Why you shouldn’t give up on Andrew Wiggins

With his fourth coach in six seasons and a full offseason with minimal roster turnover, here is why you should give Wiggins one last chance.

The Andrew Wiggins experience for the Minnesota Timberwolves has been a disappointment since he entered the league. Wiggins Island has deteriorated to a nearly abandoned plot of land in the middle of the ocean where I struggle to survive as Tom Hanks did in Castaway. The bad times bring hurricane-like conditions while the good times bring promising FedEx packages that contain nothing but flashes of what could be. Despite these hostile conditions, I just can’t get myself to leave.

I know the consensus on Wiggins is not hopeful and is exacerbated by his contract, but I still see signs of a productive wing. I will admit that his contract is less than ideal. Ok fine, it’s awful, but for the sake of debate, we are going to ignore that calamity and focus on the actual basketball (Twitter’s least favorite topic).

In Wiggins’ five-year career with the Minnesota Timberwolves, he has had four head coaches. He has had to battle through constant turnover throughout the coaching staff and front office. The only constant in the coaching staff or front office has been Ryan Saunders. Their relationship has been well documented and once Saunders took over as interim head coach last season, we began to see changes in how Wiggins played.

The changes were subtle because it is difficult to completely overhaul and change tendencies and systems in the middle of the season. Now with a full offseason of Saunders’ direction, this is the last chance for Wiggins to show that he can be a productive NBA player.

One of the biggest frustrations with Wiggins’ game has been his questionable shot selection. He loves taking pull-up mid-range jumpers which have been widely shunned across the league. Per Cleaning the Glass, 22 percent of Wiggins’ shot attempts were long mid-range jumpers (86th percentile among wings).

The long mid-range jumper is one of the most inefficient shots in basketball. It would be one thing if Wiggins was reliable in this range, but he shot just 35 percent (38th percentile) in these situations.

Under Tom Thibodeau, Wiggins had a very diverse shot chart. Per NBA stats, Wiggins took 36.7 percent of his shots from within 10 feet, 31.8 percent of his shots in the mid-range, and 31.5 percent of his shots from three. While this may suggest that Wiggins has a well-rounded game, the reality shows that he settled for inefficient shots and didn’t play to his strengths.

The silver lining though is that Wiggins’ shot selection, while still not perfect, drastically improved once Saunders took over. Under Saunders, Wiggins took 43.4 percent of his shots within 10 feet, 30.2 percent of his shots from mid-range, and 26.5 percent of his shots from three.

I understand these still aren’t ideal, but they are an improvement. Improving Wiggins’ shot selection was a big area of focus for Saunders. He frequently stayed late with him to work on shooting drills and would make mid-range shots negative points for Wiggins in practice.

The most encouraging change was Wiggins’ desire to get to the rim. Players with the freakish athleticism that Wiggins possesses should be living at the rim. It is easier to draw fouls and a career 73.5 percent free throw shooter should not be afraid to get to the line.

Besides getting to the rim at a consistent basis, Wiggins also needs to improve his quantity of corner threes. I know Wiggins is a very streaky shooter from the outside and someone of his paygrade should be more than just a corner shooter, but Wiggins is extremely efficient from the corner. Per Cleaning the Glass, Wiggins shot 48 percent on corner threes last year (86th percentile). Unfortunately, he only took five percent of his shots from there (9th percentile).

Wiggins has never shot much from the corner, but he is much more reliable from the corner than from above the break (48 percent vs 31 percent). If Wiggins can make a consistent effort to free himself up in the corner and attack the rim, his offensive production could take a major leap.

Another issue with Wiggins has been his defense. Despite being projected as a great defender out of college, he has never been able to figure it out. As the only Wiggins apologist left, even I have given up on him being a great wing defender.

With that said, I am still a believer that Wiggins can be an above average wing defender when he isn’t forced to guard the opponent’s best player. The addition of Robert Covington could be the best thing for Wiggins’ career.

Covington is a great defender who has no issues guarding the opponent’s best player. This frees up Wiggins to focus on the second or third option on the other team. By taking Wiggins away from the ball on defense, he can use his athleticism to make a bigger impact while not surrendering 40 points.

Per Cleaning the Glass, Wiggins’ block rate of .9 percent ranked in the 83rd percentile among wings. This was better than Paul George, Klay Thompson, and Khris Middleton.

Before you freak out, no I am not suggesting that Wiggins is as good of a defender than those players. I am just highlighting an aspect of his game where he can make a bigger impact. His athleticism is a much more valuable asset when it is used off-ball. His weakside shot blocking and use as a safety net instead a primary ball stopper will yield better results.

Andrew Wiggins will likely never live up to his contract or the hype that surrounded him when he entered the league. However, there is still far too much potential and athleticism for me to completely give up on a wing entering his sixth season.

By putting more focus on his shot selection, Wiggins should have a much more productive year. If the roster around him can stay healthy, his role should be more defined. He won’t be forced to be a primary ball handler and can instead focus on working off-ball for open corner threes and cutting to the rim. With a healthy Josh Okogie and Robert Covington, his defensive role will be focused on players away from the ball where he can use his athleticism to disrupt plays.

The hope is that a full offseason of instruction and guidance from Ryan Saunders will help push Wiggins to the next level as this is likely a make-or-break year for Wiggins. I understand that most of you have already abandoned any hope but there is still too much talent to completely give up on Wiggins. I still remain entrenched on Wiggins Island but if we see similar inefficiencies as the past, I may finally abandon the once-promising oasis for a new adventure.