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Antman Is On The Rise! Future Rookie of the Year!

Basketball NBA Timberwolves
Lancman

I know I know.  I was the guy who wrote the article about how we made the wrong pick choosing Ant over LaMelo.  Do I truly agree?  Eh, it’s a toss up to me.  When you are mainly writing about the Wolves it gets hard to keep coming up with ideas, so sometimes you have to write about stuff you might not fully believe in. Call me the Colin Cowherd of the Timberwolves. So I definitely jumped the gun, that’s for sure.  Antman is on the rise!

Now was the decision to take Ant over LaMelo that bad? I don’t think so, but maybe in 5-10 years it will be. You just don’t know yet. Both of these guys are looking like they will be very good and Ant has picked it up big time. It could go either way but it’s hard to say Ant was the wrong pick.

Ant’s Development

Antman is finally shining.  Ever since he entered the starting lineup he’s slowly been getting better. When D’lo went out I think it’s helped to, he has gotten the ball in his hands a lot more. In Ants last 5 games he has been pretty absurd, checkout these stats.  

Since Finch has taken over Ant has really found his groove.  Malik or D’lo being out of the lineup has helped, but you can see his confidence growing. He is attacking more and more. It seems like he is realizing he is almost unstoppable when driving and he’s also starting to get some calls. He will be a force if he keeps it up and his shot continues to develop.

With Ant’s 40 point game, he has joined some of the most elite company in the history of the game. Take a peek at the company he is with now.

The whole arsenal was on display in his 40 point game. He was hitting 3’s, dunking, getting to the rim with ease and got to the line a lot more than usual. The duo of Ant and KAT was unstoppable and it was beautiful to witness. It truly was a glimpse of what he is capable of and what KAT and him can do together. It will be amazing to watch him grow. Look at these highlights and tell me you’re not aroused!

On the season Ant is now up to 16.8 ppg, 4.2 rpg and 2.5 apg. The numbers just keep getting better and better every time I write a blog including him. It will be a really good race for the ROY now between him and LaMelo. Before this stretch from Ant it sure was looking like LaMelo was way in front, but I think it was getting tighter and tighter, before LaMelo suffered a season ending wrist injury. With the only other obvious contender for the NBA ROY done for the year, could Minnesota SportsTM have two rookies win Rookie of the Year?? As of March 22, Antman is on the rise in ROY odds, finally getting into favorite-to-win category. Obviously, we all wish LaMelo a full recovery. It’s gonna be ludicrously fun to watch these guys go at it the rest of their careers.

This is super unrelated, but Ant provides some of the best quotes and clips from his interviews. Beside him being a entertaining player, he is so damn funny. I am sure some of you have seen a few of Ants viral clips from interviews. This quote from after the 40 point game game was comical too. Antman is on the rise with his quote game too!

It is amazing to see Ant really dominate and take a HUGE leap this early on. He was playing fine, but wasn’t really doing anything special. Seeing this stretch of games is so damn encouraging. I think we have a star here and it is so refreshing to see. It will be interesting to see how it all works out when we’re fully healthy, but I’m sure fans can’t wait. I am sorry, Ant, for writing that article a few weeks ago, I take back what I said for the time being. I also want to apologize on behalf of Dev, who has never said a bad word about Ant but just in case… It will be fun to watch him continue to develop and grow as the season goes on. We may have a future again!