Andrew Wiggins’ Rookie Doppelganger
Jan 5, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves guard
Andrew Wiggins(22) is guarded by Denver Nuggets guard
Arron Afflalo(10) during the first quarter at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
Andrew Wiggins is in the middle of a promising rookie season, full of difficulties. His play has steadily improved, despite the struggles of his team. His team has been wracked by injuries, and is missing many of its most important players. His team also has a different coaching staff from last season.
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Doesn’t this all sound familiar?
Wiggins’ rookie season to this point has a lot of parallels to another athlete who made their professional debut for a Minnesotan team in 2014: Teddy Bridgewater.
This is by no means a perfect comparison. Maple Jordan was the top pick in the draft, acquired by the Timberwolves by trading their best player to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Bridgewater was the projected number one pick in the NFL Draft until his poor pro day sent his stock plummeting. Because of those realities, the perceptions leading into both rookies’ seasons were a bit different.
Still, the plan was essentially the same for both; Ease them into their first season by limiting playing time and slowly building their respective amounts of responsibility. Both plans got blown apart by unforeseen circumstances, too. No one could have guessed that 3/5ths of the Timberwolves opening night starting line-up would miss significant time due to injuries. The Vikings issues included injuries, but went way beyond that as well. Raise your hand if you expected Adrian Peterson to effectively be suspended for 15 games or Matt Kalil and Cordarrelle Patterson to have such rough years. These are both very difficult situations for such young guys to be thrust into.
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The good news is, both players have responded extremely well. As we have went over here previously, Bridgewater struggled somewhat early on in his rookie campaign, but got better and better as the season progressed. Even with all of the injuries and ineffectiveness around him, he played well and kept the Vikings offense afloat the last six weeks of the season.
Wiggins has had a similar trajectory to Bridgewater’s, although the success has not translated to victories for the Timberwolves just yet. It will be interesting to watch Ricky Rubio play with this Wiggins, as opposed to the wet behind the ears version from the first few games of the season. In fact, according to Aaron Gleeman, he has been putting up more points, and at an efficient rate to boot. Take a look:
Andrew Wiggins' last eight games: 21.5 points per game on 52% shooting, including 42% on three-pointers. Still six weeks from turning 20.
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) January 8, 2015
Certainly shooting that high of a percentage from the field and from deep is not generally sustainable. Over the course of a full season, only six players in NBA history have averaged 50% shooting, 40% three-point shooting and 90% free throw shooting over the course of a season. Still, these past eight games have been an excellent sign for the future.
The expectation on these two guys is immense. After their rookie seasons, it will not be good enough to simply play well. It will be expected that they will lift their respective teams to success. I, for one, believe that they will.