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:
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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%.
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% 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.
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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.