Courtesy of Wolves stat guru Paul Swanson, here are the plus/minus total for the Wolves this exhibition season.
2007-08 Minnesota Timberwolves
Preseason Plus/Minus Report (Final)
Raw Minutes Team Opp Minutes Team Opp Net
Player Plus/Minus On Floor Pts/48 Pts/48 On Bench Pts/48 Pts/48 Plus/Minus
Telfair, Sebastian +25 74.3 101.4 85.2 319.7 88.4 97.9 +25.6
Ratliff, Theo +17 102.4 102.2 94.2 291.6 86.9 96.0 +17.0
McCants, Rashad +18 144.6 98.9 92.9 249.4 86.2 97.0 +16.8
Jefferson, Al -6 247.1 96.5 97.7 146.9 81.4 91.8 +9.3
Foye, Randy +3 51.7 87.3 84.5 342.3 91.4 97.2 +8.5
Buckner, Greg 0 130.6 87.1 87.1 263.4 92.8 99.7 +6.9
Davis, Ricky -10 208.2 95.0 97.3 185.8 86.3 93.5 +4.9
Smith, Craig -9 161.0 93.3 96.0 233.0 89.2 95.2 +3.3
Gomes, Ryan -13 119.0 88.7 94.0 275.0 91.8 96.2 -0.9
Richard, Chris -12 98.8 81.6 87.5 295.2 94.0 98.2 -1.6
Howard, Juwan -12 69.5 87.0 95.3 324.5 91.7 95.6 -4.4
Jaric, Marko -45 169.9 95.2 107.9 224.1 87.6 86.1 -14.2
Brewer, Corey -49 195.8 86.5 98.5 198.2 95.2 92.5 -14.7
Blount, Mark -32 73.1 74.3 95.3 321.0 94.7 95.6 -20.1
Green, Gerald -60 117.1 73.8 98.4 276.9 98.1 94.3 -28.4
Edwards, John -5 6.9 48.7 83.5 387.1 91.6 95.7 -30.7
I apologize for the density of the text–it came through in the email a lot more clearly, but I’m pretty incompetent when it comes to transferrals. Those who just want the most general sense should read it as a list of players with the best-to-worst net plus/minus totals per 48 minutes.
But if you can parse the bunched up categories, there are interesting things to consider. For example, the Wolves really did suffer from not having Telfair and (to a lesser extent) Foye running the point, especially on defense. In the 169.9 minutes Jaric was on the court, the Wolves ceded an average of 107.9 points per 48 minutes to their opponents, versus the 85.2 points per 48 allowed during the 74.3 minutes Telfair played. And during the 51.7 minutes Foye played, the D gave up just 84.5 points per 48. Offensively, the Wolves produced 101.4 points per 48 during Telfair’s stints, 95.2 under Jaric, and 87.3 with Foye.
Now the disclaimers. This is preseason, it is a very very small sample, the lineups were in a constant state of flux, and it all don’t mean a damn thing come the opening tip on Friday. Duly noted? Okay, back to the figures…
Aside from John Edwards, who played less than six minutes and won’t make the traveling squad, the plus/minus goat is clearly Gerald Green, who logs a gross minus-60 in his 117.1 minutes of action (next worst is Corey Brewer’s gross minus-49 in 195.8 minutes), and has a net minus-28.4 per 48 minutes (aside from Edwards, next worst is the departed Mark Blount with a net minus-20.4 per 48 over 73.1 minutes). And Rashad McCants had a very nice preseason, finishing with a net plus 16.8 per 48 minutes, which was not only third on the team behind Telfair’s net plus 25.6 per 48 and Theo Ratliff’s net plus 17.0 per 48, but is a more substantial stat because Shaddy logged 144.6 total minutes, sixth on the team and more than both Telfair (74.3) and Theo (102.4).
For those into tea leaves reading, Al Jefferson was far and away the leader in minutes played with 247.1, followed by the departed Ricky Davis with 208.2. Brewer was third 195.8–a sign of how much the Wolves want to develop him as well as his rare, on this team, good health–and Jaric, unfortunately for him, was 4th, making his bad defensive stats that much more damning.
Again, it is only preseason. But there you go.
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