Minnesota Sports Forum

Flip used to say it's all about finding the right matchups, and Sam seems to understand this as well. With CJ McCollum on the horizon as Wig's next matchup, it got me thinking about the advantages of having an athletic 6'9" shooting guard. Here are the SG's in the Western Conference over whom Wig has at least a 4 inch advantage (8 inches in the case of Devin Harris!):

McCollum, Harden, G. Harris, D. Harris, Redick, Clarkson, Lee, Gordon, Waiters, Bledsoe, McLemore.

And although it's not as dramatic, he still has a height advantage over Thompson, Green and even Hood.

Many of us have spent some time on the basketball court, and can remember the frustration of being defended by someone much taller than us (in high school and college, I always felt like I was looking up 4 inches). Or conversely, how much fun it was to post up a much shorter player. In addition to being tall, Wig is also athletic and fast, and is a good defender even for a 2nd year player.

Doesn't Wig's length at SG give us a big matchup advantage, both offensively and defensively, at a very key position? Do you see Mitchell exploiting this matchup by designing more clear-out plays to allow Wig to operate closer to the basket?

We have seen it already with Wiggins posting up on both Clarkson and Harris. And that is with Wiggins nursing his back/shoulder issue. It's certainly something to keep an eye on, and a very "thinking outside the box" move by Sam...

If Wiggins can stay with the quicker players his height is an andvantage. Wiggins seems to be able to use his current skills to get over defenders on the offensive end (he doesn't always get square when taking the shot) but Id like to see a little more creativity in his shots (see kevin martin). Not a big fan of the old style clear out plays. On offense would like to see Wiggins catch the ball while already moving...exploit the baseline more...etc... On defense his fundamentals are really great and his length lets him stay back. Sam does a better job of getting people involved with help defense as well and Wiggins can stay a little further back as a result of his length

Wiggins settles for long jumpers sometimes but I also think his back issues are part of the reason he isn't shooting well and squaring up like he usually does. What isolating Wiggins at times does is create chances where he gets fouled because he is good at creating foul opportunities in those situations. If you get a starter in foul trouble that's a big deal. Getting teams in the penalty is a big key and I am glad this team continues to get to the line like they did last year.

If Ricky doesn't have the ball, our offense is a ton of isolation basketball, and I hate it. Wiggins, Martin, Muhammad, Dieng, LaVine. Those guys very rarely create for others.

When Wiggins is paired with Prince, the solution for the opposition is to put their SF on Wiggins. For example, Ariza should guard Wiggins and Harden would guard Prince. Wiggins doesn't really have much of a size advantage over Ariza. McLemore on Prince and Gay on Wiggins. And so on....

Q12543 wrote:When Wiggins is paired with Prince, the solution for the opposition is to put their SF on Wiggins. For example, Ariza should guard Wiggins and Harden would guard Prince. Wiggins doesn't really have much of a size advantage over Ariza. McLemore on Prince and Gay on Wiggins. And so on....

Yup. This is why pairing wig with prince is more of a defense related move rather than offense. Prince guard the best perimeter guy to start the game and helps overall team defense at the start of games. Prince starting also gives us more size and hopefully helps on the boards.

Opponents could just cross match up with the sg on prince and bigger sf on wig. I bet we will see mccollum on prince and aminu on wiggins to start the game.

Bazz/wiggins together as seen last season is a different story though. Bazz's main weapon is scoring on post ups and he is too bulky, physical and tenacious going after offensive boards that opponents tend to put a bigger body on him and wig gets to matchup with the smaller wing.

Prince has plenty of post game so some of those little guys guarding him would be fun. Plus he could basically shoot over them whenever he would want to. He is in there for his defense though.

I think playing prince is all about setting a defensive tone. We have all watched teams get off to a hot start scoring easily and then continue to shoot ridiculous fg% numbers against us. Limited the opponent to start the game changes the mindset and takes away the confidence.

Both Q, and World have pointed out that we don't control who defends Wiggins, but putting Bazz out there does force their hand some. I do think that smaller guards will struggle just as much with Prince though. None of our SFs are particularly good ball handlers, so throwing out size gives a post up mismatch, which is our strength (or least weakness) offensively.

Q12543 wrote:When Wiggins is paired with Prince, the solution for the opposition is to put their SF on Wiggins. For example, Ariza should guard Wiggins and Harden would guard Prince. Wiggins doesn't really have much of a size advantage over Ariza. McLemore on Prince and Gay on Wiggins. And so on....

Good point, q. It will be interesting to see what Portland does tomorrow. Do you think they will put little CJ McConnell on Prince?