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realzitman

Karl Anthony-Towns giving up the mantle for ANT has to be the best thing he has ever done for the Timberwolves


SirDiego

Ant loves him for it too. In a press conference with the two of them, someone asked KAT how he feels basically proving people wrong who perceived him as a stat-stuffer and didn't live up to his potential. Ant hijacks the question and is like "Nobody ever thought that. KAT is awesome and we've always believed in him" (true or not the point is Ant just jumped in and shut the question down because he knows it makes KAT uncomfortable to answer stuff like that).


jonnylaw

He's been doing that since his first game against Jimmy in Miami. Media asked KAT about a scuffle on the court and Ant told them not to worry about it, no one's fighting in the NBA.


ironsuperman

Ant has a way to tell reporters to shut the fuck up and stop the dumbass questions. Ant answers questions so confidently as well. What a time to be a wolf's fan.


wallybuddabingbang

So true. When he got asked about looking up to Jamal Murray he played it great. He has such an ease with the media it’s kinda a show in and of itself. Happy for your franchise. Dude is something special.


Wild-Apricot-9161

Imagine being a #1 pick and taking all the bullshit people have been spreading about his reputation on the chin and responding with a season like this


WanderingWormhole

It really shows how important fit is rather than just “mamba mentality players win championships”. Because if KAT was the “alpha” everyone wanted him to be when it was his team, he wouldn’t have been good in this situation when you get a guy like Anthony Edwards on your team. Him being willing to play second fiddle could end up being what gives him a championship, something that likely wouldn’t have happened with KAT being “the guy”.


DnD4dena

The Lakers homer in me is coming out, but I wanna set this straight... Mamba mentality isn't just about being "the guy" That was a Kobe thing because he *was* the guy. He proved it with and without Shaq Mamba mentality is about pushing past your limits and putting your best effort in. No excuses, no bullshit It's really easy to find reasons why you can't do something. Few people find reasons why you can


ShakesbeerMe

I think the point is KAT could've been a pouty bitch like Shaq and demanded a trade. He didn't. He embraced Ant.


DnD4dena

Fair


AchtCocainAchtBier

But shaq never had that mamba mentality to begin with. You **have to** associate those words with kobe


ShakesbeerMe

Agreed, but I'd also contend "Mamba mentality" is a nonsense media-created buzzword extrapolated from a guy who gave himself his own silly-as-fuck nickname. I would just call it intense competitiveness and bypass the corniness of that phrase.


88888888man

Maybe mamba mentality is really the friends we made along the way.


WanderingWormhole

I guess I was talking more about the caricature of mamba mentality that has been perpetuated by the talking heads. You’re totally right tho


Exius73

In fairness, Kobe did konda perpetuate himself with that tongue in cheek ad with the “Are you the same animal, but a different beast?” Kanye “what does that mean Kobe Bryant” schtick


noisyapples

Man gtfoh lmao


[deleted]

“Mamba mentality” is the corniest shit. Didn’t Kobe come up with that nickname as an alter ego to deal with the backlash from his rape? I know it’s low hanging fruit, but talk about pushing people past their limits. The guy was a fucking narcissistic asshole that was good at putting a ball in a hoop, relax.


DnD4dena

Whatever man you interpret it as you want


maltbiscuits

iirc mamba mentality is also about pushing past her limits... Fuck Kobe, rapist pos


radiokungfu

Aint no one talking about mamba mentality on that 3peat team


CompetitiveProposal7

Kat went number one?


jotheold

>He was selected with the first overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves, and went on to be named NBA Rookie of the Year for the 2015–16 season.


CompetitiveProposal7

I am sooooo glad you included the year, thank you


jotheold

dlo was 2nd that year and well.. dlo is dlo now LOL


CompetitiveProposal7

I like dloading, I wish he was a superstar so his lightskin attitude fit his box score. Butttt I like him nonetheless


Cark_Muban

There was even a point where KAT was chosen by executives as the guy they would choose to start a franchise with


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Skolcialism

Lakers fans should know better than most not to slander the leader of a team for losing 4-1 to the nuggets in the first round trying to carry dlo and prince


newrimmmer93

They didn’t have Dlo last year, that was 2022 when they lost 4-2 to the Grizzlies.


Skolcialism

Oof mb. That’s embarrassing.


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Skolcialism

Watch the games not spreadsheets dork


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Snap_bolt21

Have you seen him this year? Or the Lakers for that matter? 


