Dude could be the new scottie pippen without the playmaking ability. Right away he will be a lockdown defender, he reminds me of shawn marion now with a really high ceiling. If Lebron came back and took this young man under his wing, he could be a big help in the title chase the next 5 years, and as Lebron starts to decline this guy could allow Lebron to still be a contender into his mid to late 30s.
Irving has some history with teammates though and Cleveland as a city is where top picks go to die...all top picks not named Lebron I guess. Still, his starting skill set and athleticism is rare for a prospect. It really comes down to the drive and situation with these top picks.
The Cavs are beginning to have a formidable roster with added value of Wiggins. They have a new coach, who is clearly much more creative than the previous ones. I predict that they will be very strong this coming season.
There are plenty of crappy owners, and I doubt most players give a #### about his open letter to LeDiva. The problem with the Cavs is the city they play in just isn't as appealing to players as other NBA cities. My hunch is that if Wiggins becomes a legit star, unless the Cavs start winning big, he will probably sign an extension, get his first big payday, then start counting the days until he can bail out. How many years total is that? On a side note, I would love to see one of the established media outlets quiz players on their favorite cities to play, to rank them top to bottom. Most would be in the middle, a few at the top and a few at the bottom. The bottom cities will always have trouble keeping their stars and luring top free agents without having to overpay them.
Got Bynum's number! <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Andrew Wiggins to wear No. 21 for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cavs?src=hash">#Cavs</a>. <a href="http://t.co/tGm2atL3kt">pic.twitter.com/tGm2atL3kt</a></p>— RealGM (@RealGM) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealGM/statuses/482582834431815680">June 27, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
When you have LeBron, you want to go all in to win. I can understand why they didn't want to wait for a rookie to develop. Is Wiggins one of those rare players who can make an impact right away from the beginning? He looks pretty solid so far.
I understand the situation, but it reminds me of when T-Mac wanted Okafor instead of Howard cause he was fresh outta HS, while the former was a college senior.
They may already. 20 ppg, 5 rpg, 48% over his last 10 games. And he's probably already better than Love on defense.
But he's a rookie and the Cavs want to win now. Plus, and we may never know, it's possible LeBron doesn't return unless the Cavs assured him another star would be brought in.
Oh, I get it, and I thought it was a good trade at the time. I'd actually thought Wiggins was pretty overrated based on his disappearing act in college. I'm not sure it looks so good right now. If Lebron knew he was going to have an injury-plagued year, that Love would not translate to wins, and that Wiggins would basically have had a year to develop, well... he might have had a different take.
The thing that made me mad the first time Lebron left Cleveland was that everybody defended it by saying "but look how bad the team around him is". That was basically Lebron's fault! He wanted those guys and the Cavs felt immense pressure to keep Lebron happy. Now Lebron is back to GMing and it's not working out - again. At least Kevin Love is better than guys like Mo Williams, over the hill Antawn Jamison and Larry Hughes, but even still, if they don't pull together and make a serious run by playoff time there will be more and more people questioning the Wiggins/Love trade. And if Lebron decides to leave again? Oh man.
It's never a good thing when a player is making personnel decisions. LeBron needs a strong boss like Riley to steer the ship for him. When will these superstars ever learn?
