The Andrew Wiggins Thread #2: Electric Boogaloo

shrink · Post #621 » by **shrink** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 1:07 am

It's ironic that one poster slams Doogie for being a bad reporter, and the next poster slams him for reporting news that none of us had heard.

shrink · Post #622 » by **shrink** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 1:17 am

In the Dunc'd On podcast monthly awards, Danny LaRioux named Wiggins as the Most Disappointing Player of the Year.

AirP. · Post #623 » by **AirP.** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 4:28 am

With several quality summertime additions in Minnesota (Butler being the most notable), it stood to reason that Wiggins' fourth season would be cake. He'd get better shots, operate with less defensive attention and leverage his many athletic gifts to mop up easy buckets at an efficient clip.

Instead, he's posting the worst player efficiency rating, true-shooting percentage and free-throw rate of his career. His rebound and assist rates are both lower than they were in his rookie season, which means Wiggins isn't compensating for diminished scoring responsibilities by expending more energy in other areas.

Defensively, Wiggins remains a notorious coaster. Unengaged and loath to make a second effort (and sometimes a first), his contributions on that end don't square with his length, bounce and quickness. A player's deficiencies stem from either inability or unwillingness, with the latter being far more damning. Wiggins is firmly in the second category.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2764481-andrew-wiggins-is-holding-timberwolves-back-not-the-other-way-around

Hopefully Wiggins takes offense to this spotlight that's all of a sudden on him for his play(not sure why it took this long) and has a little pride and play with effort for the rest of this season, if that happens it'll be great for Wiggins and great for the Timberwolves. This could actually be the wake up call that is needed to get Wiggins on the right course with his career.

Zeitgeister · Post #624 » by **Zeitgeister** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 4:32 am

shrink wrote:It's ironic that one poster slams Doogie for being a bad reporter, and the next poster slams him for reporting news that none of us had heard.

You know, I've heard before that Doogie is one of the most plugged in Wolves reporters, probably the most plugged in, and now I'm hearing that he's completely unreliable. LOL

Post #625 » by **Domejandro** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 7:45 am

Zeitgeister wrote:
shrink wrote:It's ironic that one poster slams Doogie for being a bad reporter, and the next poster slams him for reporting news that none of us had heard.

You know, I've heard before that Doogie is one of the most plugged in Wolves reporters, probably the most plugged in, and now I'm hearing that he's completely unreliable. LOL

For the record, I have always been pretty vocal about my position on Darren Wolfson being a mess of a reporter, for the little that is worth.

packforfreedom · Post #626 » by **packforfreedom** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 8:05 am

I agree the timing is a bit odd, but I don't really believe that the beatwriters have to stay in line for the sake of the organization.
The case Wiggins has the be solved in the offseason, as talented as he is, it seems that it's just not working out, which is frustrating, because he could be one of the best two way players in the league, if his motor was right, if he wanted to. I think for basketball reasons only, I'd trade him for capspace or picks or a solid 3&D player, but let's not forget he's also BFF with KAT, who our most important player since KG.

alabamawolf · Post #627 » by **alabamawolf** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 10:55 am

Why do people assume KAT and Wiggins are best friends?

minimus · Post #628 » by **minimus** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:06 am

alabamawolf wrote:Why do people assume KAT and Wiggins are best friends?

Whether they are best friends or not it doesnt matter. It is just business

Neeva · Post #629 » by **Neeva** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 1:40 pm

Trading wiggins in the offseason wouldn't be the worst thing for the franchise (and for him), win win situation IMO

mplsfonz23 · Post #630 » by **mplsfonz23** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 3:17 pm

He's still 23 and growing into the NBA. No dis to Canada, but most ball players are just not that aggressive IMHO. You can say that about most players under 25. They have this sense of entitlement that they've earned something by just making it to the NBA.
Example number 1: Towns whines and cries 94% of the time he goes into the paint. He expects to get calls even when he's not fouled. In three years he expects all star calls. The other %6 percent someone is telling him to STFU because it's not helping. Love did this a lot also, but he never played D anyway so it was a moot point.
If Wiggins had a harder life, I am sure he would be a little more assertive with his game. No facts, just opinion.

mplsfonz23 · Post #631 » by **mplsfonz23** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 3:18 pm

Neeva wrote:Trading wiggins in the offseason wouldn't be the worst thing for the franchise (and for him), win win situation IMO

Depends on the return, and where he would go. I would hate to face him 4 times a year.

