Minnesota Sports Forum

TheSP wrote:He's being far more aggressive in driving to the hoop, but his poor handle renders him no more efficient than on long twos and threes.

And his ability to draw fouls is being rendered pretty useless...

He shows signs of being great, but has so damn far to go physically, skill-wise and mentally. Just like you would expected from a 20 year old 2nd year player. KAT is spoiling us rotten!

This is where you have to have some patience. There is no question in my mind that Wig will be a top 10 player in this league. It might not happen in the time frame you want to see, but it's going to happen.

R-E-L-A-X

I hate to say it, but Wiggins has been disappointing. It's mainly because he hasn't improved at all from last year to now. This isn't about patience. You expect or assume young players improve. That's not happening with Wiggins and if we can't point out what the issue is, he's not gonna get better. Many of the flaws he's shown since he's arrived onto the basketball scene are in full display. Where's the improvement? Even if it's marginal, it hasn't shown itself yet.

WildWolf2813 wrote:I hate to say it, but Wiggins has been disappointing. It's mainly because he hasn't improved at all from last year to now. This isn't about patience. You expect or assume young players improve. That's not happening with Wiggins and if we can't point out what the issue is, he's not gonna get better. Many of the flaws he's shown since he's arrived onto the basketball scene are in full display. Where's the improvement? Even if it's marginal, it hasn't shown itself yet.

Ouch, I really haven't focused too much on Wiggins' stats in his first 2 years, because he has been scoring so well this year. But if you compare his offensive stats this year to his rookie year, he isn't better in any category except PPG...and he's scoring with lower shooting percentages. Compare that situation to Zach LaVine, who has improved this year in almost every category. Generally NBA players improve greatly from year 1 to year 2, so it's disappointing that Wig has not improved...at least statistically.

When you move away from stats, my eye test sees evidence of Wig's improvement. He's improved his Eurostep and spin move, and seems to be able to create his own shot better than last year. His defense seems improved also. But one area where he really needed to improve in...his sloppy handle...doesn't appear to be any better than last year and actually may be worse.

Wig had a very good rookie year, albeit a not very efficient one, so he didn't have to improve as much as Zach did coming off a dreadful rookie year. But still, I would have expected mire improvement this year.

I hate it when our guys are among the top 15 scorers in the league. Damn you Andrew!! Pull your head out of your ass!!

CoolBreeze44 wrote:I hate it when our guys are among the top 15 scorers in the league. Damn you Andrew!! Pull your head out of your ass!!

Ha, I love Wig's PPG, cool (although technically he's tied for 16th with Isaiah Thomas), but that's not the issue I commented on. My comment was on his performance this year compared to last year, and he frankly hasn't shown the typical improvement NBA players show in their second years...shooting percentage almost always goes up as the 2nd year player gets more comfortable with the NBA. Wig is not only one year more experienced, but also is playing with a better PG this year. You would think his scoring efficiency would be substantially improved this year, but it's actually worse. I see that as a legitimate issue that wildwolf brought up.

Doesn't mean he's not going to be a star...only that his path is different than most eventual stars.

longstrangetrip wrote:

CoolBreeze44 wrote:I hate it when our guys are among the top 15 scorers in the league. Damn you Andrew!! Pull your head out of your ass!!

Ha, I love Wig's PPG, cool (although technically he's tied for 16th with Isaiah Thomas), but that's not the issue I commented on. My comment was on his performance this year compared to last year, and he frankly hasn't shown the typical improvement NBA players show in their second years...shooting percentage almost always goes up as the 2nd year player gets more comfortable with the NBA. Wig is not only one year more experienced, but also is playing with a better PG this year. You would think his scoring efficiency would be substantially improved this year, but it's actually worse. I see that as a legitimate issue that wildwolf brought up.

Doesn't mean he's not going to be a star...only that his path is different than most eventual stars.

It's a bit perplexing why his outside isn't better this year, I'll give you that. But other than the big guy we already have, I can't think of many 20 years olds I'd take over him. He's still the guy his teammates look to when we need a basket. We'd be a lot less potent without him.

And you guys wonder why I constantly refer back to Ricky . After his second year of showing no progress and injuries you guys continued to have his back. At that time you all still believed in his ability to be a star and capable of correcting his flaws. (Amazingly some still do!)
But a third of the way thru Wiggins second year your making up your mind on his overall potential as a player? Wiggins won't become a better ball handler becuz that's learnt early on but Ricky will become a better shooter becuz he hits his free throws???!!! Help me understand !

PorkChop wrote:And you guys wonder why I constantly refer back to Ricky . After his second year of showing no progress and injuries you guys continued to have his back. At that time you all still believed in his ability to be a star and capable of correcting his flaws. (Amazingly some still do!)
But a third of the way thru Wiggins second year your making up your mind on his overall potential as a player? Wiggins won't become a better ball handler becuz that's learnt early on but Ricky will become a better shooter becuz he hits his free throws???!!! Help me understand !

I dig it when PorkChop goes full PorkChop!


[Note: "But Rubio improved his DRB%, so he did improve, jerk!"]

PA is really pushing that Wiggins was sold as Kawhi Leonard type player and wants to see him shut down Hayward tonight.