Minnesota Timberwolves Bench: Report Card Preview

Last week I chose roles and a grading curriculum for the Minnesota starting group. Today, it’s the bench’s turn. Before diving into the individual players, I want to introduce one other stat that will be part of this season-long project: Estimated Plus/Minus (EPM).

You can read about the nitty gritty of EPM here, but I’d offer this big picture overview: EPM is a statistical calculation that looks at a player’s past, their current performance, and most importantly, the context of their plus/minus (game situation, players they shared the court with, etc…) in an attempt navigate all the variables that go into a +10 or -10 night on a basketball court.

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As the season goes along, I’ll be tracking the trends of different players in each of the three main EPM categories: Offensive Estimated Plus/Minus, Defensive Estimated Plus/Minus and Total Estimated Plus/Minus. Here are where the numbers stand as we enter the season:

A few standout points:

Holy LaMelo. He is an EPM darling with the 3rd best offensive EPM in the league and 7th best overall EPM behind:

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 7.0

Giannis Antetokounmpo: 6.7

It’s easy to forget how good Donte DiVincenzo was last season and how much of a boon his return will be. 

Edwards had a pretty precipitous dropoff from previous seasons where he was the top EPM player on the team. With this roster being built more for him, I’d expect his number to climb back up above 3.0.

Kuminga’s defensive EPM really skyrocketed during his Atlanta stint and enters the season as the third-ranked defensive player in the group. His offense… well, safe to say there is a lot of room for improvement!

The bench minutes distribution will be fascinating to watch with Ayo Dosunmu’s role being the only one that feels set in stone – EPM numbers are making a strong argument for Bones.

That’s it for now with EPM, let’s get to the bench unit’s report card preview! 

A reminder about how the grades work:

1. These grades are roles-based, so the stats I’m looking at for each player are different and meant to highlight their team role. 

2. Roles on the team can change as the roster and playing time…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/minnesota-timberwolves-bench-report-card-150000141.html

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Publish date : 2026-10-12 15:00:00

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