MVN: Most Valuable Network

Not Pretty, just Pretty Effective

Kevin Love waddles around the court like the second coming of Billy Paultz (Paultz was actually a very effective player for many, many years).  Yet, I just checked his rebounding rates... they are off the charts.

His offensive rebounding rate is 16.2%.  10.0% is an outstanding offensive rebounding rate.  16.2% blows my mind.  Its in Rodman territory.  And there are no "gimme" offensive rebounds.  To get offensive boards, you got to want the ball badly.  Apparently he does. 

According to basketball-reference.com, if Love's performance so far on the offensive boards is indicative of how he will rebound throughout his career, he would rank as the 4th best offensive rebounder of all time, behind Mo Malone, Dennis Rodman, and Jayson Williams.  

Rebounding does not have that much to do with length or hops.  It has more to do with size and desire.  That's been proven over and over again in NBA history.  Love's proving it right now.  Cause he can't jump over the Cudahy phone book and he's cleaning house on the boards. 

If he learns how to use his body to help him score points down low, he's going to be a beast.

Outstanding MWS of +1.9

Why are the Wolves suddenly playing winning basketball?  One of the main reasons is Kevin Love. Because of his phenomenal rebounding, he now has a Marginal Win Score per 48 of +1.9 and rising.  Using only 10.5% of the Twolves overall minutes, he's making a Total Win Contribution of +0.172, meaning he is headed toward a "Wins Above Average" of around +2.7... outstanding for a rookie.  Imagine what it would be if he weren't shooting 41% from the field?

Better than OJ Mayo... just not better to watch

If you were choosing up sides, and you saw the two guys warming up, you'd undoubtedly choose Memphis Grizzlie OJ Mayo.  And, he's not a bad player.  At the moment his Marginal Win Score is +0.0.  That means he is currently making a TWC of +0.000 to the Memphis Grizzlies, meaning he is producing like an average NBA shooting guard.  And given the distribution of talent in the NBA, average is pretty good.

But its way below what Love is doing, waddle and all, for the Twolves.  And, you get the feeling Love has more room to grow.  I wonder if Mayo has the same room.  He's an undersized shooting guard.  That's not a breed of player thats either durable or dependable. 

Mayo's doing a nice job now, and if you polled 100 basketball fans, 97 would say Mayo is the better player.  But when it comes to win production, its Kevin Love hands down.