All Things 2024-25 Minnesota Timberwolves In-Season Thread

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kg21 said:
Ant at 23 means the future is now?

His prime will be 26, 27 and 28.

Not sure what you mean.
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The future is now because at 23 Ant has logged a huge number of minutes. His career, in terms of injuries and availability, is likely to follow the same arc as KAT's. The first 4-5 years in the league KAT didn't miss games and he played heavy minutes. KAT averaged about 80 games/year his first four years and 50 games/year seasons 5-9. Today's NBA is like football without pads. Yes, there were hard fouls in the 80's but he players today are bigger, faster and stronger. The point is the wear and tear on Ant's body is very likely to take a toll going forward. The window for Ant's every game availability is probably one to two more years.
 


jamiche said:
The future is now because at 23 Ant has logged a huge number of minutes. His career, in terms of injuries and availability, is likely to follow the same arc as KAT's. The first 4-5 years in the league KAT didn't miss games and he played heavy minutes. KAT averaged about 80 games/year his first four years and 50 games/year seasons 5-9. Today's NBA is like football without pads. Yes, there were hard fouls in the 80's but he players today are bigger, faster and stronger. The point is the wear and tear on Ant's body is very likely to take a toll going forward. The window for Ant's every game availability is probably one to two more years.
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Jordan, Kobe, Garnett all entered their primes at 25, 26, 27 and 28

I couldn't disagree more!
 





jamiche said:
The future is now because at 23 Ant has logged a huge number of minutes. His career, in terms of injuries and availability, is likely to follow the same arc as KAT's. The first 4-5 years in the league KAT didn't miss games and he played heavy minutes. KAT averaged about 80 games/year his first four years and 50 games/year seasons 5-9. Today's NBA is like football without pads. Yes, there were hard fouls in the 80's but he players today are bigger, faster and stronger. The point is the wear and tear on Ant's body is very likely to take a toll going forward. The window for Ant's every game availability is probably one to two more years.
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Lol you keep saying today's NBA is football without pads when it's the softest it has ever been. All teams do is launch 3s and flop everywhere to get to the free throw line.

Anthony Edwards is also 6-4" and built like a brick. KAT is 7'0". There is no comparison on the wear and tear between guards and big men.

Saying Ant's prime is only 1 or 2 more years might be one of the dumbest basketball takes ever on here. What a laughably inaccurate and moronic post.
 


kg21 said:
Jordan, Kobe, Garnett all entered their primes at 25, 26, 27 and 28

I couldn't disagree more!
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Going into their fifth year or, in Jordan's case, fifth year equivalent (college and pro), Kobe had played 266 games, MJ had played 187 games and KG played 286 games. Ant played 302 games.
 



GopherWeatherGuy said:
Lol you keep saying today's NBA is football without pads when it's the softest it has ever been. All teams do is launch 3s and flop everywhere to get to the free throw line.

Anthony Edwards is also 6-4" and built like a brick. KAT is 7'0". There is no comparison on the wear and tear between guards and big men.

Saying Ant's prime is only 1 or 2 more years might be one of the dumbest basketball takes ever on here. What a laughably inaccurate and moronic post.
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You don't watch many games.
 






jamiche said:
If you did watch with regularity you would recognize the toll that the game takes on the players' bodies. It might be more edifying than shitposting to get reaction scores on GH.
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Everything I said was true. Your post was ridiculous and wrong.
 




jamiche said:
Start watching and stop shitposting. Your knowledge of the game will grow as your reaction score doesn't.
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You constantly have the dumbest takes on the board. You're the shitposter.

According to you guys like SGA - 26, past his prime. Jason Tatum - 26, past his prime. Jalen Brunson - 28 and Nicola Jokic - 29, are both way past their primes. Not to mention LeBron - 40, Kevin Durant - 36, and Steph Curry - 36, those guys are all terrible.

Don't talk to me about NBA knowledge when you're clueless.
 
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GopherWeatherGuy said:
Not to mention LeBron - 40, Kevin Durant - 36, and Steph Curry - 36
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How are their teams doing? None of them have a remote chance of winning the Title nor can they add the necessary talent to do so despite having Owners willing to pay the largest tax penalties in the league.

And how many players actually improve after age 27? None. How many start to miss more games with injury and/or maintenance? Most.

Ant is 23 and the next four (4) years will be his prime as an athlete. This is an undeniable fact. Kg wants to build for the future. With what? We could trade Randle for a bag of chips with no salary coming back and still be over the Cap and unable to fill that $30M salary slot on the roster.

We have no draft pick currency and potentially can lose Naz and NAW for nothing after the season. We can't trade Gobert until next season and even if we could, who plays C?

The future IS now for this team just as it was when we traded our war chest of assets for Gobert. Connelly completely fucked over this roster and it's ability to add meaningful pieces to compliment Ant. This is indeed a fact.

