Timberwolves Season in Review: Andrew Wiggins

Third-year wing Andrew Wiggins had the best season of his career this past year, making incremental improvements in multiple areas for the young Timberwolves squad.

2014-15 Rookie of the Year and Rising Stars Game MVP, Andrew Wiggins, got off to a solid start in the 2016-17 season. And with a career-high average of 23.6 points, he was a constant and prolific scorer each night.

He played a career-high 37.2 minutes and didn’t miss a game all season long; ne thing has been a constant with Andrew throughout his career and that’s durability. Wiggins has played in 245 of 246 possible games so far in his career — which is great for the Wolves because in past years they have been ravaged by injuries.

With constant hype surrounding his career, Andrew has taken the role of a soft-spoken player who destroys his opponents with posterizing dunks and a tantalizing spin move.

With Wiggins being the prolific scorer that he is, he reached scored a career-high 47 points on 14-of-21 shooting and was 17-22 from the line back on on November 13th, 2016.

Additionally, with his 6′-8″ height and 7′-0″ wingspan, there is high hope that under coach Tom Thibodeau, he will become a top-notch defender in this league. After all, Wiggins came out of college with the raw defensive capabilities that also made him the number-one overall pick.

During the ’16-’17 season, however, Wiggins often played lackadaisical defense and only averaged four rebounds per game. Despite his frequent lapses, he has absolutely played lock-down defense at times.

Also in 2016-17, Wiggins broke the Timberwolves’ record of consecutive 20-point games with 19 straight games reaching the 20-point milestone — a record originally held by Kevin Garnett. (Karl-Anthony Towns would go on to break that record just a few games later with 21 straight games of 20 consecutive points.)

After the All-Star break, Wiggins really did play to his full potential on the offensive end of the floor. In the month of February, he averaged 28.8 points and shot an effective 51.4 percent from the field.

Overall, Wiggins had impressive highlights throughout the year. Let’s take a look…

47-point game versus the Los Angeles Lakers 

31 points and game-winner against the Phoenix Suns

Dunk on JaVale McGee

During the off-season, Andrew will have to work on his passing and ball-handling skills. He worked extensively on both last off-season and it showed during in 2016-17, but there is still work to be done.

Next: Grading the 2010 Draft for the Timberwolves

The Wolves are looking to become a playoff team for the first time in 13 years. If they do, it will be because Andrew Wiggins was a big part of the success.