Roster Review 2.0, Love is all we need

It’s been a really long time since I filled this space with commentary – nearly two weeks! I was in New York on a trip, and now I’m back, and ready to rant. First, I finally joined Twitter.

Next, I’d like to kick off my return with a Roster Review… kind of a re-calibration after Kevin Love’s return and Jonny Flynn’s decision to stop throwing the ball to the other team. Here’s a nice tune to carry you through the article…

Point Guards

Jonny Flynn – In watching a lot of Wolves basketball this season, I’ve found myself being overly critical of Flynn because I prefer his backup – Ramon Sessions’ – game. However, it’s unfair of me not to highlight the fact that Flynn is quarterbacking a new offense, learning the ropes in the NBA and trying to mesh with new teammates. And that he’s doing it admirably… so well, in fact, that he’s an outside candidate for Rookie of the Year and averages 14.3 points, 4.1 assists and has buried a team-high 24 three-pointers because we don’t have a shooting guard. And on top of all that, Flynn is finally starting to right his terrible assist-to-turnover ratio… in the past 10 games, he’s got 59 assists compared to 26 turnovers.

Ramon Sessions – Is Sessions the best backup point guard in the NBA? Sounds ridiculous, but when you look at a list that includes guys like Jarrett Jack, Luke Ridnour, Rafer Alston among its top-five, he’s definitely in the conversation. Whenever Sessions gets minutes, he produces. He makes his teammates better, has a knack for getting to the rim, gets to the free throw line (66 FTA, #4 on team) and doesn’t turn the ball over (1.73 TO per game). You can’t ask for more from your point guard, and if he were the starter, I think we’d be raving about this guy. An injustice is being done, but it’s hard to hate on Coach Rambis because Flynn really has been a key catalyst. I’m expected the Wolves to trade Sessions at some point.

Jason Hart – He’s played a total of five minutes so far in 2009, and isn’t expected to log heavy PT unless injury befalls someone slotted above him.

Shooting Guards

Corey Brewer – I’ll just come out with it and say Corey Brewer was one of the bigger mistakes the Wolves have ever made. It’s been hashed-over before, but guys like Thaddeus Young, Al Thornton and Joakim Noah would have helped the franchise far more. But for all his faults on the offensive end, Brewer has been a bother on defense this season, racking up 1.8 steals per game (#15, NBA) and hustling for loose balls. I can at least respect his effort, and the fact that he’s shooting far fewer three-pointers and trying to find a comfortable spot on the floor where he can bury a consistent mid-range jumper. The process is hard to watch, but he may yet end up usable.

Wayne Ellington – It’s difficult to have extremely high expectations for your late first-round pick, but Ellington was touted as a scorer (his M.O. in college) and we were hoping to see flashes. If you can believe it, he’s been even worse than Brewer – who, admittedly, was not an offensive juggernaut at University of Florida. Ellington has appeared in 24 games so far this season, he’s shooting just 37 percent. Some of the problem might be erratic playing time, and in December, things have begun to change. A combination of Ryan Gomes’ injury and Brewer’s continued offensive failings have allowed Ellington 21.1 minutes this month, where he’s knocked down 45 percent of his shots.

Small Forwards

Ryan Gomes – Before sustaining a dreaded high-ankle sprain a couple weeks ago, Ryan Gomes was asserting himself as a scorer the way he did at the end of last season when Al Jefferson went down. In the span between November 29-December 8, Gomes put up 20.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and drained seven three-pointers while shooting an unconscious 59 percent from the field. Clearly, he wasn’t going to continue at this pace, but Gomes’ shooting touch and rebounding ability were keeping the Wolves afloat against superior competition. It’s hard not to love this guy.

Damien Wilkins – I think of Wilkins as a “Gomesian” player. Decent shooter. Nose for the loose ball. The thing is, he disappears for games at a time before coming out and surprising the hell out of us with a double-double or whatever. He’s getting some OK run with Gomes out, but when he returns, Wilkins won’t see much court time with Love back healthy.

Sasha Pavlovic – There will always be available minutes for a shooter. The problem with Sasha is that he’s not hitting shots consistently (28%, 3-pointers) and doesn’t create for his teammates with any regularity. Thus, his playing time has been limited. And now with Wayne Ellington seeing more of the court, Pavlovic’s opportunity to produce is further squeezed.

Power Forwards

Kevin Love – As if he never missed a second of basketball before his debut, Love burst onto the Timberwolves’ scene on December 4 with a 11-point, 11-rebound outing, and hasn’t looked back. And not only is Love destroying the competition to the tune of 13.8 points and 12 rebounds a night, he’s added a new wrinkle to his game this year: three-point shooting. Not that he couldn’t do it before… it’s just that we had guys like Rashad McCants, Randy Foye and Mike Miller doing the gunning a year ago. In his brief 2009 season, Love has already buried eight of his 14 three-point attempts, which – of course – helps keep bigger defenders out of Al Jefferson’s way. This couldn’t have worked out better if I wrote it myself.

Oleksiy Pecherov – Super-sexy Oleksiy isn’t playing much basketball these days, but he sure did give us a fun ride back when Kevin Love was out and Al Jefferson was gimpy. Especially that 24-point performance against Boston in early November. But alas, we likely won’t hear a peep from Pecherov unless one of our top-2 big men pulls up lame (again).

Brian Cardinal – Keep on collecting those paychecks, Brian. Like I had to tell him. With only four minutes logged in the past ten games, that’s pretty much all Cardinal is doing, aside from practice and travel with the team.

Centers

Al Jefferson – I’m pretty proud of a prediction I made on Al in an Fantasy NBA Roundtable for Fanball.com, so I’ll just post it here…

No one on the Timberwolves has suffered more from Kevin Love’s absence than Big Al. Love boxes people out and plays better defense than any of Minnesota’s other post players. Jefferson will waste less energy on help defense and get more loose balls than before because there won’t be three bodies in his way on every freaking rebound. And as he becomes more confident in his knee, the explosive scoring nights will follow. He’s already starting to drop in those six-upfakes-and-OOPS! youjumpedtoosoon layups with increased regularity. Love those.

And this couldn’t have been more true, as – right on cue – Big Al has averaged 19.4 points, 12 rebounds and one block per game since the day Love returned. Before that, Jefferson’s averages were at a pedestrian 16.8 points and 7.8 rebounds in November. You may point to the knee injury, but those kind of increases have as much to do with Love being back than Al simply gaining confidence and strength in a healthy knee.

Ryan Hollins – Against less girthy opponents, Hollins has been getting some decent run. While Love was out, he proved himself worthy of minutes by hitting a large portion of his mid-range jump shots and making athletic plays here and there. A below-average backup center, but definitely one that can make his presence felt on the scoreboard from time to time.

Nathan Jawai – Jawai doesn’t do anything especially well, but Coach Rambis seems to like to toss him out on the floor once a game to change it up. He’s a big, heavy center with less shooting touch than you’d like, but at least he takes up space when Kevin Love or Al Jefferson are on the bench trying to catch their breath.

*****

Whew! That was a lot of writing! Hope you enjoyed the team review… I’ll be back with more whenever the mood strikes. Go Wolves!