Andrew Wiggins Preseason Evaluation

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

One more thought: This guy is 19. 19! Like KG, showing signs of major game is good enough, for now.

I'd like to see him win rookie of the year though.

[alexftbl8181 [enjin:6648741]]

One more thought: This guy is 19. 19! Like KG, showing signs of major game is good enough, for now.

I'd like to see him win rookie of the year though.

I would like to see him stay healthy the whole year. Because just as Wolves luck will go, he'll tear his ACL the first month of the season

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

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.

[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.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Random note here: According to Zgoda or the Wolves PR tweets, Kevin Martin didn't even know Love was traded until a couple days before camp? If that's true, then I like this guy even less. I'm secretly hoping he's hurt most of the year so one of our younger guys can get more burn.

[mjs34]

Random note here: According to Zgoda or the Wolves PR tweets, Kevin Martin didn't even know Love was traded until a couple days before camp? If that's true, then I like this guy even less. I'm secretly hoping he's hurt most of the year so one of our younger guys can get more burn.

It was a joke.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Random note here: According to Zgoda or the Wolves PR tweets, Kevin Martin didn't even know Love was traded until a couple days before camp? If that's true, then I like this guy even less. I'm secretly hoping he's hurt most of the year so one of our younger guys can get more burn.

It was a joke.

Thanks, I figured he must have been living in a cave not to know that. But then again, he seems like kind of an aloof guy who might not care about this team.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Random note here: According to Zgoda or the Wolves PR tweets, Kevin Martin didn't even know Love was traded until a couple days before camp? If that's true, then I like this guy even less. I'm secretly hoping he's hurt most of the year so one of our younger guys can get more burn.

It was a joke.

Thanks, I figured he must have been living in a cave not to know that. But then again, he seems like kind of an aloof guy who might not care about this team.

And this is yet another jab at Martin for no reason.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

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.

[Monster]

One more thought: This guy is 19. 19! Like KG, showing signs of major game is good enough, for now.

I'd like to see him win rookie of the year though.

I would like to see him stay healthy the whole year. Because just as Wolves luck will go, he'll tear his ACL the first month of the season

Derrick Williams was at least good for 1 thing breaking the Wolves Sophomore injury curse. Lol