Wiggins highlights vs Nets

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Oh boy. We're back to Wiggins > Love comments already. Lol yeesh.

It depends on what you mean by ">", cam. I know that it means "is better than", but I would argue that a Wiggins/Love discussion is not that simple. It's not as easy or clear as saying, for instance, LST's takes > Cam's takes, something that nobody would argue with :) .

With respect to Love and Wiggins, if > means "scores more points and gets more rebounds", then it's not even worth having a discussion...Love is a proven offensive producer, and Wiggins is not...yet. But since Love never demonstrated that lots of points and rebounds by him = playoffs for the Wolves, posters might be looking at other factors in evaluating Love vs. Wiggins. For instance:

Wiggins' athleticism> Love's athleticism
Wiggins' defense> Love's defense
Wiggins' popularity in the clubhouse> Love's popularity

But ultimately, it has to be about wins and playoff runs, and that is the lens through which I will eventually judge Wiggins and Love. I know there are certainly elements other than Kevin involved in the Wolves' lack of success recently, but the only constants on the court during the last six years have been Love and the PA announcer, and I'm not ready to pin the Wolves' woes on Rod Johnson (although he does suck).

So, I would take this bet all day:

Wiggins' playoff appearances in his first three Wolves' seasons > Kevin Love's playoff appearances in his first three seasons.

Those who malign Kevin Love and praise Andrew Wiggins on this board are long-suffering Wolves' fans who just want things to be better, and are looking for the Wiggins era to have much more success than the Love era. It's not a very high bar, but gosh, we deserve it!

[Coolbreeze44]

My biggest worry with him is that the league isn't used to playing against a guy that can explode and hang like he does. I'm afraid someone's going to undercut him some night and drop him on his backside.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Good observation by monster about Wiggins' freakish ability to hang in the air and adjust his body to maximize his chances of finishing inside. It's an extraordinary, innate talent that oddly only Corey Brewer approaches on the current roster, and as a 19 year-old kid we have already seen Wiggins do it 3-4 times in his first 4 games.

Another thing to point out about the great highlight video is that it only shows his offensive plays. There were several times during the game that I found myself marveling at Wiggins' unbelievable footwork on defense...already the best on the Wolves. As he adds more muscle to his frame, I have no question that he will be one of the elite defenders in the NBA. He looks that good to me.

[Monster]

Oh boy. We're back to Wiggins > Love comments already. Lol yeesh.

It depends on what you mean by ">", cam. I know that it means "is better than", but I would argue that a Wiggins/Love discussion is not that simple. It's not as easy or clear as saying, for instance, LST's takes > Cam's takes, something that nobody would argue with :) .

With respect to Love and Wiggins, if > means "scores more points and gets more rebounds", then it's not even worth having a discussion...Love is a proven offensive producer, and Wiggins is not...yet. But since Love never demonstrated that lots of points and rebounds by him = playoffs for the Wolves, posters might be looking at other factors in evaluating Love vs. Wiggins. For instance:

Wiggins' athleticism> Love's athleticism
Wiggins' defense> Love's defense
Wiggins' popularity in the clubhouse> Love's popularity

But ultimately, it has to be about wins and playoff runs, and that is the lens through which I will eventually judge Wiggins and Love. I know there are certainly elements other than Kevin involved in the Wolves' lack of success recently, but the only constants on the court during the last six years have been Love and the PA announcer, and I'm not ready to pin the Wolves' woes on Rod Johnson (although he does suck).

So, I would take this bet all day:

Wiggins' playoff appearances in his first three Wolves' seasons > Kevin Love's playoff appearances in his first three seasons.

Those who malign Kevin Love and praise Andrew Wiggins on this board are long-suffering Wolves' fans who just want things to be better, and are looking for the Wiggins era to have much more success than the Love era. It's not a very high bar, but gosh, we deserve it!

LST you were one of the people with me that didn't think it was that crazy for the Cavs to keep Wiggins instead of trade him and others for Love and build a dynasty right?

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Oh boy. We're back to Wiggins > Love comments already. Lol yeesh.

It depends on what you mean by ">", cam. I know that it means "is better than", but I would argue that a Wiggins/Love discussion is not that simple. It's not as easy or clear as saying, for instance, LST's takes > Cam's takes, something that nobody would argue with :) .

