AbeVigodaLive wrote:CoolBreeze44 wrote:If he hasn't seen Wiggins shut down opposing stars, he hasn't been watching very closely. It's happened time and time again,.
Fair enough. Can you share some examples? Also... what are your thoughts on the advanced stats indicating that Wiggins is not even an average defender? Is it only because of the relative lack of steals and blocks? Are there areas he can improve?
Not being facetious... I'm intrigued by the Wiggins is a good defender argument. I see moments of that, too... but is it because those are more memorable? Or, because I WANT to see them so badly?
Abe - I've seen many moments where Wiggins shut his guy down defensively. But I've also seen many moments when his guy gets around him and scores far too easily. Ultimately stats tell the tale and Wiggins defensive stats speak for themselves. If you're not blocking shots, forcing turnovers or grabbing defensive rebounds, you're not going to show well in advanced defensive stats. And unless you shut your guy down almost all the time every game, you can't be a good much less great defender without providing steals, blocks or defensive rebounds.
As long-suffering Wolves fans, we get really excited at a great new talent who puts on a Wolves jersey. And we all tend in varying degrees to see and believe want we want to see while often defensively rejecting fact-based criticism as we point to the player's youth. I know I did that with Ricky, pointing to his youth and holding steadfastly to my belief that his shooting would substantially improve. Alas, I have finally come to the realization that Ricky will always be a poor shooter. Thankfully, he is very good to elite in multiple other areas - passing/assists, defense/steals, rebounding -- all of which can be verified objectively in his stats. The eye test also shows Ricky to be an extremely smart player who directs his teammates on the floor and a highly intense passionate player who gives everything he's got all the time.
Wiggins has already proven to be a very good scorer with a knack for drawing fouls. But unfortunately, that's all he's shown thus far statistically. He's a phenomenal athlete with excellent length and incredible body control. He's developed a nice Euro step and he strikes me as a pretty smart player. So therein lies the potential, which is still tremendous. Now we watch and hope for his physical gifts to start showing up statistically in other than PPG. But there are a number of red flags that call into question his ability to become anything close to a great player:
1. Consistently failing to fill any stat line other than PPG. The truly great NBA players consistently excel in multiple statistical areas. Jordan (scoring, steals, and even rebounding at his position), Duncan (scoring, blocks, rebounding). The list goes on - excellence not in one or even two areas, but in three. And p Wiggins
