The Andrew Wiggins Thread

[AQuintus]

Anyone think Wiggins is more of a SG than SF?

Depending on how he fills out of the next few years and what, if any, improvements he makes on his handles, I could see him playing mostly SG going forward. He has a fairly narrow, Guard-like frame right now.

He has the lateral quickness and first step to play the 2, and with his length and post game, there aren't a lot of guys at the 2 who will be able to effectively contest his shot.

[Calinks]

From a Cavs fan on another forum.

There will someday be a documentary on this trade as one of the worst and most infamous of all time.

ESPN 30 for 30: No Love for Wiggins

[sheefo13]

From a Cavs fan on another forum.

There will someday be a documentary on this trade as one of the worst and most infamous of all time.

ESPN 30 for 30: No Love for Wiggins

Pretty hilarious haha!

I think what has been proven with the trade is Kevin Love can't lead a team to win games. I think regardless of how Wiggins turns out, its fair to say we got the best value for Love that we could get. Wiggins is no doubt a starter in this league if not only for his defensive ability and that he can shoot. And he is only 19.

[slinky]

Anyone with insider? I am a bit curious.

Basically, Wiggins is playing better than expected this early, based on pre-draft and pre-season expectations for the season. Pelton had a Luol Deng comparison pre-draft, and he admits that it was selling short, and says Wiggins future might be more of a SG who 'punishes opponents with his strength'. Both Pelton and Ford agreed that Paul George is a good comp. But Pelton also brought up a Joe Johnson comparison.

[mthead2121]

Anyone think Wiggins is more of a SG than SF?

Depending on how he fills out of the next few years and what, if any, improvements he makes on his handles, I could see him playing mostly SG going forward. He has a fairly narrow, Guard-like frame right now.

He has the lateral quickness and first step to play the 2, and with his length and post game, there aren't a lot of guys at the 2 who will be able to effectively contest his shot.

And he certainly has been playing better with SG's guarding him and the more physical wing players guarding Bazz. As Pelton stated in the column he did the other day with Ford. His handle is the biggest thing he needs to work on. Whenever he plays I just hope he keeps up the good play.

[ace625214]

From a Cavs fan on another forum.

There will someday be a documentary on this trade as one of the worst and most infamous of all time.

ESPN 30 for 30: No Love for Wiggins

Pretty hilarious haha!

I think what has been proven with the trade is Kevin Love can't lead a team to win games. I think regardless of how Wiggins turns out, its fair to say we got the best value for Love that we could get. Wiggins is no doubt a starter in this league if not only for his defensive ability and that he can shoot. And he is only 19.

He hasn't really been given the opportunity to "lead a team to win games" other than the last few since LeBron went out. Does putting Kevin Love on a team make you an instant contender? No. I think you can see this year that there is not a single player on the planet that you can say that about. Not even MJ/LeBron could do it alone. However, a championship team can be built with Love as the best player. You need an athletic center who protects the rim, a couple good wing defenders, and shooters. Basically the 2011 Mavs. This is a Wiggins thread though and I'm getting off topic.

Honestly, the only way I see a documentary being made about this is if Love opted out and ended up back here. Then it would be a lock. Right now, though, it would get at most a short segment in a "God Hates Cleveland" movie. I think it's more likely that Cleveland figures it out and wins 2-3 titles, and they document it in that frame of light.

[Calinks]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2319 ... kevin-love

[C.lupus]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/MNTimberwolves/status/555422001305645057[/tweet]

[AttackTheRack]

The joke on Redditt is, "Scoring is so easy for him, he has to guard himself!" Ha. It's a joke, but it's pretty true. The guy can score from anywhere at anytime - even with his own hand in his face! When he gets bigger and stronger, he'll have to do better than that to make scoring fun. Maybe play with an eyepatch, or something, Piratestyle.

[Killboard]

[Klomp]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/basketballtalk/status/555488543951163395[/tweet]

[Klomp]

Hate Flip as a coach all you want, but one thing he's done with Wiggins that I'm not sure other coaches would've done is to get him in the post and at the elbow, where his dribbling weakness can be limited.

As Wiggins gets bigger and stronger, that post game is only going to make him that much harder to defend.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv2C4ida93Y[/youtube]

I think he might already have one of the best post games for NBA wings.

[Klomp]

JimPete brought up something interesting during the Pacer game.

He mentioned that Wiggins' run started right about the time Muhammad was inserted into the starting lineup. It took pressure off him because the bigger/stronger defenders were being assigned to defend Muhammad. The numbers back that up as well. Wiggins had success before, but it was only for one- or two-game stretches. Even in these last few, while Wiggins is still getting the points, his FG% has dropped in these last three games.

There was also an example of this in the Indiana game. Wiggins was being chased around by Solomon Hill all game long. But when Hill had to exit and the smaller Rodney Stuckey took his place, we went right at Stuckey by feeding Wiggins in high-low post action for an easy two points.

