True. He only got 13mpg as a rookie. Though playing that few minutes as a rookie was common. Obviously he blew up in New Jersey.
How is Anfernee going to gain playoff experience, if the Blazers keep messing up and miss the playoffs ?
Yeah I think that needs to be the basis of considering trading Ant. Do we dump him for Eric Bledsoe type of partially guaranteed contract for the following season as we did with Powell? That would be terrible. Now if we can trade him for a similarly talented forward or big yes it may be worth exploring.
I like the creativity. However I don't see why Orlando does that, they have to use cap space on a huge contract and lose a lottery pick. Maybe just take all the draft picks out of the trade and its closer to fair. From the Blazers side; what about Ant for Collins straight up? I wouldn't do that trade on its own, but if somehow Cronin added a stud two way player in the front court for Nurk+picks, and now Collins was the last piece for a contending starting 5 it would be closer to making sense. Still, concerns I have is trading Ant's upside for an older player in Collins, as well as Collins not being the high level defender we want in the frontcourt of a Dame contending team. As much as the backcourt is seemingly overcrowded currently with Dame/Ant/Sharpe.... if we all the sudden ship out Ant for a frontcourt player then having just Dame and Sharpe is super thin. If one of them misses extended games we are in a lot of trouble. Sharpe might not improve in his sophomore year as much as we hope, instead being a few years away. I'm open to moving Ant if it makes sense, but when I evaluate actual realistic trade offers I don't see many that would be good. So I'm totally fine if the Blazers keep him. I hope Cronin doesn't sell low on Ant.
Thats because his lack of FTs brings down his true shooting %. He is an elite 3pt shooter on high volume. He has 5 games already in his career with 9 or more made threes. The only guys above hin are: Steph (39), Dame (14), Klay (12), and Harden (9). And he only started getting regular starter minutes last year. But he's like 10 yrs younger than the guys ahead of him on the list.
but in the NBA that's a huge weakness that significantly impacts his value. It doesn't matter how pretty a shooting form is. What matters is the points/shot: Dame 1.55 points/shot Eubanks 1.55 Watford 1.42 Grant 1.41 Nurk 1.38 Hart 1.34 Ant 1.25 Reddish 1.25 Sharpe 1.22 Thybulle 1.19 Little 1.18 Knox 1.16 Desmond Bane 1.33 Jordan Poole 1.31 Malik Monk 1.31 Keegan Murray 1.25 he's not out of place compared to other role players. He just has the CJ problem and that't his style of offense just won't draw whistles and generate critical points from the line that's all true, and that has value as well as offering some hope for more upside. But right now, and FT Rate is part of this, he's at 3rd-4th-option/role-player/6th-man level by impact and temperament.
He has more value than I think people are giving him credit for; I hope we don't get ripped off on any deal if it does happen.
Points per shot isn't everything on offense; usage and minutes matter a lot too. Eubanks is tied with Dame on your list, but he doesn't space the floor, doesn't create offense, only converts from other or from easy putbacks. Ant had to be the second guard option behind Dame, doesn't shoot the team Techs as Dame gets to, had Dame injured (thus didn't have a skilled cocreator as Dame always did), and was on a lottery team that had less efficient teammates to open the floor for himself. Ant certainly needs to improve to be a legit average starting caliber player in the NBA. He is young and may improve. But not all young players improve. Dumping Ant for a poor talent return could end up as a Jermaine O'Neal 2.0 situation. The Blazers shouldn't dump him for crap as they did with Norman Powell. If the Blazers can get a legit starting frontcourt player then yes they should consider it. But just looking at all of Ants stats and shortcomings the last 2 years isn't a fair way to judge his long term worth.
But you're using a stat that is going to highly favor guys who are put in place to score by other guys. Rim runner types. Eubanks being tied with Dame doesn't make him an equal scorer. And you know this. Nic Claxton isn't a "scorer", he's set up for easy buckets. But will have a higher P/FGA than Dame will. Looking at TS%, simiarly, is going to give you a good amount of Cs near the top because they hardly score, and when they do, it's a dunk.
Dame shot 510 FT's this season. How many do you imagine were on T's? 30? 25? 35? 40? How many did Ant shoot? 10? 15? I suppose it would have made a little difference but it has to be negligible. you and I disagree on the Powell trade and the aftermath, but I sure can't recall ever arguing for Portland to dump Ant for a poor return.
Ant is 23 years old Shot 38% 3pt on 9 attempts 53% on 2pt 89% FT Over 21ppg It's insane how some posters on this board get their pitchforks out for a new player every few years.
I chimed in after somebody else said there were 36 SG's in the league with better TS%. I'd wonder where Ant would rank in TS% is all the perimeter players were compared. my pps list was probably a poor representation because of Nurk and Drew. Ant averaged 12.5 more shots than Drew but that doesn't mean Portland would have been any better giving 4 of Ant's shots to Drew
Yes, and you chimed in saying a scorer was better than a shooter, and were replying to someone specifically discussing his shooting. Making a blanket statement, and having a stat that would be dominated by Cs, none of whom anyone would consider a scorer is a little weak. You look at stats all the time on here. You know that.
where are the pitchforks and who pulled them out? You should consider taking your straw man to the beach or the mountains. he's a good shooter, a less good scorer, and just isolating on shooting stats is not a full view of Ant's value. The average NBA PER is 15.0; Ant's was 14.8. The average winshare/48 is .100; Ant's was .054. The average BPM was 0.0; Ant's was -1.1. He had the worst rebounding rate on the team. And we know how bad his defense is so yes, he can shoot well and that has value. How much of the rest of his game adds to that value, and how much subtracts?
