In case you missed it, the Wolves beat the defending NBA champion LA Lakers (without Kobe Bryant) 111-92 in London, the New York Knicks 106-100 in Paris, and Denver last night at the Target Center 122-108.
Against the Lakers, newcomers Michael Beasley and Martell Webster combined to make 16-of-23 shots for 45 points, and the Wolves hammered the Lakers 56-36 in the 2nd half.
Kevin Love led the way against the Knicks with 17 points and 14 boards, despite 4-of-16 shooting and 5 blocks against. Webster matched Love's 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting, while leading the Wolves on +/- at +20.
The Wolves again pulled away from Denver with a 67-55 2nd half edge. Beasley again led the Wolves in scoring with 21, while Love added 16 and 15 boards.
The pecking order across the 3 games would appear to be:
Center
Darko Milicic started all 3 games and played an average of 22 minutes. Nikola Pekovic is the back-up at 14 minutes, while Kosta Koufos has played in 2 games for an average of 12 minutes. The Milicic-Pekovic rotation appears to be pretty much set because 1) neither has played himself out of the lineup and 2) let's be honest, Kosta Koufos is not going to make this team. Still, all 3 are shooting about 60 percent from the field and in the aggregate they're scoring about 20 points a game with about 12-and-a-half boards.
But their primary function is going to be clogging up the middle and moving the ball. The good news: Milicic and Pekovic have 4 assists per game so far between them, and the Wolves defense appears to be somewhat improved over their disastrous performance in 2009-2010. These 2 guys--and particularly Milicic with 8 blocked shots--deserve the lion's share of the credit if that holds up over time.
Power Forward
Kevin Love is Da Man. He is described on the NBA highlights reel as the guy who helped team USA to the world championship earlier this year. And if he keeps rebounding like he has through these 1st 3 games (12 per game in 26 minutes), he could be the NBA rebounding champ. The back-up is Anthony Tolliver, who's getting 21 minutes, shooting .529, and contributing 9 points, 4 boards and 2 assists.
Then of course there's Michael Beasley. The Wolves are intent on finding out if he can play on the perimeter so far, and so far the answer is, Yes! But he could be the power forward of the future if some folks had their way. A word of caution, in other words, on Da Man. He's shooting .375 and, more to the point, his shot is getting blocked with alarming frequency. Along with rebounding, he could easily lead the NBA in blocks against. Some people draw from this the lesson that his mobility is just too limited for him to excel in the NBA though, let's be honest, so far he appears to be doing it. Stay tuned.
Small Forward
As noted, Michael Beasley is the small forward until he proves that he can't handle it, and so far he has proven no such thing. He's playing 23 minutes, shooting .462, leading the way with 18 points per game, and adding 5 boards, 2 steals, an assist and a block. It would be nice if he had a better instinct for passing the ball, as he's going to be seeing plenty of double-teams at the 3, but that's bridge that he and the Wolves can cross on another day.
His back-up, and the Wolves' possible super-instant-offense type of sub, is Martell Webster. He's coming off the bench to add some timely energy, shooting .529 and trailing Beasley by just 2 points for the team lead. He has hit 6-of-13 3s, so he can extend the D like nobody did for the Wolves the past few years. Webster can also play the 2, so he and Beasley can both be on the floor at the same time, either at the 2 and 3 spots or at the 3 and 4 spots.
Off Guard
It appears there will be a changing of the guard, so to speak. At times last year, Wayne Ellington was the Wolves' best option at the 2. Now he appears to be no more than the 3rd or 4th option behind Webster, rookie Wesley Johnson and Corey Brewer.
I love Corey Brewer, by the way, and I would love for him to be an essential piece of a Wolves renaissance. It looks now like that ain't gonna happen. Brewer started the 1st 2 games but he has scored just 10 points (3 per game) on 2-of-17 (.118) shooting. He's the best defender at that spot, but at .118 no amount of D is going to cut it. So the rookie Johnson started the 3rd game at the 2 spot. Across 3 games Johnson has played an average of 21 minutes, shot the lights out (.650) including 7-of-10 from long range and scored 13 points per game.
Ellington, meanwhile, has gotten 17 minutes per game, shot .368 for 7 points per game, and it's true that he's the best passer of the 4 with 2 assists per game. But with Johnson and Webster shooting .650 and .529 and Ellington at .368, no number of assists can push Ellington to the fore.
Point Guard
Okay, this is tricky. The incumbent, Jonny Flynn, is hurt and so the new old hand, Luke Ridnour, is running the show and running it quite well, thank you. He's played 27 minutes per game, shot an even .500, scored 10 points with 4 boards, 5 assists and 3 steals per game. He has certainly been more efficient and more of a pass-first, score-second type of 1 than Flynn was as a rookie. When Flynn comes back, I think you'll see him settling into a back-up role.
Which means that Sebastien Telfair will be odd man out. I mean, he probably retains a spot on the roster but really just as insurance against injury. So far he's playing 20 minutes per game with a team-high of 6 assists, an amazing 5-and-a-half rebounds and a steal-and-a-half. But he's shooting .200 for 2.5 points per game. The final option, Jason Hart, has played in just 1 of the 3 games and has all zeroes in the stat book.
The Starting 6
So if this is the start of a renaissance, it's stars will be:
C-Milicic
PF-Love
SF-Beasley
OG-Johnson
PG-Ridnour
6th-Webster
The 2nd 5 is:
C-Pekovic
PF-Tolliver and/or Beasley
SF-Webster
PG-Flynn
OG-Brewer
Lost in the shuffle, but still on the roster, are Ellington and Telfair.
As a team, they add up to the following through 3 games: They've out-scored the opposition 113-100. That obviously isn't going to continue but a positive edge of even 103-100, and holding the opposition to just 100 points per game, would both represent giant steps forward for the organization. They've done that by out-shooting their opponents .455 to .420, and an amazing .531 to .295 from 3-point land. Those kind of numbers are not going to continue, but perhaps at least they won't be woefully out-performed in these areas as they were last year. And they've made a dozen extra FT, though on only 1 extra attempt total.
But if they can shoot with their opponents, how will they do on possession of the ball? Well, so far the Wolves have 2 more offensive rebounds but also 2 more turnovers than their opponents, so the possessions are pretty much dead even. Of they can keep that up, that's a big turnaround with Love, Beasley, Pekovic (on the offensive glass) and Ridnour those responsible for same.
The Outlook
Who the hell knows? They're not going to out-shoot their opponents from 3-point land .531 to .295 going forward, though they might be able to break even on possessions. But these numbers are just from the pre-season. Kobe played 6 lousy minutes against the Wolves, Amare Stoudamire scored 11 points in 20 minutes for the Knicks,'Melo made just 2-of-9 shots and Chauncey Billups and Kenyon Martin didn't play for the Nuggets.
But the 3-0 start gives one hope, nevertheless; hope that hadn't existing among Timberwolves fans since a year or two before KG was finally dealt. 40 wins is too many to hope for, but maybe 20's not enough. Let's go with 30. That, and another top draft choice next year, would be progress. And Beasley and Webster and Johnson all have the potential to provide some excitement (read: athleticism) that's been missing.
No comments:
Post a Comment