Minnesota Sports Forum

I thought it might be interesting to look at the Wolves roster purely from a skill-set perspective, rather than position or size. I looked at the roster with the following categories in mind: (1) Ball-handling; (2) 3-point shooting; (3) rebounding; (4) Passing; (5) shot-blocking/rim protection; and (5) defense. The following is my breakdown of the players I consider above average in each category (assuming we re-sign JMac and release Nowell): I rate each one good, very good or elite

BALL HANDLING
1. DLO - Elite
2. Ricky - Elite
3. JMac - Very good

THREE POINT SHOOTING
1. KAT - Elite
2. DLO - Very good
3. Beasley - Very good (Based on games with Wolves. Previously just good)

REBOUNDING
1. KAT - Elite
2. Okogie - Good
3. Ricky - Good
4. Davis - Very Good

PASSING
1. Ricky - Elite
2. DLO - Very good
3. KAT - Very good
4. JMac - Good

SHOT BLOCKING/RIM PROTECTION


DEFENSE
1. Okogie - Very good, potentially elite
2. Ricky - Very good
3. Culver - Good
4. RHJ - ?

When you break it down like this, it's somewhat encouraging. But you can also see the weaknesses. We have four above average defender, but none of them are good perimeter shooters. On the flip side, we have three really good 3-point shooters, but they're all poor defenders. And we have no rim-protectors on the roster. We'll see how things go this season.

lipoli390 wrote:I thought it might be interesting to look at the Wolves roster purely from a skill-set perspective, rather than position or size. I looked at the roster with the following categories in mind: (1) Ball-handling; (2) 3-point shooting; (3) rebounding; (4) Passing; (5) shot-blocking/rim protection; and (5) defense. The following is my breakdown of the players I consider above average in each category (assuming we re-sign JMac and release Nowell): I rate each one good, very good or elite

BALL HANDLING
1. DLO - Elite
2. Ricky - Elite
3. JMac - Very good

THREE POINT SHOOTING
1. KAT - Elite
2. DLO - Very good
3. Beasley - Very good (Based on games with Wolves. Previously just good)

REBOUNDING
1. KAT - Elite
2. Okogie - Good
3. Ricky - Good
4. Davis - Very Good

PASSING
1. Ricky - Elite
2. DLO - Very good
3. KAT - Very good
4. JMac - Good

SHOT BLOCKING/RIM PROTECTION


DEFENSE
1. Okogie - Very good, potentially elite
2. Ricky - Very good
3. Culver - Good
4. RHJ - ?

When you break it down like this, it's somewhat encouraging. But you can also see the weaknesses. We have four above average defender, but none of them are good perimeter shooters. On the flip side, we have three really good 3-point shooters, but they're all poor defenders. And we have no rim-protectors on the roster. We'll see how things go this season.

I like the breakdown and agree with most of your takes (think you are overrating Okogie and the current Rubio on defense but that is not here or there), I can flip it though and do what the Wolves are weak at with players who are legit going to play.

BALL HANDLING
1. Beasley- Below Average
2. Okogie- Below Average
3. Hernangomez- non factor

THREE POINT SHOOTING
1. Okogie- Pathetic
2. Culver- Below Average (Showed small sample size improvement before shutdown)
3. RHJ, Edwards, Rubio- None factor/We will see struggled in college/career year but need catch and shoot

REBOUNDING
1. Hernangomez- average to below average for his position
2. For the most part think the wolves don't have bad re-bounders but the system could hurt them like last year.

PASSING
1. Beasley- Average at best
2. Okogie- Either great or turnover city


SHOT BLOCKING/RIM PROTECTION


DEFENSE
1. Dlo- Pathetic
2. Kat- Below average (he has been bad but shows flashes but when is consistency)
3. Edwards- Effort in college was bad
4 Beasley- Below average (tries hard but isn't good at it)



Wolves are such a bi-polar team. Have some great skill sets like you laid out but also have some massive weaknesses that can't be overlooked. Wish they had a proven coach that could possibly hide these weaknesses and make the positive skill sets show through.

so how do we stack up to some of the potential 8th seed teams that we are hoping to pass using the same skill breakdowns?

We've gone from supposedly having the best young roster in the NBA (Time of Thibs hiring) to fighting for a play-in playoff spot 4 years later. That's hard to accomplish. But somehow here we are.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:We've gone from supposedly having the best young roster in the NBA (Time of Thibs hiring) to fighting for a play-in playoff spot 4 years later. That's hard to accomplish. But somehow here we are.

The reality is that depending on draft selections we might be in the same spot we are now.

monsterpile wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:We've gone from supposedly having the best young roster in the NBA (Time of Thibs hiring) to fighting for a play-in playoff spot 4 years later. That's hard to accomplish. But somehow here we are.

The reality is that depending on draft selections we might be in the same spot we are now.

Should we be after 4 years and entering the 5th season? Do we ever get to the point where the people in charge are held accountable? Some teams like Dallas seem to rebuild almost overnight. If Towns is so great, why couldn't he have a similar affect as Doncic? I just can't accept that we've pretty much emptied our clip and we still suck. I don't believe we should be content with this.

Lip based on your breakdown (I like what you did here) it doesn't feel like this roster is much worse defensively than what we had last year. There has been a lot of talk about the Wolves being really bad on that end and I don't disagree (last year was bad after a promising start) but I'm not sure it's gonna be much worse than last year. I'd hope the offense is much better Which would also help the defense a little as well. Could we hope for the type of jump the Suns made last year? That would put us in position for that play in game. Sorry folks I'm getting carried away and too optimistic. Lol

On draft night most of us were disgusted by how poorly our offseason went. And we were right to feel that way. But I knew as the season approached the mood would begin to change. It's what we always do. We rationalize that things aren't as bad as maybe we thought. We find false reasons for optimism when there really shouldn't be any. By the time the games start the mistakes of the offseason will be forgotten. If we get off to a decent start the knee jerk reactions will pour in about how great of a job Rosas actually did. I just can't do that anymore. I realize we have no choice as true fans but to hope for the best. But it will take unusual circumstances for this team to finish in the top 8, and I don't believe they are going to make the top 10. I hope I'm wrong and that you guys rip me a new one all season long. But this isn't good enough anymore. Not for me anyway.

CoolBreeze44 wrote:We've gone from supposedly having the best young roster in the NBA (Time of Thibs hiring) to fighting for a play-in playoff spot 4 years later. That's hard to accomplish. But somehow here we are.

I'll keep saying this it is so skewed on people calling the wolves the best young roster based on a 20 game sample size that came off the last 20 games of the year where the wolves went 10-10 in those games where 9 of the ten wins came against teams missing there best player and the last win was against the best regular season team of all time in the Warriors.

Im putting what you said in your last post in this one just to put it in one place. Completely fair to not like what the wolves did this offseason (I know I have been one of the few who liked what the wolves did overall). Completely fair on not wanting to be satisfied with where we are at. I do think people in charge have been held responsible though. In Kats years in the league he has had 3 head coaches and 3 different GMs in the relatively short career.

Wolves are in a weird spot and I think most of us are expecting in a couple years we are about to start the next rebuild again. Sucks but it is where they are, hopefully our All NBA player and our All Star Kat and Dlo can lead the Wolves to the promise land of the playoffs. Hopefully Rosas made the right choice in Edwards. Who knows maybe Edwards is a future All NBA player and the wolves future is actually really bright. Completely fair to be skeptical.

Well, the Wolves did give the FO a complete makeover after failing with "the best young roster"...