Iowa Wolves

[Carlos Danger]

I'm a little annoyed with the way I'm finding the G-League stats. When I look at NBA.com it's different than Basketball Reference. I'm assuming because of the showcase games, but I can't seem to get the stats to match up. Does anyone have a better source?

Source 1 (filtered by showcase stats)
https://stats.gleague.nba.com/team/1612 ... e=Showcase

Source 2 (Basketball Reference)
https://www.basketball-reference.com/gl ... /2024.html

If I sort the points per game, the nba.com site will show:
36.7 - Garza
19.7 - Nix
17.9 - Miller

But on Basketball reference, it will show Cartoon and Miller tied for 3rd with 16.2 points/game. Annoying. It looks like Basketball Reference is counting 12 games for Miller and NBA.com 11. I'm assuming other possible discrepancies. I wish they'd just lump all the games together for stats (showcase and regular season).

[Q-is-here]

RealGM lumps them together, but you have to choose it from a pull down menu. Granted, I haven't literally checked the math and validated by looking at individual game logs to reconcile, but I trust it's largely accurate.

[Carlos Danger]

RealGM lumps them together, but you have to choose it from a pull down menu. Granted, I haven't literally checked the math and validated by looking at individual game logs to reconcile, but I trust it's largely accurate.

I appreciate ya. I looked at RealGM as well as the other two sites I was using. It looks like it was user error on my part. All three sites you have to filter for either showcase or regular season. I use Basketball Reference almost exclusively for my stats, but I didn't notice within the G-League stats they had separate tabs for regular and showcase. But for the record, I'm still annoyed because I wish I could see full/combined data as it would give me bigger data samples of these guys.

[Q-is-here]

RealGM lumps them together, but you have to choose it from a pull down menu. Granted, I haven't literally checked the math and validated by looking at individual game logs to reconcile, but I trust it's largely accurate.

I appreciate ya. I looked at RealGM as well as the other two sites I was using. It looks like it was user error on my part. All three sites you have to filter for either showcase or regular season. I use Basketball Reference almost exclusively for my stats, but I didn't notice within the G-League stats they had separate tabs for regular and showcase. But for the record, I'm still annoyed because I wish I could see full/combined data as it would give me bigger data samples of these guys.

On RealGM you can go to the G League menu item on any given player you are looking up, then go to the "Games" pulldown menu and there is an option for "Full Season". There you will see their combined showcase/regular season games in one stat line, although it's oddly named "G League Summer League Stats".

[Lipoli390]

So with all this Carton talk, does this mean the suggest is to nix Nix and sign Carton to a two-way?!?

That’s what I was thinking.

[Lipoli390]

Lip, good call out of DJ Carton. He sort of snuck up on me this year. It's interesting. He had a similar situation last year where he took a back seat during the Showcase Cup part of the season (which happens before the Regular Season - I have no clue why it's done this or why it's called that) and then he began to put up some big games during the regular season.

Of the Iowa starters he has the best Net Rating. It's still negative, but it tells you something that it's less negative than the other regular starters.

The other thing is go look at his improvement trajectory. This is his third year in the G-League and he keeps getting better and better. I know that's what you'd expect of someone, but it doesn't always happen (look at Wendell Moore Jr. for example).

Here's the problem. We have a rock solid top 8 that I don't think Finch is going to mess with. So the real competition is for that 9th man. Right now it's Jordan McLaughlin. Is DJ Carton better than Jordan McLaughlin?

You asked the right question, Q. Carton is more athletic and bigger than JMac. So if Carton could shoot in the NBA with anything remotely close to his shooting efficiency in the G-League this season and have similar turnover numbers then I’d be inclined to say DJ is better than JMac. But my gut tells me JMac is better and that Carton’s offensive numbers are grossly inflated by the far lower level defense in the G-League. Nevertheless, I’d rather see Carton replace Nix as our third 2-way contract player.

[Q-is-here]

Actually watched the Iowa game tonight...first time in a while, but I wanted to check some of these guys out.

The Wolves started Miller at Center, Minott at PF, Tyrese Martin at SF, Javonte Cooke at SG, and DJ Carton at PG. Played against the Rio Grande Vipers, who came into tonight 8-1 and have former Wolves guard Jarrett Culver playing for them. Former Gopher Kevin Burleson, older brother of Nate, is the Vipers' head coach.

The Wolves fell behind early and then eventually clawed their way back and took a lead well into the 4th, only to fumble it away. Sound familiar?

