Cleveland has 3 guys in the top 22, Boston 3 guys in the top 33, Lakers have 3 guys in the top 34, OKC has 3 guys in the top 35, San Antonio has 3 guys in the top 38, Denver has 3 guys in the top 39, New York has 3 guys in the top 40. Our 2nd best player is rated 44th, multiple other teams have their 2nd best player before our 2nd best player.
Interesting.
For what it's worth I'd say they're overrating Harden and Mobley for Cleveland
I really like Castle but I don't think he's earned 30 overall and Fox is good but overrated. The Spurs are where they are because of Wemby and their overwhelming amount of wing and guards.
I also think Jaden is underrated but that is mostly because of how the Wolves have to use him. If he was an off ball defender and #2 option he'd leap into the top 30 at least imo
I agree that Jaden is very underrated at 58, but it's understandable to me...like most rankings, this one seems to be based mostly on offensive performance, because offensive stats are the easiest to measure, and Jaden is at best a third option for us. For the same reason, I think Ant is quite overrated at 6. As I presented in another thread, Ant doesn't rank in the top 10 in any stat I follow that tries to incorporate defensive performance...I know, difficult to do, but there are some that seem reliable to me. I think the only measures by which Ant cracks the top 10 are PPG and usage percentage, but frankly those might be the measures the typical fan notices most.
But the only thing that matters today as the playoffs kick off is this: is Ant a top 10 player in the playoffs? And I think he has shown in the past that he is, and will be again this year if the knee is okay.
Some early playoff stats among the top 8 rotation guys. Take with a grain of salt in most cases, except I think it's safe to say that Naz is having a bad series so far (gee, what a shock) and Ant is playing below (healthy) expectations.
Top 3 Wolves in PER (PER uses the box score exclusively so volume stats like scoring matter):
1. Ayo - 20.3
2. DDV - 18.4
3. Ant - 16.9
Top 3 Wolves in Win Shares per 48 minutes (balanced metric that looks at volume stats and efficiency):
1. Ayo - .217
2. DDV - .194
3. Jaden - .123
Bottom 3 Wolves in Win Shares per 48 minutes:
1. Naz - (.005)
2. Ant - .080
3. Bones - .105
Top 3 Wolves in Net Rating (Points per 100 possessions while on the floor minus opponent points per 100 possessions):
1. DDV +20.7
2. Ant +5.1
3. Rudy +4.7
Bottom 3 Wolves in Net Rating:
1. Naz -6.2
2. Bones -4.4
3. Jaden -1.3
Top 3 Wolves in Net On/Off Rating (Net Rating difference of team while player is on vs. off the floor):
1. DDV +47.9
2. Ant +0.0
3. Julius -1.1
Bottom 3 Wolves in Net On/Off Rating:
1. Jaden -26.9
2. Naz -14.8
3. Bones -9.3
Q-is-here wrote: ↑Fri Apr 24, 2026 8:14 am
Some early playoff stats among the top 8 rotation guys. Take with a grain of salt in most cases, except I think it's safe to say that Naz is having a bad series so far (gee, what a shock) and Ant is playing below (healthy) expectations.
Top 3 Wolves in PER (PER uses the box score exclusively so volume stats like scoring matter):
1. Ayo - 20.3
2. DDV - 18.4
3. Ant - 16.9
Top 3 Wolves in Win Shares per 48 minutes (balanced metric that looks at volume stats and efficiency):
1. Ayo - .217
2. DDV - .194
3. Jaden - .123
Bottom 3 Wolves in Win Shares per 48 minutes:
1. Naz - (.005)
2. Ant - .080
3. Bones - .105
Top 3 Wolves in Net Rating (Points per 100 possessions while on the floor minus opponent points per 100 possessions):
1. DDV +20.7
2. Ant +5.1
3. Rudy +4.7
Bottom 3 Wolves in Net Rating:
1. Naz -6.2
2. Bones -4.4
3. Jaden -1.3
Top 3 Wolves in Net On/Off Rating (Net Rating difference of team while player is on vs. off the floor):
1. DDV +47.9
2. Ant +0.0
3. Julius -1.1
Bottom 3 Wolves in Net On/Off Rating:
1. Jaden -26.9
2. Naz -14.8
3. Bones -9.3
Thanks for this, Q...keep 'em coming. I get my on/off numbers from cleaning the glass so they are slightly different (probably because they strip out garbage time), but the message is the same...Donte's post-season is even better than his excellent regular season. Also, the stats support my hypotheses that our supporting cast is the key to winning this series. Now if Ant can return to his regular season offensive brilliance plus play just average defense, this postseason may go very well.