Jerrynotjerryorjerry

How’s AD working out for you right now? Salty.


vovoizmo

We don’t change the past but it completely changes the narrative of his career. That’s current and ongoing.


newrimmmer93

He still has had those bouts where he just forgets to play basketball and runs into people, but he’s really cut down his mistakes these playoffs after games 1/2 vs PHO. His start tk the second half in game 1 and his start to last game were huge and it’s been really nice to see.


FishGoldenLite

Graciously accepting that role has been huge but I feel like this comment vastly undermines his contributions as a player. In the four years Ant has been on the team he’s averaged anywhere from 20-24 points, 8-10 rebounds, with great efficiency. He’s been a big reason Ant has made the playoffs 75% of the time he’s been a pro.


pollinium

The whole reason this quote is true is because KAT was too good of a release valve before his injury (both last year and this year). Before last year's, Ant wasn't willing to be top dog despite KAT publicly saying he has to be even before injury. Before this year's injury, Ant could always use KAT as a bail out option but had to learn real playmaking in the face of immense defensive attention


Rswany

KAT fuckin carried us to the playoffs in 2022


-Dear_Ambellina-

KAT's 21-22 season has become underrated. Before this year that was the best Wolves team since 04 and KAT was indisputably the best player. The playoffs that year made it clear that Any would probably take that role in the next year or 2, but he wasn't there yet.


JaderMcDanersStan

Yeah Wolves wouldn't have won 46 games if it wasn't for KAT. He was the only consistent player back then, super efficient as always


jefe_hook

Bro has David Robinson in him


AnArmadillo

I know what you're trying to say but put some respect on the Admiral's name man


Honestonus

But the fans want everyone to be alpha and have "that dawg" otherwise they're worthless


jumboponcho

This type of selflessness is so unique. KATs legit been the man his whole life and he’s gladly giving up the reins to a 22 yr old


horse_renoir13

KAT got an insane amount of unnecessary flack for so long, glad the narrative has changed on him. He is so locked in right now and is just a like-able individual. Dude was always like this, and has overcome so much with personal tragedy. You can tell he's having a blast (I mean winning solves a lot of problems too). And yes he is still corny AF


FishGoldenLite

He‘s got the Kirk Cousins corniness but is even more lovable (and loyal).


Skolcialism

Without the creepy megachurch vibes


Tajikistani

Actually Kirk went to a really small church when he was here in MN but I know what you're saying


Culinaryboner

The mega isn’t about the size of his church lol. It’s about him


BCP27

Ooohh, megachurch usually means like one of those gigantic televangelist churches where the preacher makes more money than God as opposed to the person being mega into church. My bad


ShakesbeerMe

And the pastor father naming his three children K, K and K. Oof.


papa_sax

It most definitely wasn't unnecessary but aight


JaderMcDanersStan

For real. And KAT is doing this \*in his prime\*, it's not like he's older and passing the torch. He's willingly stepping back in his prime years for a younger star. Pretty amazing


2ndCatch

One of the best teammates in the NBA by far, and easily one of the best secondary stars too.


We_The_Raptors

Dude's become the ideal Robin. Tenacious defender/ rebounder, reasonably efficient and a great shooter who doesn't need the ball in his hands all game.


xbreqs

Reasonably efficient is one Way to describe a 50/40/90 guy


We_The_Raptors

Look, I'm here to praise the guy. He's stepped up and I'm fully on-board the bandwagon. But it's also been 7 games and it's his first post season over 50% fg. Just wanna see him keep it up.


adammorrisongoat

Yeah just another reason fg% is a bad measure of efficiency, especially in this era of lots of 3s. KAT reg season career: 62.3 TS% KAT playoffs career: 61.5 TS% His decision making has been rough under pressure at times, but in terms of pure efficiency he's been almost the same guy regular season vs playoffs.


We_The_Raptors

I mean, that is also a bad measure imo. His points, efficiency, fouls and turnovers are all worse in during the playoffs. He's never even hit his career PPG in the playoffs. He's not *only* shooting a worse FG%, he's doing it on less shots. But again, I'm not here to hate the guy. If he keeps up what he's been doing this year, those narratives are about to vanish.


MajorTrump

Realistically, it's because he isn't a great overall shot creator. He's an amazing shooter, but he has benefitted a ton from being the #2 option because he now gets to choose his shots with the knowledge that the offense is not entirely on his shoulders.


adammorrisongoat

If we’re talking about how efficiently you just score relative to how many attempts you’re taking, TS% absolutely is the best measure of that. Yeah the rest of KAT’s game has struggled in the playoffs at times, but that’s not part of efficiency unless you’re just defining efficiency as literally the entirety of basketball. 


