Minnesota Sports Forum

- KAT is averaging 22 ppg and shooting 54%... and 45% on threes!
- Wiggins is averaging 23 ppg and shooting 67% on threes!!!!!!!!!
- Lavine is shooting 42% on threes!
- Dieng is shooting 57% and blocking 2 shots per game!
- The team is about the same offensively (13th)... but has improved a lot defensively (19th up from 28th)..

Wow.

But the team is 1 - 5. Wait. So things could get worse? Oh oh...

I thought this was going to be a policitical post. On a related note... What does Trump winning say about basketball anaylitics? If they couldn't get that right how can we trust their data for basktetball? Is the 538 website going to explode now?

I guess there is no stat for playing as a team. I do think Thibs and the players are saying all the right things. There have been many great individual performances, but there is not a single stat that measures how they played as a team.

thedoper wrote:but there is not a single stat that measures how they played as a team.

I usually go by W-L's.

I thought Bobby Marks said something interesting a couple weeks ago when he said he wasn't buying in on the Wolves super hype in that he didn't think they were going to make a BIG jump and be a playoff team. He said something like "what will this team do when it faces adversity or is playing down the stretch that last chunk of the season going for one of those last playoff spots? Will that young team be able to do well under the pressure? It's still a young team and the vets they have aren't likely to be significant contributors." Normall I am not a big fan of Marks but I thought his thoughts were actually pretty well thought out there. He just tweeted this today.

"While Minnesota will not win 62 games keep in mind that we only 2 weeks into this young season. Every team is a work in progress."

So the Wolves are already facing some adversity. How will they handle it?

thedoper wrote:I thought this was going to be a policitical post. On a related note... What does Trump winning say about basketball anaylitics? If they couldn't get that right how can we trust their data for basktetball? Is the 538 website going to explode now?

I guess there is no stat for playing as a team. I do think Thibs and the players are saying all the right things. There have been many great individual performances, but there is not a single stat that measures how they played as a team.

To be fair... 538 was ripped by others for giving Trump too much of a chance to win... something like 35%....

They at least come out looking better than the others who were closer to 90%.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

thedoper wrote:I thought this was going to be a policitical post. On a related note... What does Trump winning say about basketball anaylitics? If they couldn't get that right how can we trust their data for basktetball? Is the 538 website going to explode now?

I guess there is no stat for playing as a team. I do think Thibs and the players are saying all the right things. There have been many great individual performances, but there is not a single stat that measures how they played as a team.

To be fair... 538 was ripped by others for giving Trump too much of a chance to win... something like 35%....

They at least come out looking better than the others who were closer to 90%.

Yeah, Trump made a lot of people look very foolish yesterday. That's not a vote of confidence for the guy, just a fact. The coastal elites in DC, NYC, and LA look pretty silly right now.

As for basketball, I think trying to use analytics to put one's finger on 5-man unit defensive effectiveness and cohesion - in a predictive fashion - is way behind where it is on offense. How is it that Steve Clifford took over a defense in Charlotte ranked dead last in the league and then turned into #5 in the league in his first year? His one major addition: Al Jefferson.

I truly believe in the 'marathon not a sprint' label for this team. 1-5 frustrates me but I do not think we have seen everything come together under Thibs yet. My main concern is that we are 1-5 against teams we could be 6-0 against. What happens when we play GSW, San Antonio, Clippers and Cavs type teams in a stretch? Maybe we will be up to the challenge. Other than Ricky being out, the talent hasnt changed and like Abe initially pointed out, our studs are looking good (on paper). Our bench still sucks and I worry about our lack of physical-ness, especially around the hoop. But again, its early.

bleedspeed177 wrote:

thedoper wrote:but there is not a single stat that measures how they played as a team.

I usually go by W-L's.

Yes I meant advanced metrics but thanks for stating the obvious part of my post I forgot to mention.

Wolves are leading the league in 3 point percentage and Cheeto Jesus is our President. These are strange times indeed.

Mstermisty wrote:Wolves are leading the league in 3 point percentage and Cheeto Jesus is our President. These are strange times indeed.

Yeah, I certainly agree that the second occurrence is quite strange...one could have made a lot of money in Vegas betting on that one a year ago.

But as I've pointed out before, the Wolves' 3-point accuracy is merely a continuation of their post- All-star game success last year. Wig, Belly and Zach were all over 40% the last half of last season, and Ricky wasn't bad either, and as a team they were the second most accurate team after the break. While I don't expect them to continue this 41% pace (I predict Wig will come down from 64%, for instance :)) , I would not at all be surprised if they continue to lead the league in percentage. Tyus (31%), Rush (27%) and Belly (24%) are all going to shoot better.