Even with DDV, the Wolves have the least amount of games missed due to injury in the entire league yet we're barely hanging on for a Play-in spot. That's reality.
 
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Slim Tubby said:
How are their teams doing? None of them have a remote chance of winning the Title nor can they add the necessary talent to do so despite having Owners willing to pay the largest tax penalties in the league.
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For starters, all 3 of those guys are past their prime, but they're still great players. Ant has 13 to 17 years before he's at that age. Aren't the Lakers currently the 5 seed? Weren't all of these teams in the playoffs last year?

Slim Tubby said:
And how many players actually improve after age 27? None. How many start to miss more games with injury and/or maintenance? Most.

Ant is 23 and the next four (4) years will be his prime as an athlete. This is an undeniable fact. Kg wants to build for the future. With what? We could trade Randle for a bag of chips with no salary coming back and still be over the Cap and unable to fill that $30M salary slot on the roster.

We have no draft pick currency and potentially can lose Naz and NAW for nothing after the season. We can't trade Gobert until next season and even if we could, who plays C?

The future IS now for this team just as it was when we traded our war chest of assets for Gobert. Connelly completely fucked over this roster and it's ability to add meaningful pieces to compliment Ant. This is indeed a fact.

Even with DDV, the Wolves have the least amount of games missed due to injury in the entire league yet we're barely hanging on for a Play-in spot. That's reality.
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Ant will be in his prime for the next 10 years. There are a ton of moves they can, and will make over the next few years to build around him. We have draft picks the next several years and can trade for more. NAW is an easily replaceable player in the NBA.

Steph Curry won his first title at 26
Tatum last year was 26
Giannis was 26
LeBron was 27
Jokic was 27
MJ was 27
Durant was 28
Shaq was 28
Hakeem was 31
Dirk was 32

Yet @jamiche thinks all of those guys are past their prime at that age.

Thinking Ant needs to win one at 23, or by 25 is complete nonsense.

There is so much time to build around him and they will.
 


GopherWeatherGuy said:
You constantly have the dumbest takes on the board. You're the shitposter.

According to you guys like SGA - 26, past his prime. Jason Tatum - 26, past his prime. Jalen Brunson - 28 and Nicola Jokic - 29, are both way past their primes. Not to mention LeBron - 40, Kevin Durant - 36, and Steph Curry - 36, those guys are all terrible.

Don't talk to me about NBA knowledge when you're clueless.
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Only LeBron and KD, of the players you mentioned, played approx the same number of nba games by age 23 as Ant. KD has missed a ton of games over the last decade. In the ten seasons prior to this one, KD has averaged 52 games a season. LeBron has been more durable. If you look at how his body has changed, it doesn’t, look entirely natural.

It’s all about wear and tear. That’s the point. The more Ant plays now, the less he’s going to play later.
 

jamiche said:
Only LeBron and KD, of the players you mentioned, played approx the same number of nba games by age 23 as Ant. KD has missed a ton of games over the last decade. In the ten seasons prior to this one, KD has averaged 52 games a season. LeBron has been more durable. If you look at how his body has changed, it doesn’t, look entirely natural.

It’s all about wear and tear. That’s the point. The more Ant plays now, the less he’s going to play later.
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KD is also 7' tall and rail thin. Tatum played in more games than Ant before 23.

Guards hold up better than big men. We have a decade + of Ant in his prime to win a championship yet.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
KD is also 7' tall and rail thin. Tatum played in more games than Ant before 23.

Guards hold up better than big men. We have a decade + of Ant in his prime to win a championship yet.
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KAT is not rail thin. He's averaged 50 games/year from year five until the start of this year. Two recent examples (KD and KAT), one skinny and tall one solid and tall. Speaking of tall guys, injury rates for centers and guards are indistinguishable (18.17/18.16 injuries per 1000 AGE--whatever that is.) Forwards are lower.

Ant has played in 302 games, Tatum 289 games.
 

jamiche said:
KAT is not rail thin. He's averaged 50 games/year from year five until the start of this year. Two recent examples (KD and KAT), one skinny and tall one solid and tall. Speaking of tall guys, injury rates for centers and guards are indistinguishable (18.17/18.16 injuries per 1000 AGE--whatever that is.) Forwards are lower.
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They're both 7 footers. G/F are effective for longer in their careers than centers. Only 5 of the top 36 oldest players in the NBA currently are centers. Big men break down much faster.

jamiche said:
Ant has played in 302 games, Tatum 289 games.
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You're forgetting playoffs. Tatum played in 339 vs Ant's 329.

And it'll be 2 more seasons until Ant is the same age as Tatum when he won his first championship.
 




They just finished a brutal 5 game stretch and went 3-2.........one play from being 4-1

They now play 6 games that are all winnable, with 4 of them at home. they should make some hay.

The schedule then turns brutal again after that.
 

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