Key Individual Stats Tracker - '24-25 Season

[Q-is-here]

As long as Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley continue to be the most important players on this roster, we are capped as to how far we can go. We saw this against Dallas last year. It may happen earlier in the playoffs this year.

That being said, I'm happy to see the mini turnaround of late. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding our opponents (injuries, 2nd night of a back to back, etc.), we can all see with our own eyes how much harder our guys are playing. It's made a huge difference.

[FNG]

Rudy gets lots of attention for his defense, as he should. But his effective screening is such an important part of our offense. It's fun to see how players like Mike use his big body to get open for a three. But even more important, it's nice to see Rudy/Ant rank third in the Association in points per pick and roll...1.14 behind KAT/Brunson and Davis/James.

[Q-is-here]

Rudy gets lots of attention for his defense, as he should. But his effective screening is such an important part of our offense. It's fun to see how players like Mike use his big body to get open for a three. But even more important, it's nice to see Rudy/Ant rank third in the Association in points per pick and roll...1.14 behind KAT/Brunson and Davis/James.

Right, I documented the staggering difference he made while on the floor in the playoffs last year. While Rudy is far from the perfect fit offensively with our superstar with the lack of a 3-point shot and poor hands, his screening is just such a huge weapon.

But maintaining Rudy as a key pillar of our roster along with sticky-fingers Ant means we to have shooters, athletes, and ball movers at pretty much every other position in order to compliment their strengths and weaknesses.

[Q-is-here]

30-game update below:

Player - PER/WS48/VORP/Net Rating
Ant - 18.2/.103/1.3/+2.7
Rudy - 15.5/.173/0.5/+2.1
Randle - 18.2/.144/0.9/+2.4
Jaden - 10.6/.082/0.1/-1.6
DDV - 11.3/.072/.3/0.0
Naz - 14.4/.106/0.4/+4.2
NAW - 13.5/.123/0.5//+7.9
Conley - 12.5/.114/0.4/+3.2
Minott - 16.7/.170/.2/+4.9

PER - Very much individual box-score driven and rewards volume more than efficiency. Doesn't really account for defense. This tends to reward higher usage offensive players and guys that get lots of counting stats.
WS/48 - Combines individual box-score stats with team performance; tends to reward efficiency as much as volume; tries to apportion team performance to individual players, so a great team defense for example tends to lift all boats (or weight them down if the defense is poor).
VORP - Value over Replacement Player. This extrapolates from box score stats and takes into account actual minutes played, so it helps recognize that starters have to carry a bigger load.
Net Rating - Team points per 100 possessions minus opponent points per 100 possessions while player is on the floor, per NBA.com.

[Q-is-here]

- I added Minott since he it appears he is now part of the regular 9-man rotation, albeit in very small stints as the 9th man. But these are real minutes against real competition and so far we are winning the minutes he plays. That's a great step forward and I think we are all seeing his confidence continue to grow. His gradual ascent could give the front office options when it comes to shaping the roster.

- Mike Conley, despite his decreasing potency as a scorer, still manages to be a plus player for us. He is rebounding his position well, keeping his TOs down, and getting a decent amount of steals.

- DDV is on the upswing. Let's hope that trend arrow keeps pointing up.

- Naz is on the downswing of late in terms of individual stats, yet the team continues to win the minutes he plays.

- Neither Ant or Randle's numbers are all-star worthy if we're being honest.

[60WinTim]

Yeah, the numbers confirm the eye test on Jaden. WTF has happened to him?!?

Meanwhile, Minott is putting up numbers that say "PLAY ME MORE!"

It makes you wonder if TC could be tempted to trade Jaden for an expiring contract. It would open the door for retaining Randle, NAZ and NAW, all while staying out of the luxury tax. It's gotta be tempting...

[rapsuperstar31]

Yeah, the numbers confirm the eye test on Jaden. WTF has happened to him?!?

Meanwhile, Minott is putting up numbers that say "PLAY ME MORE!"

It makes you wonder if TC could be tempted to trade Jaden for an expiring contract. It would open the door for retaining Randle, NAZ and NAW, all while staying out of the luxury tax. It's gotta be tempting...

I don't think you can consider that until the ink is dry on NAW's next contract. You can't trade Jaden and lose NAW in the summer.

[FNG]

30-game update below:

Player - PER/WS48/VORP/Net Rating
Ant - 18.2/.103/1.3/+2.7
Rudy - 15.5/.173/0.5/+2.1
Randle - 18.2/.144/0.9/+2.4
Jaden - 10.6/.082/0.1/-1.6
DDV - 11.3/.072/.3/0.0
Naz - 14.4/.106/0.4/+4.2
NAW - 13.5/.123/0.5//+7.9
Conley - 12.5/.114/0.4/+3.2
Minott - 16.7/.170/.2/+4.9

PER - Very much individual box-score driven and rewards volume more than efficiency. Doesn't really account for defense. This tends to reward higher usage offensive players and guys that get lots of counting stats.
WS/48 - Combines individual box-score stats with team performance; tends to reward efficiency as much as volume; tries to apportion team performance to individual players, so a great team defense for example tends to lift all boats (or weight them down if the defense is poor).
VORP - Value over Replacement Player. This extrapolates from box score stats and takes into account actual minutes played, so it helps recognize that starters have to carry a bigger load.
Net Rating - Team points per 100 possessions minus opponent points per 100 possessions while player is on the floor, per NBA.com.