Ayo had both the most points and the most assists off the bench in Timberwolves playoff history tonight. The previous leader was Jaden with 24 points against Memphis, and Rod Strickland and Wally tied with 7 assists.
rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 24, 2026 8:58 am
Ayo had both the most points and the most assists off the bench in Timberwolves playoff history tonight. The previous leader was Jaden with 24 points against Memphis, and Rod Strickland and Wally tied with 7 assists.
He was terrific...more than anyone else on our team he seemed to embrace right away that Denver had no interior defense. His drives to the basket were inspiring. My favorite was when he went coast to coast for a layup after a made three by Jokic!
rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 24, 2026 9:56 am
Jokic v Gobert: This was the 21st career playoff game between the two. Jokic is a -6 in those 21 games, Gobert is a +63 in those 21 games
That's pretty cool and also reflects Rudy's track record with the Wolves in the playoffs. He's pretty much always a plus.
The encouraging thing is even if Jokic made 50% of his shots last night (13-26 instead of 7-26) including two more 3-pointers (4-10 instead of 2-10), we still would have won the game. So the process (guarding him one on one and staying home on shooters) is working even if he's making more shots. The more impactful stats are the 3 assists and 4 turnovers. That might be more disastrous for the Nuggets than his poor shot making.
rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 24, 2026 9:56 am
Jokic v Gobert: This was the 21st career playoff game between the two. Jokic is a -6 in those 21 games, Gobert is a +63 in those 21 games
That's pretty cool and also reflects Rudy's track record with the Wolves in the playoffs. He's pretty much always a plus.
The encouraging thing is even if Jokic made 50% of his shots last night (13-26 instead of 7-26) including two more 3-pointers (4-10 instead of 2-10), we still would have won the game. So the process (guarding him one on one and staying home on shooters) is working even if he's making more shots. The more impactful stats are the 3 assists and 4 turnovers. That might be more disastrous for the Nuggets than his poor shot making.
I love Kevin Harlan (although not as much as I did when he was looser with the Wolves. My son and I still laugh about the time he shouted when KG was going off "He's going wild, he's going mad...he's got mad cow disease!"), but it was funny how he seemed amazed last night that Rudy's and Nikola's +/-'s were mirror images of each other...it's like he didn't notice they were always on the court at the same time! We were lucky to have Candace again...she good.
rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 24, 2026 9:56 am
Jokic v Gobert: This was the 21st career playoff game between the two. Jokic is a -6 in those 21 games, Gobert is a +63 in those 21 games
That's pretty cool and also reflects Rudy's track record with the Wolves in the playoffs. He's pretty much always a plus.
The encouraging thing is even if Jokic made 50% of his shots last night (13-26 instead of 7-26) including two more 3-pointers (4-10 instead of 2-10), we still would have won the game. So the process (guarding him one on one and staying home on shooters) is working even if he's making more shots. The more impactful stats are the 3 assists and 4 turnovers. That might be more disastrous for the Nuggets than his poor shot making.
I love Kevin Harlan (although not as much as I did when he was looser with the Wolves. My son and I still laugh about the time he shouted when KG was going off "He's going wild, he's going mad...he's got mad cow disease!"), but it was funny how he seemed amazed last night that Rudy's and Nikola's +/-'s were mirror images of each other...it's like he didn't notice they were always on the court at the same time! We were lucky to have Candace again...she good.
Candace Parker is really good. Personally I think the Prime andMinister Peacock crews are really really good.
ESPN is just too negative and narrative focused (I’m saying pre and post game crews also) while the new markets are basketball focused
