Minnesota Sports Forum

kekgeek1 wrote:Westbrook and Bradley will be unavailable for Friday due to covid

Talen Horton-Tucker, Malik Monk, and Dwight Howard are expected to be unavailable as well.

Camden0916 wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:Westbrook and Bradley will be unavailable for Friday due to covid

Talen Horton-Tucker, Malik Monk, and Dwight Howard are expected to be unavailable as well.

Russ has passed and will play tonight. Somehow he was able to get a negative test on 2 consecutive days in 1 day. A miracle

kekgeek1 wrote:

Camden0916 wrote:

kekgeek1 wrote:Westbrook and Bradley will be unavailable for Friday due to covid

Talen Horton-Tucker, Malik Monk, and Dwight Howard are expected to be unavailable as well.

Russ has passed and will play tonight. Somehow he was able to get a negative test on 2 consecutive days in 1 day. A miracle

Yeah, and now Monk is back too...the Covid rules seem very fluid to me.

Just wanted to take a moment and highlight the following players for playing significant minutes on their .500 or better teams despite being negative impact players, according to their On/Off statistics. It's truly impressive how their teams have been able to win games despite them being on the floor so often!

- Andrew Wiggins (23-5 team record; -4.1 On/Off)
- Jordan Poole (23-5 team record; -10.0 On/Off)
- Draymond Green (23-5 team record; -5.5 On/Off)
- DeAndre Ayton (23-5 team record; -5.5 On/Off)
- Ja Morant (18-11 team record; -15.1 On/Off)
- Zach LaVine (17-10 team record; -6.2 On/Off)
- Kyle Lowry (17-12 team record; -1.4 On/Off)
- Jimmy Butler (17-12 team record; -2.1 On/Off)
- Tyler Herro (17-12 team record; -3.0 On/Off)
- Bam Adebayo (17-12 team record; -3.2 On/Off)
- Anthony Davis (16-13 team record; -6.4 On/Off)
- Russell Westbrook (16-13 team record; -5.9 On/Off)
- Bradley Beal (15-15 team record; -3.5 On/Off)
- Tobias Harris (15-15 team record; -3.3 On/Off)
- Dennis Schroder (15-15 team record; -0.8 On/Off)
- Al Horford (15-15 team record; -3.8 On/Off)
- Luka Doncic (14-14 team record; -10.2 On/Off)
- Kristaps Porzingis (14-14 team record; -4.6 On/Off)

This weirdest of all seasons continues with the news that Kyrie will be playing road games soon. Helps the Nets in the regular season (as if they needed it), but presents an odd dynamic in the playoffs. Will the Nets think they are better on the road than at home with the availability of Kyrie, and tank toward the end of the season to secure visiting team advantage? Honestly, you can't make it up!

FNG wrote:This weirdest of all seasons continues with the news that Kyrie will be playing road games soon. Helps the Nets in the regular season (as if they needed it), but presents an odd dynamic in the playoffs. Will the Nets think they are better on the road than at home with the availability of Kyrie, and tank toward the end of the season to secure visiting team advantage? Honestly, you can't make it up!

This is all for 24 games at most.


Nets have 27 road games left - 2 games at MSG and 1 at Toronto where he can't play

Camden wrote:Just wanted to take a moment and highlight the following players for playing significant minutes on their .500 or better teams despite being negative impact players, according to their On/Off statistics. It's truly impressive how their teams have been able to win games despite them being on the floor so often!

- Andrew Wiggins (23-5 team record; -4.1 On/Off)
- Jordan Poole (23-5 team record; -10.0 On/Off)
- Draymond Green (23-5 team record; -5.5 On/Off)
- DeAndre Ayton (23-5 team record; -5.5 On/Off)
- Ja Morant (18-11 team record; -15.1 On/Off)
- Zach LaVine (17-10 team record; -6.2 On/Off)
- Kyle Lowry (17-12 team record; -1.4 On/Off)
- Jimmy Butler (17-12 team record; -2.1 On/Off)
- Tyler Herro (17-12 team record; -3.0 On/Off)
- Bam Adebayo (17-12 team record; -3.2 On/Off)
- Anthony Davis (16-13 team record; -6.4 On/Off)
- Russell Westbrook (16-13 team record; -5.9 On/Off)
- Bradley Beal (15-15 team record; -3.5 On/Off)
- Tobias Harris (15-15 team record; -3.3 On/Off)
- Dennis Schroder (15-15 team record; -0.8 On/Off)
- Al Horford (15-15 team record; -3.8 On/Off)
- Luka Doncic (14-14 team record; -10.2 On/Off)
- Kristaps Porzingis (14-14 team record; -4.6 On/Off)

You should really combine this stat with net rating to get a fuller picture. Draymond Green, for example, is well into positive territory on Net Rating, so no, it's not remarkable at all that they are winning games when he plays. He carries like a +10 net rating. That sounds about right considering Golden State's record.

It's funny that you cite Ja Morant. He has a negative net On/Off AND a negative net rating. Oh, and his team is 9-1 since he's been out, yet we're supposed to believe that +/- stats is just random noise. Mmmmm.

Does that mean Ja Morant is a bad player or will never find himself on the plus side again? Absolutely not. But clearly something has been off with Memphis this season when he plays versus not plays.

