Minnesota Sports Forum

Team eFG% and Opponent eFG% are two of the most important measures in determining a team's success. In short, they measure shooting efficiency - the ability of the team and their opponents to get the ball in the hoop.

We are well aware of our defensive woes. We have fluctuated between 28th and 30th all year in Opponent eFG%, which to me is incredibly damning considering Thibs' pedigree. (we currently sit at 29th).

What folks may not realize is we currently sit at 18th in our own eFG%, which belies our highly rated offense overall. The bottom line is that our offensive rebounding and low turnover rate masks our inefficiency from the field. I don't know about you, but I would much rather be really good at making baskets versus being really good at rebounding our own misses at the risk of giving up easy fast break points on the other end.

Unfortunately, the wing combination that Thibs coveted so much of Butler and Wiggins are a big part of the problem. Check this out. Of the 45 players in the NBA averaging 17 points or more per game (of which Butler and Wiggins are included), these guys rank 36th and 42nd in eFG% respectively and 39th and 43rd in TS% (which factors in free throws).

Here are just some of the wings that rank ahead of them (and again, all these guys are fairly high usage players):

Harrison Barnes
T.J. Warren
Rodney Hood
Victor Oladipo
Tobias Harris
Evan effing Fournier!
Tyreke Evans (!)
Aaron Gordon

What are the excuses? We have plenty of offensive weapons, so it can't be the old "he has to do everything on his own and get guarded by the opponents' best defender" excuse. One of these guys every night has a potential mis-match....or perhaps that's the problem. Thibs sees a mis-match, clears everyone out, and then we end up with a contested mid-range jump shot simply because our guy is taller than their's. Horrible shot! Even when they go in!

I realize we aren't a lights-out shooting team from the perimeter. We will absolutely have to address that issue with a trade this year or changes this offseason. We simply can't compete with the really big boys without better shooting.

But in the meantime, we need more shots at the rim, where we have guys with the athleticism (Wiggins), strength (Butler), and touch (KAT) to make shots.

Right now we rank #3 in the NBA in FG% on shots from 0-3 feet. We also draw a lot of fouls. Yet we rank 22nd in the NBA in the percentage of shots we take from this distance. Why is that?

1. Not enough fast break layups - our pace is too slow. I love Jimmy Butler, but he is sooo damn methodical. He would have been the perfect wing for those Memphis grit and grind teams....
2. Not enough hard basket cuts - we get tired legs and everyone just stands around when Thibs clears out a side.
3. Wiggins settles too much - Wiggins is by far the guy that can most easily get into the paint and collapse the defense. He simply doesn't do it enough and settles far too often for difficult pull up jumpers or mid-range turnarounds. It's why he has ALWAYS been one of the least efficient high scorers in the league. Nothing new here.

Interesting, but not surprising stats. This brings me back to Larry Brown's comment a month ago when he said that in today's NBA, :good defense is efficient offense." Those were his exact words after he explained that it's really hard to defend today.

It's a point I've been making repeatedly in response to complaints about our defense. I know we have issues defensively. But I maintain that our biggest problem and the thing that hurts us the most defensively, is our terribly inefficient offense. In addition, our lack of player movement offensively allows opponents to reserve more energy to bring at us offensively. Seriously, it's amazing how little energy teams need to expend to defend us compared to every other team I've watched so far this season.

Free MGH. I think he can help improve these numbers. He certainly can't be any worse than Bazz right now.

lipoli390 wrote:Interesting, but not surprising stats. This brings me back to Larry Brown's comment a month ago when he said that in today's NBA, :good defense is efficient offense." Those were his exact words after he explained that it's really hard to defend today.

It's a point I've been making repeatedly in response to complaints about our defense. I know we have issues defensively. But I maintain that our biggest problem and the thing that hurts us the most defensively, is our terribly inefficient offense. In addition, our lack of player movement offensively allows opponents to reserve more energy to bring at us offensively. Seriously, it's amazing how little energy teams need to expend to defend us compared to every other team I've watched so far this season.

Yeah, good point on the lack of player movement. Also, because we are so reliant on rebounding our own misses, we find ourselves on our heels a lot when we unsuccessfully chase an offensive rebound. Teams get numbers on us very quickly and it leads to an easy open look on the other end. If the opponent was having to inbound the ball more often after a made shot, our defense would benefit.

BizarroJerry wrote:Free MGH. I think he can help improve these numbers. He certainly can't be any worse than Bazz right now.

I don't have my hopes up on him, but at some point he may get his chance.

Q12543 wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:Free MGH. I think he can help improve these numbers. He certainly can't be any worse than Bazz right now.

I don't have my hopes up on him, but at some point he may get his chance.

I can't remember who was guarding Oubre last night, but he should have been brought in at least to have a shot at him or Meeks.

Q I think it's worthwhile to point out in this discussion that the Wolves are 10th in the league in TS%. I can't find the stats but it would be interesting to see TS% of opponents compared to the rest of the league because the Wolves foul less and therefore teams hit fewer FTs against them. The Wolves defense clearly needs to improve and there is some overall trending in the right direction if you take say the last 12 games as the sample.

The Wolves are also 2nd best when it comes to turnover rate. Teams that move the ball do tend to turn it over at a higher rate. There is a bit of a trade off there. I'm not suggesting that I would rather not move the ball but the Wolves have some things going for them in terms of efficiency which is why they are ranked 6th overall in offensive net rating. We are basically at the quarter point of the season and these numbers you brought up will certainly be interesting to monitor.

BizarroJerry wrote:

Q12543 wrote:

BizarroJerry wrote:Free MGH. I think he can help improve these numbers. He certainly can't be any worse than Bazz right now.

I don't have my hopes up on him, but at some point he may get his chance.

I can't remember who was guarding Oubre last night, but he should have been brought in at least to have a shot at him or Meeks.

I've seen his name littered throughout this forum. But I know nothing about the guy.

Is there legit buzz about him or something? Or is it just the annual futile tradition of looking for an answer from anywhere...