I used to think we lacked two-way players. Now I think we have a bunch of zero-way players.
Posted: Sat Jan 04, 2014 6:37 pm
I'm starting to think the problem with the Wolves isn't a lack of two-way players so much as a surplus of zero-way players.
Love, Pek, Martin, and Rubio have good and bad points. For Love, the good outweighs the bad so substantially that he might be MVP. For others, the final tally isn't quite so favorable. Pek gives you scoring and rebounding but no shot-blocking from the one position on the floor where you absolutely need shot-blocking. Rubio's all-around game and defensive respectability almost cancel out his historically poor shooting. Martin is a legit shot-maker and floor stretcher even if he's exceedingly one dimensional and a defensive liability.
Still, I think you can go to war with those as your four best players. Most of the stats bear this out.
What happens after those four? A bunch of players you'd be hard pressed to describe as "pluses" on either end of the floor. Brewer is an offensive liability AND a severely overrated defender. Barea is a defensive liability AND shooting poorly on the season. Hummel is a defensive liability AND shooting poorly on the season. Mbah Moute is a slight defensive plus but so horrendous on offense as to reliably cancel himself out. Shved has been garbage on both ends. Cunningham is another defensive tweener with a comically limited offensive game.
I'm not sure exactly how the roster came to be this way, but players 5-10 violate a pretty long-standing rule: if you want to play in the NBA, you need to do at least one thing extremely well. Our bench (and one fifth of our starting five) simply aren't good NBA players. It's not that they're bad at one or two things. These guys are bad at most or even all things.
Strange as it may sound, I think getting Chase back (assuming he's fully recovered) might completely change this team. He's a total plus on the offensive end, so he's already bringing more to the table than anyone five through ten on the roster. That's kind of a sad state of affairs when you consider contending teams usually have a man with at least one elite skill 1-7 or 1-8, but we'll take what we can get.
Love, Pek, Martin, and Rubio have good and bad points. For Love, the good outweighs the bad so substantially that he might be MVP. For others, the final tally isn't quite so favorable. Pek gives you scoring and rebounding but no shot-blocking from the one position on the floor where you absolutely need shot-blocking. Rubio's all-around game and defensive respectability almost cancel out his historically poor shooting. Martin is a legit shot-maker and floor stretcher even if he's exceedingly one dimensional and a defensive liability.
Still, I think you can go to war with those as your four best players. Most of the stats bear this out.
What happens after those four? A bunch of players you'd be hard pressed to describe as "pluses" on either end of the floor. Brewer is an offensive liability AND a severely overrated defender. Barea is a defensive liability AND shooting poorly on the season. Hummel is a defensive liability AND shooting poorly on the season. Mbah Moute is a slight defensive plus but so horrendous on offense as to reliably cancel himself out. Shved has been garbage on both ends. Cunningham is another defensive tweener with a comically limited offensive game.
I'm not sure exactly how the roster came to be this way, but players 5-10 violate a pretty long-standing rule: if you want to play in the NBA, you need to do at least one thing extremely well. Our bench (and one fifth of our starting five) simply aren't good NBA players. It's not that they're bad at one or two things. These guys are bad at most or even all things.
Strange as it may sound, I think getting Chase back (assuming he's fully recovered) might completely change this team. He's a total plus on the offensive end, so he's already bringing more to the table than anyone five through ten on the roster. That's kind of a sad state of affairs when you consider contending teams usually have a man with at least one elite skill 1-7 or 1-8, but we'll take what we can get.