Wolves offensive numbers this year

[MikkeMan]

Now when 12 games have been played, it might already make some sense to check how well good Wolves have been in offense so far. I will try to write similar wrap up about defense later. I will update this thread as season progresses and sample size increases.

Wolves:
Transition: 12.1% of possessions with 1.28 points per possession

- Wolves have been running way too seldom. They have used transition offense so seldom that 20 other teams have been running more. What makes this even more disturbing is that Wolves have been most efficient team when they have used transition. They used transition offense even last year more (13.5%) even though it was more difficult back then since they were much worse defensive rebounding team than this year.

Isolation: 8.8% with 0.92 ppp

- Wolves have used isolation plays pretty often and effectively. They rank 6th in frequency and 5th in efficiency in these plays. Their efficiency have increased clearly from last year's number (0.84 ppp). This improvement comes mainly from Wiggins and especially Lavine being more effective than during their rookie year.

Ball handler(pick and roll): 17.7% with 0.77 ppp

- Wolves have been using pick and roll plays much more compared to last year. Last year they ranked almost last in frequency of these plays and now they belong middle of the pack. (16th) Their efficiency has remained around same even though both Lavine and Rubio have been more effective on these plays this year.

Roll man: 7.0% with 1.06 ppp

- Increase in pick and roll ball handler plays is also visible little in roll man offense. (11th in both frequency and efficiency) More importantly efficiency of roll man plays has clearly increased. I think it is mainly because they are not anymore using that stupid pick and drift for long two play that we saw way too often last season. Bjelica is currently scoring unbelievable 1.59 ppp as roll man. That will come down for sure but since Towns is getting currently only 0.93 ppp as roll man, I think their overall efficiency might remain in same level.

Post-up: 9.1% with 0.87 ppp

- Wolves have used post-up plays much less frequently this year. They ranked 2nd in frequency last year but this year they are kind of in middle of the pack. (11th) This is good since post-ups are not that effective plays. Wolves rank currently 14th in post-up efficiency. Wiggins have been most effective from post so far and it seems that Shabazz has got much less post ups even though he was most effective post up player last year.

Spot-up: 15.0% with 0.77 ppp

- Wolves rank dead last in spot up point scored. They are 2nd last in efficiency and frequency. Martin (0.58ppp), Dieng (0.57ppp) and Rubio (0.28ppp) have been especially horrible in this area. Also Towns has not started that well with 0.69ppp. Wiggins and Lavine have roughly as effective than last year. I think it is kind of good that Wolves have struggled in this area because I think they are much better shooters than these numbers tell. So I expect that they will eventually improve in this area as season progresses.

Hand-off: 3.0% with 0.93 ppp

- Quite few teams rely much on hand-off plays. So I think it is OK that Wolves also use them quite seldom (22th in frequency) even though they have been quite effective (15th) on them.

Cut: 6.8% with 1.09 ppp

- Why Wolves use so little cut plays (20th in frequency) really bothers me. They. I expected that the amount of cut plays would have increased this year since Rubio has played in more than half of the games but they used them clearly more (7.9%) even last year when they didn't have that good players to execute them.


Off screen: 8.4% with 0.84 ppp

- I guess that the reason why Wolves have used off screen plays more this year (they rank 2nd in frequency) than last year is that Martin has played almost all games. Martin and Wiggins have used almost 70% of these plays and surprisingly Martin has been more effective this year than last year. I think they should not use that much off screen plays especially since they are just 21st in efficiency.


Putbacks: 5.4% with 1.36 ppp

- Wolves won't get too much offensive rebounds but they have scored more efficiently on them than any other team. If Pek will be back I think the amount of putbacks will increase but also their efficiency will decrease. Currently they rank 16th in frequency.


Misc: 6.7% with 0.51 ppp

- Wolves have still little bit too much broken plays. They rank 11th in frequency. This is at least partially because Lavine is playing point. He leads the team in total amount of these plays. BTW. Surprisingly Golden State and Clipers have most of these plays.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

This is why Mikkeman is one of our most valuable posters. While most of us are getting our much needed beauty sleep, he's churning out great stuff like this from Helsinki for us to enjoy with our first cup of coffee!

Thanks for this, Mikkeman...lots to digest here. Also lots of data that posters can use to support their favorite narrative!

[Tactical unit]

This is why Mikkeman is one of our most valuable posters. While most of us are getting our much needed beauty sleep, he's churning out great stuff like this from Helsinki for us to enjoy with our first cup of coffee!

Thanks for this, Mikkeman...lots to digest here. Also lots of data that posters can use to support their favorite narrative!

I'll 2nd that, nice post!

[TXviking [enjin:6602528]]

Great stats, an area I would like to see worked on would be points off turnovers. Currently we turn the ball over 14.8 per game vs. 15.2 for our opponents.

We score 15.6 points off our opponents turnovers vs. our opponents scoring 17.4 points on our turnovers.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Excellent stuff Mikkeman. Great work.

I honestly don't think Mitchell has worked much on offense this season simply because he prioritized defense and there is only so much time they have for practice. You have to prioritize and I think after watching two coaches that were offensively-biased in Rick and Flip, Mitchell is taking the right approach. If they ever get some decent breaks in their schedule, may be we'll see some improvement in some of these areas.

[mjs34]

Great stats, an area I would like to see worked on would be points off turnovers. Currently we turn the ball over 14.8 per game vs. 15.2 for our opponents.

We score 15.6 points off our opponents turnovers vs. our opponents scoring 17.4 points on our turnovers.

I'd like to see us stop telegraphing the pass to the guy cutting up from the baseline. I think we turn it over at least two times a game on that short pass or hand off. It's ridiculous when you consider it never really creates any significant advantage.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Great stats, an area I would like to see worked on would be points off turnovers. Currently we turn the ball over 14.8 per game vs. 15.2 for our opponents.

We score 15.6 points off our opponents turnovers vs. our opponents scoring 17.4 points on our turnovers.

I'd like to see us stop telegraphing the pass to the guy cutting up from the baseline. I think we turn it over at least two times a game on that short pass or hand off. It's ridiculous when you consider it never really creates any significant advantage.

Are you talking about those pin down screens? It's typically set on Martin or Wiggins' guy and they pop out for the ball. Of course, when the pass isn't intercepted, it's usually received about 20 feet away from the basket. Long 2!!!