FIBA qualifying Bennett hype Thread

[bleedspeed]

Here is a quote from the Nike Hoops Summit.

All in all, nothing Wiggins has shown on the court leads us to believe there is a better NBA prospect anywhere in high school basketball. There may be some concerns about whether he has the mental makeup and killer instinct needed to (want to) be the go-to star his talent indicates, but it will be much easier to draw further conclusions about that at the college level than right now.

http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Nike-Hoop-Summit-Scouting-Reports-Wings-4153/

I don't think anyone is making it up. It is something that has been around a long time with Wiggins.

[worldK]

I'm getting a kick of out these comments, jumping to conclusions about a couple 20 year olds on their future leadership potential.

I guess it's the slow time of the year.

Lloyd, you've been around long enough to know that's what happens here. Sometimes opinions change game to game.

The one thing I will tell you about Wiggins is this: not one person on this board has any clue that he lacks fire from within. It's all speculative bullshit. He's just a pup who has a lot of mental and physical maturing to do. I'm not going to worry about Andrew Wiggins, he's the least of our problems at this point.

I'm getting a kick of out these comments, jumping to conclusions about a couple 20 year olds on their future leadership potential.

I guess it's the slow time of the year.

Lloyd, you've been around long enough to know that's what happens here. Sometimes opinions change game to game.

The one thing I will tell you about Wiggins is this: not one person on this board has any clue that he lacks fire from within. It's all speculative bullshit. He's just a pup who has a lot of mental and physical maturing to do. I'm not going to worry about Andrew Wiggins, he's the least of our problems at this point.

Agree 100%.

As much as some have been suggesting his demeanor as a hindrance to him reaching his full potential, there has been NO indication in his 1 rookie year as a 19 yr old that suggest that is the case. Its been all speculative and nitpicking. He started slow but keeps getting better and better during the season. He has shown the right attitude, is a good kid and has never been shy during crunch time.

Ive seen him dive for loose balls, run and finish with authority on the break. If you watch him throut the season, he gets more and more dunks as the seson went on as he started getting more experience and learn the nba game.

3 things to keep in mind here.

Number 1, he is a 19 year old rookie who plays near 40mins a night while guarding the best perimeter player of the opposing team from harden to thompson to chris paul while being the go to guy of the team on offense. Tell me now, how you expect him to be sprinting down the court every play like a shabazz or corey? I love bazz but we all agree that while he plays so hard on offense( running and going for offensive boards). That is not the case on the other side both on d and defensive boards. He also gets injured just when his minutes starts increasing or when he is prime for a bigger role. Wiggins plays both sides and all 82 games and the most minutes on the team.

Number 2. Wiggins is such a great athlete that everything seems so fluid and easy for him. He makes every athletic move of his whether running, jumping, hanging in the air, spinning and blowing by defenders look so effortlessly that he doesn't seem to be exerting much effort. Im in awe of that part of his game.

Number 3. He has always been a good kid. Has good support group. Never was a malcontent or shown any vices or interest outside of playing ball. He has confidence in himself. He said he wanted to be the number 1 pick in last years draft and wanted to be the rookie of the year and he accomplished both. You won't find any attitude or commitment issues with wiggins.

I see a superstar in the making with wiggins. Not a fiery or loud or as big of a personality like a kg or kobe but a cerebral type who WILL reach his potential. Just a different type of superstar than what we are used to.

[Monster]

I predict in a couple years he goes Andrew (Ender) Wiggin on the entire league.

[bleedspeed]

I think Wiggins has a great poker face and he does make things look easy. What he accomplishes in this league will be only limited by his desire to win, health, and a little luck.

[Lipoli390]

I'm getting a kick of out these comments, jumping to conclusions about a couple 20 year olds on their future leadership potential.

I guess it's the slow time of the year.

Lloyd, you've been around long enough to know that's what happens here. Sometimes opinions change game to game.

The one thing I will tell you about Wiggins is this: not one person on this board has any clue that he lacks fire from within. It's all speculative bullshit. He's just a pup who has a lot of mental and physical maturing to do. I'm not going to worry about Andrew Wiggins, he's the least of our problems at this point.

