monsterpile wrote:
The info I mentioned about his ball-handling was DX saying it was the draft workouts where teams were really impressed with George's ball-handling otherwise the scouting report is pretty much what you posted. Of course most of the highlights from his rookie year are alot of dunks and blocks, but I'll say that from what little i have seen of Wiggins the comparisons to George looks pretty reasonable watching this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLWsLgqPGXU
The first paragraph on Draft Express talks about how his high turnover rate is caused by poor ball-handling skills. He did improve, though, and I think ball-handling is one of the easiest things for someone to improve.
The thing that stood out to me with George was that his profile was a lot like Wiggins in that he needed to work on his ball-handling and trying to get to the hole more. The difference was that he was known as a great shooter with unlimited range. He had something to fall back on while the rest of his game was improving. Wiggins is just an adequate shooter. If Wiggins doesn't fix his problems quickly, he could be in for a rough first couple years on the offensive end.
George also had a perfect environment to develop in. Granger and West handled the scoring load and Paul just had to defend. He had 2-3 years to work on his complementary skills and refine his game before he was relied on as the centerpiece of the offense. Wiggins won't have that opportunity if he is in Minnesota.
"George also had a perfect environment to develop in. Granger and West handled the scoring load and Paul just had to defend. He had 2-3 years to work on his complementary skills and refine his game before he was relied on as the centerpiece of the offense. Wiggins won't have that opportunity if he is in Minnesota."
Why won't he? Pekovic, Martin and Rubio will handle the offense. Wiggins will be asked to defend the best perimeter player on a nightly basis and make a lot of the open shots that Rubio creates for him. How is Granger and West any more of an offensive punch than Martin and Pekovic with Rubio at point guard? Honestly, you just made a great comparison of the two environments being alike, but then said they're different.
Cam beat me to it but I think the enviroment might be actually better because Wiggins will have more opportunity than George did unless some wing really steps up and takes a ton of minutes which is possible depending on who is here.
Yeah George had that jumper but I remember the worry was about shot selection and his low FG% (I think this was something either Lip or Q were very concerned about). The thing is we are comparing 2 guys where 1 played 2 years of college and the other one played just 1. Comparing the 2 makes Wiggins scoring average sort of impressive especially since he played with some talented guys there. If Wiggins something like Paul George or Leonard then that's a pretty good because both guys have plenty of upside to them at this point. You could argue that George FG% is somewhat of a problem again but I'd be willing to live with that especially with his all-around game.
I was assuming that if Love goes, so does Martin. I should have mentioned that. If Love gets traded for Wiggins, I don't see much point in keeping Martin. He's a good SG on a fair contract, but he's 31. His name has been thrown around enough that once Love is gone, I think Martin will be too. That would leave Wiggins as our main wing scorer, unless we want to see if Corey can score 51 again.
ace wrote:I was assuming that if Love goes, so does Martin. I should have mentioned that. If Love gets traded for Wiggins, I don't see much point in keeping Martin. He's a good SG on a fair contract, but he's 31. His name has been thrown around enough that once Love is gone, I think Martin will be too. That would leave Wiggins as our main wing scorer, unless we want to see if Corey can score 51 again.
Flip mentioned yesterday that Martin and Dieng were not in any trade talks so it makes sense Martin isn't going anywhere. Someone needs to score.
Flip knows he needs some veterans on this about-to-be-super-young team, not to mention someone to stretch the floor. Martin's contract is fair market. He has value in Minnesota even when we trade Love. Martin's age doesn't bother me either since his game is built around his shooting ability. Everyone's heard the cliche: "Shooters never stop shooting." It rings true for the most part. Martin will be fine in that regard.
Phenom's_Revenge wrote:I honestly see Martin as a trade deadline candidate when teams will be in more of a need for him.
I have to disagree with this. Martin is fine as it is but he is not a difference maker. Add that to his 7m salary for the next 3 years then i dont see a team will be willing to give up a player of value to match salary or assets for him.
For example, adding him to the heat last season wont make them beat the spurs. Add him to the pacers, thunder, bulls or bobcats and they still get bounce when they did. He just wont impact the game.
The best chance of trading him is if he is a complimentary piece in a multi player trade or in his last contract year. Otherwise, your better off keeping him and try to fit his skills to help your team as much as possible. I will be fine if we just keep him for a season or two to be a placeholder until lavine is ready.
Phenom's_Revenge wrote:I honestly see Martin as a trade deadline candidate when teams will be in more of a need for him.
I have to disagree with this. Martin is fine as it is but he is not a difference maker. Add that to his 7m salary for the next 3 years then i dont see a team will be willing to give up a player of value to match salary or assets for him.
For example, adding him to the heat last season wont make them beat the spurs. Add him to the pacers, thunder, bulls or bobcats and they still get bounce when they did. He just wont impact the game.
The best chance of trading him is if he is a complimentary piece in a multi player trade or in his last contract year. Otherwise, your better off keeping him and try to fit his skills to help your team as much as possible. I will be fine if we just keep him for a season or two to be a placeholder until lavine is ready.
Never underestimate teams that have a key injury or are playing below high expectations. I still see Indy as a prime spot if they fall apart without Lance. Then there are the teams that are annually desperate to make trades like Brooklyn. I don't view him as unmovable and feel no desperation to dump him on Cleveland at this time. Besides, at the deadline Martin's deal is essentially a year less.
Phenom's_Revenge wrote:I honestly see Martin as a trade deadline candidate when teams will be in more of a need for him.
I have to disagree with this. Martin is fine as it is but he is not a difference maker. Add that to his 7m salary for the next 3 years then i dont see a team will be willing to give up a player of value to match salary or assets for him.
For example, adding him to the heat last season wont make them beat the spurs. Add him to the pacers, thunder, bulls or bobcats and they still get bounce when they did. He just wont impact the game.
The best chance of trading him is if he is a complimentary piece in a multi player trade or in his last contract year. Otherwise, your better off keeping him and try to fit his skills to help your team as much as possible. I will be fine if we just keep him for a season or two to be a placeholder until lavine is ready.
Never underestimate teams that have a key injury or are playing below high expectations. I still see Indy as a prime spot if they fall apart without Lance. Then there are the teams that are annually desperate to make trades like Brooklyn. I don't view him as unmovable and feel no desperation to dump him on Cleveland at this time. Besides, at the deadline Martin's deal is essentially a year less.
Going by your example, who would the pacers trade for martin? As ive said, him making 7m a year adds to the difficulty in trading him to a playoff or contending aspiring team. They would have to give up rotation players at the least to get martin and martin has proven throughout his career that he plays to the level of his team and he wont elevate a team with his play. He wont make you worse but he wont impact your team much to make a big difference. As ive cited, add martin to any playoff team last season and they likely end up with the same results.
I actually think martin's best value to us right now is to play for us and be placeholder until lavine is ready to start in a year or two.
