If this was any other very good NBA player, this wouldn't be any news (I deserve a max contract, I'm going to be an All-Star, any athlete can be a good defender if they put in the effort, blah, blah, blah). But since this is the normally reticent Wiggins, I like this article a lot. Maybe the fire on the court will follow the (sort of) fire in his words.
The irony is that his job description, if you will, is actually narrower in scope than it was during his first three seasons. So he is basically being paid max money to take on less responsibility!
As a result, we really need to see him step up his intensity and overall efficiency as a player on both ends. No more excuses.
That's my mantra for this season. No more excuses...for either Wiggins or our coach.
Indeed. I'm so sick of the years and years and years of ineptitude from Thibodeau and this team.
Excuse after excuse. Year after year...
[Note: I'm less high on thibs than I was when he was hired. We've seen examples of failure in that duo role and the barking ruins the viewing experience... and the team still sucked... but it was nice to go a few days (weeks) without reading dozens of LST posts ripping him incessantly.]
Ha, I'm glad my summer vacation from ripping Thibs has been pleasant for you! But I'm here to announce that I am rested, refreshed and ready to be even more critical this year! (hopefully not...I remain hopeful that he can bounce back and have a good season.) But he now has the roster he wants, so we have to say "NO EXCUSES!"
I'll reply to try to bump this thread to March 2, 2019. There were other threads in which we debated it, but this was one of them.
It's one legitimate source of evidence about our views on Wiggins. Evidence is better than memory, especially our memories of what others wrote--that's just a recipe for personal conflict rather than thoughtful, evidence-based discussion.
I was on the fence about the extension, BUT against it overall. I always said, not on this board (I haven't been around enough), but others that LaVine would be the far better player. Trading LaVine instead of Wiggins was a major mistake, I was angry on draft night.
LaVine and Wiggins are not as good as I would have hoped, but Wiggins is even far worse then I thought he would be. People talked about his scoring, but it was mostly ineffective or inefficient. His clutch time free throw shooting was a huge red flag. I never understood why Wiggins was called upon for the last second shot or play. He rarely hit it and when he was fouled he would miss one or both free throws. (I seem to remember his FT percentage around 50% in the clutch time).
He was touted as a great defender coming out of school. But it never materialized, we saw that specifically if you looked at the advanced stats (which are identical to LaVines DRTG at 114). His lack of development and aggressiveness on that end was another red flag. Bad rebounder, never taking a charge, poor help defender.
He needs to go to a sports psychologist. I'm not kidding. Thats the only way I see him becoming an avg starter in this league at this point. His mind and confidence has to be really screwed up at this point. I just wish we traded him before the deadline. No such luck.