MN7725 · Post #632 » by **MN7725** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 3:43 pm

alabamawolf wrote:Why do people assume KAT and Wiggins are best friends?

based on barely following KAT's social media, Tyus and Bazz are/were his off-court friends on team

wolfen · Post #633 » by **wolfen** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 3:53 pm

AirP. wrote:
With several quality summertime additions in Minnesota (Butler being the most notable), it stood to reason that Wiggins' fourth season would be cake. He'd get better shots, operate with less defensive attention and leverage his many athletic gifts to mop up easy buckets at an efficient clip.

Instead, he's posting the worst player efficiency rating, true-shooting percentage and free-throw rate of his career. His rebound and assist rates are both lower than they were in his rookie season, which means Wiggins isn't compensating for diminished scoring responsibilities by expending more energy in other areas.

Defensively, Wiggins remains a notorious coaster. Unengaged and loath to make a second effort (and sometimes a first), his contributions on that end don't square with his length, bounce and quickness. A player's deficiencies stem from either inability or unwillingness, with the latter being far more damning. Wiggins is firmly in the second category.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2764481-andrew-wiggins-is-holding-timberwolves-back-not-the-other-way-around

Hopefully Wiggins takes offense to this spotlight that's all of a sudden on him for his play(not sure why it took this long) and has a little pride and play with effort for the rest of this season, if that happens it'll be great for Wiggins and great for the Timberwolves. This could actually be the wake up call that is needed to get Wiggins on the right course with his career.

This is exactly what I was thinking and am pretty confident it will happen. Wiggins has forced his own hand and now he'll have to go balls to the wall all the time on defense or he'll get ripped.

NebWolvesFan · Post #634 » by **NebWolvesFan** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 4:02 pm

Wiggins will not be traded until the Summer of 2019 at the earliest. The Wolves are all about moving Dieng this offseason.

wolfen · Post #635 » by **wolfen** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 4:15 pm

I wonder if Jim and Dave will even bring it up on the next broadcast. Because it's "news" they probably will, but I would imagine that Jim would be against it, being a big wolves fan himself. We shall see...

AirP. · Post #636 » by **AirP.** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 4:27 pm

NebWolvesFan wrote:Wiggins will not be traded until the Summer of 2019 at the earliest. The Wolves are all about moving Dieng this offseason.

Let me counter on Dieng being moved this summer. If Dieng is moved(and he's not a good value on his contract as a backup) you'd potentially have a rookie center backing up Towns. If Towns tweaks an ankle, gets in early foul trouble, has an injury the team will be downgraded dramatically and we have zero idea how good Patton can be. I really would hate to see Minnesota with Patton at center go against a team with say... D.Jordan, S.Adams, D.Howard, M.Gasol, H.Whiteside, D.Cousins, A.Davis, J.Embiid... and so on and so on. If Dieng is moved Minnesota has to find some type of decent backup till Patton is ready.

It's been reported that Thibs was open to moving Wiggins last summer(maybe in the Butler trade) while the owner wasn't open to that idea and to hedge his bet he put the max on Wiggins saying he needed to improve. I'm pretty sure this wasn't the type of season Glenn Taylor expected from Wiggins after signing the max. Wiggins' poison pill provision ends this summer making him much easier to move. As a franchise, Minnesota has to move forward hoping for Wiggins to become more until they have Butler locked up long term which could happen this summer, once Butler signs an extension I would think Wiggins would be available for the right trade. Although I'm not a fan of Wiggins, some GMs out there will probably be willing to take a chance that he someday gets it.

steveshikadance · Post #637 » by **steveshikadance** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 4:56 pm

The kid has been the #1 option on every team he's been on for 22 out of 23 years of his life (while playing with other stars Embiid in Kansas and KAT in Minny), you don't think he would be upset going from #1 to #3? Any competitor would feel the same and it takes more than 4 months of being 3rd fiddle to adjust to a new situation. These talks of him being unhappy as option 3 are natural, no cause for concern, just typical Minnesota sports fans blowing something out of proportion.

