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Year-Round News & Updates on the Minnesota Timberwolves
The Minnesota Timberwolves have now played their first 5-games of this 66-game season and as such, today, we're taking a look at the Wolves' statistic leaders and how they match up with the NBA's leaders. Just a note: we'll be talking about Kevin Love A LOT today! Points Per Game (PPG): The Timberwolves are being led by Kevin Love in the scoring department. With 25.4ppg, his consistency is relied upon and fun to watch. K-Love is currently #5 in the League. He's behind #4: Blake Griffin (26ppg), #3: Carmelo Anthony (27ppg), #2: Kevin Durant (27.3ppg), #1: LeBron James (29.3ppg). His lowest scoring output this season was a 22-point game in the opener vs. the Thunder. His highest? A 31-point outing in the Wolves' second game vs. the Bucks. He's incredibly consistent and if he stays on this pace, a surefire All-Star for a second consecutive season. Michael Beasley is the Minnesota's second leading scorer, with 14ppg which places him #51 on the list. Rebounds Per Game (RPG): The Timberwolves are being led by Kevin Love in the rebounding department. 15.2rpg is good enough for #2 in the League. Who's #1? The League's #1 Center: Dwight Howard, who is averaging 0.1 more rebounds a game with 15.3. It should be an interesting battle all season long between Love & Howard for the rebounding title. Steals Per Game (SPG): The Wolves are led by Love in steals per game as well! With 1.4 a game, Love sits at #38 overall. Usually not someone who has a lot of steals, it's surprising to see Love leading the Wolves. In previous seasons a stat that Corey Brewer would usually led Minnesota in, who now plays for the Nuggets. If Rubio sees more time, in a starting role, he could definitely led the Wolves! Ultimately, we can hope that this is a sign that Kevin Love is getting better defensively. Turnovers Per Game (TOPG): The Wolves are being led by Kevin Love in turnovers per game. I think it may have something to do with Rick Adelman wanting him to get his teammates more involved as well as him handling the ball a bit more on the perimeter & high post. Love is currently averaging 3.8topg. However, he does not qualify as a League Leader for whatever reason--I'm not quite sure... Atop the chart, currently is the Portland Trailblazers swingman Gerald Wallace with 2.5 a game. Minutes Per Game (MPG): In order to led the Wolves in points, rebounds, steals and turnovers, it helps if you get a lot of minutes as well, Love certainly is. He's currently averaging 39mpg, which places him at #3 overall. However, between him and the #1, all that separates them is 0.3! Dwight Howard is currently #2 with 39.2mpg & the Warriors' Monta Ellis is averaging 39.3 a game. He certainly isn't seeing limited time, like Kurt Rambis was trying the past two seasons. It's also no doubt that Love's weight loss helps him, as he says he's not fatigued as much as he was in the fourth quarters of past seasons. Assists Per Game (APG): The Timberwolves are being led by Ricky Rubio in the assist department. With 6.4apg, he's currently #17 in the League! Impressive for a player who is coming off the bench! That won't last all season long though! Leading the League is the Rockets' Kyle Lowry with 11.5apg, followed by Boston's Rajon Rondo with 10.5apg. With 35mpg, Rubio could shoot way up on that board! The Timberwolves' starting point guard: Luke Ridnour is averaging 4apg, putting him at #33 overall. Three-Point Percentage (3PT%): The Euro-sensation that can pass the ball, but was notorious for not being able to hit shots, is leading the Timberwolves in three-point percentage! Huh, how does that work? According to Rubio, being able to work on his shot this offseason was big. Since he was sixteen and began playing professionally in Europe he basically hasn't stopped, so he never had an extended period of time to work on his shot--like he did this past summer with the NBA lockout. Rubio is currently shooting 50% from deep, which puts him at #19 on the charts. Clearly it's still early and the names on the list are going to shift quite a bit the next month. Evidence of that? Chicago's swingman Ronnie Brewer currently leads the League in 3PT% with 100% from deep on 4 attempts. Blocks Per Game (BPG): Are you surprised to not see Darko's face over there? I certainly am, but I understand why he isn't. Darko's minutes per game are down from last season as the Wolves have a lot more options with their frontcourt this year, as such his numbers are down--plain and simple. Anthony Randolph is leading the Wolves though. Of Minnesota's 5 games, Randolph has played in just 3. He's currently averaging 1bpg, but he's not qualified to be on any League Leaders list, because of his limited minutes and games. Field Goal Percentage (FG%): Luke Ridnour is putting up a fight for that starting spot and he's been impressive early this season. He's coming off his best game this year in that 106-96 win over San Antonio, where he had 19pts on 70% shooting as well as 9 assists (all season-highs). Ridnour is leading the Wolves in FG%, by burying 58% of his shots, which puts him at #8 in the League. Leading the NBA? Philadelphia's big man Spencer Hawes with 68% of his shots going down and behind him is Marc Gasol (who the Wolves will be facing on Wednesday) shooting 60%. Luke's been fun to watch, but eventually he'll be coming off the bench, when Rubio takes his place in the starting lineup...simply a matter of time. However, if he continues to play like he is, it'll be hard to justify a swap, but if it does happen, let's hope Adelman finds him a good chunk of minutes each game. Well, that's all for now, we'll probably do this every 5-10 games this season, just for fun to see where your TWolves players stack up with the best of the NBA. Thanks for reading, if you haven't checked out our gameday preview of tomorrow's game vs. Memphis you can do so under the Gameday section on this site! GO WOLVES!
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Cody AndersonA TWolves fan, bringing you the daily updates. News Archives
August 2017
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