Let's isolate on Wiggins...

[Lipoli390]

Wiggins learned today that both Butler and KAT have been named allstars while he's left out. And that's a couple days after seeing Butler's interview essentially publicly calling out Wiggins for not playing up to his ability. Talk about motivation. If this doesn't stoke a fire under Andrew I don't know what will. Yet, Wiggins just had two great games in a row before learning about he allstar selection or reading Jimmy's interview. Maybe he'll score 50 against the Blazers. It's exciting to think of how good this team can be with Wiggins consistently doing what we all know he's capable of doing. His last two games have been impressive. He should be highly motivated to continue pushing himself. I'm looking forward to watching him the rest of the season.

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

https://mobile.twitter.com/KGArea21/status/961102067065638913?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fs9e.github.io%2Fiframe%2Ftwitter.min.html%23961102067065638913

[thedoper]

https://mobile.twitter.com/KGArea21/status/961102067065638913?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fs9e.github.io%2Fiframe%2Ftwitter.min.html%23961102067065638913

Thanks for that.

[Coolbreeze44]

That's in pretty stark contrast to the common refrain here that KG says he has no heart.

[thedoper]

That's in pretty stark contrast to the common refrain here that KG says he has no heart.

Yeah it seems more nuanced than that for sure. What is clear that everyone has high expectations for the kid. How people deal with their expectations is what is unique.

[Lipoli390]

Decided to come back to this thread after Andrew's stinker last night. I watched KG's comments. If you listen closely, KG is saying the same thing that Butler said recently - namely that Wiggins is super talented and plays at a really high level when motivated, but that he has effort issues.

Butler wondered out loud how good Wiggins could be if he played at 80%. Similarly, KG talked about how great Wiggins can be "when ticked off or motivated." KG mentioned how he would see Wiggins unmotivated in practices. KG said he would then do things to get Wiggins ticked off, which would cause Wiggins to "take over practice for about the next 2 or 3 minutes and then he'd get off ... he don't want the responsibility or something." If you listen closely and objectively KG was echoing the concerns expressed by many about Wiggins' motivation or motor. And remember these were public comments. KG's comment that Wiggins "has no heart" was made privately to a former NBA player who is a friend of KG. That former player is also a good friend of someone I know really well. That's how I found out about it. I suspect that KG was perhaps overstating his feelings to his friend and understanding his feelings in the video clip.

But there's no mystery here. Wiggins way too often falls well short of the intensity a competitive fire essential to becoming a great NBA player. Butler and KG have both alluded pretty clearly to it. We've all seen it for almost 4 full seasons. And as we all know, observers saw the same problems with Wiggins back when he was in college. Here's part of the nbadraft.net analysis of Wiggins back when he was drafted. After mentioning all the huge positives, including his athleticism, the evaluation said the following, which focuses mainly on his lack of intensity but also mentions his loose handle:

Weaknesses: The biggest issue is whether or not Wiggins has the mental make up to maximize his immense physical gifts. While some scouts are extremely high on him, there are just as many that question his focus and passion for the game ... Often plays too upright on offense, which can get him off his base and lead to turnovers ... Needs to work on moving without the ball, has a reputation of sometimes standing, ball watching ... Defensive awareness is something he must work on, along with always running out to his spot and not relying completely on length, athleticism to challenge a player ... Still needs to add upper body strength, had issues finishing around the basket and getting knocked off of his spot when defensive rebounding ... Long range shot is still not overly consistent, sometimes turns his hand outward on follow through ... Often loose with dribble, sometimes has the ball too high and gets exploited when double teamed ... Some question his lack of assertiveness offensively, which calls into question his ability to be a primary option on a high level team ... Battled inconsistency and struggled against physical defense, which could point to strength as well as a sign of shaky confidence ... Should look to become a more vocal leader ... Too often settled for long range shots and did not venture out of his comfort zone enough, still has many things to learn in terms of creating mid range shots and counter moves ... Had a difficult time establishing post position, something that could be a crucial next step to utilize his quickness and size as a wing at the next level ... Has been compared to Kobe Bryant, but the biggest difference appears to be the attention to detail. So far, granted Kobe's is extremely rare, Wiggins has been lacking in this area. Will he develop this critical aspect in order to polish his all around game to achieve greatness?

[thedoper]

I think the main issue with Wiggins is that the shots aren't going in. They got to start dropping more consistently. I don't think we'd be talking about this if the shots were dropping, particularly from 3 and the line. He's made strides in his D. I think the incosistency of engagement in the game has not really been an issue this season. Last night was horrible and it did look like he was struggling in every facet of the game. But I think that demeanor and lack aggressive play on both ends has been the exception rather than the rule.

[Wolvesfan21]

Lip-

Glen Taylor came out questioning Wiggins motivation before offering a contract extension.

Stephen Jackson and other ESPN analysts have pointed out Wiggins low effort several times.

KG says you need to motivate Andrew and he takes over for a couple minutes.

Butler says the same thing.

This is a major problem.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

Let's not forget Gorgui Dieng's comments last season as well.

"Wigg is a great basketball player. He cannot pick and choose when he wants to play. We need him to play like this every night."

It's been said already, though. You cannot make a player want to be great. They either have that desire and motivation within or they don't. From all that we've been able to gather over the course of four NBA seasons, Andrew Wiggins does not seem to have that fire burning inside of him. The lack of tangible improvement, and unexplainable regression in areas, supports this idea as well as the basketball community, including past and current teammates, calling him out for inconsistent effort. Production is one thing, effort is another. It's easier to cope and understand rises and falls in production, but lack of effort is inexcusable. Some of us knew these were legitimate problems pre-draft, some during his rookie season, some later than that, and some are just realizing it.

The guy has all the talent in the world and will almost certainly fail to become an All-Star player in this league. It's a shame, really.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Let's not forget Gorgui Dieng's comments last season as well.

"Wigg is a great basketball player. He cannot pick and choose when he wants to play. We need him to play like this every night."

It's been said already, though. You cannot make a player want to be great. They either have that desire and motivation within or they don't. From all that we've been able to gather over the course of four NBA seasons, Andrew Wiggins does not seem to have that fire burning inside of him. The lack of tangible improvement, and unexplainable regression in areas, supports this idea as well as the basketball community, including past and current teammates, calling him out for inconsistent effort. Production is one thing, effort is another. It's easier to cope and understand rises and falls in production, but lack of effort is inexcusable. Some of us knew these were legitimate problems pre
-draft, some during his rookie season, some later than that, and some are just realizing it.

The guy has all the talent in the world and will almost certainly fail to become an All-Star player in this league. It's a shame, really.

I have always thought the role to redemption was for him to be a shot maker. But as Doper said, the shots aren't going in enough. If you aren't going to bust your ass consistently, but you make your open 3's, free throws, and exploit mis-matches, then we could probably live with that. But the fact is he does neither very well. Sad indeed.