Minnesota Sports Forum

We're probably beating this topic to death, but it's an interesting one. Monster, I actually see a lot of reason for optimism in the shooting data that you linked to. All of us who have played basketball know that there are certain spots on the court that just feel like home to us, and our shooting percentage is going to be much higher from there. Corey's 2013 performance tells me that the left corner is now that spot for him. He took 119 left corner threes last year, an enormous sample size for a reserve, and made an impressive 41% of them. This is very good news for the Wolves for two reasons:
1) The left corner three is a vital spot in Adelman's offense, and
2) the 2012-13 Wolves had nobody that showed a lot of comfort or success from that corner.

Barea and Schved both had 40+ percentages from the left corner, but on low volume, indicating it's not a spot they feel comfortable from. Bud only made 27% of his left corner threes, but in all fairness, has been much more effective from there in the past. I still think Corey's main role will be defense and running the floor, but I'm also excited about the contribution he can make from the left corner, a huge need for this offense.

By the way, as I review the shooting chart data, I see a potential problem with Martin and Love. Both of them have focused on shooting threes from the same location, left of the key. With spacing such an important element in Adelman's offense, it will be interesting to see how Love and Martin work together on the court. Ideally Love will become comfortable with shooting threes from the right side, creating the optimal spacing with Martin in his preferred spot and Brewer/Bud in the left corner.

I am very enthusiastic about the offensive potential of this team!

longstrangetrip wrote:We're probably beating this topic to death, but it's an interesting one. Monster, I actually see a lot of reason for optimism in the shooting data that you linked to. All of us who have played basketball know that there are certain spots on the court that just feel like home to us, and our shooting percentage is going to be much higher from there. Corey's 2013 performance tells me that the left corner is now that spot for him. He took 119 left corner threes last year, an enormous sample size for a reserve, and made an impressive 41% of them. This is very good news for the Wolves for two reasons:
1) The left corner three is a vital spot in Adelman's offense, and
2) the 2012-13 Wolves had nobody that showed a lot of comfort or success from that corner.

Barea and Schved both had 40+ percentages from the left corner, but on low volume, indicating it's not a spot they feel comfortable from. Bud only made 27% of his left corner threes, but in all fairness, has been much more effective from there in the past. I still think Corey's main role will be defense and running the floor, but I'm also excited about the contribution he can make from the left corner, a huge need for this offense.

By the way, as I review the shooting chart data, I see a potential problem with Martin and Love. Both of them have focused on shooting threes from the same location, left of the key. With spacing such an important element in Adelman's offense, it will be interesting to see how Love and Martin work together on the court. Ideally Love will become comfortable with shooting threes from the right side, creating the optimal spacing with Martin in his preferred spot and Brewer/Bud in the left corner.

I am very enthusiastic about the offensive potential of this team!

You bring up a good point regarding love and martin's sweet spot. Love loves the left side 3, he usually spots up there. Martin also loves that spot, due to his unorthodox shooting form, that left side seems to be the perfect angle for martin to take his shot, he is better at going left and taking his jumper than going right. Bud loves the right side 3, which is why he was a good fit with martin before at houston. It will be interesting to see but im sure it will all work out in the end. 1 thing for sure, we have a lot of firepower offensively and 2 efficient scorers in love and martin, an excellent passer in rubio and a inside threat in pek.

The issue with the sweet spots as Q pointed out in the other Brewer Thread is they switch every year. the positive is that Brewer seems to be trending towards taking more shots at the league average than the brutal red below average almost all over the court. That's a nice slight improvement that may be real but whatever. I love Brewer more than almost everyone on this board but I am realistic about his shooting. It sucks or is league average AT BEST from any spot on the floor including at the rim. I see other values he brings to the court that I'd rather focus on that trying to convince myself of something about his shooting.

One thing Brewer brings to the offensive side of the ball has only been slightly touched on. He actually does force teams to guard him. He isn't just a guy that makes a cut every once in a while or camps out on a couple spots behind the line. He moves a lot has constant energy gets out in transition and has enough skill to drive the ball if there is a decent opening. He has more basketball skill than the typical 3 and D guy which is handy and he does really force someone to actually do more than just pay attention to him and not let him jack up an open 3. All of us has played against that guy you don't want to guard because he is going to move around hustle beat you just because of all that. You are tired feel old etc. LOL Brewer brings that on offense. He still sucks as a shooter but all these attributes are a great fit in the way Adelman wants guys to play. I think that is significant. Having your 5th option still putting pressure on defenses all over the floor is not too shabby.