As a former teacher, conferences were always a bit of a mixed bag. On the hard side were the additional four hours of work tacked on top of a school day and the social anxiety of having the first in-depth conversations with parents, never fully knowing what kind of energy they would bring to the conversation. However, whether a student was struggling or thriving, the majority of the time, the conversations were very beneficial in getting everyone on the same page.
Each conversation really came down
to the three main points:
- Something the student is doing well
- An area of improvement
- The question of “Is there anything I can be doing as a teacher to better support them?”
In our season-long grading project, this is the first opportunity to track progress and get a look at how the categories, statistical ranges, and grade direction are shaping up. These stats reflect the first 11 games of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ season, so the sample size is small, but large enough to begin to get a sense of the good, the bad, and to see if there are better ways to capture what each player is doing on the floor in their role.
Buckle up, it’s conference time.
A few reminders as always:
1. These grades are roles-based, so the stats I’m looking at for each player are different and meant to highlight their team role.
2. Roles on the team can change as the roster and playing time changes—I will alter or add statistical categories throughout the season as needed. Especially in a preseason article, the expectation is that some of these initial stats will change as we get to know the team better.
3. The grade ranges and their correlation to stats are educated speculation based on previous career averages, team role, and minutes expectation. Like the categories themselves, if there is a range that is clearly missing the eye test, expect some tweaks as the season goes along.
LaMelo Ball: B (86%)
First off, the fact that you are well on your way to a perfect attendance award is remarkable. While the season is long and nobody is going to count any chickens before they hatch, going 11/11 in games played deserves an immediate gold star. Well done!
You know what else deserves a gold star? The team offense. Despite losing the team’s most important offensive cog, you’ve helped hold things together and guide the squad to the seventh-best offensive rating in the league, a number that, wherever it ends up after thirty-ish games, will probably be the floor of the season.
Now let’s talk about rebounding. Honestly, it turns out this may just be a bad stat to track for you on this team. The team is rebounding fantastically to start the season as other players have stepped up. I mean, if you are an English major, who cares about your math scores, right? So maybe we need to focus on something else going forward…
Ah, yes. There it is. Four turnovers a game. 5.2 turnovers per 36 minutes, which would be the second-worst in the NBA for rotation players. That number is getting alarmingly close to being one that could soft-launch a bakery. Let’s clean that up a bit and bring it closer to your career average of 3.2 going forward, okay?
Anthony Edwards: Incomplete
*Sigh* There isn’t much that can be said with just a four-game sample size of numbers, so I’ll just use this space to opine for a moment.
This Wolves team is the most excited I’ve been about a group since the 23-24 squad had their meteoric rise and won over our hearts and minds with defensive grit and intensity. This season’s squad is flashing that kind of defensive performance too… but only with an offensive ceiling to mirror it, assuming a healthy Anthony Edwards.
Teams that have both a top-five offense and defense often play a lot of basketball deep into the month of May and beyond. Get healthy soon, Ant!
Jaden McDaniels: A (97%)
Don’t tell the other students, but you continue to be my favorite. Efficient shooting from deep and midrange, and being a key component of the number one defense in the league? Night in and night out, this team knows exactly what it is going to get out of you and, quite frankly, it’s phenomenal.
Sometimes you have a conference that is short and sweet because nothing about the student’s effort and production needs to be changed. Keep doing what you are doing, and we’ll do everything we can to get you your first All-Star trip!
Jonathan Kuminga: B+ (88%)
Welcome to Minnesota, Mr. Kuminga! Much like Jaden McDaniels, your work on the defensive end has been astounding. It is a wholly un-Wolves-like experience to go into matchups with the variety of power forwards there are in the league and feel as though you have a matchup for them. Raising your defensive EPM to an 86th percentile defender is JUST what the doctor ordered for this roster.
Here’s the curious thing – you are shooting 40% from deep and yet have a near career low in true shooting percentage? Let me check the numbers here… ah okay. There it is. 52.5% from the free throw line. Have you been spending too much time with Mr. Gobert outside of class? As a career 70% shooter from the line, let’s clean that up a bit and you’ll see your grade in the “A” range in no time!
Rudy Gobert: C+ (77%)
Let’s talk about the good first – you are the anchor of the number one defense in the league through 11 games. For everything else that we are going to talk about, that’s the most important thing, and it’s the reason that you are on this team. You are one of the greatest defenders to ever play the game, and once again, anchoring a top defense in the league is truly a special career achievement.
It is really important that you understand how much we all appreciate your defense before anything else is said, okay?
But my God, has the goatee grown so thick that it is affecting your peripheral vision and ability to hit a layup? A non-rookie season career-low of 50% from the floor? Just 1.7 dunks per game despite having one of the best passing point guards in the league? This was supposed to be an apex offensive Gobert season!