Here are some notes on players:

Miller - Definitely has some skills offensively. Scored in a bunch of different ways in a big first half. Good at getting the rebound and turning up the floor to start the fast break. Inconsistent, but can make the 3. While skilled, he's overall a dumb and awkward player. Terrible defensively. Hedges out on guys and then just sort of gives up. No, you need to hedge and then either stay with that guy or scramble back to your man. Made a bunch of poor decisions on his way to 6 fouls and 5 turnovers. He and KAT should compare notes! Despite scoring 25 points, he was a -13 in a 4 point loss, which was the worst +/- of the starters. While it was just one game, it's also a trend - he has one of the worst net ratings on the team on the season.

Minott - Very active tonight. Still too skinny to play NBA PF; all of his points come on drives or fast breaks; he can't shoot. Makes some impressively athletic plays at times that make you go "wow". Quick to the hoop on straight line drives. Might be getting slightly better at staying in front of guys, but still way too jumpy on defense. Led the team in scoring, almost exclusively on drives, put backs, and fast breaks.

Tyrese Martin - May be the most level-headed of the bunch. He is really stout and has a nose for the ball. Had 14 rebounds by mostly using positioning and strength BEFORE jumping to get the rebound. OK-ish defensively, but did get burned a couple times where he couldn't stay in front of his guy. Not great at putting the ball on the floor and not very quick. He went 0-4 from 3 and none of them looked good to me.

DJ Carton - Had a solid game; like Martin, plays under control and made good decisions. He had 12 assists and 3 TOs. Makes the simple pass for the most part, but also had a couple in tight spaces that I was impressed by. He didn't shoot the ball well in this game. Like Martin, OK-ish defensively. Gets in a good stance and competes, but not a bulldog by any stretch.

No one else really stood out. Lance Stephenson came off the bench, but was kind of a train wreck going 1-5 from the field and committing 4 turnovers.

[Carlos Danger]

Great insight on the Iowa game Q. I appreciate the first hand notes/takes. Here is the box for those who like to follow along:
https://gleague.nba.com/game/rgv-vs-iwa ... =box-score

They are not good. I wonder if the coach is part of the problem? Or if our players are just not as good as we hoped they'd be. IDK. It seems like there are decent individual performances, but the collective team results are terrible.

It's getting close to Feb. I'm hoping for some updates on Jaylen Clark. The only current information I've found is from the start of this season they were targeting a February return. My fingers are still crossed we plucked a diamond in the rough with that pick.

[Q-is-here]

Great insight on the Iowa game Q. I appreciate the first hand notes/takes. Here is the box for those who like to follow along:
https://gleague.nba.com/game/rgv-vs-iwa ... =box-score

They are not good. I wonder if the coach is part of the problem? Or if our players are just not as good as we hoped they'd be. IDK. It seems like there are decent individual performances, but the collective team results are terrible.

It's getting close to Feb. I'm hoping for some updates on Jaylen Clark. The only current information I've found is from the start of this season they were targeting a February return. My fingers are still crossed we plucked a diamond in the rough with that pick.

Yeah, I'm excited by Jaylen Clark too. I am 95% positive he can immediately defend at a high level in the NBA or will eventually after getting his feet wet. It's all about the outside shot with him. If all he develops is a semi-reliable catch and shoot 3 point shot, he can be a valuable role player. Let's hope he's not another Josh Okogie (who I realize is playing a valuable role for Phoenix, but he's also surrounded by three of the greatest shooters/scorers in the NBA. He wouldn't work on this Wolves team).

I do think coaching is part of the problem down in Iowa. A lot of their defensive struggles are due to miscommunication and lack of a "second effort". Also, how on God's green earth does Leonard Miller still kick out on his 3-point shot!? He's under contract with the Wolves and he is supposedly in the G League to develop. Why does he still have such an obvious defect like that?

The Wolves organization is heavily dependent on finding some low cost gems and developing late draft picks like Leonard Miller in order to field a roster that is salary cap constrained. It's disappointing to see such a poor product down there.

[FNG]

Q, I'm also intrigued by Clark's potential. And I get the Josh Okogie comparison. But I question your conclusion that he would not fit as well here as Okogie does in Phoenix. You talk about Phoenix's Big Three and their shooting prowess, and I agree they are very good at 46%, 39% and 37% on threes. But KAT, Bite Bite, and Ant are currently 45%, 44% and 38% on threes. As a team the Wolves have a better 3-point percentage and overall percentage than the Suns...we are a very good shooting team this season. I agree that we can't expect much from Clark in terms of shooting (although it would be nice to be surprised), but his defense could be a nice late season addition. Perhaps he could be a nice back up to Conley with sharpshooters like KAT, Naz, and Ant on the court with him.