Supposedly Finch coaches Ant hard, and Ant says he likes it. But I suspect Finch can coach him hard ONLY because Ant likes it. I don’t know what end of games relationships are.

You know what Ant likes less than being told NO? LOSING! Ant has been a terrible clutch player going back to his rookie season. For every 1 game he might win he will lose at least 1 probably 2 or 3. Ant might not love going to the hot Reid or Dilly, or even going for the tie instead of the win, but that is why you have a head coach. If Finch cannot tell Ant the play then he has lost the locker room. No coach can both appease the Superstar and allow the superstar to lose games at the same time. Better to get fired saying NO, then to get fired for losing saying YES to an unreasonable demand.

[shrink]

Are you telling me Pops would put up with Ant's performances?

Note I know that's an extreme, but there must be some semblance of power as the head coach.

Pops is also the de facto GM, his own boss, and a long tenured career with the organization.

But I’m going to say that if Wemby demands the ball at ends of games, and Pops doesn’t give it to him, that’s a big risk for a small market Spurs team. You can’t alienate superstars on this era of player empowerment. Coaches these days have to manage egos, and it has to be a collaboration, rather than the authoritarian rule we are used to.

Supposedly Finch coaches Ant hard, and Ant says he likes it. But I suspect Finch can coach him hard ONLY because Ant likes it. I don’t know what end of games relationships are.

You know what Ant likes less than being told NO? LOSING! Ant has been a terrible clutch player going back to his rookie season. For every 1 game he might win he will lose at least 1 probably 2 or 3. Ant might not love going to the hot Reid or Dilly, or even going for the tie instead of the win, but that is why you have a head coach. If Finch cannot tell Ant the play then he has lost the locker room. No coach can both appease the Superstar and allow the superstar to lose games at the same time. Better to get fired saying NO, then to get fired for losing saying YES to an unreasonable demand.

As fans, I don’t think we know the psychology or power dynamics enough to make this call.

[winforlose]

Pops is also the de facto GM, his own boss, and a long tenured career with the organization.

But I’m going to say that if Wemby demands the ball at ends of games, and Pops doesn’t give it to him, that’s a big risk for a small market Spurs team. You can’t alienate superstars on this era of player empowerment. Coaches these days have to manage egos, and it has to be a collaboration, rather than the authoritarian rule we are used to.

Supposedly Finch coaches Ant hard, and Ant says he likes it. But I suspect Finch can coach him hard ONLY because Ant likes it. I don’t know what end of games relationships are.

You know what Ant likes less than being told NO? LOSING! Ant has been a terrible clutch player going back to his rookie season. For every 1 game he might win he will lose at least 1 probably 2 or 3. Ant might not love going to the hot Reid or Dilly, or even going for the tie instead of the win, but that is why you have a head coach. If Finch cannot tell Ant the play then he has lost the locker room. No coach can both appease the Superstar and allow the superstar to lose games at the same time. Better to get fired saying NO, then to get fired for losing saying YES to an unreasonable demand.

As fans, I don’t think we know the psychology or power dynamics enough to make this call.

We know what Ant says. We know he keeps talking about ignoring Finch, not listening to Finch, thinking he is smarter than Finch, ect… We know that Ant bitches to the media after losses. We know that Ant feels disrespected by fans booing. We know he cares about his reputation ALOT. Ant should never have been in the back court inbounding with 5 seconds. That was beyond awful. We should have trusted the squad and gone for overtime. Best case you get an and 1. Worst case you lose trying for a reasonable shot. A double teamed step back without proper time is not a high percentage shot.

[Araxen]

High school coach, I agree. Probably college coach too.

But I don’t know if an NBA coach can risk alienating a team’s superstar. Superstars are adults who hold the power in the franchise.

Are you telling me Pops would put up with Ant's performances?

Note I know that's an extreme, but there must be some semblance of power as the head coach.

Pops is also the de facto GM, his own boss, and a long tenured career with the organization. I appreciate you mentioning this was an extreme case.

But I’m going to say that if Wemby demands the ball at ends of games, and Pops doesn’t give it to him, that’s a big risk for a small market Spurs team. Coaches CANNOT alienate superstars on this era of player empowerment. Coaches these days have to manage egos, and coaching games has to be a collaboration between coaches and players, rather than the authoritarian rule we are used to.

Supposedly Finch coaches Ant hard, and Ant says he likes it. But I suspect Finch can coach him hard ONLY because Ant likes it. I don’t know what end of games relationships are.

Pop has made Wemby sit the bench when he doesn't do what he wants him to do especially when he was a rookie. Pop has full control of his team.

