Jonah Ballow/Timberwolves site surveys some of the Wolves for their All-Star predictions.
Kelly Dwyer/Ball Don’t Lie on the rookie of the year so far.
With Memphis’ O.J. Mayo having tailed off a bit (shooting 42 percent from the floor and 36 from long range in January, down from 48 and 42 percent in November, with a six points per game drop off), the choice really comes down to four players: Rose, Mayo, Oklahoma City point man Russell Westbrook, and Minnesota forward Kevin Love.
Love has the best combined, pace-adjusted, per-minute stats (of the four; Marreese Speights has the best overall numbers, but his defense is pretty horrid, even by rookie standards, and he only plays 15.5 minutes per game). In all reality, he’s been the best rookie thus far, but Love’s 23.8 minutes per game mark just kills his chances.
The overwhelming majority of players see their per-minute stats go up as their minutes go up (they play more, they play better), but those with conditioning issues tend to buck that trend. And while Love is in the best shape of his life and looks completely different than the bigger fella we saw wearing that UCLA powder blue, I’m not convinced he could keep this pace up at this point at 35 minutes per game.