Stats Tracker 2026-27 Season

[rapsuperstar31]

NBA.com has the Ant and Donte less Wolves 3rd in the power rankings, and the Chet, J Dub, and Cason Wallace less OKC ranked 2nd. You aren't a great team until you can withstand injuries to your best players. Two of our three losses this year occurred on a rest disadvantage back to back where we had to travel. To an extent last year we were decent at it when Ant was out, but looking really good this year. If Rudy were to get hurt, for a few weeks or a moth, I believe this team would figure it out, because that is what great teams do.

[rapsuperstar31]

The top teams in Isolation Frequency & their PPP This year: #1 Lakers, #2 OKC, #3 Wolves, #4 Sixers, #5 Rockets, #6 Celtics. The top 6 have the top 6 records heading into today except San Antonio and Golden State who are much lower in frequency.

Rank Team Poss / Game PPP ISO Freq % Points / Game
#1 Los Angeles Lakers 12.6 1.13 11.2% 14.3
#2 Oklahoma 11.9 0.88 10.6% 10.5
#3 Minnesota 12.4 0.96 10.4% 11.9
#4 Philadelphia 76ers 10.7 0.80 9.5% 8.5
#5 Houston Rockets 9.3 0.80 8.3% 7.5
#6 Boston Celtics 9.1 0.91 8.0% 8.3

[Q-is-here]

The top teams in Isolation Frequency & their PPP This year: #1 Lakers, #2 OKC, #3 Wolves, #4 Sixers, #5 Rockets, #6 Celtics. The top 6 have the top 6 records heading into today except San Antonio and Golden State who are much lower in frequency.

Rank Team Poss / Game PPP ISO Freq % Points / Game
#1 Los Angeles Lakers 12.6 1.13 11.2% 14.3
#2 Oklahoma 11.9 0.88 10.6% 10.5
#3 Minnesota 12.4 0.96 10.4% 11.9
#4 Philadelphia 76ers 10.7 0.80 9.5% 8.5
#5 Houston Rockets 9.3 0.80 8.3% 7.5
#6 Boston Celtics 9.1 0.91 8.0% 8.3

Isolation basketball gets a bad rap, but in reality it's often the most efficient way to play if you have the talent to do it. It's no coincidence the likes of Luka, SGA, Durant, Maxey, Jaylen Brown, and Jason Tatum are on these teams. It's interesting we are still high up there in isolation frequency without Ant.

[AussieWolf3]

Amazing. And here we thought defense and rebounding were going to be potential issues for this team. I guess it's still early...

It is still early yes, but I think the only things that could really derail the defense is if Rudy either wears down or get injured or Kuminga starts to get salty about his role

Jaden getting injured would obviously be a huge as well.

Outside of those factors, the thing I'm most curious about is if the great rebounding can continue. I don't know of any particular reason it can't, but they are certainly winning boards on a matter of want to, which could become overtaxing

I'll be honest, I'm certainly feeling a sense of vindication because I really really didn't buy that the defense would take a major step back this year. They eliminate two of their worst defenders in Naz and Randle. What they gained back was a bevy of unanswered question with enormous upside, not the least of which was better synergy.

It's a real credit to the players and coaches that they've been able to tap that upside to this point

I agree on your two things that could derail this season. Ant was off to a terrific start and is the most explosive scorer on this roster, but just like last year, we are learning that we can survive for a while without him. But if Rudy went down, we would be cooked. As excited as we all are about Joan, he still needs seasoning and is benefiting from being Rudy's understudy. Fortunately nobody on the roster takes care of his body as well as Rudy. And yeah, because of JK's past, I'm holding my breath hoping this version of him continues. Again, we all like Lyles, but coming off the bench for JK is a perfect role for him.

Jaden had been mostly terrific and is probably our best 2-way player so far this season. That said, I think we could survive a period with him out easier than Rudy or JK. One of our plethora of wings could fill in for a few games...not as good ouf course, but I still think we would survive.

Just to be clear, i don't think losing Rudy would derail the season (unless by that we mean their championship hopes), but I do think he is the biggest factor in their excellent defense. This is also, on the whole, a season where his overall impact hasn't been as enormous as others.