Watched some of the Celtics/Golden State game before the Wolves. I'd be curious to hear from others that might watch the C's a bit more, but if you think Edwards has sticky fingers, go watch Jayson Tatum. My god, all he does is play iso ball. And then every once in a while Jaylen Brown gets a turn and he does the same thing.

Q12543 wrote:

Camden wrote:Just wanted to take a moment and highlight the following players for playing significant minutes on their .500 or better teams despite being negative impact players, according to their On/Off statistics. It's truly impressive how their teams have been able to win games despite them being on the floor so often!

- Andrew Wiggins (23-5 team record; -4.1 On/Off)
- Jordan Poole (23-5 team record; -10.0 On/Off)
- Draymond Green (23-5 team record; -5.5 On/Off)
- DeAndre Ayton (23-5 team record; -5.5 On/Off)
- Ja Morant (18-11 team record; -15.1 On/Off)
- Zach LaVine (17-10 team record; -6.2 On/Off)
- Kyle Lowry (17-12 team record; -1.4 On/Off)
- Jimmy Butler (17-12 team record; -2.1 On/Off)
- Tyler Herro (17-12 team record; -3.0 On/Off)
- Bam Adebayo (17-12 team record; -3.2 On/Off)
- Anthony Davis (16-13 team record; -6.4 On/Off)
- Russell Westbrook (16-13 team record; -5.9 On/Off)
- Bradley Beal (15-15 team record; -3.5 On/Off)
- Tobias Harris (15-15 team record; -3.3 On/Off)
- Dennis Schroder (15-15 team record; -0.8 On/Off)
- Al Horford (15-15 team record; -3.8 On/Off)
- Luka Doncic (14-14 team record; -10.2 On/Off)
- Kristaps Porzingis (14-14 team record; -4.6 On/Off)

You should really combine this stat with net rating to get a fuller picture. Draymond Green, for example, is well into positive territory on Net Rating, so no, it's not remarkable at all that they are winning games when he plays. He carries like a +10 net rating. That sounds about right considering Golden State's record.

It's funny that you cite Ja Morant. He has a negative net On/Off AND a negative net rating. Oh, and his team is 9-1 since he's been out, yet we're supposed to believe that +/- stats is just random noise. Mmmmm.

Does that mean Ja Morant is a bad player or will never find himself on the plus side again? Absolutely not. But clearly something has been off with Memphis this season when he plays versus not plays.

Q, the Memphis story right now is the most interesting one in the league to me right now...10 out the last 11 and another near 20-point win on the road last night. Tyus went 14-6-4 +21 with no turnovers again.

But while I would occasionally watch a Grizzlies game when Ja was playing (he's really fun to watch), I'm not now...frankly they're kind of boring. Workmanlike on offense and steady defense that keeps the other team from going off. But they're winning...big. Ja is one of the rising stars in the league and if Memphis is even better after he comes back, we may have to look at them as contenders. But I kind of see a parallel here with the Wolves and Ant. Ant is by far our most exciting player and also a rising star, but several of us noticed we didn't really miss him last night.

Here's what I hope...I hope Ant and Ja are both watching their teams closely during their absences and taking to heart changes they can make in their games. Ja needs to focus more on the defensive side of the ball and also get his teammates more involved...if he does, they no longer will be the sub-.500 team they were when he was playing, and might even be a contender with Tyus coming of the bench. And Ant is very good at giving KAT advice about what he needs to do when he gets the ball. Maybe KAT needs to set the kid down and tell him to get rid of his sticky fingers. Ant and Ja are both remarkably talented and young, and both have enormous upsides...especially if they pay attention to what their teams are doing without them.

The Thunder beat the Clippers tonight on a beautiful game-winner from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. That leaves the Clippers, who currently sit as the fifth-seed, with a 16-14 record -- just 1.5 games ahead of our beloved/hated Wolves. Here's how the Western Conference looks with over one-third of the season completed.

1. Phoenix Suns (23-5) -- 0.0 GB
2. Golden State Warriors (24-6) -- 0.5 GB
3. Utah Jazz (20-9) -- 3.5 GB
4. Memphis Grizzlies (19-11) -- 5.0 GB
5. Los Angeles Clippers (16-14) -- 8.0 GB
6. Los Angeles Lakers (16-14) -- 8.0 GB
7. Denver Nuggets (15-14) -- 8.5 GB
8. Dallas Mavericks (14-14) -- 9.0 GB
9. Minnesota Timberwolves (14-15) -- 9.5 GB
10. Sacramento Kings (12-18) -- 12.0 GB
11. Portland Trail Blazers (12-18) -- 12.0 GB
12. San Antonio Spurs (11-17) -- 12.0 GB
13. Houston Rockets (10-20) -- 14.0 GB
14. New Orleans Pelicans (10-21) -- 14.5 GB
15. Oklahoma City Thunder (9-19) -- 14.0 GB


With just under two-thirds of the season left to play, the Wolves are very much in the hunt for not only a play-in spot, but also a mid-seed that would keep them out of the play-in tournament altogether. I believe the Clippers are firmly better than our Wolves when reasonably healthy, but their record does not indicate that to this point. Not to mention, the Lakers, Nuggets, and Mavericks are either so deteriorated by injuries or overwhelmingly "meh" that I see a healthy Wolves team being better than them.

The gap is so minute that the 5-9 seeds in the standings could flip in the matter of one week. All of this is to say that the rest of this season should be fun and exciting as the Wolves attempt to try to shock the basketball world with a mid-seed that nearly nobody thought they'd have a chance to secure.