Andrew Wiggins Preseason Evaluation

[Monster]

After so many blown draft picks, I'm taking a wait and see attitude with Wiggins. But I like what I see so far. He seems like the type of player that can make a positive impact on the game without putting up great stats. Sort of like another player we have...Ricky Rubio. Doh.

The question of whether he can be a dominating go-to player probably won't be answered for 2 to 3 years.

Agreed Mstermisty. I'm pretty jaded too after all the high draft picks we've had come through Minnesota, only to show little or no improvement from one season to the next. I think Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic might be the only two draft picks in recent memory that markedly improved their game since being rookies.

Also, remember OJ Mayo, DeMar DeRozan, Harrison Barnes, and Shabazz Muhammed? All of these guys were heralded high school and AAU players that at one time were considered #1 picks in mock drafts prior to playing college ball. I remember people saying how great and dominant they would all be as pros. Similar to these guys, Wiggins was a massively heralded prospect that had a decent, but not great, college campaign. And of the four players mentioned above, only one has emerged so far as an above average pro and that was only very recently (DeMar DeRozan). Granted, Harrison Barnes and Shabazz are still in their formative years as pros, but does anyone see either of these two becoming perennial all-stars some day? I certainly don't, yet not so long ago these two were viewed as future franchise saviors.

I actually think Wiggins has a pretty high floor because of what he is already showing defensively. But offensively he is still quite raw. I have a feeling his offensive maturation will follow more closely the path of DeMar DeRozan than someone like Kevin Durant or LeBron James.

Q, I think Wiggins has considerable more substance to his offensive game than Demar did. I agree that Lebron and Durant are likely out of reach, but a lot depends on development. Of the little I have seen of him, he seems like a good kid who will take coaching easily. The one deciding skill will be his handle. If he can tighten that up, there is no reason he can't be a star, but that does seem to be one of the most difficult to improve upon. When Durant came into the league, I had my doubts about his mental strength, and willingness to take over, but he certainly answered all questions.

Wiggins seems like a guy that is a nice mix of Durant's and Lebron's talents. My biggest question is does he have the superstar gene. Does he want to be "the guy", and will he push to get that level.

Wiggins isn't even close to Durant's offensive skill-set at the same age, never mind the mentality issue. Durant was flat out dominant in his one year at Texas, averaging 26 PPG, with better efficiency than Wiggins in every single category. He's much closer to DeRozan than Durant.

People say, "he's so young, give him a chance to develop!", but a guy like Wiggins (along with the others I mentioned before) has been playing at a really high level with top notch coaching for a long time now. It's not like 25+ years ago where great players didn't really get the exposure and high level competition until their late teens. Now these guys are being spotted, elevated, and coached up at much younger ages.

The Ariza-DeRozan-Batum range is much more likely than the Durant-LeBron range.

Q I don't disagree with your stance on Wiggins but I do think that comparing Durant's college impact to Wiggins is pretty flawed. Wiggins played with a guy many peoplesay is more talented in Embiid and Kansas is a heck of a program. Durant was THE guy in Texas like Beasely was for K-state. This has all been mentioned numerous times but yeah. Also Beasley is a great example of real skill and talent that is worthless. Wiggins seems like a good kid that won't waste his talent like Beas and Mayo. Let's hope so.

[mjs34]

After so many blown draft picks, I'm taking a wait and see attitude with Wiggins. But I like what I see so far. He seems like the type of player that can make a positive impact on the game without putting up great stats. Sort of like another player we have...Ricky Rubio. Doh.

The question of whether he can be a dominating go-to player probably won't be answered for 2 to 3 years.

Agreed Mstermisty. I'm pretty jaded too after all the high draft picks we've had come through Minnesota, only to show little or no improvement from one season to the next. I think Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic might be the only two draft picks in recent memory that markedly improved their game since being rookies.

Also, remember OJ Mayo, DeMar DeRozan, Harrison Barnes, and Shabazz Muhammed? All of these guys were heralded high school and AAU players that at one time were considered #1 picks in mock drafts prior to playing college ball. I remember people saying how great and dominant they would all be as pros. Similar to these guys, Wiggins was a massively heralded prospect that had a decent, but not great, college campaign. And of the four players mentioned above, only one has emerged so far as an above average pro and that was only very recently (DeMar DeRozan). Granted, Harrison Barnes and Shabazz are still in their formative years as pros, but does anyone see either of these two becoming perennial all-stars some day? I certainly don't, yet not so long ago these two were viewed as future franchise saviors.

I actually think Wiggins has a pretty high floor because of what he is already showing defensively. But offensively he is still quite raw. I have a feeling his offensive maturation will follow more closely the path of DeMar DeRozan than someone like Kevin Durant or LeBron James.

Q, I think Wiggins has considerable more substance to his offensive game than Demar did. I agree that Lebron and Durant are likely out of reach, but a lot depends on development. Of the little I have seen of him, he seems like a good kid who will take coaching easily. The one deciding skill will be his handle. If he can tighten that up, there is no reason he can't be a star, but that does seem to be one of the most difficult to improve upon. When Durant came into the league, I had my doubts about his mental strength, and willingness to take over, but he certainly answered all questions.

