Post#213 » by Dr Positivity » Fri Jun 30, 2017 8:14 pm
Just to reiterate again, when it comes to why KG couldn’t contend with TWolves, it’s not just about lacking other all-star talent. KG may have contended or a won a title, if his supporting cast excelled at role player things like being defenders who spaced the floor and passed, or whatever. But this wasn’t the way the Wolves are built. Not only are they poor enough on defense that having KG can only get them to average defensive seasons, but offensively KG’s best teammates basically always had the same strength, midrange shooting.
Wally Z - Wally was a great 3pt shooter who would be a better fit for modern game offensively. In 02 and 03, his best KG/Flip Wolves seasons, his 3pt volume is underused. He hits 45.5% from 3 but takes 2.3 3pt attempts, vs 4.5 16 to <3pt attempts on 44% and 2.5 10-16 ft attempts on 51%. In 03 he takes 2.8 3PA on 42% (3pt) to 5.3 16 to <3 attempts (47%) and 2.5 10-16 attempts (45%). He averaged a pretty weak FTA rate (3.3 FTA both seasons)
Sam Cassell - Cassell in 04 takes 2.3 3PA (.398 3P) and gets to the line 4.1 times. He is a good passer at 7.3 assists per game but main thing Cassell is known for is having one of the deadliest midrange games probably ever for his position, especially when he's in mid 30s and is in craftiness over athleticism mode. He takes 6.9 shots from 16 to < 3pt on 46%, 4.9 shots from 10-16 ft on 49%.
Terrell Brandon - Brandon had 17/9 and 16/7.5 seasons for Wolves in 01 and 02. You may have guessed it, but Brandon was a player who shot well from 3 (.402 3P in 00, .363 3P in 01) but didn’t take a lot of them (1.9 attempts in 00, 1.2 in 01), didn’t get to the line a lot (2.9 FTA/40) but bombed away from midrange. In 01 he takes 7.1 shots from 16<3pt and makes 45%, along with 2.9 attempts on 39% from 10-16.
Latrell Sprewell - Sprewell with Cassell scoring 17ppg is part of KG’s good supporting cast year. Sprewell neither shoots 3s (.33 on 3.6 3PA) or gets to the line that well (3.6 FTA), while he takes 5.5 16<3pt shots on 40%, and 4 10-16 shots on 43%.
Chauncey Billups - The showing signs of breaking out Billups (12/5.5) breaks the trend by actually taking more 3s than midrange. He takes 3.8 3PA on 39%, to 3.0 16<3pt attempts on 41% and 0.8 10-16 attempts on 43%. Billups does only get to the line 2.9 times.
Troy Hudson - He put up 14/6 in 03, he shot 36.5% from 3 on 3.4 attempts and got to the line 2.9 FTA. He shot 44% from 16-<3pt on 5.1 attempts and on 41% from 10-16 feet on 1.1 attempts
When you add in Garnett being a big midrange shot player, the Flip era TWolves are almost as obsessed with midrange shots as the Morey era Rockets have been with 3s. Their typical KG partner was a perimeter player who shot around 2 3s on 40%, like 7 or 8 10 -23 ft 2pt shots on 45%, and got to the line 2 or 3 times. Knowing what we do know about midrange shots, isn’t it obvious why that was doomed to fail? They went all in on the wrong hand. For having a team full of great 3pt shooters, their ranks in 3PAr are brutal. In 01 they rank 26th in 3PAr, in 02 they rank 22nd in 03 they ranked 28th, in 04 27th, in 05 21st.
It’s not that the midrange shots were hurting the Timberwolves. Players like Cassell and Wally were hitting them at a high rate that’s mostly foreign to today’s game. You can make the case that both fear of the midrange shots and these players ability to hit 3s, caused effective spacing for the Wolves. The Wolves had good ORTGs during these years. For me it’s more the opportunity cost of what they gave up in order to get midrange shooters. They routinely had supporting casts that were awful on defense and didn’t have guards that got to the line/FT line at a high rate. Their bench was horrendous. They traded other team strengths just so they could hit long 2s at 45% which is NOT a good trade, especially for a team already starting with scarce assets after Joe Smith punishment and KG's contract
Liberate The Zoomers
