Agreed, but it’s the nature of the fouls. Elbow slaps, arm grabs, jumping into his body, reach-across, he’s definitely getting fouled on a lot of those drives without the whistle.

He does not Drive enough is why he doesn’t get a lot of free throws. He’s always around 40-50th in Drvies per Game, which is like 9-11. High free throw shooting players drive between 18-22 times.

I was told by fans ok OKC and LA that this is in fact the best indicator, and they have players that are rewarded handsomely for selling contact. Idk who to go to for learning about how the nba is reffed anymore

That’s might be true but I’m pretty sure it’s also been established that the correlation between drives and free throws is much weaker than most people think

You don’t automatically get a ton just because you drive a lot and there’s players that don’t drive who still get to the line

Blow da whistle

He is not going to get free throws because he’s too good. Honestly. He turns the corner and blows right past his defender. What does he do against the low man? He’s not doing a counter, a spin, a euro, sweep through, pump fake, etc. He’s just jumping and finishing over the top. Realistically, most people are just going to challenge him vertically only if they are clearly in position or they’re ducking out the way. Yes, I’m sure there are times where they weren’t perfectly set or he doesn’t blow past his defender completely clean and they hip check him or push him off his line but most of the time, he’s just getting to the rim finishing over the help or he’s shooting a pull up jumper and there’s no real way to draw a foul like this so his FTA relative to drives/rim attempts are going to look low.

I have been told many times by Lakers and OKC fans over the years that it’s because they drive so much.

Meanwhile you have this young superstar playing injured and can’t even get a fraction of the superstar whistle. NBA is a complete joke and shouldn’t be taken seriously

He also just kind of drives straight downhill at the basket which is somewhat easier to defend without fouling and refs are less likely to call someone going in with force being met in kind.

Ant and LaMelo both get a terrible whistle. It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out in close game situations.

He plays through contact and that isn’t something that gets rewarded

I mean Mitchell fuckin half nelsoned Kuminga and it wasn’t a flagrant like it clearly should have been.

i hate whining about refs but that game… those refs need to be unemployed

Throwing your head back dramatically is not optional and players absolutely don’t get the calls if they don’t do it. That’s simply the answer, if the player doesn’t make a spectacle of getting fouled/contacted, refs are going to assume it was “marginal” contact while flopping and recoiling forces the refs to call it.

You can’t think of any other explanation? Maybe that they didn’t see it in real time? The video was not there for the officials to see, by the way.

Getting grazed on the arm, which resulting in zero impact on the play itself, is basically NEVER getting called in a late game situation.

Refs already let more go in those situations. That would have been a serious bailout call.

Yikes. That is unfortunate.

Well they gave us a flopping technical in that game already. Im sure they’d just do it again.

Great analysis and also just really great officiating

Drives that end in free throws only count as a FGA if it’s an And-1. So including the would-be FGA that became free throws he gets 2. 5fouls on 7.5 shots. Still not bad

Proving he should drive 20 times a game.

Eye test says it’s unacceptable

As a Timberwolves fan I’ve tried to explain this to people. Edwards does not get to the basket nearly enough, even if he’s fouled to generate a large number of free throws.

Also what people don’t take into account is that when most players drive, they drive to kick out. Luka, Shai, and Deni when they drive they drive to shoot. That’s why they have so many free throws, because when a lot of people drive and get fouled it’s on a pass and those don’t lead to free throws unless your in the bonus.

So lets take this example if Shai or Luka drives 5 times and shoots 5 times and get fouled that’s free throws. If a person drives 5 times and passes out each time but gets fouled each time that’s only one free throw because on the 5 time they reached the bonus.

People may get mad but that’s a strong strategy and as a Thunder fan, I have said that Ant needs to take it to the paint a lot more. In the game against the Nuggets Aday Mara kept on getting fouled on rebounds. The Thunder were in the bonus in the fourth quarter around the 10 minute mark. Being in the penalty is a great tactic for any basketball team and it’s crazy that it’s frowned upon.

