He is posting career-low stats across the board, most notably shooting 15.4% from the field. Take Taurean Prince, for example, who has yet to find his footing in the offense this season. There are too many players trying to find their groove each night without enough playing time to find it. Both of those issues are indicative of the core problem with playing 11 guys every night. He’s also talked about a lack of flow within the offense and inability to find a rhythm. Finch has spoken about players being unsure of where their shots are coming from and how many shots they will get. But I think there is more to be worried about beyond a league-wide trend. With that in mind, one might diminish the Wolves’ offensive woes, writing them off as a symptom of some larger issue plaguing the league. For a little modern-day context, no one among the top-five scoring leaders last season shot below 45%.
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That is also the season in which Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant, and Paul Pierce were among the top-five scoring leaders in the NBA while shooting below 44% from the field. Of course, that is the season Kevin Garnett won MVP. The league is averaging 44.5% shooting from the floor, which, if the season were to end today, would be the lowest mark since 2003-04. They’re not scoring very many points, turning the ball over a lot, and generally missing shots.īefore I get too ahead of myself, it’s important to note that offense league-wide has been way down since last season. The only problem is, the Wolves’ offense stinks. The general principle is simple: Fewer minutes overall means that players can exert more energy on the defensive end without giving too much up offensively. The Wolves can do this in part because of that 11-man rotation. Again using Cleaning the Glass, the Wolves are first in turnover percentage. But Finch has this group playing a hyper-aggressive brand of defense, getting after the ball and forcing a ton of turnovers. Coming into the season, the biggest question this team faced was how they would stop their opponents. Obviously, the Wolves don’t have top-tier defensive personnel. Bazinga.) That defensive rating ranks second in the league. (That’s important because any team that has faced the Houston Rockets needs a garbage-time filter. According to Cleaning the Glass, the Wolves have a defensive rating of 96.9, which filters out garbage time.
![playing 10 vs 11 man rotation nba playing 10 vs 11 man rotation nba](https://i.imgur.com/uEKVuJy.jpg)
The Wolves have gotten off to an impressive 3-2 start this season, and they’ve largely achieved that relying on their defense. But I have to wonder if this is the right move. Finch has said that he believes that there are 14 guys who can contribute to this team and fully intends on trying to play as many of them as he can. Thus far, Finch has stuck to his word, playing at least 11 players in every game except the win against the Milwaukee Bucks. Early in the season, he clearly stated that he intended to play an 11-man rotation to begin the year. Chris Finch has been incredibly transparent since taking the helm as head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves.