Minnesota Timberwolves: Player grades for first quarter of the season

Andrew Wiggins – Player Grade C+

While most fans and analysts would probably grade Andrew Wiggins much lower than a C+, I cannot do that with a clear conscious.

Wiggins’ has played like one of the worst max contract athletes in the history of sports over the past few games, shooting 8-37 from the field and even going 0-12 for zero points in his outing against the Chicago Bulls.

Moreover, Wiggins’ hasn’t played a single minute in the fourth quarter of the past two games against the Bulls and the Cleveland Cavaliers. With the Wolves winning streak sitting at 3 games, something has to be going right, right..?

The good news is that Wiggins has played close to 28 minutes a game over the past two wins, so this could be the new way to utilize him, or even off the bench (yes, a max player off the bench).

Now, why am I not worried? Because Wiggins is still the third leading scorer on this team and is a good enough player that we should all look away from seeing the past few games as a new “normal” for Wiggs.

Tom Thibodeau hasn’t schematically figured Wiggins out on the offensive end since the former no. 1 overall pick scored 23 PPG back in 2016, which may seem more like a Thibs problem and less like a Wiggs problem.

Albeit, something needs to be done to get Andrew Wiggins moving in the right direction, and maybe lighting a flame underneath him on the defensive end will make the difference? At least, that seems to be what the Wolves are doing with him.