They're Back
by Stop-n-Pop on Oct 7, 2008 7:16 AM CDT
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OK, so it's only a pre-season game that wasn't broadcast locally and could only be found on line, but the Wolves played their first game of the season last night against Milwaukee's worst.
There's not too much you can do to look into a lopsided contest like this, but I would like to point out a few things from last night's game that fans should pay attention to this year:
- eFG%- (FG + 0.5 *3P)/FGA is one of those stats that the Wolves will need to win by hefty margins this year in order to be effective. Last night they had an eFG of 64% compared to the Bucks' 36%.
- % of 3PA- The Wolves are built to be an extreme perimeter jump shooting club. They have 3 of last year's top 15 top-20 3 point shooters and they need to see a significant portion of their shots come in the form of 3 pointers. Last night, 19.4% of their shots were from beyond the arc. Among the 3 gunners, 1/3 of Foye's shots were 3s, 1/2 of Shaddy's, and 60% of Miller's came from beyond the arc.
- Rebounding- Since the Wolves are a jump shooting team, they need to win the battle of the boards. Last night they outrebounded Milwaukee 38-35.
- Free throws, free throws, free throws- Last year the Wolves were one of the worst teams in the league at getting to the line. If you had to point to one thing that would account for the Wolves' woeful point differential, it would be their almost complete inability to get to the line as much as their opponents. Last night they got to the line 43 times compared to Milwaukee's 29 FTAs. For the Wolves, that's insanely good. Shaddy was especially impressive; going 10-12 from the line.
That's about it for this game. I'll have the next few parts of the season preview posted here in the next week or so. One more thing about last night's game: Shaddy scored 22 points on 6 shots. That's incredible. Getting to the line is a beautiful thing.
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If shaddy could keep this up there’s no way I can keep my bad opinion on him. Wasn’t able to follow the game but what I got from the box score really looked really really nice, even though it was against Milwaukee’s wirst.
What I liked was: the people we need to really score a lot, did score a lot and at great percentages. Miller, Jefferson, Mccants…
The people we provide other things but scoring (Telfair: assists, Brewer: defense/rebounds from the SF spot) but needed to up their percentage to somewhere half decent .. had respectively 3 on 6 and 5 on 8 … though Telfair didn’t have an impressive tunrover/assist and brew didn’t get too much steals nor rebounds.
Love’s game translated perfectly in this contest.
Except for assists (though Miller had a lot, which might mean good team offense instead of just good guard play) there’s nothing negative to be seen in this game.
Would be weird if they could keep it up, but I’m liking it.
Miller, Foye and Bassy
The three had a combined 64 minutes on the floor and a combined 14 dimes. Once the season gets going they will probably be closer to 90-95 minutes of floor time. 20 assists from those three would be the best case scenario for this team.
Shaddy’s 22 on six shots is a close second.
I know this is a practice game against a depleted weakling, but…any night with positivity from the Wolves where Al’s name isn’t in the lead paragraph marks a step in the right direction.
Points about your points
1. Last year these Wolves would have been the 10th best team in efg. This year they should be better, especially if Love can hit the ground running.
2. How do you qualify Foye, McCants, and Miller as three top 15 long-range shooters? They’re probably more like three of the top 25 (probably a minor quibble, but I think that Foye and McCants are in the 20-25 range, thought Miller is definitely a top ten guy). Sadly, that 19 3PA/FGA is right where the Wolves were at last year, and is below the 2007-2008 league average. This needs to be in the 25-30% range this season.
3. I have no difficulty seeing the Timberwolves as a top rebounding team this year, especially if Love’s numbers from college translate as well as they should.
4. Now THIS is an abberation, and almost certainly the fault of Milwaukee. I really can’t see the worst free throw team in the league miraculously becoming twice as good as last year’s league average.
3 of the top 20
10. Mike Miller , MEM
17. Randy Foye , MIN
20. Rashad McCants , MIN
Thanks...
…I guess I wrote it down wrong when writing the post.
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