It was barely more than a year ago that Andrew Wiggins was a can’t miss superstar. He jumped like LeBron James, shot like Kevin Durant, possessed the skill level of Kobe Bryant, and had enough charisma to carry Canada on his skinny but broadening teenage shoulders. But then the 2013-2014 college basketball season kicked-off and played-out, and Wiggins was “exposed” to all for what the realistic always assumed he was: a wildly athletic, preternaturally talented teenager who was rough around the edges.
Backlash developed from there, with fans calling Wiggins a bust and analysts writing that he was overhyped. Neither assessment was wrong, either; no high school player – save for James, of course – had ever garnered then proven warranted the level of attention Wiggins received.
He was still the number one draft pick in June, and still showed flashes of the dominance in Summer League and early in his rookie season that fooled so many into believing he was a ready-made professional star. But Wiggins’ first NBA months were met with scrutiny more than anything else. Team-based advanced numbers suggested he’d top out as a role player; some analysts believed he wasn’t among basketball’s 10 best prospects; and box score watching too often yielded games of poor shooting and little supporting impact.
But Wiggins flipped the script in late December with a string of several awesome performances, and played perhaps the best game of his career in the Minnesota Timberwolves’ hard-fought 110-107 loss to the Sacramento Kings last night. Does this look like a rookie destined to disappoint?
The 19 year-old finished the game with 27 points (11-22 FGs, 1-4 3PTs, 4-5 FTs), nine rebounds, two assists, and four steals. He scored 21 points in a dominant first half before struggling to make shots down the stretch, but still offered Minny a wealth of positive influence while tantalizing with several impressive individual moves.
Take this sequence of plays as the fourth quarter clock ticked under 6:00:
Wiggins posts-up Rudy Gay on the left block for an and-1 up-and-under. He comes from the weak-side to steal an entry pass to DeMarcus Cousins. He does this to Gay from the opposite block on the ensuing possession:
//platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.js
…and strips Gay in the post for a steal on the next trip down.
That’s four consecutive plays on which Wiggins directly decided the outcome – ones involving All-Star level opponents, no less. Pretty heady stuff for a skinny, raw kid that many have already decided has no hopes of living up to his pre-draft billing.
Wiggins is averaging 21.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.4 steals per game over the Wolves’ last five games. He’s shooting 50.4 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from beyond the arc.
Bust. Overhyped. Role player.
Obviously, he isn’t those things. Does that mean Wiggins will evolve into the megastar his YouTube fame suggested? Hardly. There’s too much variance involved in the long-term projection of teenagers to say that for sure. Performances like last night’s, though, certainly make it seem a possibility.
And considering so many overly critical snapshot judgements of the first weeks of Wiggins’ career, that’s more than enough – for now.
(Video via Dawk Ins)
What do you think?
Follow Jack on Twitter at @ArmstrongWinter.
Follow Dime on Twitter at @DimeMag.
Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook HERE.
