Minnesota Sports Forum

I only saw a few highlights of the Pacers game the other night but a couple plays reminded me of a couple other NBA players and led to some thoughts on Wiggins.

It struck me in those highlights Wiggins is pretty long and reminds me of a shorter Geak Freak or Durant. I say that because those dudes are really long and yet skilled. If you are shorter than those guys you can still be pretty long for a wing player. Wiggins looks like he is all arms and legs with maybe a short torso. That would explain why espn sports science says he has a longer stride than Durant which was a little interesting. They gotta start measuring leg length at the combine and maybe Bilas can throw that in with his wingspan drinking game at the draft. Lol You see Wiggins out there and he is no doubt a legit 6'8" which makes him a pretty big wing player. There isn't overhead reach numbers that I can find but my guess is they would be pretty impressive for a wing guy.

Add that length with what everyone says is one of the flat out best athletes in the entire league and just physically that's a pretty impressive package. He has skills too and I found it interesting even though it was just a few highlights of him doing things against legit NBA players in preseason.

I like his compact shot. One thing that's good about it is sometimes you see guys with long arms sort of seem to have weird shots because their arms are so long there is a lot moving around on them. I'm not knocking Thad's shot, but he has long arms and it seems because he uses a lot of motion with his long arms it could effect consistancy. Thad's shot is fine just look at it as an example of what could go wrong. Wiggins won't have that problem with the mechanics of his shot. He looks to rely a lot more on wrist action than a lot of follow through with his shooting arm. It also allows him to have the ball elavated pretty high when he starts shooting it and may help him with a quick release as he gets better. I'm not saying his shot is perfect or anything just making some observations. People have different shots that work for them and some like Martin and Marion are downright whacky but they work. I see some very good things about Wiggins shot that I hope helps him translate to a good shooter in the league.

It's only one game, but what stood out to me was his ability to get to the line. Eight points on free throws in his first game. Rookies normally don't get a lot of calls which made it all the more impressive.

This is going to sound really bold. But from a pure athletic standpoint, I'm not sure he has any peers in the league today, and very few all time. Dominique Wilkins comes to mind as an athletic comparison.

His athletic ability reminds me a lot of mine a few years ago, but he is 6 inches taller and has actual basketball skills.

Wiggins displayed some nice vision and passing as well. I really appreciate players that can setup other players for easy shots. And I was happy to see decent ball handling skills to get to the rim and/or create shots.

As a whole, our fanbase missed out on much of the Wiggins hype because we knew he was not in our draft range. It is only now that many are discovering how good he can be, and how lucky we are to have him.

bleedspeed177 wrote:His athletic ability reminds me a lot of mine a few years ago, but he is 6 inches taller and has actual basketball skills.

J.J Barea is that you???

Both Wiggins and LaVine are alone in terms of their athleticism. There's just no identical comparison. I've seen and made comparisons of Wiggins-George and LaVine-Westbrook, but even those aren't great. They're both long and lanky with ridiculous explosion. We have two of the top-six best athletes in basketball and I believe that (others: LeBron, Westbrook, Rose, Griffin).

KiwiMatt wrote:

bleedspeed177 wrote:His athletic ability reminds me a lot of mine a few years ago, but he is 6 inches taller and has actual basketball skills.

J.J Barea is that you???

Lol

Camden0916 wrote:Both Wiggins and LaVine are alone in terms of their athleticism. There's just no identical comparison. I've seen and made comparisons of Wiggins-George and LaVine-Westbrook, but even those aren't great. They're both long and lanky with ridiculous explosion. We have two of the top-six best athletes in basketball and I believe that (others: LeBron, Westbrook, Rose, Griffin).

Cam I think Lavine compared to Westbook is more reasonable than anyone in the league that's compared to Wiggins. Part of that is because of Westbrook's strength which is significant. We also have GR3 who normally would be talked about as a top explosive athlete on any team but is largely forgotten with those other 2 guys.

LaVine's athleticism is limited a lot by his thin frame and weak body. Strength has to be included in the mix when discussing athleticism and that's something Westbrook has in spades. He attacks relentlessly and as a result gets to the line 6 or 7 times a game. I don't see LaVine ever doing that. He will live and die by his jump shot.