FIBA qualifying Bennett hype Thread

[bleedspeed]

It might be good for team Canada to have a set back. Hopefully they are pissed about it. My concern with Wiggins is he doesn't have the fire to win. How he reacts to this will be key. He stays so clam it is hard to know what he is thinking.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

It might be good for team Canada to have a set back. Hopefully they are pissed about it. My concern with Wiggins is he doesn't have the fire to win. How he reacts to this will be key. He stays so clam it is hard to know what he is thinking.

Lip has expressed some of the same concerns, and of course it was one of the negatives mentioned about Wiggins at Kansas. I guess I share your concerns. Wiggins is a remarkable talented athlete with the potential to be something very special. but I sometimes wonder if his demeanor could be the one thing that holds him back. It was disappointing to see both him and AB not show up for this big game. Actually I would have liked to see Wiggins dominate this level of competition throughout the tournament, and he just didn't do it. Maybe having a new, fiery coach like Mitchell might be a good thing for Andrew's development. Mitchell won't hesitate to put Shabazz out there if he senses Wiggins is holding back.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

I like having bazz as the Wiggins backup too bleed just for that reason. But I am intrigued by the two of them playing together.

[Coolbreeze44]

Andrew is never going to have an MJ or Kobe mentality. That ultra, almost over the top competitiveness that dominates their persona. But it doesn't mean he can't be great. He seems to be more like a Kawhi Leonard type. I still think his lack of physical stamina at his age makes him look more passive than he really is. Pretty sure the fire is burning pretty strong within. Time will tell, need some patience with him.

[Monster]

The mental aspect is a massive thing to consider it often separates the good from great so it's a great conversation to have.

Just something to consider that the frontal lobe (decision making center) of the brain hasn't fully developed till mid 20's and in some cases not till closer to 30. This is one reason why some people have hypothesized why mental illness tends to show up around those ages and not as much before. My point is Wiggins at age 20 is maybe a little early to say who he is or isn't mentally to a certain extent. Obviously some aspects of who he is are pretty strongly formed but my guess is we have all experienced quite a bit of change of who we are from what we were at age 20.

Wiggins to me seems more of a quiet guy that's internally thinking out a lot of what he is going to do. I think he will come out of his shell to a certain extent when he gets more comfortable confident in who he is both on and off the floor. Maybe he compares more to Duncan in the way he approaches the game. What did Duncan look like at age 20 when it came to being assertive etc? Anywho fun stuff to think about and if the other young players like Rubio Lavine and Towns with their personalities become pretty good players a more quiet calculating assassin of Wiggins could compliment those guys well.

[TAFKASP]

Just something to consider that the frontal lobe (decision making center) of the brain hasn't fully developed till mid 20's and in some cases not till closer to 30.

Would it be crazy for me to be holding out hope for 50?

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Andrew is never going to have an MJ or Kobe mentality. That ultra, almost over the top competitiveness that dominates their persona. But it doesn't mean he can't be great. He seems to be more like a Kawhi Leonard type. I still think his lack of physical stamina at his age makes him look more passive than he really is. Pretty sure the fire is burning pretty strong within. Time will tell, need some patience with him.

I don't know, cool...I'm holding on to hope that he can develop into an MJ or Kobe mentality, because I'm not convinced you can be truly great without it. A good NBA player, certainly...but not a great one. I just looked at a list of the 50 greatest NBA players, and I saw several guys on there who don't or didn't have Andrew's athletic gifts, but I couldn't find one that had Andrew's seemingly passive personality. A lot of them are or were not particularly likable (Kobe, MJ, Jabbar, Duncan, etc.), but I think that sometimes comes with a very intense, competitive personality. And the likable stars like Magic still seem to have that competitive drive always on display.

Wiggins has a chance to be something special, but I need to see a more consistent effort from him than I have seen to date.

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Wiggins is going into his second year as a pro basketball player. I think a lot of people's timelines to stardom are too sped up based on what he was forced to be last year. He's not an all-star already, so why should he be dominating this tournament? He did what most young players do and that is have a couple good games and bad games. There aren't many, if any consistent second year guys in the league. There's going to be more rollercoaster riding this year. All we can hope is the lows aren't as low so it's a more consistently good ride than last year. There is no fast lane to stardom. He came in a lot more raw of a player than any of the guys in the past who have made the jump to all-stars by year 2 so I think some of the board's expectations of what he should be this year are on the high end.

[Monster]

Just something to consider that the frontal lobe (decision making center) of the brain hasn't fully developed till mid 20's and in some cases not till closer to 30.

Would it be crazy for me to be holding out hope for 50?

Sounds good I just blame my dumb stuff on the concussions. Lol I do wonder though sometime if they did have some lasting effects though when I stop and think about it.

Pro tip:

Don't get a concussion the night before semester test week. It sucks.

[Lipoli390]

Andrew is never going to have an MJ or Kobe mentality. That ultra, almost over the top competitiveness that dominates their persona. But it doesn't mean he can't be great. He seems to be more like a Kawhi Leonard type. I still think his lack of physical stamina at his age makes him look more passive than he really is. Pretty sure the fire is burning pretty strong within. Time will tell, need some patience with him.

Kawhi Leonard is an incredibly intense, competitive player. He gets after it with everything he has every minute he's on the floor. The sort of competitive fire I'm talking about doesn't always show up in an outwardly emotional way. Sometimes it's more subtle as in Tim Duncan's quiet assassin demeanor. But watching Duncan closely you can see the incredible intensity and competitive fire in him on the court and on the bench. It's very different from KG or Kobe on the surface, but it's the same thing on the inside.

I get that Wiggins is not an extrovert or an outwardly emotional guy, but I just haven't seen in Wiggins the sort of contained competitive fire and intensity you see in a Tim Duncan, Hakeem, John Stockton, or yes, Kawhi Leonard. It might be there as yet to reveal itself in his play. Or maybe it can yet be developed in his still developing frontal lobe. But until I see it I'll remain concerned. Until then, at least we know that Shabazz has it. That's what Flip told me over a year ago and I'm convinced. I know Ricky has it. I suspect that LaVine has it. I'm hoping Towns has it. If Wiggins has it, combined with his talent, he can be that franchise cornerstone that makes this team a championship contender in the not too distant future.