FanPost

After 20 extended: A look at the players

This is really just Stop-n-Pop's statistical breakdown after 20 games extended to see how the individual players are doing. I was curious to see who has been doing what to contribute (or not contribute) to the position the team is at now. I simply took the data found at 82games for offensive and defensive PER for each player at each position, along with their percentage of time spent at each position. I know PER is not the end-all of basketball stats, but it does give us useful information.

A couple of things I'd like to mention beforehand. First, due to a few different factors I have not been able to watch the Wolves play this year, so any views I have of the team is almost purely on a statistical basis. Second, it seems to me that 82games calculates their PER a little differently than other sites such as Basketball Reference, and I'm not quite sure how or why that is; if anyone happens to know the explanation I would appreciate knowing about it.

On to the stats. First, the breakdown of of the percentage of time each player has spent at a particular position, and their offensive and defensive PER's; all players except for Love who had 2% or less minutes at a position were not included:

2009-10

% of min at position

Offensive PER

Defensive PER

PG

SG

SF

PF

C

PG

SG

SF

PF

C

PG

SG

SF

PF

C

Jonny Flynn

60%

14.2

16.7

Ramon Sessions

39%

9%

15.7

12.8

15.5

17.0

Wayne Ellington

28%

8.8

11.2

Corey Brewer

53%

10%

11.5

12.1

20.2

34.9

Sasha Pavlovic

8%

22%

3.1

10.7

18.6

10.4

Damien Wilkins

27%

14.7

18.6

Ryan Gomes

36%

25%

11.9

17.2

15.6

19.0

Brian Cardinal

13%

6.1

20.9

Kevin Love

2%

28.1

35.1

Al Jefferson

38%

22%

20.8

18.4

16.0

22.4

Ryan Hollins

12%

30%

9.7

11.5

27.9

18.0

Nathan Jawai

4%

16%

15.4

15.9

16.6

19.0

Oleksiy Pecherov

29%

15.6

27.1

Totals

99%

98%

95%

94%

97%

14.6

9.9

11.9

15.9

14.9

16.7

17.4

16.4

19.2

22.3

Looking this over, there were a few things that jumped out at me:

  • If you take into account that Flynn has spent more time playing against opposing starters than Sessions has, the two of them have played about the same at the point.

  • I'm guessing Ellington has spent most of his time playing against reserves, which make his offensive numbers look even worse.

  • Brewer's defensive numbers are not misprints (I'll look further into them later in the post)...

  • ...and neither is Pavlovic's OPER at SG; as far as I can tell, it's due to poor shooting and an insanely high TO rate when he's at the 2.

  • Gomes provides better offense at PF but worse defense. Overall he's a better player at PF, which matches last year's numbers (check the next chart to see the player breakdowns from last year).

  • I've always kinda liked Cardinal, but he's obviously aspiring to be the new Mark Madsen.

  • So far this year, Big Al is a better overall player when's he's at PF alongside a "real" center, but...

  • ...none of the "real" centers are providing much worth: Hollins has been a disappointment, Jawai is a little better at PF, and Pecherov is a defensive disaster.

The next chart is the same thing, only for last season; players with asterisks either weren't with the Wolves last season or didn't play (or in Jawai's case, practically didn't play):

2008-09 % of min at position Offensive PER Defensive PER
PG SG SF PF C PG SG SF PF C PG SG SF PF C
Jonny Flynn*
Ramon Sessions* 41% 13% 20.6 16.8 14.1 14.3
Wayne Ellington*
Corey Brewer 6% 10.5 16.3
Sasha Pavlovic* 8% 16% 13.2 8.4 17.4 14.3
Damien Wilkins* 9% 5% 8.8 9.2 15.0 19.4
Ryan Gomes 34% 29% 11.9 16.0 17.5 19.9
Brian Cardinal 8% 14% 8.4 9.0 13.2 16.3
Kevin Love 21% 30% 17.6 22.6 19.1 19.5
Al Jefferson 2% 43% 17.9 26.3 13.5 19.2
Ryan Hollins* 6% 12.7 13.9
Nathan Jawai*
Oleksiy Pecherov* 6% 16.3 24.9

Observations from this chart and the previous one:

  • Sessions is a better player at PG, especially offensively. He's also a much different player from last year, whether it's because of playing with lesser talents, a new set of players, or a different coach and system. Here's hoping that more familiarity with his surroundings and a little Love improves his game.

  • Pavlovic is a much better defender at the 3, and even if his OPER at SG this year is an aberration due to small sample size, he's probably better suited to stay at SF.

  • Not sure if Wilkins' increased OPER is the result of regular minutes or the triangle, or if he's just had a really good start to the season.

  • Except for slightly better defense, Gomes is the same player as last year.

  • Cardinal's slide out of the NBA apparently began last season.

  • This one really intrigues me: although Jefferson played very little at PF last year, and Love's numbers at C mostly came after Al was out, maybe the Wolves should explore putting Love at C and Jefferson at PF?

  • Like Sessions, Hollins is also a much different player from last year; maybe he'll be more productive in a reserve role.

  • Pecherov, unfortunately, is not a different player. Those are some really bad DPER's there; he's turning reserves into Dwight Howard.

Speaking of bad DPER's, I don't know what to make of Brewer's defensive numbers this year. His OPER's aren't good, but that was kind of to be expected for a while. But I've read a lot of things here about how he looks to be a better player player this year, and he's been working hard and playing good defense, but....well, it simply doesn't show up in the numbers. A more specific breakdown of his number this year:

FGA

eFG%

FTA

iFG

Reb

Ast

T/O

Blk

PF

Pts

Offense

SG

17.9

0.403

3.2

34%

6.5

3.5

3.3

0.7

4.1

16.4

SF

17.3

0.357

9.4

37%

9.9

3.5

3.5

2.0

5.4

18.8

Defense

SG

18.5

0.558

4.1

29%

5.6

4.7

3.1

0.2

3.6

23.7

SF

20.3

0.683

5.9

43%

7.9

3.5

1.5

0.5

3.5

33.1

The numbers that scream at you are those eFG%'s on defense. I know the SF numbers don't have a large sample size, but what in the name of Tony Campbell is going on here? Has he been playing