Natural ability won’t keep Andrew Wiggins from superstardom. The top overall pick of June’s draft is blessed with a combination of length and explosiveness matched by just a few players in the world. Questions surrounding Wiggins since his days as a high school phenom have always been whether or not his skill game will ever catch up to his supreme athleticism, queries to which we still don’t have an answer after the rookie’s first days of practice with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
In a report offering takeaways from the first two days of Minny’s training camp, Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune says that while Wiggins has only flashed the incredible physical gifts for which he’s known, the 19 year-old is primed to make a defensive impact for the ‘Wolves from the beginning.
Andrew Wiggins/ Just like he did for Cleveland in Vegas Summer League, there have been a couple moments so far when he’s exploded from nowhere and you just say, well, my goodness.
It’s obvious the guy is a thoroughbred and a uniquely gifted athlete. His second leap after he already has jumped once is ridiculous.
Like in Vegas, I’ve only seen those moments fleetingly. His best step forward will be to put together more and more of them, but you can already see he’ll impact the defense with his length and sudden shot-blocking helping from the weak side.
This isn’t surprising. Wiggins is raw offensively for a wing selected with the draft’s top pick, and has been chastised – unfairly, we think – in the past for letting the game come to him as opposed to imposing his will on it. It was remiss for anyone to expect those relative deficiencies to vanish completely in the months between his final game with the University of Kansas and first official NBA practice.
But Zgoda’s analysis confirms what we’ve maintained throughout the pre-draft process and in the interim: Wiggins’ ceiling remains extremely high, and his floor isn’t nearly as low as most seem to believe.
Even if Wiggins doesn’t realize his vast potential as a go-to alpha dog, he’ll still be one of basketball’s most impactful perimeter defenders. And considering his mechanically sound stroke and solid performance from beyond the college three-point arc, it’s reasonable to expect him to develop into a reliable long-range shooter, too.
In a modern NBA that places more reliance than ever on space and versatility, a defensive beast that can guard multiple positions and knock down open shots is of immense value. Combine those measured means of progress with Wiggins’ ability in the open court, and it’s just hard to imagine him failing the way other rookies could.
It will take time for us to see what Wiggins could become. Given Zgoda’s report and our long-held opinion, though, it seems like we know what he won’t, too.
Will Wiggins become Minny’s franchise player?
Follow Jack on Twitter at @ArmstrongWinter.
Follow Dime on Twitter at @DimeMag.
Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook HERE.