Wiggins seems like a guy that is a nice mix of Durant's and Lebron's talents. My biggest question is does he have the superstar gene. Does he want to be "the guy", and will he push to get that level.

Wiggins isn't even close to Durant's offensive skill-set at the same age, never mind the mentality issue. Durant was flat out dominant in his one year at Texas, averaging 26 PPG, with better efficiency than Wiggins in every single category. He's much closer to DeRozan than Durant.

People say, "he's so young, give him a chance to develop!", but a guy like Wiggins (along with the others I mentioned before) has been playing at a really high level with top notch coaching for a long time now. It's not like 25+ years ago where great players didn't really get the exposure and high level competition until their late teens. Now these guys are being spotted, elevated, and coached up at much younger ages.

The Ariza-DeRozan-Batum range is much more likely than the Durant-LeBron range.

He certainly wasn't the shooter Durant was, but he is significantly more athletic and a better defender, which is why I didn't specify "offensive". I clearly stated I didn't think he was likely to make it to their level, but if he is able to tighten up his handle even that is in range (Durant). Durant's efficiency dropped significantly in his first season in the NBA as well and we all know that college isn't always a great measure for NBA success. The Ariza-Derozan-Batum is his floor in my eyes although I would be happy with Batum, who I think is a better player than the other two but does tend to disappear occasionally.

As far as coaching goes, it has very little impact nowadays. Coaches know they have these guys for a year or two, and aren't worried at all about development. They want to win games, Period!

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Monster, The fact that Durant could be THE MAN and be so much more efficient than Wiggins suggests that these two are miles apart offensively at the same age. With Wiggins presumably being able to play off superior team mates, why wasn't he a lot more efficient? Wouldn't he have had fewer contested shots than Durant, who everyone knew was getting the ball? I agree it's an unfair comparison - unfair in that Durant was so much better!

SJM, It's true that not every college star turns into a great NBA player, but most NBA stars were great college players. See the difference? While Wiggins had by all measures a nice freshman year, it wasn't all that impressive when compared to the freshman years of other current NBA stars, including Durant, Love, Irving, Harden, and Curry. Again, he's much closer to DeRozan and Harrison Barnes than these other guys. I agree, if he turns into Nic Batum, I think we should be happy with that.

[mjs34]

Michael Jordan averaged 13.5 pts in his freshman season with the same efficiency as Wiggins. Some might think he had a pretty good supporting cast as well.

[m4gor [enjin:6667447]]

To me Wiggins should be 1-4 defender (Iggy style) with decent offensive game, i dont expect him to be on Durant/Lebron level offensively, can he get there? Maybe. But who knows, also he is going to be developed by our wolves, who are hiring shooting coach after 3 years of Ricky being leagues punching bag when it comes to FG%, if you would ask me i would expect him working with a shooting coach from day1 ...

[60WinTim]

Sam Mitchell was on with PA yesterday. He said one of the surprises with Wiggins has been his ability to shoot the ball. You usually don't see that in a players rookie year.

I already have my playoff tickets printed, but if Wiggins can shoot, too? We might have home court in the first round!

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Michael Jordan averaged 13.5 pts in his freshman season with the same efficiency as Wiggins. Some might think he had a pretty good supporting cast as well.

Oh, oh sjm...you used the J word! A month ago when I merely stated facts in comparing the similarity in Wiggins' and Jordan's college careers, I was nearly tarred and feathered, even though I made it perfectly clear that I was in no way forecasting a Jordanian career for Wiggins. I was merely stating the following as reasons for optimism:

1) Wiggins, like Jordan, is a freakish athlete...certainly ranking in the top 5% in the league

2) Both Wiggins and Jordan played for very successful college programs, and had enormously talented teammates to share the stats load with

3) Both Wiggins and Jordan had very good, but not Durant or Beasley-like, college stats.

Those are all indisputable facts, but there is also room for opinion. The reason that I see Wiggins ceiling as perhaps higher than some on this board is that I think his game translates better to the pro game than the college game...just like Jordan's did.

My biggest concern about Wiggins reaching his full enormous potential is his internal fire. Unlike Jordan at NC, Wiggins sometimes seemed a little passive at Kansas. In the first two exhibition games he has generally responded to the coach's demands that he play more aggressively, but I still saw moments of disappearance and deferral. If he can develop an alpha dog mentality, his ceiling is sky high.

[60WinTim]

Jordanian. I like it!

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

To me Wiggins should be 1-4 defender (Iggy style) with decent offensive game, i dont expect him to be on Durant/Lebron level offensively, can he get there? Maybe. But who knows, also he is going to be developed by our wolves, who are hiring shooting coach after 3 years of Ricky being leagues punching bag when it comes to FG%, if you would ask me i would expect him working with a shooting coach from day1 ...

Oh Wiggins won't be a 50-40-90 guy like Durant or shoot 56% for whole season like Lebron did? Uh Duh

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

Michael Jordan averaged 13.5 pts in his freshman season with the same efficiency as Wiggins. Some might think he had a pretty good supporting cast as well.

Well MJ shot like 55%in college, and Wiggins 44% so not quite as efficient. I think MJ win the tourny in his freshman year as well