Timberwolves Mid-Season Player Review: Andrew Wiggins

After taking a team-wide view of the Timberwolves as they passed the halfway point of the season a week ago, now is the time to take a more specific look at how some of the players have been performing.

At this point in the rebuilding process, Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns are the most important players on the team. Wolves fans and NBA fans alike are watching how these two develop, as their growth will essentially be the determining factor in if the Wolves return to the playoffs in the near future.

This season, their progress is more important than wins. With that in mind, let’s take a look at how each of those two have been playing through the first half of this year, starting with Wiggins and following with Towns in a subsequent article.

So far this season, Andrew Wiggins hasn’t become as much of a dominant night-to-night player as many expected. He’s averaging 20.9 points, good for best on the Wolves and 15th in the entire league, but he’s also just grabbing just 3.9 rebounds and dishing 1.9 assists per game (all numbers per nba.com/stats and through Wednesday’s game against the Mavericks).

Dissecting that points per game average a bit, he’s shooting an ugly 24.5 percent from deep and just 73.6 percent from the charity stripe. The three-point percentage is awful for a star wing player, but he also isn’t getting many catch-and-shoot opportunities from the offense. Most of his threes are off-the-dribble and late in the shot clock, and very few of his attempts are quality looks as a result of a play run for him.

The free throw percentage is also a low mark and is actually a decline from the 76 percent he shot from the line last year. That is a bit troubling, but given the fact that he is a pretty decent shooter from that range, that percentage should climb into the mid-80s within a couple of years. He has missed some free throws in clutch situations a few times this year, but the low mark isn’t anything to be too worried about yet.

Where Wiggins really shines, though, is his overall shooting percentage. That stands at 44.3 percent this season, ranking ahead of many star players such as DeMar Derozan, Carmelo Anthony, Paul George, and James Harden while coming in just a few fractions of a percent behind Jimmy Butler. Take away his subpar three-point percentage and you’ll find that he’s shooting 47.7% on shots inside the arc.

Now, he’s still a ways away from being truly elite, as Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and Kawhi Leonard are all shooting slightly over 50 percent from the field overall. As his three-point percentage (hopefully) rises and he begins to convert a few more chances around the hoop, he should be mentioned among the game’s best scorers in no time.

While Wiggins’ scoring average is great for only his second season in the league, his rebounds and assists are very low, especially on a Timberwolves team that could use some more help on the boards. As a comparison, here are some of Wiggins’ fellow superstar wings and their stats from their sophomore season:

Wiggins is clearly doing well for himself in the points department, but his rebounds are by far the lowest on the list. His assist average is slightly below George, Durant, and Melo, while LeBron’s stats from his second season are just superhuman and almost unfair to compare anyone to.

Wiggins needs to step up his production in areas other than scoring to continue his rise up the NBA’s best-active-players list. Right now, his closest comparison seems to be Melo, although Wiggins is a much better defender than Melo is/was.

More from Dunking with Wolves

• The dream starting 5 for Minnesota Timberwolves 5 years from now
• Anthony Edwards’ latest accolade is a great sign of things to come
• In an OT thriller, Team Canada snatches Bronze from Team USA
• Timberwolves start, bench, cut: Mike Conley, Shake Milton, Jordan McLaughlin
• Which Timberwolves roster additions have upgraded the bench?

Except… is he? Although Wiggins has been hyped as a great defender, through his first two years in the league, he has seemed pretty aloof on that end. He has shown the ability to shut down opposing scorers, but there are times in every game where he just seems a little disinterested in that end.

His individual defensive rating this year is a pretty low 104.6. However, Towns ranks just ahead of him at 104.5, and the eye-test would argue that KAT has been a fantastic defender this year and far better than that rating. Maybe my eye-test for Wiggins is a little off, as he’s so quick and fluid on defense that he can make it look like he’s effortlessly staying in front of offensive players.

Perhaps I’m mistaking that perceived effortlessness for a lack of effort. In any case, just like with his offense, Wiggins continues to flash some nice potential on defense. He has great anticipation of passing lanes and will use his quick hands and footwork to swipe opponents, especially as they get into the lane. There’s no doubt that he and Towns will be a formidable one-two punch on both ends of the court for many years to come.

Although Wiggins hasn’t been a consistently overpowering force, he continues to give us nightly flashes of his potential and hasn’t done anything to raise concerns about his growth. These few plays prove just that:

Wiggy’s spin move may be the most gorgeous move in the NBA right now. It is so quick, so smooth, so… perfect.

The last tweet just shows that Wiggins has been more aggressive this year. He’s attacking the rim, hunting for his own shot, and actually looking to embarrass people with hammer dunks or that spin move. There is little doubt that Wiggins has what it takes to be a great player in this league, so hopefully that aggressiveness begins to manifest itself consistently on defense and on the boards.

Next: Timberwolves Mid-Season Awards

Wiggins isn’t a nightly star just yet, but he’s only midway through his second season in the league and is 20 years old. His future is still as bright as they come, and along with Towns, the Wolves’ outlook is one of the best in the NBA.