[shrink]

You know what Ant likes less than being told NO? LOSING! Ant has been a terrible clutch player going back to his rookie season. For every 1 game he might win he will lose at least 1 probably 2 or 3. Ant might not love going to the hot Reid or Dilly, or even going for the tie instead of the win, but that is why you have a head coach. If Finch cannot tell Ant the play then he has lost the locker room. No coach can both appease the Superstar and allow the superstar to lose games at the same time. Better to get fired saying NO, then to get fired for losing saying YES to an unreasonable demand.

As fans, I don’t think we know the psychology or power dynamics enough to make this call.

We know what Ant says. We know he keeps talking about ignoring Finch, not listening to Finch, thinking he is smarter than Finch, ect… We know that Ant bitches to the media after losses. We know that Ant feels disrespected by fans booing. We know he cares about his reputation ALOT. Ant should never have been in the back court inbounding with 5 seconds. That was beyond awful. We should have trusted the squad and gone for overtime. Best case you get an and 1. Worst case you lose trying for a reasonable shot. A double teamed step back without proper time is not a high percentage shot.

No, worst case is that Ant gets sick of a team he thinks doesn’t trust him in big moments, and demands a trade. That’s worst case.

I don’t think NBA coaches have the authority that you imagine. Maybe Pops.

[WolfAddict]

As fans, I don’t think we know the psychology or power dynamics enough to make this call.

We know what Ant says. We know he keeps talking about ignoring Finch, not listening to Finch, thinking he is smarter than Finch, ect… We know that Ant bitches to the media after losses. We know that Ant feels disrespected by fans booing. We know he cares about his reputation ALOT. Ant should never have been in the back court inbounding with 5 seconds. That was beyond awful. We should have trusted the squad and gone for overtime. Best case you get an and 1. Worst case you lose trying for a reasonable shot. A double teamed step back without proper time is not a high percentage shot.

No, worst case is that Ant gets sick of a team that doesn’t trust him in big moments, and demands a trade. That’s the worst case.

There's another one that's pretty high up on the "worst case" list...

We keep playing terrible, losing basketball and he demands a trade so he play with a good team

Just sayin

[Klomp]

We know what Ant says. We know he keeps talking about ignoring Finch, not listening to Finch, thinking he is smarter than Finch, ect… We know that Ant bitches to the media after losses. We know that Ant feels disrespected by fans booing. We know he cares about his reputation ALOT. Ant should never have been in the back court inbounding with 5 seconds. That was beyond awful. We should have trusted the squad and gone for overtime. Best case you get an and 1. Worst case you lose trying for a reasonable shot. A double teamed step back without proper time is not a high percentage shot.

No, worst case is that Ant gets sick of a team that doesn’t trust him in big moments, and demands a trade. That’s the worst case.

There's another one that's pretty high up on the "worst case" list...

We keep playing terrible, losing basketball and he demands a trade so he play with a good team

Just sayin

Losing basketball? We are above .500.

[WolfAddict]

No, worst case is that Ant gets sick of a team that doesn’t trust him in big moments, and demands a trade. That’s the worst case.

There's another one that's pretty high up on the "worst case" list...

We keep playing terrible, losing basketball and he demands a trade so he play with a good team

Just sayin

Losing basketball? We are above .500.

Oh dear... ok this is just pointless - If you can look at the games we've lost recently and not see a downward trend, there's really no point in having this discussion - If you just want us to tow the line and kumbaya it, then you're going to be as disappointed in us as we are in this team.

[_AIJ_]

No, worst case is that Ant gets sick of a team that doesn’t trust him in big moments, and demands a trade. That’s the worst case.

There's another one that's pretty high up on the "worst case" list...

We keep playing terrible, losing basketball and he demands a trade so he play with a good team

Just sayin

Losing basketball? We are above .500.

Barely

[shrink]

No, worst case is that Ant gets sick of a team that doesn’t trust him in big moments, and demands a trade. That’s the worst case.

There's another one that's pretty high up on the "worst case" list...

We keep playing terrible, losing basketball and he demands a trade so he play with a good team

Just sayin

That’s fair, but we are talking about who takes the shot at the ends of these close games, and MIN leads the league in close games.

If Finch tells Ant, “I don’t care if you want the ball - you’ve sucked lately at the end, and I’m going to use my power as coach to give Naz that shot!” ..well, Naz better make it. Ant is always going to think he would have made the shot.

I imagine if the team is close at the end, and he misses the shot, he blames himself. If Naz misses the shot and Finch didn’t give him that chance, he blames the organization, and questions if another team would give him the power to take those shots.

[Guest84]

While I’m not calling for Finch to be fired, he’s def compiled a list of offenses over the past few years. You’d think he would learn but we keep seeing the same things over and over.

First, the team gets a stop and they’re on a favorable fast break but Finch calls a timeout. This issue is then compounded by the poor ato play call. Absolutely egregious decision.

He also helps kill momentum with his poor rotations. I don’t remember who was in completely but I do recall they were building momentum with Rob in. Then yank, Rob out, Rudy and others in then a Memphis run.