With respect to Love and Wiggins, if > means "scores more points and gets more rebounds", then it's not even worth having a discussion...Love is a proven offensive producer, and Wiggins is not...yet. But since Love never demonstrated that lots of points and rebounds by him = playoffs for the Wolves, posters might be looking at other factors in evaluating Love vs. Wiggins. For instance:

Wiggins' athleticism> Love's athleticism
Wiggins' defense> Love's defense
Wiggins' popularity in the clubhouse> Love's popularity

But ultimately, it has to be about wins and playoff runs, and that is the lens through which I will eventually judge Wiggins and Love. I know there are certainly elements other than Kevin involved in the Wolves' lack of success recently, but the only constants on the court during the last six years have been Love and the PA announcer, and I'm not ready to pin the Wolves' woes on Rod Johnson (although he does suck).

So, I would take this bet all day:

Wiggins' playoff appearances in his first three Wolves' seasons > Kevin Love's playoff appearances in his first three seasons.

Those who malign Kevin Love and praise Andrew Wiggins on this board are long-suffering Wolves' fans who just want things to be better, and are looking for the Wiggins era to have much more success than the Love era. It's not a very high bar, but gosh, we deserve it!

LST you were one of the people with me that didn't think it was that crazy for the Cavs to keep Wiggins instead of trade him and others for Love and build a dynasty right?

Yes, but I think we were just about the only voices here saying that. It was interesting...this board was about 90-10 that the Cavs should trade Wiggins for Love, the national media was about 60/40. and a slight majority of Cavs' fans wanted to keep Wiggins/Bennett, especially after watching them in Summer League My take was that the Cavs might be better off in the first year trading for Love, and I emphasize "might", but could potentially build a dynasty by keeping Wiggins/Bennett to pair with Kyrie, James, Waiters, and TT. I just thought two young number 1's with the potential to be elite 2-way players was more valuable than an elite scorer and rebounder, who had not demonstrated an ability to get to the playoffs or play defense. Cleveland wasn't going to struggle to score points with James/Irving/Waiters, and Wiggins could have helped them overcome their defensive shortcomings. I just thought it was an interesting debate and worthy of discussion. But James clearly had a preference to trade for Love, and that ended the debate.

I still think the Cavs' will correct their early season issues and win 55 games, so both cities may be happy with the trade. As good as James is, though, I don't see them winning a championship with 3 defensively challenged starters and a weak bench.

[bleedspeed]

Why is it Love vs Wiggins? Why not Love vs Young/Wiggins/Bennett?

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Two Thoughts.

1. Offensively, I think it's all about the handles with this guy.

If he develops that, if he develops the ability to get anywhere on the floor with the ball, to change direction and create his own drive off the dribble like almost all of the star wings can do, then he'll join their ranks and be a perennial All-Star.

If not, being able to jump really high and twist in the air is not going to make him a star.

Right now, his handles are very stiff. He can dribble into a nice step back jumper, but that's not going to be enough.

2. I think it's fascinating to think about his style of play. To me, there are some guys whose bodies move in a very smooth, fluid motion, some good, some bad. MJ, Kobe, Wade, JR Smith, Gerald Green, T-Mac. And then there are guys whose movements are more mechanical and precise, D. Rose, LeBron, Westbrook, John Wall to an extent.

Wiggins fits clearly into the latter camp. This isn't necessarily a bad thing (look at his company with Rose, LeBron, and Westbrook). When he pops up for a jumper, it's straight up and quick mechanical motions like a pogo stick. His jumper actually looks a lot like Westbrook's. It makes he cringe a bit when he shoots it's so quick and mechanical, it doesn't look like he has much touch on it, like he's just flicking it up there. Those fluid guys tend to be better jump shooters. But Wiggins' shots have been falling. And the same with Westbrook and lately Rose, when their shots are falling, you can't stop them because they get them off so quick and get such good elevation. Same when he drives. it doesn't look like he has a lot of touch on the finish, it's not fluid, it looks like he kind of just lets the ball go at a certain point - - - but his athleticism gets him so close to the basket that he just needs to get it up off the glass and he can get them to fall.

So I think Wiggins should study lots of tape of Westbrook in particular. I don't like him as a PG so much, but offensively, if Wiggins can develop the handles that Westbrook has and his offensive moves, holy cow, look out.

[Volans19]

I just read the Youtube comments for the highlight video, smh, what a toxic environment. Makes you appreciate the nice little community we've built here.

The Toronto fans are already driving me nuts just assuming Wiggins is going to ditch us the first chance he gets to go play for the Raptors. We have him for at least four more years!

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Cam, you'll be reporting on the next 2 games, right?

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

Let me clarify my stance on Wiggins vs Love. Right now, Love is the better player, no question. And I still think Cleveland did the right thing, they have to try to win now. That being said if I had a choice of trading Wiggins for Love, straight up, today, I would turn it down without a second thought. Great two way players don't come around to often, and I think we have one here in Wiggy.