Andrew Wiggins had the best day of his career on January 27, before playing a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. He had spent his entire career before being traded to the Golden State Warriors. Then he was named an NBA All-Star for the first time.
He scored 19 points with a couple of spectacular highlights and added 5rebounds, 4assists, 1steal, and 2blocks without committing a turnover in the game. Also, he had a very effective 24 points, 8rebounds, 2assists, 3steals, and 2blocks two days later, again without a turnover, and on the last day of January. He had a very efficient 23 points, 5rebounds, 3assists, 2steals, and 2blocks, with just 1turnover.
That was the last we heard from Wiggins.
Wiggins was rested in the Golden State Warriors first game of February. But has appeared in all ten games since then.
Wiggins was brought on board by the Golden State Warriors with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green in mind. He belonged not as a No. 1 or No. 2. But a piece with a lot of quality on both sides that showcased to its maximum potential in the right environment. For the most part, it has been Golden State, especially with a healthy team.
Wiggins doesn’t need to be a star for the Warriors. They were overjoyed when he was named an All-Star starter, a distinction he thoroughly deserved. Now he has 22 regular-season games to prove it once more.
He hasn’t scored more than 15 points twice and hasn’t scored 20 points in any of them. He got an average of 13.6 points per game while shooting 41.5 percent from the field, 36.2 percent from beyond the arc, and 41.2 percent from the free-throw line. After those three straight games, he only had one game with multiple blocks, and his defense hasn’t looked anything near the All-Defense level that many predicted early in the season.
Wiggins had plus/minuses of +16, +14, and +17 in his three hot games before the downturn. Giving him five straight games with a positive double-digit plus/minus. He only had a positive plus/minus three times in the last ten games, with a high of +7 against the Los Angeles Lakers. Plus/minus is a team metric, take it with a grain of salt, as the Warriors have been playing poorly as a whole. Wiggins is an important member of the squad, and his not-good play has contributed to the team’s troubles.
Wiggins’ game has a couple of flaws that can be identify.
Lack of aggression
Your eyes may have popped out a little when you saw Wiggins’ free throw percentage over the previous 10games was a pathetic 41.2 percent. Wiggins has only attempted 17 free throws throughout that time frame, making seven of them.
The main problem isn’t that Wiggins shot such a poor percentage; the sample size can partially explain it. The problem is that he’s only attempts 17 free throws or 1.7 per game.
Wiggins’ inability to reach the charity stripe hasn’t been due to his avoidance of contact. But to his restraint of the rim entirely. Wiggins’ average is 3.3 restricting-area attempts per game, 2.8 non-restricting-area attempts per game, and only 2.5 mid-range attempts per game. He gets an average of 1.3 attempts per game in the restricted area since the beginning of February, 2.9 shots per game in the non-limited region of the paint, and even more mid-range attempts 3.0 per game.
Lack of defensive and focus
It is difficult to claim a player isn’t concentrating since it’s impossible to know what’s going on in their heads. However, anything Wiggins does on defense resembles someone who isn’t feeling devote or focus on that end of the floor.
You can argue that Wiggins’ defense is overrating for a long time. But it has been quite good for the majority of the season. His off-ball defense is always a stumbling block in his defensive arsenal.
It has been rank No. 1 in the league all season and drop to No. 21 in the last ten games. Wiggins is far from the only one to blame, but he’s promoting himself as a two-way player, which isn’t paying off now.
Lack of assistance
If Wiggins and former Warrior Harrison Barnes exchanged positions, Barnes would play in the All-Star Game instead of Wiggins. It is simply reminder that when you’re on a winning team, you get more credit, and when you’re on a losing team, you get less.
Wiggins deserves credit for making significant progress over the last two years. Some of his apparent progress stems from his ability to pair his offense with one of the game’s best offensive players. His defense with one of the game’s best defensive players.
Wiggins’ defense has gotten a lot worse while Draymond Green has been out for the last 25 games. With Steph Curry struggling in his own right, and Klay Thompson bouncing in and out of the lineup, Wiggins has looked a little out of place on offense.
Wiggins has earned a lot of praise for developing into a valuable player and an All-Star. But the underlying story was always that he’d found the proper environment. To prosper in, and with the Warriors sagging and injuring things aren’t looking so good. As a result, Wiggins appears to be ineffective.
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