Again, TC really put Finch in a bind with the late trade but Finch hasn’t helped himself either this year.

[Guest84]

No, worst case is that Ant gets sick of a team that doesn’t trust him in big moments, and demands a trade. That’s the worst case.

There's another one that's pretty high up on the "worst case" list...

We keep playing terrible, losing basketball and he demands a trade so he play with a good team

Just sayin

That’s fair, but we are talking about who takes the shot at the ends of these close games, and MIN leads the league in close games.

If Finch tells Ant, “I don’t care if you want the ball - you’ve sucked lately at the end, and I’m going to use my power as coach to give Naz that shot!” ..well, Naz better make it. Ant is always going to think he would have made the shot.

I imagine if the team is close at the end, and he misses the shot, he blames himself. If Naz misses the shot and Finch didn’t give him that chance, he blames the organization, and questions if another team would give him the power to take those shots.

This is where “coaching” comes into play. Remember how Phil would tell MJ, “who’s open”, forcing MJ to understand the play, understand that he needs to use and trust his teammates, which will in turn give them the confidence they need from their star.

Force Ant to read the moment and increase his iq.

[m2002brian]

No, worst case is that Ant gets sick of a team that doesn’t trust him in big moments, and demands a trade. That’s the worst case.

There's another one that's pretty high up on the "worst case" list...

We keep playing terrible, losing basketball and he demands a trade so he play with a good team

Just sayin

That’s fair, but we are talking about who takes the shot at the ends of these close games, and MIN leads the league in close games.

If Finch tells Ant, “I don’t care if you want the ball - you’ve sucked lately at the end, and I’m going to use my power as coach to give Naz that shot!” ..well, Naz better make it. Ant is always going to think he would have made the shot.

I imagine if the team is close at the end, and he misses the shot, he blames himself. If Naz misses the shot and Finch didn’t give him that chance, he blames the organization, and questions if another team would give him the power to take those shots.

Or don’t suck so bad at coaching during the whole of the game that the team is in as many close games as it is. Thus negating any of this “who should take the last shot” talk.

Edit: let’s talk about this game….
2pt game, 4 seconds to go. Coach draws a play up for our best player to ….. take a 3????
This ain’t the first time btw, you know, since we are always in so many close games, that finch had drawn up a 3pt attempt when down 2 or less. It’s just dumb dumb dumb basketball.

If that’s on Ant. Then coach needs to be in his ear. He can have the last shot, but it’s going to be what the coach draws up, not some boneheaded 3pt attempt when a 2 is all that is required.

[WolfAddict]

No, worst case is that Ant gets sick of a team that doesn’t trust him in big moments, and demands a trade. That’s the worst case.

There's another one that's pretty high up on the "worst case" list...

We keep playing terrible, losing basketball and he demands a trade so he play with a good team

Just sayin

That’s fair, but we are talking about who takes the shot at the ends of these close games, and MIN leads the league in close games.

If Finch tells Ant, “I don’t care if you want the ball - you’ve sucked lately at the end, and I’m going to use my power as coach to give Naz that shot!” ..well, Naz better make it. Ant is always going to think he would have made the shot.

I imagine if the team is close at the end, and he misses the shot, he blames himself. If Naz misses the shot and Finch didn’t give him that chance, he blames the organization, and questions if another team would give him the power to take those shots.

I see your premise, I really do, but the intent of a team should be winning, and if someone else is hot at the end of game, they should be the one to take it (or I should say, whoever has the BEST shot, should take it. This is a team game, not 1v5). Giving Ant the ball and seeing him take an extremely contested shot while others are open and have been hitting shots all game, is heartbreaking. Even more so if it's just "to keep him happy" so he can continue to make bad shots on this team.

[shrink]

That’s fair, but we are talking about who takes the shot at the ends of these close games, and MIN leads the league in close games.

If Finch tells Ant, “I don’t care if you want the ball - you’ve sucked lately at the end, and I’m going to use my power as coach to give Naz that shot!” ..well, Naz better make it. Ant is always going to think he would have made the shot.

I imagine if the team is close at the end, and he misses the shot, he blames himself. If Naz misses the shot and Finch didn’t give him that chance, he blames the organization, and questions if another team would give him the power to take those shots.

This is where “coaching” comes into play. Remember how Phil would tell MJ, “who’s open”, forcing MJ to understand the play, understand that he needs to use and trust his teammates, which will in turn give them the confidence they need from their star.

Force Ant to read the moment and increase his iq.

I watched Jordan, and I will tell you that it took many years of Phil in Jordan’s ear before he started trusting his teammates.

But Phil stayed in his ear, and Finch stays in Ant’s ear too. It might take some time before it goes from his ear to his brain.

[Guest84]

That’s fair, but we are talking about who takes the shot at the ends of these close games, and MIN leads the league in close games.