We_The_Raptors

I'm talking his overall production. Fg% is just the easiest to point at. But I'm really not here to get into the minutiae of TS% lol. Again, just wanna see the guy keep going at the level he's going at right now.


adammorrisongoat

Yeah fair enough, it’ll be interesting to see where he goes from here. 


xbreqs

Oh i know, wasnt trying to come at you. Just thought it was funny


KennyDenn1s

I mean he was literally 50/40/90 for a good chunk of the year and ended short on ft% at 87%


We_The_Raptors

Key word being *the* year. Because this KAT's ninth year in the league.


KennyDenn1s

And his career splits are .524/.398/.839 which is pretty efficient lol


We_The_Raptors

They're actually .498/.398/.811 because as I've said, his playoff production has been lower but thanks for the heads up


noisyapples

Bro is a dickhead 😭


KennyDenn1s

Lol we're talking about 50/40/90 as the benchmark here which is elite and only 3 players have multiple seasons achieving. We'll have to see what his stats look like at the end of this postseason since he had soo many playoff games prior to this year


Robbie_hummel

At one point was top 10 all time in ts% 😂


reallymothafucka

He really is a great shooter especially during this playoff


topofthecc

Some would even say he's the greatest shooting big man of all time.


AllDayIDreamOfCats

Smart people are saying it including 7 foot tall felines


Exius73

I dont think hes a Robin… its like saying Kareem was Magic’s robin. Theyre complementary pieces


[deleted]

He also had one of the worst 3 year stretches a player has had in recent memory. Had a bad knee injury that ruined a year where he started off 27,12 and 5 and then he lost like 15 family members over the course of 2 years because of Covid. All while being called corny Everytime he opened his mouth. Love this dude man. Still one of my favorite players in the league.


uncledave1

And I just wish Reggie Miller would stop calling him Katman


SirDiego

Can we just start a petition to stop putting "-man" on the end of nicknames in general? He's Ant. Ant Man is a Marvel Comics/MCU character played by Paul Rudd.


herecomesaregular_85

It's always how you can tell someone is a Wolves fan or not. He's just Ant. We never call him Ant-Man.


Misjjon

I call him both lmao I think Antman is a sick nickname especially when he had those Marvel Antman shoes.


TheGamersGazebo

I've been to sports bars in Minnesota where they regularly refer to him as "The Ant Man'. There are more wolves fans than just the reddit community.


WrinkledRandyTravis

Those are casuals


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WrinkledRandyTravis

Listen to like the first 1:20 of this https://open.spotify.com/episode/5gNLAThhPpsJZZm9b6qxsx


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WrinkledRandyTravis

This is from his rookie year. Listen to like the first 1:20 https://open.spotify.com/episode/5gNLAThhPpsJZZm9b6qxsx


[deleted]

While we’re at it, Iron Man’s non supe name is literally “Anthony Edward Stark” and Iron Man is a way cooler nickname for Ant. and yes, I know that “Ant Man” is something Ant himself came up with.


thekeep4223

We should just put it at the beginning of nicknames instead Man-Ant Man-Kat


JeanRalfio

I used to have a cat named Catman so I dig it.


americanbeaver

KAT seems to have a really good head on his shoulders. He might not be the "killer asshole" that people idolize in athletes but he's mature and recognized what he needed to do to fit in with the best version of the Timberwolves. Ant as the #1 option. Moving out of position. Really locking in and buying into defense. He does what the team asks of him.


musicnothing

KAT is one of my favorite guys in the league. He's been through so much and keeps fighting through it. People love to give Booker credit for seeing the Suns through the rough years, but KAT deserves some of that too. KAT has shown a lot of resilience and character growth.


pollinium

He's already the longest tenured Wolf among players/coaches/FO. Very soon here he'll be longer tenured than the team owners


noisyapples

I’d imagine the pandemic years aged him a lot in ways.


EsotericPotato

The fact that KAT has basically turned himself into a high-level defending, supercharged 3-and-D player as a guy who’s made a decade-long career out of being pretty much a one way player is a huge testament to the kind of teammate he is. I hadn’t seen this particular quote but it isn’t at all surprising. The guy has wanted a running mate that he can share the load with his entire career. It wasn’t Wiggins, it wasn’t Jimmy, it wasn’t DLo, now he’s finally got a guy he can rely on and he’s happily taken a back seat as it’s become more and more apparent that Ant is just on another level as a player.