All this being said, maybe we should be thinking of Wiggins as primarily a 2 longterm. I know people have these fantasies of a Rubio-LaVine-Wiggins trio in the starting five, but I'm not convinced yet that LaVine will be anything more than a 6th man. I thought this even when I was calling Wiggins a SF. If we were to add a wing in the draft, perhaps we should look at someone like Johnson before the smaller Russell. Or maybe Muhammad can be that SF starter, after all.

Is this something that will take care of itself as Wiggins grows into his body, or is it something that needs to be considered?

[Krapinsky]

If Wiggins is a 2 - then all the better. We've got 'Bazz long term and 3's are easier to come by.

[sheefo13]

Personally I think Shabazz and Wiggins provide more matchup problems (in the future) than a LaVine and Wiggins combo. LaVine off the bench would be great but Shabazz's physicalness is a nightware for an opposing 2 guard and Wiggins is too athletic and long for opposing 2 guards. Wiggins can always guard the better of the two wings and Rubio can also guard a 2.

This theory is dependent on Shabazz meeting his potential. Wiggins even at this stage of his career, can be a nightmare for a two guard and his defense can keep him on the floor. He is going to have to get smarter though because the Dragic's of the world did great against him.

The foul on Jimmy Butler early in the season that cost us that game I am sure lives with Wiggins. As tough as that was to watch, I think it was necessary for his development.

[C.lupus]

Wiggins at the 2 makes some sense. Maybe in a few years when he fills out he might be more of a 3. He will need to improve his handles playing the 2 predominantly but I have faith that he will do it. A three-man rotation of Wiggins-Shabazz-LaVine could work nicely with Wiggins starting at 2 next to Bazz and playing 3 next to Zach..

[Alfred]

Young players tend to move up in position as they get older and bigger.

[urinesane]

JimPete brought up something interesting during the Pacer game.

He mentioned that Wiggins' run started right about the time Muhammad was inserted into the starting lineup. It took pressure off him because the bigger/stronger defenders were being assigned to defend Muhammad. The numbers back that up as well. Wiggins had success before, but it was only for one- or two-game stretches. Even in these last few, while Wiggins is still getting the points, his FG% has dropped in these last three games.

There was also an example of this in the Indiana game. Wiggins was being chased around by Solomon Hill all game long. But when Hill had to exit and the smaller Rodney Stuckey took his place, we went right at Stuckey by feeding Wiggins in high-low post action for an easy two points.

All this being said, maybe we should be thinking of Wiggins as primarily a 2 longterm. I know people have these fantasies of a Rubio-LaVine-Wiggins trio in the starting five, but I'm not convinced yet that LaVine will be anything more than a 6th man. I thought this even when I was calling Wiggins a SF. If we were to add a wing in the draft, perhaps we should look at someone like Johnson before the smaller Russell. Or maybe Muhammad can be that SF starter, after all.

Is this something that will take care of itself as Wiggins grows into his body, or is it something that needs to be considered?

I think it's short sighted to think he won't grow into his body more and be able to play the 3. He's 19.

He won't be fully mature till he's 25. It's good that he is learning to attack mismatches and assert himself, because he is going to give people problems once he gets as KG would put it "his man muscles". I'm actually surprised he hasn't struggled more against physical defenders this year.

It's strange, Wiggins has been so good this year, I think we forget that our expectations of him coming in were much lower after summer league. It seems like some have forgotten that he was supposed to take a couple years to start putting it together. Just because he is ahead of schedule in his development, doesn't mean we should move the goal posts.

[minimus]

^^ If Shabazz can hit consistently those corner 3pt, then he can defenitely start at SF with Wiggins at SG. In the first games of this season RR tended to avoid 3pt shots. So Wiggins and Shabbaz should take them.

But I really like defensive potential of trio RR-Wiggins-Shabazz: RR puts pressure on opponent PG, destroys passing lanes, double teams big men, Shabazz has physical tools to fight through screens and defend post ups, Wiggins could be excellent personal defender.

[MinneOOPalis]

Anyone think Wiggins is more of a SG than SF?

Depending on how he fills out of the next few years and what, if any, improvements he makes on his handles, I could see him playing mostly SG going forward. He has a fairly narrow, Guard-like frame right now.

He has the lateral quickness and first step to play the 2, and with his length and post game, there aren't a lot of guys at the 2 who will be able to effectively contest his shot.

I think we might have different definitions on a players frame. Although he may be skinny he has super broad shoulders and a nicely proportioned bone structure. He should be able to put on a lot of weight. But the question is how much bigger should he get before it affects his game negatively? He gets compared to Tmac but physically his body type is much more impressive.


And I think his game resembles more of a 2 guard. coming off of curls and catching the balls off screens and such. So that he only needs one or two dribbles to be at the rim. Similar to how Durant has a 2 guard game but is big enough to play the 3 or 4.