Zach Harper on Wiggins

[Monster]

Kind of a fun breakdown with a few nteresting stats that make it worth posting. I especially enjoyed his breakdown of Wiggins rebounding.

https://www.fanragsports.com/nba/timberwolves/answering-10-loaded-questions-help-understand-andrew-wiggins/

[Coolbreeze44]

Thanks Monster. I had to post after reading item #4. It's exactly my stance on his rebounding. He doesn't get any freebies, nor does he really feel he needs to. But he is damn good at contested rebounds. Stop right there. What more do you want? I'd much prefer him get out on the break instead of grabbing rebounds that KAT or G are going to get. This is proof that he's not nearly as bad of a rebounder as most think. Bravo mr. Harper.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Good article. I like the fact he paints with a lot of gray here as opposed to seeing things in black and white. Examples: He's both overrated and underrated. He's not a bad defender but he's not a good defender. He's improved, but also has a really long ways to go in certain areas.

Good stuff.

I've been beating the "rich man's DeRozan" drum for a while now, so that part of the article where Harper thought of him as ending up somewhere between DeRozan and Paul George resonated with me.

[TheFuture]

Thanks Monster. I had to post after reading item #4. It's exactly my stance on his rebounding. He doesn't get any freebies, nor does he really feel he needs to. But he is damn good at contested rebounds. Stop right there. What more do you want? I'd much prefer him get out on the break instead of grabbing rebounds that KAT or G are going to get. This is proof that he's not nearly as bad of a rebounder as most think. Bravo mr. Harper.

I disagree a bit. I think his hands/quick thinking skills are sub par. Too often he is too slow to react on defense, loose balls, and Rebounds. The greats all seem to have outstanding physical traits combined with the innate abilities to see things before they happen and react instantaneously. He obviously has the former. For the latter, he seems to be more of a "watcher".

Rich man's Derozan does seem to be his ceiling. Which is wonderful, but not ideal, and honestly a semi-letdown. Luckily we have KAT and a derozan next to him when KAT hits his prime years (24-32 for him in my opinion) is scary good.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Thanks Monster. I had to post after reading item #4. It's exactly my stance on his rebounding. He doesn't get any freebies, nor does he really feel he needs to. But he is damn good at contested rebounds. Stop right there. What more do you want? I'd much prefer him get out on the break instead of grabbing rebounds that KAT or G are going to get. This is proof that he's not nearly as bad of a rebounder as most think. Bravo mr. Harper.

I disagree a bit. I think his hands/quick thinking skills are sub par. Too often he is too slow to react on defense, loose balls, and Rebounds. The greats all seem to have outstanding physical traits combined with the innate abilities to see things before they happen and react instantaneously. He obviously has the former. For the latter, he seems to be more of a "watcher".

Rich man's Derozan does seem to be his ceiling. Which is wonderful, but not ideal, and honestly a semi-letdown. Luckily we have KAT and a derozan next to him when KAT hits his prime years (24-32 for him in my opinion) is scary good.

Yeah, I just posted KAT's numbers versus some of the all-time greats at a similar stage in their career. The dude is incredible and I feel like we take for granted how damn good he is already.

If Wiggins can consistently do what he did in February and this team keeps improving on defense, we should be fine.

[thedoper]

Isn't a rich mans Derozan (better defending Derozan with a 3) a top 10 player in the league? Sounds pretty sweet to me.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Isn't a rich mans Derozan (better defending Derozan with a 3) a top 10 player in the league? Sounds pretty sweet to me.

It depends on how rich. I think top 10-15 is possible. I put DeRozan at no better than top 20 right now and we are seeing him in his absolute prime.

[thedoper]

Isn't a rich mans Derozan (better defending Derozan with a 3) a top 10 player in the league? Sounds pretty sweet to me.

It depends on how rich. I think top 10-15 is possible. I put DeRozan at no better than top 20 right now and we are seeing him in his absolute prime.

But that's good right? To have a top 15 player? I think we have been beaten and bruised for so long in Minnesota we don't even recognize a good thing.

I think he will max out a bit higher than you (I think he will be a top 10 player) but to me top 15 is great. The same general issue with Wiggins seems to keep coming up here and it was nothing he could control. It was not his fault he was picked #1. But if you read any scouting report of him coming into the league the realistic comps were never Lebron. A #1 pick who settles somewhere in the top 15 players in the league seems like good development to me. That's basically where Kyrie is now and hardly anyone laments him anymore. Sustained winning will fix everything.
The last 20 years of #1 picks only produced 1 Lebron.

It does seem legit that we have a high likelihood of having two top 15 players in the NBA one day in Towns and Wiggins. That certainly gets us in the conversation for competitive teams. Exciting times.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Everybody should be ecstatic if Wiggins becomes a top 15 player.

Towns appears on his way even higher than that. How many other teams with two top 15 guys haven't been legit playoff contenders?

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Isn't a rich mans Derozan (better defending Derozan with a 3) a top 10 player in the league? Sounds pretty sweet to me.

It depends on how rich. I think top 10-15 is possible. I put DeRozan at no better than top 20 right now and we are seeing him in his absolute prime.

But that's good right? To have a top 15 player? I think we have been beaten and bruised for so long in Minnesota we don't even recognize a good thing.

I think he will max out a bit higher than you (I think he will be a top 10 player) but to me top 15 is great. The same general issue with Wiggins seems to keep coming up here and it was nothing he could control. It was not his fault he was picked #1. But if you read any scouting report of him coming into the league the realistic comps were never Lebron. A #1 pick who settles somewhere in the top 15 players in the league seems like good development to me. That's basically where Kyrie is now and hardly anyone laments him anymore. Sustained winning will fix everything.
The last 20 years of #1 picks only produced 1 Lebron.

It does seem legit that we have a high likelihood of having two top 15 players in the NBA one day in Towns and Wiggins. That certainly gets us in the conversation for competitive teams. Exciting times.

Agreed, but he still needs to actually get there! The other reason DeRozan is used as a comp is because he was mostly an inefficient scorer that didn't do much else and didn't really put things together in a big way until Year 7. Likewise, Wiggins has been mostly an inefficient volume scorer through his first three years. I think Wiggins can achieve DeRozan-level success sooner than Year 7, but the question is whether he can then take another step forward beyond that. I hope so!