Andrew Wiggins should be the Minnesota Timberwolves’ point guard

Considering the Minnesota Timberwolves’ outlook at the point guard position, they should let Andrew Wiggins run the point full-time after experimenting with that gameplan earlier this year.

Following a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night, Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Ryan Saunders was asked in press conference, “What happened to Andrew Wiggins after a promising first quarter?” to which Saunders replied “I’m not sure.”

That is an inexcusable answer. With Karl-Anthony Towns on the sidelines, a head coach should know what your best player is supposed to do.

Wiggins did exactly what he was supposed to in a recent win over Portland where he dropped 23 points with 8 assists and just 1 turnover in 26 minutes. That’s the MVP-caliber efficiency that we normally see from a player like Luka Doncic.

I’m not saying Andrew is Luka, but in the same role I think he isn’t far from having a similar impact.

Andrew Wiggins is not a good off-ball player. He is a great cutter, but through the first half of the season he is only shooting 30.7% from three in catch-and-shoot situations.

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However, Wiggins is making 36% of his three-point attempts off the dribble, which is similar to Luka’s 36.6% on step-backs from beyond the arc. The Wolves need to give Wiggins more of these opportunities throughout the game, not just in crunch time.

Just like Luka, who himself isn’t a great spot up shooter at 30.7%, Andrew shoots the three with better rhythm off the dribble. Wiggins is the best player on the team at driving to score or pass to open shooters, so playing him off of the ball doesn’t make much sense. And limiting your best players reps in favor of worse players is not a sound gameplan for beating better teams.

Shabazz Napier has done a great job of playing within the system, but his physical limitations make it difficult for him to play good defense in the NBA, and offensively he’s been a worse shooter than Wiggins.

Andrew Wiggins has one the lowest turnover rates among high-usage players according to NBA.com, so he’s ready to handle a larger ball-handling role.

His improved dribble and patience in the paint have allowed him time to survey the court for open shooters much like Luka does, and when scoring is the best option he has a floater which he makes at 48% which beats Luka’s 39%.

Luka Doncic has played in this role his whole life and Wiggins is only just starting to learn that point guard role. However, Andrew has the skills and physical tools to excel as a primary ball-handler much like Luka, and with KAT coming back Wiggs has a much better version of Porzingis on his own team.

Gerson Rosas had the vision of turning Wiggins into a primary ball handler in the offseason and therefore never signed any point guards of significance outside of a sign-and-trade to acquire Shabazz Napier’s cheap contract. Also, Jeff Teague and Napier’s contracts are set to expire after this season so the Wolves need to find out if Wiggins can be their point guard of the future.

I hope that when Towns returns from injury, as well as Jake Layman, Wiggins will be featured much more in that role as the Timberwolves get set to find their future identity.