The Minnesota Timberwolves front office definitely has some work to do. Still. When I look at the team’s roster, the team seems to have built the roster by a statistician and has fashioned their player skillsets on the current roster like a normal distribution curve. What do I mean?
Okay, I’m about to go all nerd’s nest on you. Statistical graphs are the topic, and if that’s not your thing, just check the image in the Tweet below and move on. Sorry, folks.
A normal distribution is a shape that is formed when putting the data points on a graph. For the Minnesota Timberwolves, we can consider the positions on a basketball team from their numerical designations. So a point guard is one (1), and a power forward is four (4). If you graph the positions that each player can play on the current roster, you find that there are a bunch of wings and not many pure point guards or traditional centers.
The Timberwolves roster would appear like the graph below:
This is the normal distribution/Bell curve in Mathematics.
— The_Chartist 📈 (@_chartitude) April 15, 2022
the middle peak is your Avg. returns. With every gain of more than the mean & every loss kept smaller, you shift the peak to the right.
This is your ultimate goal in Finance - To push that peak to the right-hand side. pic.twitter.com/pvq4p2ulEG
That poses a problem for the team. While a positionless team offers some advantages, the Minnesota Timberwolves have struggled as well. For starters, with no true point guard, the team often finds itself in a situation of getting the ball and shooting. That’s great on the offensive half of the basketball court, but it leaves the team plenty to be desired in terms of defense.
PG: D’Angelo Russell*, Patrick Beverly*, Jordan Mclaughlin
SG: Anthony Edwards, Malik Beasley, Jaylen Nowell, Wendell Moore
SF: Taurean Prince, Leandro Bolmaro, Jaden McDaniels
PF: Jared Vanderbilt, Josh Minott
C : Karl Anthony Towns, Walker Kessler, Naz Reid
* denotes players who can play both backcourt positions.
The rumors about the team trading away D’Angelo Russell were less about his failings as a player and more about the fact that he does what half the team can do, but he does it at three times the price of his teammates. The Timberwolves do not have a true field general who brings it up the court, sets the play, attacks the basket, and distributes the ball to the open shooter.
D’Angelo Russell is becoming that player and will be the team’s starting point guard if that remains the case for 2022-23. The Timberwolves continue to need a true backup who they can lock up on a multi-year deal. Both Russell and Patrick Beverly are in the final year of their contracts.
Even as the team appears to be filling out the roster, there may be a surprising move left in the team as summer league and the new season approach. Stay tuned.