Minnesota Sports Forum

thedoper wrote:

Camden0916 wrote:So, I watched Andrew Wiggins post-game interview with NBA TV. Here's what I got from it.

Wiggins was asked how he reacted to the top-100 list -- the one that he was ranked 100 on.

Wiggins said that at first he just laughed at it, but the more he kept seeing it -- even when he wasn't looking for it -- the more it lit a fire in his eyes, as he put it.

I think it really hurt him inside. I think it's possible Wiggins saw the nationwide disapproval, or intentional disregard, of his game and used it as motivation. If you think about it, that's probably the first real moment of his life where he had been humbled on a national scale when it came to basketball. As a high schooler, he was named Mr. Basketball USA, Gatorade National Player of the Year, Naismith Prep Player of the Year, McDonald's All-American. People gave him the "Maple Jordan" monicker and routinely crowned him the "best prospect since LeBron James" -- a headline that is far too overused for my taste, but that's a different topic for another day. Then he gets drafted No. 1 overall and wins Rookie of the Year despite being on one of the worst teams in basketball. Fast forward several years and he's handed a max contract even though he had done next to nothing to really justify it. Nothing along his path gave him any real resistance to grow from.

And now we're here at the early stages of what could be a real breakout campaign for Wiggins. Nothing promotes growth better than some sort of internal pain. I truly believe that. If Wiggins being dissed by the basketball community was all that was needed for the lightbulb to go off with him, I would have made more phone calls myself.

If Wiggins' play remains to be anything close to what we've seen to this point, Sports Illustrated's Rob Mahoney may have saved the franchise singe-handedly without even knowing what he was doing.

If he only read this message board we could have all given you credit for it. I think these are nice platitudes and agree that probably went a long way for motivation. But his decision making has been drastically tweaked, which still points to a strategic adjustment on the court. He's top 10 in points in the paint this year. He didnt sniff that in years past. Now that you're being nice to Wiggins maybe Saunders and Rosas arent far behind.

Motivated, sure. But i was expecting better scoring. However, the guy has learned to make pinpoint reads and passes like hes been doing it for years. 6 years as a low iq player and passer to the things hes pulling off now just cant be explained by a simple "hot streak".

I thought tonight against the Spurs was Andrew's best game in an already impressive 11-game start for him this season. As I was watching tonight's game, I thought about Jimmy Butler's comment that Wiggins was "the most talented player on the team." He also said something to the effect that some of the things Wiggins does in practice are unbelievable. Watching Wiggins play with purpose and intensity and in an offense with spacing and pace more suited to his talents, we can see what Butler meant. As someone else pointed out, if the Wiggins we've seen the past 11 games is the Wiggins we see from now on, perhaps with even more improvement, then that changes everything from a front office standpoint. It would mean the Rosas no longer has to focus primarily on finding a second allstar to pair with KAT because Wiggins is that second star. And that would me finding the right rotation role players around those two.

thedoper wrote:If he only read this message board we could have all given you credit for it. I think these are nice platitudes and agree that probably went a long way for motivation. But his decision making has been drastically tweaked, which still points to a strategic adjustment on the court. He's top 10 in points in the paint this year. He didnt sniff that in years past. Now that you're being nice to Wiggins maybe Saunders and Rosas arent far behind.

Motivation usually preludes some sort of change. Who knows what version of Andrew Wiggins the Wolves would have got to start the year if he was ranked 30th on that list. If that was the case, he might very well be the same player we've seen time and time again. That whole positive and negative reinforcement psychological aspect is at play here, I'd think.

You're right that none of this is possible without a change in strategical approach and some mental coddling from the coaching staff. That's without question. I just watched the interview and subsequently thought out loud about how the guy hasn't really been called out nationally until then and it likely played a part in his potential turnaround.

To your last quip, I don't recall being "not nice" to either Ryan Saunders or Gersson Rosas. My position on both of them are rather undeniable.

Saunders was not the most qualified head coaching candidate available, and he clearly benefits from his father's last name and legacy in Minnesota. He does have some natural leadership traits and is a good communicator while having a sound basketball mind, but none of what I said prior was wrong.

As for Rosas, he was in my top-three candidates for the position he ultimately was hired for. My only real disagreement with what he's done to this point is trading up for Jarrett Culver when he could have stayed home and taken Tyler Herro. Even with that said, I was still in on Culver pre-daft dating back to his freshman year when he toyed with the idea of entering the draft. Besides that, his bargain bin shopping was logically sound although relatively boring and I obviously like that he showed interest in D'Angelo Russell despite striking out. Rosas said and did a lot of smart things in his first off-season.

I'd bet that you didn't mean anything by that statement either so my apologies for the lengthy reply. I'm just explaining myself before someone else decides to call me out. It's right around the corner at all times.

Camden0916 wrote:

thedoper wrote:If he only read this message board we could have all given you credit for it. I think these are nice platitudes and agree that probably went a long way for motivation. But his decision making has been drastically tweaked, which still points to a strategic adjustment on the court. He's top 10 in points in the paint this year. He didnt sniff that in years past. Now that you're being nice to Wiggins maybe Saunders and Rosas arent far behind.

Motivation usually preludes some sort of change. Who knows what version of Andrew Wiggins the Wolves would have got to start the year if he was ranked 30th on that list. If that was the case, he might very well be the same player we've seen time and time again. That whole positive and negative reinforcement psychological aspect is at play here, I'd think.

You're right that none of this is possible without a change in strategical approach and some mental coddling from the coaching staff. That's without question. I just watched the interview and subsequently thought out loud about how the guy hasn't really been called out nationally until then and it likely played a part in his potential turnaround.

To your last quip, I don't recall being "not nice" to either Ryan Saunders or Gersson Rosas. My position on both of them are rather undeniable.

Saunders was not the most qualified head coaching candidate available, and he clearly benefits from his father's last name and legacy in Minnesota. He does have some natural leadership traits and is a good communicator while having a sound basketball mind, but none of what I said prior was wrong.

As for Rosas, he was in my top-three candidates for the position he ultimately was hired for. My only real disagreement with what he's done to this point is trading up for Jarrett Culver when he could have stayed home and taken Tyler Herro. Even with that said, I was still in on Culver pre-daft dating back to his freshman year when he toyed with the idea of entering the draft. Besides that, his bargain bin shopping was logically sound although relatively boring and I obviously like that he showed interest in D'Angelo Russell despite striking out. Rosas said and did a lot of smart things in his first off-season.

I'd bet that you didn't mean anything by that statement either so my apologies for the lengthy reply. I'm just explaining myself before someone else decides to call me out. It's right around the corner at all times.

It was just a quip. I was just razzing you. All good.

lipoli390 wrote:I thought tonight against the Spurs was Andrew's best game in an already impressive 11-game start for him this season. As I was watching tonight's game, I thought about Jimmy Butler's comment that Wiggins was "the most talented player on the team." He also said something to the effect that some of the things Wiggins does in practice are unbelievable. Watching Wiggins play with purpose and intensity and in an offense with spacing and pace more suited to his talents, we can see what Butler meant. As someone else pointed out, if the Wiggins we've seen the past 11 games is the Wiggins we see from now on, perhaps with even more improvement, then that changes everything from a front office standpoint. It would mean the Rosas no longer has to focus primarily on finding a second allstar to pair with KAT because Wiggins is that second star. And that would me finding the right rotation role players around those two.

Not just butler, but Jamal Crawford as well said in an interview that wig was the most talented guy in the team. The last few games is certainly showing us how dominant wig can be if he can sustain this level of play.

The handles and passing is really encouraging. He made passes tonight that I never thought he could. He has always been good at drive and kick outs but tonight he was driving and dishing to guys cutting to the rim while on the move.

