Wolves Stats. A contradiction. Dichotomy. Or something...

[AbeVigodaLive]

A few stats:

GOOD STATS:
- 2nd in scoring. 5th in Off Rating.
- Average 4.2 ppg more than opposition. 8th best in league.
- Average 8.69 more free throw MAKES per game. The league's modern era best is 7.77.
- 7th best in TOs on offense. 3rd best in steals on defense.
- 2nd best at offensive rebounding
- Starters have top 3 scoring differential in NBA? (somebody has the actual stat, I don't)
- Def Rating is 12th in league. (It's not as bad as most would think)
- Expected W/L (Pythagorean record) = 20 - 12

BAD STATS:
- Last in blocked shots (95). Next worst team has 117.
- Opponents shoot highest percentage in league at the rim.
- 24th in league fg%
- 25th in league 3fg%
- Bench is ranked among 3 worst units in league
- 0 - 8 in games decided by 4 points or fewer. EASILY the worst record in league.
- PG shoots 35%. Backup SG/PG shoots 29%.
- Actual record = 16 - 16

Kevin Love in December:
30 ppg
14 reb
4 ast
2/1 assist/to ratio
50% fg
44% on threes
86% ft

Team went 6 - 7 in December. It's among the oddest Wolves teams I've ever seen. But very easy to figure out in other ways.

The strengths are so obvious. As are the flaws.

Any other interesting stats about this team?

[thedoper]

I mentioned this in another thread but to go along with the block shots stats we are last in the league in Opponents FG% at .475. Teams generally just need to take more shots then us and should win since our transition D seems to be even worse than our half court D. Q broke it down quite well with his eFG% thread a month ago. I really believe our D has majorly slipped since we went below 500. I can't find a way to get splits for the month of December on our Defensive efficiency but I suspect it has dropped our rating down to 12 from an even higher number.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Yeah, it's a very odd team because we use unconventional means to arrive at our lofty offensive rating and decent defensive rating. We have a fairly massive eFG% differential to our detriment, yet an even massive-er (?) FTM differential. Our TO differential is extremely helpful as is our Oreb differential.

The bottom line is that we suck at making shots and preventing made shots, but are really, really good at getting fouled/not fouling, forcing turnovers/not giving up turnovers, and getting offensive rebounds/preventing offensive rebounds. The result is that we consistently win the battle of possessions and out free-throw our opponents.

Weird and unconventional for sure, but....not totally unexpected when you look at the career numbers and strengths/weaknesses of our roster. This was somewhat predictable - just not to these extremes.

[Lipoli390]

Thanks for the stat breakdown. Very interesting and revealing. I think Q summed it pretty well. We suck at making shots and preventing made shots while we excel at getting fouled/not fouling and forcing turnovers/not turning the ball over. So it's not surprising that we net out at .500.

If fully healthy, Budinger's return should help improve the team in the "making shots" category. But no telling exactly when he'll be back in game shape or whether he'll stay healthy. Turiaf may help improve the team a bit in the "preventing made shots" category, but it would be a mistake to expect a major lift from his return since he has a track record as nothing more than a bit role player.

The Wolves definitely have a good shot at overtaking both the Suns and Mavs in the standings. But that's not something we can count on given what we've seen so far this season. And I have a hard time seeing the Wolves ending up any higher than 7th.