The bizarre adventure of Andrew Wiggins in the pick-and-roll
Last season, the Minnesota Timberwolves used Andrew Wiggins as the pick-and-roll ball handler quite a bit. He showed some flashes, but has a ways to improve.
If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a million times. Andrew Wiggins has all the necessary tools to become a legit force in the NBA. I know that. You know that. Heck, my mom even knows that.
However, we tend to forget how difficult it is to play in the NBA. There’s a reason it only employs around 450 players at any given time throughout the season. It’s nearly impossible to make it to the league (sorry 7-year-old, your dream of playing in the NBA one day won’t come true) and most of those who do won’t even last five years.
For now, Wiggins perceived lack of growth in any area outside of scoring should be given a pass.
Before we dive full bore into Maple Jordan, let’s pause for a moment to look at the newly acquired Jimmy Butler. I promise it will relate.
After averaging 1.4 assists per 36 minutes during his rookie season, Butler increased that to 5.3 last season (six years later) and has become known as one of the better playmakers at the shooting guard position.
Wait, wait, wait. Hold up. It took Butler, a three-year player at Marquette, six years to turn into the playmaker he is today? Why are we so quick to throw Wiggins under the bus then? After all, he and Butler basically averaged the same amount of assists per 36 minutes after their third season (and Wiggins was three years younger):
| Rk | Player | From | To | FG% | 3P% | TRB | AST | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jimmy Butler | 2012 | 2014 | .425 | .309 | 5.1 | 2.2 | 12.0 |
| 2 | Andrew Wiggins | 2015 | 2017 | .450 | .329 | 4.0 | 2.1 | 20.3 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
If the former Kansas Jayhawk wants to take the step Butler did during his fourth year, improving as the pick-and-roll ball handler is where it’s at.
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Although he flashed legit potential, the majority of the time he struggled to produce positive results on this play.
Running the pick-and-roll 7.8 possessions per game, he only produced 6.5 points on average. That left him generating 0.83 points per possession, good for 64th in the NBA of all players who ran the pick-and-roll at least 2.0 possessions per game.
The problem with Wiggins comes down to his decision-making. A lot of times we see elite athletes struggle at the highest level. They are used to the game coming so easily and get careless with the ball. They forget (or never had to learn) the fundamentals and basics which are in place for a reason.
This one-hand pass has got to go:
After Cole Aldrich slips the screen, Karl-Anthony Towns’ defender slides down to the free throw line to help, leaving him open behind the arc. Instead of making a simple two-hand overhead pass, Wiggins tries to whip it one-handed off the dribble. Needless to say, the pass isn’t even close to a stationary Towns and some lucky fan in the first row looks like a fool trying to defend himself from the unforeseen souvenir.
This time, Wiggins is trying to make something happen after the screen by Gorgui Dieng. After getting into the lane, he believes he has the sharp-shooting Ricky Rubio open in the corner:
Unfortunately, C.J. McCollum reads the play beautifully and intercepts the one-handed sling. I like the idea of the skip-pass to the corner, however, the execution was sorely lacking. Part of the concern with the one-hand pass is the lack of control the player has over the ball. That shows on this play, as he throws it far too low and inside.
To be fair, not all of these passes ended in turnovers. When he was able to gather himself for a moment and get his body under control, the passes sometimes ended in beautiful assists:
If the turnovers were ugly, man, were the assists gorgeous!
Despite the lack of assists, Wiggins can be a good passer when he wants to be. That may not always be the case, but it certainly makes the team better when he displays that willingness.
Here, he comes off the Towns screen under control and begins navigating the defense for an open driving lane. When he doesn’t find one, he calmly throws a skip pass (two-handed if I may point out) to Zach LaVine on the weakside corner:
Although I’m not a big fan of the jump pass, it works when you have a plan. As soon as Wiggins left his feet, he knew exactly what he was going to do with it.
This type of vision can be dangerous for a 20+ point per game scorer. It doesn’t allow the defense to overhelp and leave their man unattended, as it makes every offensive player on the court a threat to score.
He still has a long way to go to turn this type of play into a consistent result. However, I’m ready to believe he can do it.
Next: Minnesota Timberwolves win prediction part two
I’ll admit, I’m most guilty of throwing Wiggins to the Wolves (pun intended). I’ve hopped on the “Wiggins can do nothing but score” train many times. Now, I’m willing to exercise some patience for the first time in my life and see what he can do with continued work and an improved team.