Thanks for updating this, Q. Yes, the Jaden story continues to be troubling...I wonder if Minott might be part of a group that starts taking some minutes away from him.

I've read references several times to Ant as being our "best player". As I've documented elsewhere, "best players" on other teams rank first or at least very high in measures such as WS/48 and net rating (where Ant ranks 7th and 5th respectively!). I challenge anyone to find a player who is considered the "best player" on his team who ranks as low as Ant in WS/48 and net rating...I'll hang up and listen . I would describe Ant as our highest-scoring player and our most exciting player, but I don't think anyone who values deep analytics would conclude he is our "best player". I think his relatively low rank in some measures matches what some of us have pointed out here...Ant struggles to have games where he is consistently very good the entire game. He seems to go on vacation at both ends of the court at times, and that vacation mentality shows up in the advanced analytics. He's such a spectacular player that he will do things like he did at the end of last night's game. But then there are "turd laying" ends of games like he had against GS earlier this month.

This Wolves team is deep and talented, but I wish we had a clear "best player"...if Ant can become that guy, our supporting cast is good enough to allow us to challenge for a chip. But the numbers Q has provided shows he's a long way from that.

[Q-is-here]

30-game update below:

Player - PER/WS48/VORP/Net Rating
Ant - 18.2/.103/1.3/+2.7
Rudy - 15.5/.173/0.5/+2.1
Randle - 18.2/.144/0.9/+2.4
Jaden - 10.6/.082/0.1/-1.6
DDV - 11.3/.072/.3/0.0
Naz - 14.4/.106/0.4/+4.2
NAW - 13.5/.123/0.5//+7.9
Conley - 12.5/.114/0.4/+3.2
Minott - 16.7/.170/.2/+4.9

PER - Very much individual box-score driven and rewards volume more than efficiency. Doesn't really account for defense. This tends to reward higher usage offensive players and guys that get lots of counting stats.
WS/48 - Combines individual box-score stats with team performance; tends to reward efficiency as much as volume; tries to apportion team performance to individual players, so a great team defense for example tends to lift all boats (or weight them down if the defense is poor).
VORP - Value over Replacement Player. This extrapolates from box score stats and takes into account actual minutes played, so it helps recognize that starters have to carry a bigger load.
Net Rating - Team points per 100 possessions minus opponent points per 100 possessions while player is on the floor, per NBA.com.

Thanks for updating this, Q. Yes, the Jaden story continues to be troubling...I wonder if Minott might be part of a group that starts taking some minutes away from him.

I've read references several times to Ant as being our "best player". As I've documented elsewhere, "best players" on other teams rank first or at least very high in measures such as WS/48 and net rating (where Ant ranks 7th and 5th respectively!). I challenge anyone to find a player who is considered the "best player" on his team who ranks as low as Ant in WS/48 and net rating...I'll hang up and listen . I would describe Ant as our highest-scoring player and our most exciting player, but I don't think anyone who values deep analytics would conclude he is our "best player". I think his relatively low rank in some measures matches what some of us have pointed out here...Ant struggles to have games where he is consistently very good the entire game. He seems to go on vacation at both ends of the court at times, and that vacation mentality shows up in the advanced analytics. He's such a spectacular player that he will do things like he did at the end of last night's game. But then there are "turd laying" ends of games like he had against GS earlier this month.

This Wolves team is deep and talented, but I wish we had a clear "best player"...if Ant can become that guy, our supporting cast is good enough to allow us to challenge for a chip. But the numbers Q has provided shows he's a long way from that.

FNG, VORP has Ant as our best player. VORP includes total minutes played as part of the metric, so that is to Ant's benefit. Another comprehensive stat I don't include but is pretty highly respected is Estimated Plus-Minus or EPM for short. Ant has the best EPM on the team, followed by Rudy.

Ant is both one of the best downhill players AND 3-point shooters in the NBA. He could average 30 PPG and 6 APG pretty easily if he played in a 5-out offense with shooters and a sure-handed big. An offense without much space and a big with poor hands requires a clinical level of play making that Ant doesn't possess.

I'm going to continue to cite Jayson Tatum as a comparison to Ant. Tatum is not a clinical passer or pick and roll wizard. He mostly relies on one-on-one basketball that combines shooting and driving. He also has TONS of space to work with. And he's always just on the fringes of the MVP race. Ant has a deadlier combination of driving/shooting skills than Tatum in my opinion, but they play in two completely different offenses in terms of personnel.

[Q-is-here]

Yeah, the numbers confirm the eye test on Jaden. WTF has happened to him?!?

Meanwhile, Minott is putting up numbers that say "PLAY ME MORE!"

It makes you wonder if TC could be tempted to trade Jaden for an expiring contract. It would open the door for retaining Randle, NAZ and NAW, all while staying out of the luxury tax. It's gotta be tempting...

It's less about what happened to Jaden and more about what didn't happen. He just stopped developing after his first couple of seasons.

It isn't always a given that young players keep improving after they get their sea legs in the NBA. Some just always remain the same player (Andrew Wiggins and even KAT are good examples, although they both had a higher starting point than Jaden and both did improve over time on the defensive side of the ball).

As for Minott, could he become our version of Amen Thompson? A "do-shit" forward that adds activity, pace and athleticism to the frontcourt mix. And if he can hit that corner 3 that has vexed Jaden over the years then man, lookout!