nate33 wrote:DCZards wrote:This narrative about Wiggins being a terrible player is rooted in the past and ignores his improved play, especially last season.
Agreed. It's easy to conflate "overpaid" with "bad", when it's not the case. Wiggins was a respectable starter last season. He plays legitimately good defense, and hits his 3 point shots. He's an underwhelming rebounder and he doesn't get to the line, so it's not like he is a star or anything, but he's not bad. He would be the 3rd or 4th best player on our roster (depending on how you grade Gafford given his limited minute load).
The problem is that Wiggins is a $15M dollar player being paid $30M.
I'm glad to be corrected on this: I was wrong to call Wiggins "a terrible player." That's a fair characterization of his career overall, but it's not true of the current Andrew Wiggins. There is no question that Wiggins has improved.
But, you can be an
improved player & still not be an especially
good player, right? Wiggins was not "a terrible player" with GS this year. But... he wasn't an especially good player either.
The 2 claims for him in this thread have been his improved 3pt% & that he is a plus defender. Without meaning to doubt the 2d claim, I'll say that it's really hard to measure how good a defender someone is, because defense is so very much a team effort. & as to his 3pt. shooting, one outlier year doesn't suffice to make me want to invest in it.
But, here's what is really to the point: no one recommending this move would consider trading for Wiggins except for the fact that we send out Bertans in the trade. It's the negative value of Davis Bertans' contract, taken as a given, that makes it possible for a person to imagine swallowing Wiggins' contract.
IOW, the trade is predicated to a large degree on a radically recalculated & very much lowered valuation of Davis Bertans.
Yet, it's being recommended by posters who, by & large, were strongly in favor of giving Bertans that contract. While it's being opposed by someone who also opposed giving Bertans that deal.
Opposed for the same reason too. You know how a mirage doesn't quench your thirst? This trade does not help build the future of the Washington Wizards.