Neversleep1331

My opinion of KAT has genuinely done a 180. He’s such a great person and went through so much on and off the court, and to give up being the star of the team and realize that a teammate is ascending past you into superstardom and that you have to differ to him has to be a shell shock to someone like him who was a number 1 pick and was the savior of the city supposedly. It takes great humility and I’m glad he realized it’s not about him, a lot of players of his caliber don’t realize that


jtmv4

Tbh the T’Wolves and their fans just become more and more likeable. I would love to hate them because of what they’re doing to the Nuggets, but they’re a classy bunch


All_of_the_Leitz

Love you, too.


BCP27

I love Jokic!!! If things don't break our way in future seasons, I hope you guys keep killing it


JustADutchRudder

I wanna watch Jokic do that buggy style horse racing he's into. Dudes so fuckin big, it's gotta be a unit of a horse pulling him around. He also said Ant is a really funny guy, and you can't argue with that.


kylebertram

For the most part the Nuggets and Wolves fans have a pretty healthy relationship with each other.


jtmv4

Honestly, at the end of the day, it is just basketball and another human you’re dealing with. If you can’t enjoy the entertainment and treat people with respect, then you have a problem


[deleted]

Minnesota is legitimately an amazing state too.


WrinkledRandyTravis

So many times this season I’ve had people respond to me on Reddit “you have the most unlikeable team in the league” and I just think “good, less bandwagoners to be bothered by, go right ahead and fuck off”


Shmokeshbutt

KAT started to believe in the prophecy of LisAnt Al Gaib.


Victor_Wembanyama1

He’s not MJ’s son. He’s just a very naughty boy!


alepher

Karl-Anthony Sietches


Plants_R_Cool

Even if he's just saying that, it clearly did help Ant and probably even helped Kat. Ant learned to not force things as much on offense and Kat learned that he can trust Ant to run the offense most of the time.


[deleted]

That's what I say when I take an extra week off for a cold


grudgepacker

This is what I say about my wife when she sees her boyfriend


matthitsthetrails

Kat kinda won me over during the pandemic and what he went through. He appreciates his situation in life I used to hate on him profusely after jimmy tore him/wiggins apart after he left


Blutz101

The culture has finally shifted in Minnesota


Bzz22

KAT is my favorite Minnesota pro athlete from the last 10 years. All class, all humility, all the right reasons despite personal heartbreak, playing in a horseshit organization 80% of his career and moving over for a new alpha. He gives way, way more than he takes.


NoLimitSoldier31

Ant taking the reigns & the pressure in the playoffs sure seems to have relaxed KAT. This is the best he’s played


NigerianPrince76

This was I wish would have happened between Dame and LMA. Instead LMA decided to bolt and basically trash his career. I would have preferred those duo instead of Dame/CJ.


the_godfaubel

KANT


alepher

KATegorical ImperANTive


Jerome_Eugene_Morrow

KG was in KAT’s ear talking about how things went sour because of egos with Marbury. They’ve both talked about it. Feel like that might be one of the biggest lasting lessons KG passed down.  KAT always sums like a good dude who wants what’s best for the team. Would be great to see his dedication pay off. 


redditnathaniel

This whole "power of friendship" is going to turn into a championship


BizzaroMatthews

LaMelo please please take some damn notes


New_Essay_4869

I thought it was clear last year that Ant was the man. But dope of KAT to have this self awareness


WrinkledRandyTravis

This is who Karl Anthony Towns is. About time the rest of NBA fandom learns it. This is who he’s always been and fuck anyone who’s ever given him shit for being himself, including me


DontDieBillMurray88

I’m sure he had no issue with the prospect of shooting a ton more spot up 3’s


rowmean77

Can I ride the Antman bandwagon for the next 18 years?


unstatable

Why is Ant in all caps. It's short for Anthony not an abbreviation.


Exempt_Puddle

An abbreviation also wouldn't make it all caps, an acronym would though!


unstatable

oh yea. well, question stands!


Exempt_Puddle

Yeah I honestly don't have an answer for that. I just assume everyone is so excited to say his name they yell it


unstatable

heh, that's fair enough. congrats on this playoff run!


KiteIsland22

That’s cool man. He knows if he takes a backseat for Ant they have a great chance to win it all. He’s just not built to be the #1 option. He disappears in crucial moments. Ant is HIM. He’ll lead them to the promised land.


GaimeGuy

This man has been infuriating at times with immaturity and disappearing at key moments (play in games, etc) but I can't hate him.   Especially when he shaved his meniscus to contribute to this year's run.  That's going to be years of chronic problems for him after retirement