The starters (using Ayo in this data instead of Ant) on 50 minutes are actually a +22.8 in net rating without Rudy on the floor. The team is backstopping the non Rudy minutes much better this year so far, and I feel pretty strongly that if you lost Rudy for 2 months instead of Ant that the team would be similarly successful.

The defense is great right now because
1) Rudy in the paint is still a force
2) everyone is working hard on the boards
3) they have collectively been great on the perimeter and have been very aggressive.

The defense would get worse obviously but the offense would be much better and I think they would manage

[Q-is-here]

It is still early yes, but I think the only things that could really derail the defense is if Rudy either wears down or get injured or Kuminga starts to get salty about his role

Jaden getting injured would obviously be a huge as well.

Outside of those factors, the thing I'm most curious about is if the great rebounding can continue. I don't know of any particular reason it can't, but they are certainly winning boards on a matter of want to, which could become overtaxing

I'll be honest, I'm certainly feeling a sense of vindication because I really really didn't buy that the defense would take a major step back this year. They eliminate two of their worst defenders in Naz and Randle. What they gained back was a bevy of unanswered question with enormous upside, not the least of which was better synergy.

It's a real credit to the players and coaches that they've been able to tap that upside to this point

I agree on your two things that could derail this season. Ant was off to a terrific start and is the most explosive scorer on this roster, but just like last year, we are learning that we can survive for a while without him. But if Rudy went down, we would be cooked. As excited as we all are about Joan, he still needs seasoning and is benefiting from being Rudy's understudy. Fortunately nobody on the roster takes care of his body as well as Rudy. And yeah, because of JK's past, I'm holding my breath hoping this version of him continues. Again, we all like Lyles, but coming off the bench for JK is a perfect role for him.

Jaden had been mostly terrific and is probably our best 2-way player so far this season. That said, I think we could survive a period with him out easier than Rudy or JK. One of our plethora of wings could fill in for a few games...not as good ouf course, but I still think we would survive.

Just to be clear, i don't think losing Rudy would derail the season (unless by that we mean their championship hopes), but I do think he is the biggest factor in their excellent defense. This is also, on the whole, a season where his overall impact hasn't been as enormous as others.

The starters (using Ayo in this data instead of Ant) on 50 minutes are actually a +22.8 in net rating without Rudy on the floor. The team is backstopping the non Rudy minutes much better this year so far, and I feel pretty strongly that if you lost Rudy for 2 months instead of Ant that the team would be similarly successful.

The defense is great right now because
1) Rudy in the paint is still a force
2) everyone is working hard on the boards
3) they have collectively been great on the perimeter and have been very aggressive.

The defense would get worse obviously but the offense would be much better and I think they would manage

I don't know Aussie. I actually think the loss of Rudy or LaMelo might be harder to manage than the loss of Ant, especially in the regular season. I just think it's easier to re-distribute shots and scoring to other players than the things Rudy and LaMelo excel at. All bets are off in the playoffs though. That's where we need Ant to be 100% healthy and locked in otherwise we have very little chance to make a deep run.

[FNG]

I agree on your two things that could derail this season. Ant was off to a terrific start and is the most explosive scorer on this roster, but just like last year, we are learning that we can survive for a while without him. But if Rudy went down, we would be cooked. As excited as we all are about Joan, he still needs seasoning and is benefiting from being Rudy's understudy. Fortunately nobody on the roster takes care of his body as well as Rudy. And yeah, because of JK's past, I'm holding my breath hoping this version of him continues. Again, we all like Lyles, but coming off the bench for JK is a perfect role for him.

Jaden had been mostly terrific and is probably our best 2-way player so far this season. That said, I think we could survive a period with him out easier than Rudy or JK. One of our plethora of wings could fill in for a few games...not as good ouf course, but I still think we would survive.

Just to be clear, i don't think losing Rudy would derail the season (unless by that we mean their championship hopes), but I do think he is the biggest factor in their excellent defense. This is also, on the whole, a season where his overall impact hasn't been as enormous as others.

The starters (using Ayo in this data instead of Ant) on 50 minutes are actually a +22.8 in net rating without Rudy on the floor. The team is backstopping the non Rudy minutes much better this year so far, and I feel pretty strongly that if you lost Rudy for 2 months instead of Ant that the team would be similarly successful.

The defense is great right now because
1) Rudy in the paint is still a force
2) everyone is working hard on the boards
3) they have collectively been great on the perimeter and have been very aggressive.

