Wolves roster construction

[Monster]

Let's do an injury concern post here dedicated to KG4ever. :) It May be worth mentioning here that Thibs may play some guys too many minutes but he has cut way back on the grinding practices which I think was actually a bigger complaint from players and people around the league back when he was with the Bulls than the minutes.

Ok let's compare this season to last season but roster spot.

Dieng, Wiggins and Towns durable as ever

Tyus had a couple missed games but nothing concerning.

Teague missed games last and is now 30. He came back from that knee injury quickly but there should be more concern about his health than a year ago plus he played more minutes than usual last year when healthy.

Taj a year older and played the most minutes of his career. Some people were worried about him being done last year and he was very good. I'd say overall he should be viewed as about the same as last year despite his age.

Butler missed more games and is a year older and had a minor knee surgury. Last season he had come off a season where he played 76 games. There is more worry here and he is likely the most important player. It's the biggest concern in terms of availability.

Rose is a bigtime downgrade when it comes to injury concerns. Crawford despite his age is very durable. The question is though how much do you want either guy to play? :) regardless you want guys to be available and Rose is a bigtime downgrade here.

Tolliver is simply an upgrade in terms of staying healthy compared to Belly even though he is older. Going into last year Belly was coming off a surgury so that makes Tolliver a big upgrade from what Belly was last season. Tolliver has played more games over the past few seasons that Belly and going back multiple years in Europe Belly has various injuries. It might be worth mentioning here that playing in Europe is widely regarded as much harder on the body than the NBA. If you think Thibs ground up guys listen to guys talk about two a day practices during the season in Europe on off days etc.

As far as the rest of the roster I would say the most significant injury concern is probably KDB. He had some health issues in college and it's been reported that was part of why he dropped. I guess that's a bit of a downgrade from guys that were healthy last year (and I don't remember those guys having any significant health issue the past couple years) but didn't play much.

Oh yeah...Patton it's worse than last year.

So overall the injury concern is probably more troublesome than last season. The question is whether the depth the Wolves have added are able to offset time guys miss. Only time will tell.

[Lipoli390]

Let's do an injury concern post here dedicated to KG4ever. :) It May be worth mentioning here that Thibs may play some guys too many minutes but he has cut way back on the grinding practices which I think was actually a bigger complaint from players and people around the league back when he was with the Bulls than the minutes.

Ok let's compare this season to last season but roster spot.

Dieng, Wiggins and Towns durable as ever

Tyus had a couple missed games but nothing concerning.

Teague missed games last and is now 30. He came back from that knee injury quickly but there should be more concern about his health than a year ago plus he played more minutes than usual last year when healthy.

Taj a year older and played the most minutes of his career. Some people were worried about him being done last year and he was very good. I'd say overall he should be viewed as about the same as last year despite his age.

Butler missed more games and is a year older and had a minor knee surgury. Last season he had come off a season where he played 76 games. There is more worry here and he is likely the most important player. It's the biggest concern in terms of availability.

Rose is a bigtime downgrade when it comes to injury concerns. Crawford despite his age is very durable. The question is though how much do you want either guy to play? :) regardless you want guys to be available and Rose is a bigtime downgrade here.

Tolliver is simply an upgrade in terms of staying healthy compared to Belly even though he is older. Going into last year Belly was coming off a surgury so that makes Tolliver a big upgrade from what Belly was last season. Tolliver has played more games over the past few seasons that Belly and going back multiple years in Europe Belly has various injuries. It might be worth mentioning here that playing in Europe is widely regarded as much harder on the body than the NBA. If you think Thibs ground up guys listen to guys talk about two a day practices during the season in Europe on off days etc.

As far as the rest of the roster I would say the most significant injury concern is probably KDB. He had some health issues in college and it's been reported that was part of why he dropped. I guess that's a bit of a downgrade from guys that were healthy last year (and I don't remember those guys having any significant health issue the past couple years) but didn't play much.

Oh yeah...Patton it's worse than last year.

So overall the injury concern is probably more troublesome than last season. The question is whether the depth the Wolves have added are able to offset time guys miss. Only time will tell.

Well done, Monster. You're right that Butler's durability is by far the biggest concern for two reasons. First, he's one of our two allstars, which makes him critical to the Wolves chances of success. Second, as we all know, he has a long history of poor durability. He reminds me of Chris Paul in that regard in that there's alway something that causes him to miss a significant number of games nearly every season. And as we all know, it's likely that his durability will get even worse as he gets older and approaches his 30th birthday next summer.

