The Minnesota Timberwolves are horrible. This should not be news to anyone; at 7-32 after their victory last night over the similarly-woeful Nuggets, they still sit last in the Western Conference by a wide margin and own the worst record in the NBA for any team not named “New York Knicks.” And given the Knicks’ ubiquitous media coverage despite their epic struggles, Minnesota owns the dubious distinction of being the least relevant team in the league right now.
Perhaps because of how uninteresting the T-Wolves have been, many of us have quietly missed something important happening: the emergence of No. 1 pick Andrew Wiggins.
Over his last 13 games, the centerpiece of the LeBron James trade has officially elevated his game to another level. From December 23 through last night, Wiggins has averaged 21.4 points per game on 50.5 percent shooting from the field, including a ridiculous 45.9 percent from three. His averages before? 12.0 points per game, 38.5 percent from the field, 36.4 percent from deep. While his rebounding (4.9) and assist (2.7) totals are modest, both are improvements over his old output (4.0 and 1.3) as well.
In their loss at Cleveland a few weeks ago, Wiggins showed off what has become the staple of his game ever since: a combination of dangerous shooting from deep and aggressive moves to the hoop:
It’s those moves to the hoop where the uber-athletic Wiggins is most dangerous, and it’s a weapon he has begun wielding with great effectiveness. 44 percent of his shots all season have come from within 10 feet of the hoop, and during this 13 game hot streak he has upped that number to just short of 54 percent. His 42.9 percent conversion rate on drives to the hoop is far from the league’s best (James Johnson of Toronto owns that distinction with a 66.7 percentage at the rim), but it’s a respectable number that he should have no problem improving going forward.
His career-defining offensive performance last night was exactly in line with what has made him such an effective player of late. He was 5 for 6 on shots from within 10 feet of the hoop—with his lone miss a nine foot jumper—and went 4 for 5 on three pointers. Combined with his five made free throws, those shots accounted for 27 of his career-high 31 points.
Already the NBA’s Rookie of the Month in December, Wiggins appears a shoo-in to win the award again for January and will certainly feature prominently in the Rookie-Sophomore game at All-Star weekend. After a bit of a stumble out of the gate following a very weird start to his NBA career, the promising almost 20-year-old looks ready to fulfill his enormous potential.
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[Stats via Basketball Reference and NBA.com]
