A couple pre-preseason thoughts (including Wiggins)

[SameOldNudityDrew]

First, I'm getting so excited for Jimmy Butler. He's been one of my favorite players for a few years now, and he just keeps getting better. I'm crunching some numbers getting ready for my fantasy basketball league, and it's crazy how good he is across the board. And more importantly, you can see he's so good on both sides of the floor when you watch his games. I can't think of another wolf in franchise history I liked as much as him.

Second, I'm a little worried about growing pains, even on offense. Watching some of our best players--Teague, Butler, Wiggins, and even to some extent Towns--they all tend offensively to rely pretty heavily on dribble penetration. I know Teague and Butler are good passers, but I want to see an offense with the kind of ball movement that the Spurs used to have and that the Warriors have now. I hope these guys can adjust accordingly and learn how to pass or shoot the ball quickly without putting it on the floor too often. Defensively, we should be so much better than last year, but we also should have been better than we were last year. Wiggins and Towns absolutely have to step up, and I'm hoping Teague can be an on-the-ball pest and not get trapped into mismatches defensively too often.

Third, I've said this before and it may annoy some of you, but I just can't let it go--I'm seriously worried Wiggins will never live up to a max contract and this is what will block us from being a contender in the Towns era. I'm skeptical he'll ever become a good defender, and he really doesn't do anything other than score (a lot) at an average level of efficiency. Yes, it's great to have a guy who can score a lot, but Butler and Towns are already capable of scoring at an incredibly high rate. The best third star player to match with these two doesn't need to be elite at scoring, but he does need to bring defense, passing, rebounding, outside shooting, and do-shit work. Wiggins improved his outside shooting last year, but in all of these other areas he has been stagnant or even regressed (rebounding) for three years now.

Finally, despite my concerns about Wiggins, I'm still so high on Towns and Butler, I don't even really care that much. I'm just ready after 13 years to make the freakin' playoffs. It starts tonight. Let's do it!

Bold added March 2, 2019.

[Squishypoo [enjin:6648839]]

First, I'm getting so excited for Jimmy Butler. He's been one of my favorite players for a few years now, and he just keeps getting better. I'm crunching some numbers getting ready for my fantasy basketball league, and it's crazy how good he is across the board. And more importantly, you can see he's so good on both sides of the floor when you watch his games. I can't think of another wolf in franchise history I liked as much as him.

Second, I'm a little worried about growing pains, even on offense. Watching some of our best players--Teague, Butler, Wiggins, and even to some extent Towns--they all tend offensively to rely pretty heavily on dribble penetration. I know Teague and Butler are good passers, but I want to see an offense with the kind of ball movement that the Spurs used to have and that the Warriors have now. I hope these guys can adjust accordingly and learn how to pass or shoot the ball quickly without putting it on the floor too often. Defensively, we should be so much better than last year, but we also should have been better than we were last year. Wiggins and Towns absolutely have to step up, and I'm hoping Teague can be an on-the-ball pest and not get trapped into mismatches defensively too often.

Third, I've said this before and it may annoy some of you, but I just can't let it go--I'm seriously worried Wiggins will never live up to a max contract and this is what will block us from being a contender in the Towns era. I'm skeptical he'll ever become a good defender, and he really doesn't do anything other than score (a lot) at an average level of efficiency. Yes, it's great to have a guy who can score a lot, but Butler and Towns are already capable of scoring at an incredibly high rate. The best third star player to match with these two doesn't need to be elite at scoring, but he does need to bring defense, passing, rebounding, outside shooting, and do-shit work. Wiggins improved his outside shooting last year, but in all of these other areas he has been stagnant or even regressed (rebounding) for three years now.

Finally, despite my concerns about Wiggins, I'm still so high on Towns and Butler, I don't even really care that much. I'm just ready after 13 years to make the freakin' playoffs. It starts tonight. Let's do it!

Good read.. Should be fun tonight seeing all the new faces.. GO WOLVES!!!!!

[Monster]

I think a lot of us don't truely appreciate how good Butler is. I think if you told me that Butler would play 80 games I would basically guarantee the playoffs. That's about how good he is on both sides of the ball. To continue that imagine Wiggins playing next to one of the best all round 2 way wings in the league compared to playing next to a guy in Lavine who was even more clueless about the game than Wiggins (although the gap wasn't as vast last year). Wiggins will likely be even more physically superior to guys he is playing against on both ends of the ball now. There won't be any excuses for him that's for sure.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

I mean, just watch the guy play defense. These are highlights, so they obviously exaggerate his impact, but look at the range of things he does defensively and the intensity with which he does them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xz5LhrjnbDs

He bothers shooters on the perimeter and in the post, getting off his feet quickly when the shooter commits and blocking shots that shooters seem surprised he gets to. He keeps moving his feet and is really good at staying on his feet and only jumping when he absolutely needs to. After a block and deflection he hustles to save the ball and get possession. He punishes lazy passing in the backcourt and jumps in to knock away dribble-handoffs. He's got the lateral quickness to stay in front of perimeter guys like Harden and Kobe, but also has the strength to body up big guys like Melo and LeBron. He fights through picks and recovers well. He pokes away balls from behind guys. And when they are facing up, actually. He strips and pokes at balls a lot, which is all the more impressive when you realize he doesn't foul very often. Oh, man, I am excited for this guy.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Drew, one thing that might happen is that Butler becomes our do-shit all-around wing and he allows Wiggins to become the 2nd option and more of a pure scorer. Frankly, Wiggins has more natural ability as a scorer that Butler. Butler had to work his ass off to get to where he is today as a scorer. It took him years to crack 20 PPG. Wiggins has made it look kind of easy, albeit not very efficiently.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Drew, one thing that might happen is that Butler becomes our do-shit all-around wing and he allows Wiggins to become the 2nd option and more of a pure scorer. Frankly, Wiggins has more natural ability as a scorer that Butler. Butler had to work his ass off to get to where he is today as a scorer. It took him years to crack 20 PPG. Wiggins has made it look kind of easy, albeit not very efficiently.

If Wiggins significantly improves his efficiency, sure. But right now, Towns and Butler are much more efficient and can both score in high volumes as well. Until Wiggins improves his efficiency, he should be the third offensive option.

Butler's improvements every year are all the more reason to trust him. Wiggins' natural scoring ability gives reason for hope, but he needs to become more efficient or it's counterproductive to the team for him to displace Butler as the number 2 scoring option. If he becomes more efficient, then it will be easier to overlook his one-dimensional game, especially if Towns improves his defense.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

I'm bumping this discussion which partially covered Wiggins from 2017. Kek, I bolded some text where I addressed Wiggins' contract at the time.