It's been 5 yrs. Can we now say Andrew Wiggins is a Bust?

[Antinomy]

Forget the contract. That’s not his fault.

Him being a terrible nba player is his fault though. He ain’t even average.

[Antinomy]

When I think of bust I think of kwame brown . Wiggins is pretty decent guys

Kwame Brown eventually carved out a role as a low usage guy who played some defense.

The simple fact that he was low usage made him better than Wiggins, who actively hurts his team by being on the court at all times, and hurts it more the more often he touches the ball.

Oh come on he’s scoring quite bit this year .

Kwame stuck around for 12 years & was a low usage guy.

Wiggins is Still pegged as a franchise corner stone despite not being box office nor good.

[MoochieNorris]

can't really call him a bust. he projects to average 20ppg throughout his prime if healthy. is that a bust? maybe didn't live up to the full hype, but not quite a bust.

[Antinomy]

Is Wiggins what he is because he lacks innate basketball talent(IQ, skillset, instinctual feel for the game, passion) or does he just not have the work ethic and desire?

A lot of both but I’d say more so the latter.

He doesn’t have any real on-ball or off-ball skills that stand out. Zero footwork, zero ball-handling, zero iso-skills, no feel for the game, no court vision, no ability to move around the court without the ball, shaky shooting, bad body language, can’t break anyone down off the dribble, lackadaisical defensively....I don’t know where to stop.

And the biggest part, he doesn’t give af.

More power to him though. Atleast he was smart enough to secure a max deal before the cat was out the bag.

[iggymcfrack]

can't really call him a bust. he projects to average 20ppg throughout his prime if healthy. is that a bust? maybe didn't live up to the full hype, but not quite a bust.

Those points have no value because he’s so inefficient. If he took out all the bad shots that he shouldn’t take so that he was shooting a decent percentage, he’d be scoring <15 a game and he’d be a better player. He’d still be pretty mediocre though since he’s far below average at every other skill on a basketball court aside from scoring.

[leolozon]

can't really call him a bust. he projects to average 20ppg throughout his prime if healthy. is that a bust? maybe didn't live up to the full hype, but not quite a bust.

Those points have no value because he’s so inefficient. If he took out all the bad shots that he shouldn’t take so that he was shooting a decent percentage, he’d be scoring <15 a game and he’d be a better player. He’d still be pretty mediocre though since he’s far below average at every other skill on a basketball court aside from scoring.

Yeah, like I said previously, I'm pretty certain the Wolves would be better if they sat Wiggins and gave the 20 possessions (or so) he uses to get those 18 points to someone else. Get a decent defender instead, Townes takes 5 more shots, the rest are split by the 4 other guys, and you have a better team.. I'm not sure how you're not a bust if you harm your team by playing.

[Ayt]

I'm honestly surprised at how many people think he's anything other than awful.

On the Bucks board, there is a meme about PPGZ for guys who score points on awful efficiency that casual fans think are actually good players because they happen to score points by gobbling up a ton of possessions (think Brandon Jennings and Have It All for the Bucks). Wiggins is the current poster child for PPGZ since the only thing even his fans say he is good at is scoring, and he's awful at it.

[BigtimeNBAfan]

I'm honestly surprised at how many people think he's anything other than awful.

On the Bucks board, there is a meme about PPGZ for guys who score points on awful efficiency that casual fans think are actually good players because they happen to score points by gobbling up a ton of possessions (think Brandon Jennings and Have It All for the Bucks). Wiggins is the current poster child for PPGZ since the only thing even his fans say he is good at is scoring, and he's awful at it.

Again there is a difference between being a letdown and being a bust. A player averaging 20 points a game is not a bust no matter how you look at it. Busts are players that either flame out of the league or are fringe players despite being draft high and having a ton of hype. Hasheem Thabeet was a bust. Greg Oden was a bust. Anthony Bennett was a bust.
Andrew Wiggins is a career 20 pt scorer through 5 years. There are many faults with Wiggins, but he is far from a bust.

[mcmokken]

Didn't need the whole 5 years to know that.

[LKN]

My question is would Wiggins actually be any better in a more limited role? What is he actually good at? If he were to be recast as a role player he'd need some kind of role right?

[donemilio21]

Could somebody please explain why you would sign your rookie to a max extension after his 3rd year? He will be an RFA. What do you have to lose in waiting and matching the best offer he gets? It is not going to be more than the max extension you already signed.
Not specific to Wiggins or Minny. Just looking for the logic behind it.