MN7725 · Post #638 » by **MN7725** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 5:37 pm

steveshikadance wrote:The kid has been the #1 option on every team he's been on for 22 out of 23 years of his life (while playing with other stars Embiid in Kansas and KAT in Minny), you don't think he would be upset going from #1 to #3? Any competitor would feel the same and it takes more than 4 months of being 3rd fiddle to adjust to a new situation. These talks of him being unhappy as option 3 are natural, no cause for concern, just typical Minnesota sports fans blowing something out of proportion.

Wiggins is leading the team in FGA/game even though he has shot horribly and has awful shot selection

KAT is the #3 option and should be the one complaining

shrink · Post #639 » by **shrink** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 7:17 pm

AirP. wrote:
NebWolvesFan wrote:Wiggins will not be traded until the Summer of 2019 at the earliest. The Wolves are all about moving Dieng this offseason.

Let me counter on Dieng being moved this summer. If Dieng is moved(and he's not a good value on his contract as a backup) you'd potentially have a rookie center backing up Towns. If Towns tweaks an ankle, gets in early foul trouble, has an injury the team will be downgraded dramatically and we have zero idea how good Patton can be. I really would hate to see Minnesota with Patton at center go against a team with say... D.Jordan, S.Adams, D.Howard, M.Gasol, H.Whiteside, D.Cousins, A.Davis, J.Embiid... and so on and so on. If Dieng is moved Minnesota has to find some type of decent backup till Patton is ready.

Good point.

Add in the fact that Dieng (and Towns) has been remarkably healthy his entire career, playing 82 games last year despite being 20th in the NBA in minutes. Now look at the injury history of the centers listed above. Center is a particularly dangerous position to play, and you're right - we have no idea how good or bad Patton will be.

I am sure that MIN would be happy to move Dieng if they could, and it's possible to pick up a vet back-up cheap right now. However, I don't think MIN is going to give up a lot of assets to move him and save lux tax money. Thibs may have thought when he gave Dieng that extension was that he would be be hard to stop against second units in 2017-19 (this has not happened), and that he could be the heir-apparent for Taj when he leaves in 16 months. Until then, the Wolves can certainly use Dieng as their third big for the rest of the season, especially with Bjelica now logging miuntes at SF.

Lastly, since this is the Wiggins thread, I think I would mention that like Dieng and Towns, we take for granted the health of Wiggins, and his ability to play big minutes. Right now, the hardest thing to find in a switch-happy NBA is a swingman with length. MIN is blessed to have two. I highly doubt that the Wolves are looking to trade Andrew Wiggins, because the return on his max deal would not be good, and very unlikely to bring back a player that could be a comparable swingman to Wiggins. The Trade Board is gruesome.

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1685918

Neeva · Post #640 » by **Neeva** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 8:34 pm

Agreed he is number three because of his lack of production! Would love Kat to be taking the most shots!

MN7725 wrote:
steveshikadance wrote:The kid has been the #1 option on every team he's been on for 22 out of 23 years of his life (while playing with other stars Embiid in Kansas and KAT in Minny), you don't think he would be upset going from #1 to #3? Any competitor would feel the same and it takes more than 4 months of being 3rd fiddle to adjust to a new situation. These talks of him being unhappy as option 3 are natural, no cause for concern, just typical Minnesota sports fans blowing something out of proportion.

Wiggins is leading the team in FGA/game even though he has shot horribly and has awful shot selection

KAT is the #3 option and should be the one complaining