Comparison of rookie points per game

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Let's make it clear up front. Scoring is only one aspect of the game. But lack of bench scoring is the element which has hurt the Wolves most this year, and it's frustrating that the solution may have been sitting next to AJ Price all season. Along with rebounding, scoring has always been something that has come easily to Shabazz Muhammad, and although he hasn't been given much opportunity to show it, in limited sample size he has shown he can score in the NBA too. Granted it's not a great rookie crop this year, but here are the points per minutes for the most relevant 2013-4 rookies.

MCW .500
Shabazz . 478
Oladipo .439
Hardaway .434
McCollum .423
Burke .412
Olynyk .402
Zeller .373
McLemore .324
Goodwin .318
Wolters .311
Bennett .310
Greek Freak .295
KCP .279

Shabazz trails only the likely ROY, who has been on a scoring roll recently, and there is a substantial gap between Shabazz and those who follow him. Normally I wouldn't present this list because Shabazz has such a small sample size. I'm only doing it here because scoring in bunches is something I believe Shabazz can do, and this is the only sample size we have to work with (thank you, Rick).

The Wolves starters, led by their Big 3 scorers, have no problems putting points on the board:

Love .682
Martin .588
Pek .554
Brewer .367
Rubio .283

But the reserves, as we know, struggle to score. Only Barea scores at a higher rate than Shabazz, and most of us would prefer that our backup PG be a facilitator rather than a volume scorer.

Barea .489
Shabazz .478
Shved .365
Bud .348
Dante .295
Hummel .245
Luc .205

Yes, last night was just one game. But those of us who followed Shabazz in college saw the same guy last night, and that guy can score at a higher rate then almost any other rookie...and that trait is just what this team needs most right now.

Rick, let Shabazz be Shabazz!