He's not too far off from where Kobe and T-Mac were at the same age. Durant had progressed more at that point (and was a lot more polished in college). Wiggins is by no means a lock to become a superstar, but I think his odds are still very good. That said, I do think that Towns IS a virtual lock to become a superstar.
The main issue with gay and what made him an analytics nightmare was his refusal to initiate contact and bad D. If you want a comparison on this, Gay in his second year only took 3.9 attempts a game, whereas Wiggins right now is attempting 10 attempts a game so IMHO while Gay might have better stats in the beginning, Wiggins will definitely be the better player once he matures. And honestly IMHO the Wolves sucking is the best thing to happen to them right now, they need more pieces around Wiggins and KaT. The main issue why there are so few competitive teams in the NBA despite talent coming in every year is because a lot of teams get drunk when they get a foundational piece and go into Win-Now mode, case in point would be Boogie in Sacramento and Anthony Davis in NO. How good would those teams have been if they kept on collecting top 3 picks once they got AD and Cousins? Instead, they wasted the rookie years of these players trying to be competitive and get into the playoffs by getting vets, now Cousins can't wait to get out of Sacramento and now it is too late to get AD any help, NO really screwed themselves by trading for Asik and that pg from Philly.
He doesn't really understand the game yet. You've got player who never do. I really hope he's not one of them because his potential is astonishing.
On the other hand, developing too many players at the same time, esp with a coach as Mitchell can harm the development of players. And there have been plenty of teams who had collected many first rounders and just stayed there in the lottery without ever competing. I think having Lavine as the pg harms the development of others, and Wiggins is not being taught proper shot selection with him having the green light.
FFS, when Michael Redd was Wiggins' age he was still at Ohio State! C'mon. It's going to take time for Wiggins to develop. Yes, he needs to diversify his game. Yes, he needs to play with more intensity on defense. Yes, he needs to improve his jumper and turn some of those long-2s into 3s. But he's 20-years-old! Forget about the hype in HS, forget about the fact that we live in an era of instant gratification, and just let the kid grow. Most players who are as good as he is at his age wind up in the Hall of Fame when all is said and done.
He reminds me of the rookie Durant. Not the style but reputation. Very inefficient, not grasping when to shoot, when to pass, when to attack, but clearly looked to be a special player.
He is very young. In many ways he is almost a spitting image of Derozan. I would say that is the floor of his potential. Hopefully he can progress into something more dynamic.
I looked into his advanced stats just now and every category has gone down except from scoring. And 28% usage!! Wow.
On the contrary. One of his biggest nocks in college was his timidness and ability to handle the lime light. He was simply way too passive. Its a big testament to him that he can transform his mindset to be agressive. Obviously, the next step is to increase his efficiency.
I watched many Minesota games. He can be really good, but him and Lavine don't mesh well. Also some strange situation in general there. Nobody really knows their roles. It's like everybody is looking at each other like "is it my turn now?" Strange. They are good for three quarters and then they go down.
He's going to be real good IMO. He will figure it out, he seems like a smart kid on and off the floor. He's getting used to shooting this much. He also needs to bulk up IMO. His game is not that of a 100% above the rim player. I feel like he will rely heavily on a power game, posting smaller players up and getting easily past bigger players, continuing to get to the line a lot as he has done. I also think he has the potential and willingness to be a good defender. We'll see. This season hasn't been great, but he is learning a valuable lesson early in his career. I can't think of too many people who averaged almost 10 FTA's per game early in their career and didn't go on to become superstars.
Wiggins development is right where you want it to be, good scorer and good defender, he is the best go to guy the Wolves have on offense, and he is the best man to man defender the Wolves have, everytime I see him defend the best players (and I watched every single game the Wolves had played this season) he does a good job, he is either on his face, make them pass the ball, or force them to make a tough shot. Is like he loves defending the best players in the world you can see he enjoy it more than scoring. I don't pay attention to analytics when it comes to Wiggins defense, because everyone knows analytics has its flaws specially when this is about man to man defense, that's why you have to see it live every game to make your own conclusion. The things Wiggins needs to improve next season, is his 3 point shot and his awareness of the double team to pass the ball to the open player, if he does that he can easily average 25+ points a game and 4 assists a game. His rebounding is not as bad as people make it out to be because he is a SG who average 4 rebounds a game, maybe he can add 1 offensive rebound more to make it 5 in total, but that's not much of a difference, remember he plays the SG position not the SF.
Future MVP. With that being said, you build a team to win championships, not to increase your chances at guys with MVP potential. It is fair to assume Love would help the Cavs during Lebron's window more than Wiggins would. I do not like Love and did not want the Rockets to trade for him. But, he is more ready to help a team win a championship than Wiggins was... and maybe is.
He is only now understanding his scary potential. He will be a different beast by next season. As Wiggins develops chemistry with Towns, Lavine, and Rubio...they really have a very talented core. Infact...they are just a good coach away from really being special. If they hire David Blatt, there is a very high likelyhood they will be a very special team.
Wiggins is a defensive beast but a lot of you guys are over hyping him here. He's only shooting 44.7% from the field and he doesn't take a lot of threes. His TS% is not good and he's not facilitating his teammates either.