NBA Draft 2014: Andrew Wiggins has a jarring weakness that could prevent stardom
By Joe Nardone
If you have watched Wiggins play at all this year, then you have clearly seen his freaky athleticism, from his ability to throw down dunks from all over, put back his own misses, and use his athleticism on the defensive end. All of this makes him such an intriguing prospect but is also unfortunately makes his inability to finish on layups that much more alarming.
If a player’s best attribute is his athleticism, but he can’t maximize the use of it, what does that say about that player’s potential?
There are no advanced stats that I could find that separates Wiggins’ at-the-rim attempts minus dunk attempts. I could only find his total percentage that included all shots (including dunks) from within five feet from the basket.
It should be noted that shooting .61 percent from the floor, from that distance, for a player of Wiggins’ athleticism, isn’t that great. It’s not horrible either, I might add.
So, yes. Andrew Wiggins really relied upon his athleticism to get buckets at the college level. Even more so, he really relied upon his reputation of having a freak athleticism, to draw fouls while attacking the rim. That is something he will not be able to do at the next level. His reputation might proceed him, but no one is going to foul him because a recruiting service website says he could jump really high.
NBA coaches, scouts and players are going to get the same report on Wiggins, that he isn’t the prototypical athletic player. This will put Wiggins in a position where he needs to prove that he can finish before he gets to benefit from being a solid foul shooter, which is a large portion of his offense.
Andrew Wiggins is a far better jump shooter at this point in his development than anyone expected he would be. He is also a probable world-class defender. Oddly enough, it’s the aspect of his game we all thought would come naturally to him — his athleticism — that makes his one weakness — his inability to finish at the rim — so jarring.
The ceiling for Wiggins is still incredibly high, which makes him a low-risk pick in this year’s NBA Draft.