[leolozon]

I'm honestly surprised at how many people think he's anything other than awful.

On the Bucks board, there is a meme about PPGZ for guys who score points on awful efficiency that casual fans think are actually good players because they happen to score points by gobbling up a ton of possessions (think Brandon Jennings and Have It All for the Bucks). Wiggins is the current poster child for PPGZ since the only thing even his fans say he is good at is scoring, and he's awful at it.

Again there is a difference between being a letdown and being a bust. A player averaging 20 points a game is not a bust no matter how you look at it. Busts are players that either flame out of the league or are fringe players despite being draft high and having a ton of hype. Hasheem Thabeet was a bust. Greg Oden was a bust. Anthony Bennett was a bust.
Andrew Wiggins is a career 20 pt scorer through 5 years. There are many faults with Wiggins, but he is far from a bust.

I'm pretty sure we disagree with your definition of a bust, so no need to keep saying it. Your argument that, because someone like Thabeet is a bigger bust, it means that Wiggins isn't a bust doesn't even make sense. We think that Wiggins failed greatly to meet expectations and he is a bust even if he's not as bad as Thabeet (arguable considering 0 is better than -1).

He would have flamed out of the league if some people were smart enough to not only look at PPG. He hurts his team by being on the floor, the Wolves giving him a big contract and having to play him doesn't make him less of a bust.

[Zeitgeister]

Is Wiggins what he is because he lacks innate basketball talent(IQ, skillset, instinctual feel for the game, passion) or does he just not have the work ethic and desire?

All of the above, it's a deadly cocktail of basketball ineptitude.

[LakersLegacy]

We can safely say he has a busted contract

[Warchant]

This is undoubtedly Wiggins' worst year of his career. His advanced stats are a horror show: 48.1 TS%, .5 WS (he will finish this season with less than 1 total WS ), .014 WS/48, -2 OBPM, -.5 VORP, -1.18 DRPM.

I understand it's difficult to say someone averaging 18 ppg is a bust, but at some point the advanced stats have to take precedence right?

(Also, Cleveland must be thanking their lucky stars that LeBron forced Gilbert to trade Wiggins for Love.)

Well if Wiggins has been underwhelming or a bust what has Love been on the Cavs? At least Wiggins plays

[elchengue20]

Bargnani it's a great comparison. 1 picks hyped as next superstars. Bargnani hyped as the next Nowitzki. Wiggins the next Kobe or at least the next Vince Carter.

Both played a lot of years in the NBA, but only because of potential. Had been drafted in the 15/30 range, i think they be outta the league a lot earlier.

They had some good scoring games, but overall they had negative impacts on the court.

Low motor players, play no defense, no heart, no hustle, no intangibles, doesn't make teamates better.

[bondom34]

Hes definitely a bust. He's a bad defender, bad passer bad pretty much everything. He's got PPG because he gets minutes and shots. That's probably hurting the team

[Black Jack]

I think fans should put less stock in draft position. After a few years just stop talking about it honestly.

Contract is a different issue. But a guy like Wiggins will NEVER live down being #1 pick, it's going cause fan angst for his whole career and I don't think it should.

[ThumbsUpBaby]

Yes he's a bust. All that hype and the fact that he was drafted #1 based on potential. I consider busts as underperformers and disappointments. That's exactly what Wiggins is.

[GreatWhiteStiff]

can't really call him a bust. he projects to average 20ppg throughout his prime if healthy. is that a bust? maybe didn't live up to the full hype, but not quite a bust.

Those points have no value because he’s so inefficient. If he took out all the bad shots that he shouldn’t take so that he was shooting a decent percentage, he’d be scoring <15 a game and he’d be a better player. He’d still be pretty mediocre though since he’s far below average at every other skill on a basketball court aside from scoring.

Yeah, like I said previously, I'm pretty certain the Wolves would be better if they sat Wiggins and gave the 20 possessions (or so) he uses to get those 18 points to someone else. Get a decent defender instead, Townes takes 5 more shots, the rest are split by the 4 other guys, and you have a better team.. I'm not sure how you're not a bust if you harm your team by playing.

I just want to emphasize this is not even considering defensive impact, where I think I've heard it said he has a substantially negative impact.