HeartBreakKid wrote:doordoor123 wrote:
He's proven he can be a defensive nightmare,
He was pretty bad on defense for a lot of the year.
hes proven he can play in the post,
True.
hes proven he can score consistently,
You have a very lose definition of consistent then. He's not very consistent, and being able to score only matters if it helps a team win. A lot of players in the NBA can score if they are given the ball as much as Wiggins is and are told to play with no expectations.
A lot.
hes proven his shot can be unstoppable,
Seems like hyperbole to me.
hes proven to be ahead of the pack. There's a reason he won ROTY.
Most of the people in the thread title are not in Wiggins pack - so Wiggins beating people in his rookie class doesn't hold all of the weight in these comparisons. Personally, Nerlens Noel was the best rookie for me this year, so Wiggins ROTY doesn't mean the world to me. Also, I thought Jabari Parker was clearly better than Wiggins before Parker went down. Wiggins got ROTY sure, but he didn't have much competition, a lot of injuries to the top guys.
There's really no argument here. You can't base expectations on a rookie year with an extremely young team.
I agree, but it is hypocrisy to give people a hard time for guys who have only played in college in a comparison with Wiggins on the fact that Wiggins has played in the NBA and the others have not. That just does not make sense. One can't have their cake and eat it too, people who are saying Wiggins will be great are
projecting just like people who are saying Embiid will be great.
He proved that he CAN be a defensive nightmare. Emphasis on "CAN." He can be terrifying on closing spaces and getting into gaps where the ball is trying to go. On-man he clearly needs work, but he'll be fine.
And yes, by the end of the season he proved to be able to beat doubles, score and do so consistently. Rookies are learning the entire year, if you're going to assess them, assess by the later part of the season because that's when they feel more comfortable and are reliable in terms of getting minutes. And I disagree that a lot of guys can score when given the opportunity while also being guarded by opposing defenses best defenders.
And yes, when I say CAN, it means his athleticism will take him there when he uses it better. He can literally jump high enough to have an unreachable shot by most guys in the league, much like T-Mac.