Hardly an incentive to drive when his arms keep getting smacked to the tune of a no-call.

the offense might be organically contributing to this when you’ve got Lamelo creating wide open looks. no need to drive and create constantly

But hes never gotten calls which is why he doesnt drive. Hes not bitch made like shai

The tracking definition of a drive must have changed this season, no way should the numbers to be halved

But SGA stats are also because when he drives to the basket he gets called differently and I know we say this alot but if Edward’s got SGAs whistle and was allowed to arm bar then im sure his numbers would sky rocket.

SGA wouldnt drive to the basket that much if they called half his shenanigans

He absolutely complains idk what you’re watching

He definitely complains, but he’s chilled a little the last year or two.

EYYY doesn’t count?

Nah, Ant is def the most vocal about not getting calls on our team forsure.

Yeah he gets screwed on drives also because he’s a tank and it takes a lot of physical contact to knock him off balance. Very stark contrast to SGA or Reaves who I think benefit from their smaller frames.

Luka doesn’t get many calls near the rim, but he spams shooting fouls from midrange with all those tricks and Ant prob should start doing the same.

He does complain but the difference is he never uses it as an excuse to get back late on defense. A lot of the real grievances people have with ppl who complain about fouls is the fact that it’s almost always leads to not getting back on D

He complains a lot, but it’s mostly justified because he plays through contact and refuses to flop.

I think playing through contact + yelling AYYY is a good compromise. Would way have that than flopping bitch ball

He shouts “ayyy” every time, unmistakable feature you pick up on every Wolves game, and does go at the refs a bit, but it doesn’t tend to whine too long, which I think is a reasonable balance, although he did get understandably more heated yesterday, because that was some serious bullshit officiating at the end of regulation.

He sure was whining last night.

He does complain, but it’s because he’s getting fouled and not getting the call.

He is similar with Lebron. Bron doesnt get those calls too.

He has no bball iq that’s why he can’t get to the line

Gotta love not seeing SGA on this post, considering his low FTA

Deni has the most bullshit whistle in the league man he just bulldozes people and never gets called for a charge

I’m also going to take issue with Edwards being “43rd” in FTA. Because it’s such a small sample size there are a ton of players tied for most numbers. For example, there are 12 players shooting the “43rd” most FTA in the league. Just counting the individual FTA numbers, Edwards is tied for 24th in the league.

I’m sorry, but what the fuck is this last point? It’s nonsensical.

Edwards is tied for 24th in FTA because he’s played more games than other teams. Half of the league has played 4 games (which is Ant) while half has only played 3 (and the Trailblazers are at 2). Why the hell would you think that’s more informative than FTA per game?

Not to mention your point about being “tied” for 43rd… that makes it seem WORSE. That means that are more than 50 players who are taking as many or more free throws per game as Ant.

Seriously, where are your critical thinking skills? Are you picking your stance and then trying to justify it after the fact?

And OP said 53rd when it’s actually 43rd.

Thats what i was going to say because when I do watch him play he doesnt give alot of antics whenever he does get contact he just absorbs it and tries to score.

Not saying he doesnt flail but not like the others

Reaves and Luka are a couple of the best foul baiters in the league tbf, when you really can’t guard them without fouling it’s easier to get to the line

His lack of free throws was posted, but the response was for the most part, “well yeah when you shoot the most 3’s that won’t equate to free throws.” This post adding the driving FGA per game seems to be a response to that initial response.

If only there was evidence of missed calls

Yeah that’s why those of us who watch the actual fucking games are telling all the stats morons they’re wrong.

He gets fouled a fuckton and the refs barely call it, especially in comparison to other superstars who flop and foul-bait.

It’s infuriating, just like much in our current world

Have you watched any wolves games? If so you would know that there are a handful of very obvious fouls that are missed or ignored on his drives, it is nothing new either. I truly believe because Ant drives so strong the the basket and doesn’t flop/flail refs just assume the contact must be minor but it shouldn’t matter.

Stupid people learning one phrase and just spamming it everywhere when not applicable will never stop being funny.