Minnesota Timberwolves Roundup: Sachin Gupta, the ’empty calorie’ myth

The Minnesota Timberwolves have a new front office leader for the time being and he’s extraordinarily well-qualified, even if he isn’t a household name for the average fan.

Also, an interesting article about the myth of “empty calorie” players — namely, Karl-Anthony Towns.

Ben Falk on working with new Minnesota Timberwolves boss Sachin Gupta

Ben Falk is a former member of the front offices with the Portland Trail Blazers and Philadelphia 76ers, rising as high as Vice President of Basketball Strategy with the Sixers.

He runs the site Cleaning the Glass, which is an outstanding resource that includes both free and paid content, sortable statistics and analytics, and some proprietary metrics as well.

Gupta’s background has been discussed frequently on this site, dating back to when he was hired in 2019 and was a finalist for the Sacramento Kings’ top front office job roughly a year ago. But Falk worked with Gupta in the 76ers’ front office and has a unique perspective on the Wolves’ executive vice president of basketball operations.

Falk wrote a lengthy piece regarding Gupta’s decision-making process, how he treats other people, and what it was like to work closely with him. Falk focuses on how well Gupta listens, and the fact that he’s the rare executive who would much rather listen than talk.

"In a meeting, he’d say the least, but absorb the most. And at the end of it all, at the end of all that listening, he would synthesize all the points, reason through them, and give the most clear-eyed analysis of the situation.…That is not Sachin. Sachin listens more than he talks. He’s not a manipulator, playing political games or figuring out how to get people to fall in line. He’s genuine and transparent. But rather than cut against his ability to lead, those traits enable it."

It’s a fantastic piece, and Gupta sounds like the perfect person to take the reigns of the front office after an apparently turbulent past several months, and in the midst of some potentially franchise-altering trade discussions.

Karl-Anthony Towns is not an “empty calorie” player for the Timberwolves

We’ve all heard the “good stats, bad team” arguments, the cry that good stats from players on bad teams are simply empty, or “empty calorie”.

Daniel Lubofsky penned a piece on Medium that takes on this narrative and looks specifically at Karl-Anthony Towns through a similar lens as Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker.

Booker, of course, was a poster boy for the “empty stats” crowd after scoring north of 22 points per game for four straight seasons and never making the playoffs. In 2020-21, however, Booker helped lead the Suns to the NBA Finals, and suddenly those claims are gone.

He didn’t drastically improve in any one area. Booker is still a below-average defender, shoots too many mid-range jumpers, and saw his assist rate plummet last season.

Instead, Booker was surrounded by improving young players (Deandre Ayton, Mikal Bridges), strong starting-caliber veterans (Jae Crowder), and a superstar (Chris Paul). In other words, he needed help, and he got it.

Sure, LeBron James didn’t need (much) help to drag the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals, or every single one of his teams to the NBA playoffs throughout his career. Kevin Garnett didn’t need much help to make the first round of the playoffs in eight consecutive seasons. But neither player could get over the championship hump without other star players.

Not only that, but if the crime that Booker, Towns, and others are committing is not being a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer like LeBron and KG, well … there’s no shame in that. Even All-NBA players can’t do it all themselves.

Head on over to Medium to read Lubofsky’s piece. It’s a good read and a solid argument.