Minnesota Timberwolves: November player grades

Gorgui Dieng, Tyus Jones, Josh Okogie and Anthony Tolliver

November (Dieng): 14 GP, 13.0 MPG, 3.8 PPG, 3.8 RPG
November (Jones): 14 GP, 18.8 MPG, 4.1 PPG, 3.3 APG
November (Okogie): 10 GP, 16.2 MPG, 6.5 PPG, 2.4 RPG
November (Tolliver): 8 GP, 13.4 MPG, 3.3 PPG, 1.9 RPG

Anthony Tolliver and Josh Okogie have fallen out of the rotation because Thibodeau doesn’t want to play more than nine guys. Whatever.

Tolliver’s primary skill, 3-point shooting, had taken a huge dip to start the month. He shot 48.4 percent from deep in October, but was shooting just 30.4 from 3 in November before he found himself glued to the pine. That is somewhat justifiable.

Okogie being yanked from the rotation makes no sense and requires further exploration later. He always plays with great energy and is already one of the team’s best defensive players. Add in highlights like this:

and it’s clear why so many, including the Wolves color commentator Jim Petersen, are calling for Okogie to get minutes. He’s earned them in every way.

The end of the Wolves’ rotation, Gorgui Dieng and Tyus Jones, has been trending in different directions.

Despite having an assist-to-turnover ratio of 6.3, the second-best mark in the entire league, Tyus Jones has been terrible. We are a quarter of the way through the season — small sample sizes are gone. Jones’ shooting splits (.342/.289/.714) are still in the toilet, it doesn’t matter how smart of a player he is, if someone as small as he is can’t score with league-average consistency, it’s hard to keep giving him minutes.

The last few games he has played better, but things have been rocky all year on the whole.

Dieng, on the other hand, has played wonderful basketball lately. He’s been an unfair target of Timberwolves fans due to his bloated contract, but it’s hard for anyone to produce when playing so sparingly. That has become evident as Dieng has had his best performances in games where Towns had foul trouble.

His stats don’t scream value, but in November, particularly the past two weeks, Dieng has made smart and winning plays over and over. Yes, he shoots too many mid-range jumpers, but his defense is back to where it was in his early years:

https://twitter.com/Timberwolves/status/1065437672729165830

Dieng won’t show up in most highlight reels and will probably continue to play less than 15 minutes a game, but the Timberwolves and Minnesota are lucky to have him.

Dieng grade: B+
Jones grade: D
Okogie grade: A
Tolliver grade: C-