Andrew Wiggins is improving at the free throw line
Andrew Wiggins struggled at the free throw line for much of the season. Don’t look now, but he’s been improving from the charity stripe of late.
Through the first three seasons, Andrew Wiggins shot a remarkably consistent, albeit average, percentage from the free throw line. For some reason, that all changed this season.
Before we get started, let’s compare this season to the ones in the past. Below is the average number of makes and attempts for each of the four seasons in Wiggins’ career, as well as the percentage made.
2014-15: 4.3 made/5.7 attempted – 76 percent
2015-16: 5.3 made/7.0 attempted – 76.1 percent
2016-17: 5.0 made/6.6 attempted – 76.0 percent
2017-18: 2.5 made/3.9 attempted – 64.5 percent
As you can see, his attempts per game are nearly down 50 percent from last year. To go along with that, his percentage has dropped close to 12 percent. That’s not ideal for one of the Wolves’ best payers and even more so when Jimmy Butler has been sidelined with a knee injury. It’s a lot of points that have been left on the table.
Could Wiggins struggles be preventing him from wanting to drive to the lane and draw fouls? Could be. But we have seen him become more and more aggressive as the season has gone along.
In October, he averaged seven attempts, but since then, his totals have decreased to less than three free throw attempts per game. In the month of March, however, it went up to 4.2. And, looking at Wiggins’ game log, there are some games where he will shoot 6-7 attempts per game but there are also several nights during which he won’t shoot any at all.
It may not be consistent, but we are seeing the higher free throw attempts per game go up. This is a good sign, of course, because Wiggins driving to the hoop and staying aggressive is virtually impossible to stop due to his length and athleticism.
According to NBA.com, Wiggins has improved his free throw percentage over the last 10 games to 70 percent. It’s not where we want it to be, but seeing a six percent increase is a good sign. His career history tells us that he can for sure be a 76 percent free throw shooter, so this season must be affecting his game in some way.
And indeed it has.
Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune, released an article about Wiggins shooting at the line.
"Earlier, I wasn’t to the free-throw line as much and now I’m going a lot more,” Wiggins said. “My previous years, I shot well from the free-throw line. Earlier, I wasn’t shooting as much, so every miss was crucial.”"
You can get an idea that he was starting to feel a little flustered each time he would miss a free throw. Over time, it can build up and it’s understandable that Wiggins would start to overthink things. Wiggins is such an enormous talent that he can understand that and hopefully get over that.
Later in the article, he goes on to say:
"“I’m trying to slow my process down,” he said. “Last year, I always took a longer time at the free-throw line. This year, I feel I rushed it a little bit. I’m just trying to take my time.”"
Maybe it’s the new faces around him that has caused him to feel a little more pressure to make shots? It could even be the idea that this team has so much more promise and talent that he felt a lot of weight to help this team make the playoffs.
There’s a lot that can cause him to struggle at the free throw line. What is certain however, Wiggins is figuring things out again and it couldn’t come at a better time with Jimmy Butler out and the NBA season coming to an end.
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For Minnesota to stay successful in the future, Wiggins will have to continue to be aggressive and take the ball to the rim. If he gets fouled, we can finally see a player make more shots and get to the line a lot more.