If Finch tells Ant, “I don’t care if you want the ball - you’ve sucked lately at the end, and I’m going to use my power as coach to give Naz that shot!” ..well, Naz better make it. Ant is always going to think he would have made the shot.

I imagine if the team is close at the end, and he misses the shot, he blames himself. If Naz misses the shot and Finch didn’t give him that chance, he blames the organization, and questions if another team would give him the power to take those shots.

This is where “coaching” comes into play. Remember how Phil would tell MJ, “who’s open”, forcing MJ to understand the play, understand that he needs to use and trust his teammates, which will in turn give them the confidence they need from their star.

Force Ant to read the moment and increase his iq.

I watched Jordan, and I will tell you that it took many years of Phil in Jordan’s ear before he started trusting his teammates.

But Phil stayed in his ear, and Finch stays in Ant’s ear too. It might take some time before it goes from his ear to his brain.

Yes, but you also have to factor in the teammates added throughout their progression. Once Jordan got the right teammates, he trusted them. I would say Ant has actually done better than Jordan up until this year. So what’s changed besides adding DDV and Randle??

Why doesn’t he trust others who he’s went to battle with already?

I think something has actually changed behind the scenes regarding Ant and Finch’s relationship. Ant has said some things that would indicate that he or the team doesn’t fully listen to Finch.

Similar to KG telling Flip to just coach it…is Ant asking Finch to do the same but he’s not? Is Finch showing too much behind the scenes and Ant sees it and disagrees??

Has the media push gotten to Ant’s head and he thinks the only way to live up to it is by scoring and hitting game winners?

Idk I’m just throwing things out there.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

Just watch the replay , as night game are not for me. Overall, we play well except at the end. Quite usual. TO, ANT hero ball when you have players open....concerned with Rudy too. Hope he is injured because if not, he is terrible on both sides.... Randle did Randle things... Cooked by JJJ but at least he try. Last 10 games he shoot 13% at 3 and overall is back to his career level 34%... Hope to get better than your second star is at this level is just not realistic. We will be back to 50% soon...

[Baseline81]

Losing basketball? We are above .500.

Are you that blinded? Its more about how they are playing while barely being above .500.

BE BETTER, KLOMP.

[shrink]

Good post, guest.

Yeah, I’m not really sure I understand Ant either. In the press conferences, even as a rookie, he would give lots of praise to his teammates when they won, and talk about how much he trusts all of them, especially Jaden McDaniels. And for years, you have heard him take the blame when they lose, often repeating Finch’s mantra about the ball getting “sticky” with him.

And to his credit, most of the time, in most games, Ant is a willing passer. He still has a lot to learn as a playmaker, but most of the time he will pass out of double teams. Unfortunately, every so often, you can just see that he gets in a mindset that he’s not going to pass. This happens most frequently when the team falls behind, and at ends of games. And when he faces one of his idols.

So why haven’t we seen progress this year? I used to wonder if it was going from Towns to Randle. KAT was always a willing passer, even if he wasn’t very good at it, and you know he would rather set others up to help the team. Ant is very impressionable, and I think he tried to emulate Towns when Randle got here, telling him, “you be you - we’ll all adapt.” Since Randle didn’t know his teammates or the system very well, maybe Ant got worried if he passed the ball, it wouldn’t get back to him? I’ve lately come to doubt that theory, since Randle was getting assists right from the start, and seems to be a very willing passer, better than KAT. I also think it’s too easy for us fans to just blame Randle for anything.

Now, I think this just might be Ant’s 23 year old ego getting the better of him. Jordan didn’t trust his teammates at 23 either. Also, Ant has done this his whole career, but maybe it’s just more obvious because we are losing some games because of it. If Ant really wants to be great, he needs to learn that you don’t always have to take the last shot. You need your team to win.

Watch on YouTube

[Klomp]

Losing basketball? We are above .500.

Are you that blinded? Its more about how they are playing while barely being above .500.

BE BETTER, KLOMP.

I think it's largely a factor of how the NBA is these days. You have three or four teams at the very top of the league during the regular season that are better than everyone. Then you have a group of 10-15 teams within only a few games that can beat each other on any given night. Then you have the rest of the league.

In 2021-22, we were in the second group. The mood was relatively optimistic within the fan base despite some frustrating outcomes from game to game. The postseason showed serious flaws that needed to be addressed.
In 2022-23, we were in the second group. The mood was relatively pessimistic within the fan base after making a contentious trade, even though on the surface it was supposed to address those flaws.
In 2023-24, we thought we were in the top group. Life was pretty great. But then the postseason was a humbling experience as there were serious flaws that needed to be addressed.
In 2024-25, we are in the second group again. The mood is relatively pessimistic within the fan base after again making a contentious trade, even though on the surface the trade was supposed to address those flaws.