Q12543 wrote:AbeVigodaLive wrote:Camden wrote:khans2k5 wrote:Jimmy Butler didn't start out the player he is today. Thibs helped him become that player and I'm fine with him trying to do it with Wiggins. It took Butler until his 4th season under Thibs to hit that 20 PPG/3 APG mark. I don't expect Wiggins to be that guy in year 1 under Thibs when it took Butler 4. I'm fine with the development route. We have to break bad habits and get them playing the right way and they are starting to show signs of it against some good teams of late. Winning isn't the most important thing right now because nobody important is in a contract year. Learning to play the right way is more important than a few extra wins for the long haul and I think we are already starting to see some dividends to that approach in the last few games defensively. I think we are going to be poised for a big run down the stretch and even if we come up short of the playoffs we will be better off moving forward having done things the right way rather than sacrifice for a couple extra wins.
Co-signed.
The one caveat is that (right or wrong) expectations come with being the #1 pick vs. a guy like Butler picked at #30. Even in Year 3 or 4.
The other caveat is that Butler is an exception. Just because he became the player he did doesn't mean Wiggins will. DeRozan is another "hey, that could be Wiggins someday" guy that flat-lined for a few years and then suddenly something clicked last year - his 6th! - and he became something more than an inefficient volume scorer.
Then you have guys like Rudy Gay, Monta Ellis, Antawn Jamison, etc.....guys that never quite broke out into real impact players.
We don't know which side of this coin Wiggins ends up on. But no one can say he hasn't been given every opportunity to learn, grow, and develop. Since his rookie year, he's been pretty much THE featured guy in our offense. Yet the progress is painfully slow.....on both sides of the ball.
Steph Curry, Derozan, Butler, Lowry, Conley. All guys who didn't become all-star caliber players until their second contracts. Butler isn't the one exception.