I should note that your turnover numbers are at a non-rookie season career low… which is something… but that something may be YOUR INABILITY TO CATCH A PASS, INCREASING EVERYONE’S TURNOVERS AROUND YOU!! If the league tracked fumbled passes, you’d be having A WILT CHAMBERLAIN-ESQUE RUN!!!
Okay, I just had to get that out of my system. It had been brewing for a while, and conferences are a time for honest feedback, right? Plus, my therapist told me I should let it out so I’d stop mumbling “catch the damn ball, Rudy” in my sleep. Please re-read the first paragraph to know what is most important, and then let’s just be better on the offensive end, okay?
Ayo Dosunmo: A- (92%)
An “A-” grade that mostly reflects the slow-cooking EPM metrics. If you were to keep consistently playing the kind of basketball you are, that EPM will be in the green in no time!
That points-per-shot-attempt number continues to be elite, and if this NBA season plays out similarly to previous ones, it would be a 95th percentile number, which is remarkable considering the increased offensive load and defensive focus. That PIE number (player impact estimate) would put you inside the top forty players in the league – quite the value for a player making $19 million this season.
Since the Anthony Edwards injury, no one has upped their usage more and with that, you’ve been the team’s leading scorer over the past seven games, averaging 21.6 points per game. Turns out the “As You Wish” bench superstar is just a fantastic basketball player.
Joan Beringer: B+ (87%)
A B+ grade in your role to start the year because you are doing EXACTLY what is needed. Incremental steps of improvement to earn minutes, flashing an elite skill (offensive rebounding), and utilizing hustle to minimize mistakes and earn the coaching staff’s trust.
Would I like to see a few more blocks per game? Sure, but it is clear that part of your game is being intentionally restrained to help you stay out of foul trouble as you keep getting your feet wet. Like a good stew, we’re just going to keep letting you cook in a limited role that will pay dividends later in the season.
TJ Shannon: B (84%)
Before we begin, I need to ask you a question. Have you been turning in your “finishing at the rim” homework? Because the numbers here tell me that we’re actually on pace to finish worse than last season’s 52.9%, which was an area of improvement we had marked over the summer.
You’re thriving within the concept of team defense (a huge jump from the preseason’s -1.1 mark!), and you are getting to the rim and drawing fouls at more than twice the level of any time in your career. Talk about excelling in your role!
The only thing that is missing is a bit more of that deft touch around the basket to complement your elite downhill first step. Far be it from me to try to activate a healthy inter-team competition, but here’s where the rest of the roster stands when finishing within 5ft of the basket:
Maybe everyone on the team should be spending more time with Trey Lyles. Speaking of…
Trey Lyles: A- (90%)
I’ll be honest with you, Mr. Lyles – when you transferred here, the only real sense of your skill set I had was a player who could space the floor with shooting and not much else. It is a testament to how wrong I am that the shooting really hasn’t come around yet, and you are being a player who is consistently driving winning.
The defensive rating and defensive EPM (1.1) are really encouraging. In fact, that EPM number is fourth on the team, only behind Gobert, McDaniels, and Kuminga!
Know what else has been surprising? Your ability as a rebounder and, dare I even say it, a dunker?! Like most Timberwolves fans, these first 11 games have invoked a lot of “I was not familiar with your game” utterances. Start hitting those threes, and you could be hunting the ever-elusive A+ grade.
Bones Hyland: C (73%)
Let’s talk about the scoring. That 25.1 points per thirty-six minutes is astounding. It would put you within the top twenty-five of the league on a list that includes mostly current NBA All-Stars. That you are doing it from more than just beyond the arc is the other really encouraging thing! This Wolves team needs a flamethrower scorer while Anthony Edwards is out, and you’ve stepped up to be just that.
I cannot explain the pace number being so low, but I am keeping it for now as a stand-in for the rest of your game. Despite the scoring inferno, you are the only rotation player to have a negative net rating (-10.1), a 15-point swing from the next closest rotation player. Because of this, your EPM numbers have dropped more than anyone else on the team, which means there is probably quite a bit lacking on the defensive end. An elite offensive game with a bad defensive game will land you comfortably in that “C” range.
Jaylen Clark: A (94%)
I really don’t want to jinx this, so I’m just going to whisper it between us, okay?
… Did you know that you are shooting 38% from deep this season on over two attempts per game? If this were to be maintained, when partnered with your defensive splash/hustle plays, it may turn out that there is a real and consistent role in the rotation for you. A player who has a limited role, steps into it, and goes beyond to earn more minutes? That is a role-based “A” if I’ve ever seen one!
A video of Jaylen Clark doing a Jaylen Clark thing is a perfect way to close out these first conferences because it encapsulates so much of what we’ve loved about this team so far. I’ll be back in ten games with the finalized first-quarter report cards!