I agree that if this version of Wiggins is here to stay then the road to contender status is a lot easier for rosas. We would now have 2 max guys playing like max players instead of 1 max Guy ang 1 bad contract to build with.

lipoli390 wrote:I thought tonight against the Spurs was Andrew's best game in an already impressive 11-game start for him this season. As I was watching tonight's game, I thought about Jimmy Butler's comment that Wiggins was "the most talented player on the team." He also said something to the effect that some of the things Wiggins does in practice are unbelievable. Watching Wiggins play with purpose and intensity and in an offense with spacing and pace more suited to his talents, we can see what Butler meant. As someone else pointed out, if the Wiggins we've seen the past 11 games is the Wiggins we see from now on, perhaps with even more improvement, then that changes everything from a front office standpoint. It would mean the Rosas no longer has to focus primarily on finding a second allstar to pair with KAT because Wiggins is that second star. And that would me finding the right rotation role players around those two.

It changes everything if this is legit.

It moves up the timeline. It gives them a foundation of two guys.

The future of the franchise changes significantly.

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:I thought tonight against the Spurs was Andrew's best game in an already impressive 11-game start for him this season. As I was watching tonight's game, I thought about Jimmy Butler's comment that Wiggins was "the most talented player on the team." He also said something to the effect that some of the things Wiggins does in practice are unbelievable. Watching Wiggins play with purpose and intensity and in an offense with spacing and pace more suited to his talents, we can see what Butler meant. As someone else pointed out, if the Wiggins we've seen the past 11 games is the Wiggins we see from now on, perhaps with even more improvement, then that changes everything from a front office standpoint. It would mean the Rosas no longer has to focus primarily on finding a second allstar to pair with KAT because Wiggins is that second star. And that would me finding the right rotation role players around those two.

It changes everything if this is legit.

It moves up the timeline. It gives them a foundation of two guys.

The future of the franchise changes significantly.

Yes and yes and yes. It is a major game-changer for this franchise. Suddenly, RoCo may become more important than ever. Teague may be someone we bring back on a smaller contract (although I'd prefer we look elsewhere). It's possible a current G-League player could be an important cog if just a couple of the right boxes are checked. Etc.

http://pc-cdn.espnradio.com/audio/303/2889/25370/3696638/lowepost_2019-11-14-164938-6427-0-18-0.128.mp3?cdn_id=33&uuid=8314b0718fd3bf1697d109c10b71af0d&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fm.espn.com%2Fgeneral%2Fplay%3Fid%3D28081264&wuuid=5dcde7ad0c587138f1da96c822a5dd47491c4c57f77c6096

Wiggs has been the talk of the season right so far. Lowe talks about wiggs, dlo, and whether rosas should sell high.

Around the 33 minute mark.

Nothing has changed in my mind with Wiggins. He is performing at the moment, but the skeptic in me is remembering WAY too many games over the past 4-5 years that state this may be a high point for Wiggy. Hope to death I am wrong and all you are correct, but man, history doesn't show a lot of precedence with guys just all the sudden learning the game 5-6 years in.

crazy-canuck wrote:http://pc-cdn.espnradio.com/audio/303/2889/25370/3696638/lowepost_2019-11-14-164938-6427-0-18-0.128.mp3?cdn_id=33&uuid=8314b0718fd3bf1697d109c10b71af0d&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fm.espn.com%2Fgeneral%2Fplay%3Fid%3D28081264&wuuid=5dcde7ad0c587138f1da96c822a5dd47491c4c57f77c6096

Wiggs has been the talk of the season right so far. Lowe talks about wiggs, dlo, and whether rosas should sell high.

Around the 33 minute mark.

Good stuff.

Yeah, you gotta wonder if Rosas is getting some calls about Wigs and it's completely flipped from "here is what we need to take him off your hands" to "here is what we're willing to offer".