The defense would get worse obviously but the offense would be much better and I think they would manage

I don't know Aussie. I actually think the loss of Rudy or LaMelo might be harder to manage than the loss of Ant, especially in the regular season. I just think it's easier to re-distribute shots and scoring to other players than the things Rudy and LaMelo excel at. All bets are off in the playoffs though. That's where we need Ant to be 100% healthy and locked in otherwise we have very little chance to make a deep run.

Ant is by far our most dynamic player and was off to a terrific start, but I think there is no question it would be much more detrimental to play without LaMelo or Rudy than to play without Ant. This is no knock on Ant...it's just that there are no suitable options currently behind Rudy and Ball, while we are loaded at the wing position. As for Rudy's defense, i mentioned in another post a graph Jon K tweeted a few days ago documenting just how far ahead of the rest of the league Rudy is in rim protection...it's astonishing. And unfortunately, Joan is at the other end of the spectrum on the graph. And while we all shake our heads when Rudy fumbles what seems to be a good pass, go listen to what Ayo says (again in Jon K's twitter) about why he has been able to get to the rim so easily...he is effusive in his praise for Rudy's screening.

We need Ant (and Donte) back to be a complete team and to Q's point, to go deep in the playoffs, but we are more than surviving without them, and I'm afraid we likely would struggle to be a .500 team if either Rudy or Melo want down. Let's hope we don't have to find out.

[rapsuperstar31]

I agree on your two things that could derail this season. Ant was off to a terrific start and is the most explosive scorer on this roster, but just like last year, we are learning that we can survive for a while without him. But if Rudy went down, we would be cooked. As excited as we all are about Joan, he still needs seasoning and is benefiting from being Rudy's understudy. Fortunately nobody on the roster takes care of his body as well as Rudy. And yeah, because of JK's past, I'm holding my breath hoping this version of him continues. Again, we all like Lyles, but coming off the bench for JK is a perfect role for him.

Jaden had been mostly terrific and is probably our best 2-way player so far this season. That said, I think we could survive a period with him out easier than Rudy or JK. One of our plethora of wings could fill in for a few games...not as good ouf course, but I still think we would survive.

Just to be clear, i don't think losing Rudy would derail the season (unless by that we mean their championship hopes), but I do think he is the biggest factor in their excellent defense. This is also, on the whole, a season where his overall impact hasn't been as enormous as others.

The starters (using Ayo in this data instead of Ant) on 50 minutes are actually a +22.8 in net rating without Rudy on the floor. The team is backstopping the non Rudy minutes much better this year so far, and I feel pretty strongly that if you lost Rudy for 2 months instead of Ant that the team would be similarly successful.

The defense is great right now because
1) Rudy in the paint is still a force
2) everyone is working hard on the boards
3) they have collectively been great on the perimeter and have been very aggressive.

The defense would get worse obviously but the offense would be much better and I think they would manage

I don't know Aussie. I actually think the loss of Rudy or LaMelo might be harder to manage than the loss of Ant, especially in the regular season. I just think it's easier to re-distribute shots and scoring to other players than the things Rudy and LaMelo excel at. All bets are off in the playoffs though. That's where we need Ant to be 100% healthy and locked in otherwise we have very little chance to make a deep run.

One of our best playoff games ever happened when Rudy had just had his baby, playing the defending champions in their building after already winning the first game so it was a must win for Denver. We destroyed them playing defense on a string and everyone bought in.

[FNG]

Just to be clear, i don't think losing Rudy would derail the season (unless by that we mean their championship hopes), but I do think he is the biggest factor in their excellent defense. This is also, on the whole, a season where his overall impact hasn't been as enormous as others.

The starters (using Ayo in this data instead of Ant) on 50 minutes are actually a +22.8 in net rating without Rudy on the floor. The team is backstopping the non Rudy minutes much better this year so far, and I feel pretty strongly that if you lost Rudy for 2 months instead of Ant that the team would be similarly successful.

The defense is great right now because
1) Rudy in the paint is still a force
2) everyone is working hard on the boards
3) they have collectively been great on the perimeter and have been very aggressive.

