By the Numbers

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Nobody on this board would question that we are a bad team right now. We knew we were taking a step back this year, and then on top of that we had the injuries. But watching game after game of getting beat badly tell's me it's worth trying to measure how bad we are, and how we can get better.

So, what number would you guys point out to highlight how bad we are, or what would be even better, how or why specifically are we so bad?

129.

That's my number to start the thread. That's the ranking of our top player in the recently released Real Plus-Minus NBA rankings. Plus-minus is an inaccurate stat in the short term, but becomes more telling over time, taking into account offense and defense over a period of time. REAL plus-minus is more accurate, taking into account the other players on the floor. This chart includes WAR, wins above replacement. Our best player on this chart is ranked 129, meaning that by this measure there are, on average, a little more than 4 players on every other team in the league who are better than our best player. Yikes.

And who is our best player by this metric? Kevin Martin. 129th in the league with a .69 WAR. And yes, he has played just 9 games so take that for what it's worth.

Who is [or rather "was"] our second best? Corey Brewer. 150th.

We do have Dieng, Young, Rubio, and Mo all falling between 150 and 200. Pek at 236. Jeff Adrien at 253 and Robbie Hummel at 277. Turiaf at 302. GRIII at 325. Bazz at 382, -.07 WAR. Wiggins at 393, -.13. Bud at 405 with -.26. Bennett at 416 with -.39. And Zach LaVine at 430 out of 430 with -1.41, which is actually a huge drop-off from the guy ranked 429. Yeesh. I see potential in the guy, but he's obviously struggled in a hard situation and the numbers bear that out.

Obviously we should take these numbers with a grain of salt. Parker and Noel are also ranked really low here and both could become very good players, and there are some head-scratchers relatively high (Jared Sullinger at 37?). But in terms of measuring how bad we are, these numbers paint a not-so-pretty picture of our team.

You can find the chart here.

http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/page/1

The problem with these Real Plus-Minus, WAR numbers (besides that they'll be more accurate once we're deeper into the season) is that while they show who has been our most/least effective players, it's really more of an overview. I'd really like to see some numbers that indicate a specific area we could work on to improve as a team.

So . . . what's your number?

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Ouch! I wanted to rip the data, but since they accurately pegged Kevin Love as the 12th best PF, they seem pretty accurate to me!

The only numbers I keep coming back to are these: 2-2

[SameOldNudityDrew]

: ) What's 2-2?

[Carlos Danger]

Good topic Drew. Here's my number: 323. That's the total points scored so far by Shabazz Muhammed...who is now leading the team in total points scored. I doubt many people would have predicted that coming into this season. He was certainly not one of our top players coming into this year. So, this shows me two things:

1.) We are obviously bad due to a ton of injuries to our top players (Pek/Martin/Rubio).
2.) The Wolves are truly all in on the youth movement. It's not about wins - it's about development

On one hand, it's fun to watch as on any given night one of the young guys can go off for 30 points. But on the other hand, it's sometimes difficult for me to watch full games because we are usually out of it by the 4th quarter.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

: ) What's 2-2?

Our record when Rubio went down :mad:

[Hicks123 [enjin:6700838]]

LST....you throw those numbers out, and I reply with 15-37.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Wow, 323 who would have guessed Shabbazz Muhammad would be our leading scorer this year!

I used to watch games wondering which of the young guys would step up and score the most points, but now it's not even much of a guessing game. It's a little disappointing given how much hope we've put into Wiggins, how much potential LaVine has shown, and how Dieng played at the end of the year, but Muhammad has definitely separated himself from the rest of our young guys as the best scorer for what that's worth on a team that looks like it will struggle to win 18 games at this rate.

[Carlos Danger]

It was pretty surprising to me. I mean...like you wrote, I could see Wiggins being the guy as the #1 overall pick. Or I could have seen a vet i.e. Brewer or even Mo Williams being "the guy" once Pek/Martin/Rubio went down. But I have to tip my hat to Bazz. He's really the only guy who's taken a major step forward and forced his way into more minutes.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

54.7% - That's my number.

It's the effective field goal percentage of our opponents this year. We're dead last in this category in the league and it's the biggest reason we have only won 5 games. For some perspective, it was 51.8% last season. For some really scary perspective, the Golden State Warriors are posting a number of 45.3%, which leads the league.

If you were to peel that back and look at from what distances we get torched on, it's nearly everywhere. We are dead last in opponent FG% from less than 5 feet. We are also dead last in opponent FG% from 5-9 feet. So basically anything from 9 feet in we suck at. We're 26th in opponent 3-pt %. So it's a total and complete breakdown, all over the floor.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

LST....you throw those numbers out, and I reply with 15-37.

Context, please.

The next numbers I will throw out, ordinal this time rather than cardinal, are second and first.

The most definitive thing I have learned this year watching Wolves' games is that NBA 2nd teams are not good enough to be competitive with NBA 1st teams. Not much surprise there, I suppose.