Minnesota Timberwolves: The rise and fall of Andrew Wiggins

Why Andrew Wiggins is a disappointment

Looking at Wiggins, it’s clear he certainly has the physical tools to be a star in the NBA but one of the main reasons why he’s been such a disappointment in recent years is the fact that he doesn’t make use of his insane athleticism in any area of the game, making him a poor all-around player.

He’s been a major disappointment on defense thus far in his NBA career, he’s a bad rebounder for a 6-foot-8 small forward, he only gets to the line around four-time per game since his third year, he struggles to finish at the rim or under any sort of defensive pressure and he doesn’t really create for his teammates either.

Now that is quite a list of shortcomings! And yes, they are in large part due to Wiggins’ apparent inability to fully utilize his athletic gifts.

The other aspect of this is the mental side of things, where Andrew has also received his fair share of criticism. He appears to lack the mentality of an NBA star.

He has been criticized for not showing a great deal of passion for the game of basketball as well as not showcasing a strong desire to win and improve. Because of this, his work ethic is also questioned frequently and has become an increased concern in the past couple of seasons.

All of this produces a lackluster and somewhat nonchalant demeanor on the court, where Wiggins rarely seems engaged for a full 48-minute contest.

And whether it’s due to this apparent lack of drive or something else, it’s clear to both basketball analysts and knowledgable fans that Wiggins has a pretty poor basketball IQ.

Let me elaborate on this.

His defensive struggles are due to a combination of things, including a lack of physicality, low motor, and poor defensive awareness. His poor awareness and instincts make him somewhat unreliable as both an off-ball and help defender.

His struggles on the glass are, again, due to a lack of physicality, low motor, and poor positional awareness. Wiggins often seems unaware of where the ball is going to come down following a miss and he also lacks the motor and physicality to frequently body up against his man and box out.

As previously noted, Wiggins has also become an inefficient and wildly inconsistent volume scorer which has a lot to do with his sub-standard basketball IQ.

First off, he has a very poor shot selection. He settles for way too many mid-range jumpers (which he isn’t very good at making anyway).

He doesn’t attack the basket nearly enough and as a result, we have seen his free throw attempts plummet from around seven attempts to four. When he does attack, Wiggins has a tendency to just flail and force up bad shots. As well as hurting his efficiency, this makes him a lot more predictable to guard since he rarely seems to have a plan or go to finishing move around the rim.

And finally, another thing that hurts Wiggins’ scoring efficiency (especially on jumpers) is his footwork. His messy and muddles footwork often leads to off-balance looks where he fails to get adequate lift and elevation to get a clean look at the basket. This is one reason why he struggles to make shots with a hand in his face.

So there you have it. A few explanations for what has caused Andrew Wiggins’ decline in recent years. And notice how I haven’t mentioned any injury problems. Yeah, that’s because Wiggins hasn’t had any which is what makes this all the more concerning. In fact, he’s only missed nine games total in his first five seasons.

So where does that leave us?