Speculative? Yes! Bullshit? No. It's a concern based on credible observations by discerning fans and others who have evaluated Wiggins over the years. Note that the Wolves GM recently alluded to this concern about Wiggins and mentioned the incident last season when Flip had to chew out Wiggins for dogging it in practice. But no one on this board, including me, has pronounced Wiggins a failure or attached any degree of certainty to our speculation. We've simply expressed concern. Yet we all recognize he's still only 20 years old and far from a finished product.

Is his fire in the belly or lack thereof the "least of our concerns"? Not if we expect him to be a great player and cornerstone of a championship contending Wolves team. However, as I've mentioned before, I'm concerned but not alarmed. He was, after all, the NBA rookie of the year. He displayed an array of tremendous talents at the NBA level last season. And one of his talents that deserves more attention and praise is his durability. He is looking like an iron man type of player. That's a huge positive.

As for speculation, I think that's a big part of what we all do on sports message boards.

[Shumway]

David Robinson was always deemed 'too nice' to win a title. But he was definitely a great player. Perhaps Towns can be Duncan to Wiggins Robinson.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

There are few high usage players that are going all out 100% during games and a lot of them get a break on defense which Wiggins didn't get last year and won't get for the foreseeable future. Most players learn to conserve their energy throughout the game so they aren't reaching into an empty tank at the end of games. Keep in mind the NBA season is more than twice as long as the typical college season so if these guys go 100% all the time, they'll hit a wall that they won't be able to get over. They are 20 years old. They aren't fully conditioned yet for how long an NBA season is. The fact that he is already conserving energy and picking his spots to step it up will be huge for him to be an effective player for 4 quarters. He had several 4th quarters this year where he either brought us back into a game or almost closed a game out and he can't do that if he's sprinting the floor all game long for transition buckets. At the end of the day I saw the fire during some of the close games we had when Wiggins was the guy and was making consecutive positive plays to try to help us win games. So he may not be a 48 minute killer yet, but I saw it when it mattered most which is a start.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Khans, We all know the realities of a 82-game schedule and the load Wiggins had to carry last year. His motor (or lack thereof at times) has been questioned by multiple observers across multiple playing settings, whether it be his time as a prep player, at Kansas, the Wolves, or Team Canada. This isn't unique to fans on this message board.

I think Lip said it best. This isn't a question as to whether Wiggins will eventually become a very good player or not. This is a question as to whether he can achieve true greatness. Time will tell.

[Coolbreeze44]

Exactly, time will tell. But i'm a little confused. Are we talking about his motor, or his competitive drive to compete and achieve? These are two different things. Competitive drive is more innate, but motor can improve as he develops his "man" muscles and stamina. What I'm saying is people are wrong to question his competitive desire because you just don't know how strong the fire is burning inside him. I have no problem with questions about his motor, because it needs to improve. But the good news is I think it can.

[TheFuture]

Khans, We all know the realities of a 82-game schedule and the load Wiggins had to carry last year. His motor (or lack thereof at times) has been questioned by multiple observers across multiple playing settings, whether it be his time as a prep player, at Kansas, the Wolves, or Team Canada. This isn't unique to fans on this message board.

I think Lip said it best. This isn't a question as to whether Wiggins will eventually become a very good player or not. This is a question as to whether he can achieve true greatness. Time will tell.

I brought up this lack of a "killer instinct" when we first traded for him because I thought it was a concern. Everyone pointed at Kevin Durant, Ray Allen, Tim Duncan, etc. To say someone doesn't have "inner fire" when they worked there ass off to get into college, then worked to get picked #1, was traded from a championship contender to a league bottom feeder yet accepted it and continued to work. Then he guards every best wing in the league, and dunks over gobert, asik, and anyone else in his way. Puts up 30 against LeBron and Cleveland to show them they screwed up. He wins rookie of the month nearly every time. Wins rookie of the year. He does all of this while all the good players on his team go down and he Plays most of the season with LaVine, Budinger, Dieng, Hummel, Payne, and a revolving door of d league centers. He skips the dunk contest to allow LaVine to have his moment, that's some maturity.

Tell me now, what did you accomplish at 19 years old that says you can question his "inner fire"?

KG's inner fire was so great that he disappeared at the end of every close game, was too chicken shit to dunk on anybody, and only picked fights with guards.

I'd rather have a cool hand Luke type who just goes about his business than that.