Another concern is the possibility of losing Towns for a stretch of games. He's proven to be highly durable, but even durable players can get hurt. Watching how hard he plays and the way he gets banged all the team makes me worry that he could get hurt. We all saw what happend to the Wolves winning percentage when Butler went down last season. Imagine Towns missing 23 games like Butler did last season. I think it would have at least the same and possibly an even bigger negative impact on the team's winning percentage. Losing 20+ high efficient points and 12 rebounds a game is a huge deal - not to mention drawing double teams and attention away from other players. And there's no one on the roster who can step in and come remotely close to filling KAT's shoes at the C or PF position.

[Monster]

Let's do an injury concern post here dedicated to KG4ever. :) It May be worth mentioning here that Thibs may play some guys too many minutes but he has cut way back on the grinding practices which I think was actually a bigger complaint from players and people around the league back when he was with the Bulls than the minutes.

Ok let's compare this season to last season but roster spot.

Dieng, Wiggins and Towns durable as ever

Tyus had a couple missed games but nothing concerning.

Teague missed games last and is now 30. He came back from that knee injury quickly but there should be more concern about his health than a year ago plus he played more minutes than usual last year when healthy.

Taj a year older and played the most minutes of his career. Some people were worried about him being done last year and he was very good. I'd say overall he should be viewed as about the same as last year despite his age.

Butler missed more games and is a year older and had a minor knee surgury. Last season he had come off a season where he played 76 games. There is more worry here and he is likely the most important player. It's the biggest concern in terms of availability.

Rose is a bigtime downgrade when it comes to injury concerns. Crawford despite his age is very durable. The question is though how much do you want either guy to play? :) regardless you want guys to be available and Rose is a bigtime downgrade here.

Tolliver is simply an upgrade in terms of staying healthy compared to Belly even though he is older. Going into last year Belly was coming off a surgury so that makes Tolliver a big upgrade from what Belly was last season. Tolliver has played more games over the past few seasons that Belly and going back multiple years in Europe Belly has various injuries. It might be worth mentioning here that playing in Europe is widely regarded as much harder on the body than the NBA. If you think Thibs ground up guys listen to guys talk about two a day practices during the season in Europe on off days etc.

As far as the rest of the roster I would say the most significant injury concern is probably KDB. He had some health issues in college and it's been reported that was part of why he dropped. I guess that's a bit of a downgrade from guys that were healthy last year (and I don't remember those guys having any significant health issue the past couple years) but didn't play much.

Oh yeah...Patton it's worse than last year.

So overall the injury concern is probably more troublesome than last season. The question is whether the depth the Wolves have added are able to offset time guys miss. Only time will tell.

Well done, Monster. You're right that Butler's durability is by far the biggest concern for two reasons. First, he's one of our two allstars, which makes him critical to the Wolves chances of success. Second, as we all know, he has a long history of poor durability. He reminds me of Chris Paul in that regard in that there's alway something that causes him to miss a significant number of games nearly every season. And as we all know, it's likely that his durability will get even worse as he gets older and approaches his 30th birthday next summer.

Another concern is the possibility of losing Towns for a stretch of games. He's proven to be highly durable, but even durable players can get hurt. Watching how hard he plays and the way he gets banged all the team makes me worry that he could get hurt. We all saw what happend to the Wolves winning percentage when Butler went down last season. Imagine Towns missing 23 games like Butler did last season. I think it would have at least the same and possibly an even bigger negative impact on the team's winning percentage. Losing 20+ high efficient points and 12 rebounds a game is a huge deal - not to mention drawing double teams and attention away from other players. And there's no one on the roster who can step in and come remotely close to filling KAT's shoes at the C or PF position.

You nailed it Lip. At times even though it's acknowledged we sometimes take for granted the healthy of guys like Wiggins and Towns. In addition I think Towns takes a step forward this season as a player that helps a team win games. He is just too young and talented not to make some sort of progress and I think the playoffs probably was a good experience for him. If Dieng hasn't lost his game he would be a guy I could see being a hold the fort type of guy plugged in for 3-7 games but even if he was up to that task losing Towns would be tough. Tolliver playing more minutes would help also.

If Butler went down I guess we have some intruiging options in one way or another with Rose, Ogokie and Nunnaly. The real devastation would be losing Towns and Butler at the same time...

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Good stuff, monster!

I am going to offer up another angle on the roster construction by contrasting it with last year. The most notable difference is where the construction took place. While this year has been all about the bench, last year was all about the starting unit.