The defense would get worse obviously but the offense would be much better and I think they would manage

I don't know Aussie. I actually think the loss of Rudy or LaMelo might be harder to manage than the loss of Ant, especially in the regular season. I just think it's easier to re-distribute shots and scoring to other players than the things Rudy and LaMelo excel at. All bets are off in the playoffs though. That's where we need Ant to be 100% healthy and locked in otherwise we have very little chance to make a deep run.

One of our best playoff games ever happened when Rudy had just had his baby, playing the defending champions in their building after already winning the first game so it was a must win for Denver. We destroyed them playing defense on a string and everyone bought in.

Yes, that was a terrific performance by the Wolves. But his minutes were mostly replaced by Kyle Anderson, who was a veteran reliable defender. Since then Rudy has been replaced the last two seasons mostly by Ju and Naz, and the GDTs were full of posts by Kek documenting our inability to get any stops during the non-Rudy minutes! And this year the difference is even more pronounced...the Wolves give up almost 18 fewer points per 100 possessions when Rudy is on the floor compared to off, and over 15 more points per 100 for Joan. I think we all believe Joan is going to be our starting center in the next few years, but I think our defense will be a disaster if Rudy misses substantial time this season.

[Monster]

Thanks for all these numbers they are always worth considering.

I'll say this watching these games it just feels like this team actually fits together. Bones has issues defending because of his physical limitations but the guy gets buckets. In no way is he the same level of player especially as a passer but he has a similar style of play in some ways as Ball as so the way the Wolves play when he comes it it kinda makes more sense. It feels like players have settled into roles and some guys have now played with each other for a while and understand what they are or what to do and encourage it to happen. Clark looks more confident/comfortable all around and obviously feels way more comfortable jacking up a 3 than before.

Meanwhile the defense and rebounding is more swarming like it was before they acquired Gobert. They have played that defense in the past but not game after game after game like they have so far. The game they didn't really do it enough was Golden state. That to me was the one game this group didn't bring it overall. Subbing Joan in for minutes at the five is pretty big for rebounding. Kuminga isn't putting up rebounding numbers but it feels like he is often in there fighting for the ball. It's not like his rebounding numbers are much less than Randle's last year. It's less than 1 rebound a game than last year with Randle per 36. Meanwhile Kuminga is averaging almost 1 more STOCK per game per 36 than Randle did last year. Joan is averaging as many rebounds per game as Naz did in 10 fewer minutes. Lyles is rebounding at the same per minute rate Naz did. I was always a little confused about the concern about rebounding. I didn't expect to be where we are now though! Jaden pulling down more boards is nice to see also.

Will this group keep up playing well and playing together as a team? Idk I think we can agree there is easily room for them to get better.

[rapsuperstar31]

I don't know Aussie. I actually think the loss of Rudy or LaMelo might be harder to manage than the loss of Ant, especially in the regular season. I just think it's easier to re-distribute shots and scoring to other players than the things Rudy and LaMelo excel at. All bets are off in the playoffs though. That's where we need Ant to be 100% healthy and locked in otherwise we have very little chance to make a deep run.

One of our best playoff games ever happened when Rudy had just had his baby, playing the defending champions in their building after already winning the first game so it was a must win for Denver. We destroyed them playing defense on a string and everyone bought in.

Yes, that was a terrific performance by the Wolves. But his minutes were mostly replaced by Kyle Anderson, who was a veteran reliable defender. Since then Rudy has been replaced the last two seasons mostly by Ju and Naz, and the GDTs were full of posts by Kek documenting our inability to get any stops during the non-Rudy minutes! And this year the difference is even more pronounced...the Wolves give up almost 18 fewer points per 100 possessions when Rudy is on the floor compared to off, and over 15 more points per 100 for Joan. I think we all believe Joan is going to be our starting center in the next few years, but I think our defense will be a disaster if Rudy misses substantial time this season.

I think it's one of those things we just don't know until we see it. Rudy like Ant up until last season has been an iron man, so we haven't seen a lot of it. We have had some truly great games without Rudy when he's sat, and some bad ones. Last year against San Antonio with Rudy out Joan held his own and looked the part in an overtime loss where Ant took over. We got screwed on a no call foul that should have sent Joan to the line at the end of the game instead of San Antonio coming down and hitting a three. Hopefully we don't need to find out this season or next though, as this could be our year if we can go into the playoffs healthy.