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Battle of the Bloggers - No. 5



Mike Trudell
Wolves Reporter

If you watched Wednesday's preseason game against the Celtics in London, you noticed that Minnesota has quite a few options from which to fill up a boxscore.

But who will lead the Wolves in scoring this season? Who's going to be the top Windex man? Who's passing will render the most assists? Well, who better to speculate than Minnesota's top bloggers?

Before we check out whom the masters of HTML are selecting, here are your current standings, with just one or two topics left to cover before the battle is finished like 50 Cent's rap career:

22 points: Stephen Litel: hoopsworld.com
20 points: Anthony Hall: twolvesblog.com
16 points: Sonia Grover: twolvesblog.com
16 points: Kate Doan: mnsportsfans.com
16 points: Dave Kelsey: twolvesblog.com
13 points: Derek Hanson: twolvesblog.com
9 points: Alex Halsted: Twolves Wordpress

WEEK FIVE QUESTION:
What Timberwolf will lead the squad in scoring, assists and rebounds this season?

ANSWERS:

LITEL:
Foye (pts), Davis (ast) and Jefferson (reb)
Determining who will assume the role of leading scorer on the Wolves is tough. There are many candidates for the position, most notably Jefferson, Davis and Foye. Initially wanting to select Jefferson due to his being the team’s new cornerstone, I decided against it until I see Big Al consistently lead this team in the category. In the end, I chose Foye almost by default. Believing Foye will play the most minutes of any player this year, he comes away with the scoring title.

It would be great to select Foye as the assist king on the team as well, but this honor belongs to Davis. Wittman is going to have a short leash with Buckets this season, so when he begins to chuck up shots he will sit. If and when Davis understands, his 5.34 assists over the past five seasons will likely be enough to lead this team.

The rebounding battle is the easiest to call. Al Jefferson. Period.

HALL:
Jefferson, Foye, Jefferson
Al Jefferson will lead the team in scoring. Following the All-Star break last year, Al averaged 19.8 PPG- consider that he played 20/25 of those games alongside Paul Pierce. Now, as the first offensive option in Minnesota, Jefferson will see increased scoring opportunities, and should break the 20 PPG mark. I don’t see Ricky (who’s minutes will likely decrease because of Green and McCants) or Foye reaching a 20 PPG average this season.

Al will also be the rebounding team-leader. Last year, Al grabbed 15.6 rebounds per 48 minutes- Craig Smith could eventually challenge Al’s rebounding numbers (Craiggers averaged 13.0 rebounds per 48 minutes last year), but since Al will see 35-40 minutes per game, he’ll lead the team in rebounding this year.

Finally, Foye will overtake Ricky (who, again, will see his minutes take a dip) as the assists team-leader. As the starting point guard on a team with a growing number of scoring threats (Davis, McCants, Jefferson, Gomes, Green), Foye should be able to average around five APG, which should be a team-best.

GROVER:
Jefferson, Foye, Jefferson
If not dealt and given starter minutes, Ricky Buckets, last season’s second-leading scorer, will live up to his nickname. However, with the team focused on its youth movement, the player who claimed Garnett’s locker could step up instead, especially under McHale’s tutelage.

Recording 38 double-doubles and averaging 16 points and 11 rebounds last season, Jefferson’s numbers should increase if made centerpiece of the team’s offense. He’ll be fed down low while his size and athleticism, offensive rebounding ability, and 51.3 FG% will contribute to making the inside threat the team’s leading scorer. His dominance on the boards will be untouched. Among the top 5 offensive and top 10 defensive rebounders last season, his third-year RBG averages are higher than KG's third-year.

Foye wants to lead and will get a touch every possession. He’ll have ample opportunity to improve and distribute with the two PG’s he sometimes followed off the bench and in assists (per 40 minutes) gone. His ball distribution and chemistry with Smith showed progress during summer league. He’ll feed Jefferson in the post.

KELSEY:
Davis, Foye, Jefferson
Without KG this season, other players are going to be asked to set-up all facets of their games. It will be interesting to see who picks up the statistical “slack” left behind from the departure of Garnett.

Foye: Despite only averaging 2.8 assists last season, it can be reasonably expected that Foye should lead this team in assists as the starting quarterback of the club. He only played 23 minutes per game last season; however, his minutes will rise markedly this season as the undisputed starting PG.

Jefferson: Other than KG, the Wolves have never been a strong rebounding team. Not too many players should challenge Jefferson for the rebounding lead. Jefferson gobbled up 11 RPG last season, and should be able to build upon that.

Davis: As the de-facto leader, and most distinguished offensive player, Ricky Davis has a good chance to lead the Wolves in points per game. Davis averaged 18.2 PPG the past two seasons, and should be able to at least maintain that, with KG’s offense out of the picture.

HANSON:
Edwards, Edwards, Edwards
I was pretty surprised to hear that John Edwards was taking time away from his presidential campaign to join the Minnesota Timberwolves. Yet after thinking about it, a brief stint in the NBA may be exactly what he needs to steal the headlines from Hillary and Obama and win the Democratic nomination. If his basketball game mirrors his political one, Edwards could end up becoming the star of the Timberwolves.

He's definitely got the assist thing down with his plan to end poverty in a generation. Plus, word on the street is that his $400 haircuts have scored him loads of points with the ladies. And when it comes to rebounding, Al Jefferson's got nothing on Edwards following up a defeat in his campaign for Vice President with a run for the Oval Office. With John Edwards leading the Wolves in all three of those stats, there's a good chance he'll be getting as many votes for the All-Star Team as he does for President.

"Paid for by John Edwards for President"

DOAN:
Jefferson, Foye, Jefferson
Al Jefferson will be the Wolves top rebounder, after averaging 11.0 RPG last year; he will control the glass again. His per 40 minute total last year was 13.0 the same as KG last season. Al’s 17 rebounds in 27 minutes of play in Turkey solidified this choice.

Al Jefferson will lead the team in points this year, too. Teams in the West with natural low post scorers such as San Antonio with Duncan, Utah with Boozer, and last years Blazers with Randolph, if the team commits to feeding the big man on the block, he does deliver the most points per game for the team.

So now the question is who will be feeding the ball to Al, and getting all the assists? Last year, Ricky Davis lead the Wolves in assists, but in comparing his per 40 minutes with Foye, they were quite close, with 5.1 for Ricky and 4.9 for Randy. With a year of experience Randy will be dishing the ball effectively this year, and will lead the team in dimes.

HALSTED:
Jefferson, Foye, Jefferson
Scoring: I picked Al Jefferson, because I feel that this season he’ll improve even more than he did last season. The only two other people that I considered were Ricky Davis and Randy Foye. Davis I crossed out, because it isn’t 100% that he’ll be here, and I just have a feeling that Foye will finish below Al.

Assists: For this category, I selected Foye because as the point guard and leader of this team, I think he’ll take control and distribute the ball. He’ll be the one in control, and if he isn’t leading in points it has to be assists. Other than him, my only other choice was Davis because he did lead the team with nearly five each game last season.

Rebounds: The final category, rebounds, went to Jefferson again, because last season he tallied an average of eleven each game, and this season he seems like an even bigger beast defensively. Other than him, Craig Smith might challenge him along with Ryan Gomes (especially if he plays as hard as that first game.)




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