LAST YEAR: The draft was all about Butler (along with Patton who everyone knew wouldn't play, even without his injuries). Rubio was swapped for Teague (and ironically, the pick used on Okogie to help our bench THIS year). Taj was added to upgrade our starting PF. This left few resources and a depleted FA pool to fill out the bench. Crawford was the highlight added from the FA leftovers, with Bazz, Brooks and MGH being the final additions. Many blame Thibs for under-using his bench, but he makes a case for that when you look at the bench production. What comes first with Thibs? Giving the bench sufficient minutes so they can produce? Or having a bench produce to earn sufficient minutes? A more productive bench this year ought to give us an answer.

THIS YEAR: The draft was all about the bench with Okogie and KDB. The first FA signings were Rose and Tolliver. Even the Nunnally signing feels intriguing, and not just picking someone from the FA leftovers. The two 2-way contracts seem more purposeful. The early signing of Terrell, along with Rose at SG makes it likely we don't add a traditional 3rd PG like we did with Brooks last year, freeing a roster spot for a more versatile player. And losing Aldrich as our 3rd center also frees up a roster spot for a more versatile player. Replacing a 3rd PG and a 3rd C with more versatile players makes for a deeper bench.

Anyway, while there is a lot of pessimism going around, I am quite upbeat about the Wolves prospects this year. The bench transformation and depth is a huge reason why.The bench transformation and depth is a huge reason why. I am hopeful a more versatile and productive bench will lessen the load on the starters. And if this leads to more wins, and even more "easy" wins, maybe Thibs will be less "noticeable" on the bench...

Not sure about the bench yet Tim. Rookies are rookies. No matter how much we may have liked the picks, the odds are much higher that Okogie/KBD will hurt the team more than help this year. That's just what happens with most rookies - even a lot of the lottery picks.

I'm also with Lip on Rose. That guy has been terrible for a few years now. The very definition of inefficiency and unreliability. His playoff performance was good mostly because he made 75% of his 3's, a total fluke given his track record as a long range shooter. He was as bad as ever in the few games he played for us in the regular season.

We have absolutely no one like an Iggy, Eric Gordon, Manu, Barton, etc. coming off our bench. It's still a huge question mark in my opinion. I'm OK with the moves by Thibs on paper (well, except for may be Rose), but there are more questions than answers right now when it comes to the bench.

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

538 has us getting even better eventhough we didn't add anything substantial compared to some of the other teams in the west.

Crawford walking is the only thing i can think of.

Lebron joining a team vs crawford leaving a team. More impact on wins?

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-our-way-too-early-nba-projections-can-tell-us-about-next-season/

[Monster]

538 has us getting even better eventhough we didn't add anything substantial compared to some of the other teams in the west.

Crawford walking is the only thing i can think of.

Lebron joining a team vs crawford leaving a team. More impact on wins?

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-our-way-too-early-nba-projections-can-tell-us-about-next-season/

If you are curious or bored and want to know how they came to this early conclusion there is a pretty extensive google doc that has all the factors.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

538 has us getting even better eventhough we didn't add anything substantial compared to some of the other teams in the west.

Crawford walking is the only thing i can think of.

Lebron joining a team vs crawford leaving a team. More impact on wins?

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-our-way-too-early-nba-projections-can-tell-us-about-next-season/

Wow, 88% chance of making the playoffs!? That seems pretty opTIMistic.

[60WinTim]

538 has us getting even better eventhough we didn't add anything substantial compared to some of the other teams in the west.

Crawford walking is the only thing i can think of.

Lebron joining a team vs crawford leaving a team. More impact on wins?

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-our-way-too-early-nba-projections-can-tell-us-about-next-season/

Wow, 88% chance of making the playoffs!? That seems pretty opTIMistic.

Well, it is certainly is opTIMistic so a number of people here... ;-)

Edit: And I cannot argue the "questions" regarding the bench, but you cannot argue that the bench is more versatile than last year, giving Thibs more options than he had last year (plus I can be excited about the guys that haven't played in the NBA (or much), if I want to!).

[thedoper]

I'd be really happy if we got Noah. We need another big bad, and there's no doubt Thibs would play him. That would just mean more rest for KAT which is a good thing.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I'd be really happy if we got Noah. We need another big bad, and there's no doubt Thibs would play him. That would just mean more rest for KAT which is a good thing.

Not sure he's good enough defensively to make up for just how horrible he is offensively. He's one of these guys that reminds me of Ronnie Brewer or Andris Biedrins, where he just lost the ability to make shots of almost any kind after decent success earlier in his career, including becoming a horrible free thrower (sub-50% from 70% earlier in his career...just weird).