Kinda crazy what happened when he joined the Dubs from Minn. Then he did great until last season. If he's still on the team this season, I'm guessing he's going up not down.
by WryKombucha
@Golden State Warriors
Kinda crazy what happened when he joined the Dubs from Minn. Then he did great until last season. If he's still on the team this season, I'm guessing he's going up not down.
by WryKombucha
8 Comments
Another interesting vector is:
Wiggins was rated A- on D-Lebron in 2022.
Wiggins was the #7 POA defender in 2022 (bball-index) – Better than Anunoby.
Wiggins was A- in 2023 as well (he went out on personal leave in the spring)
He was a C in 2024. Prob because he was an F for 60% of the season and an A the rest. If this is the case, then he’s been an A defender for more than 2 of the 3 seasons. I predict a bounce back.
I am still a bit higher on Wiggs than the rest of the fanbase, mostly because even the second half of last year, he was very obviously our best POA defender. Offensively I don’t know if he’ll ever be as good as 17 point 2022 Wiggs but if he could just be third/fourth offensive scoring option on this team but bring it on defense, we’d be in a good spot.
Obviously though the personal issues may resurface, and I don’t know what was up with him for the first half last year because he was really bad, so it’s definitely a risk to keep him. But man I love watching his on ball defense, if we keep him I hope he bounces back.
Down but not out… nobody wants to raise their hand and say “maybe we should see what Wiggs gives us without Klay around”
But maybe we should see what Wiggs will give us without Klay around.
I get that Lauri fever has us in its grips but Wiggs might find the secret sauce this offseason that made him a great pickup before Klays return as a defensive stalwart and solid offensive player.
I’m totally fine with seeing this roster through a little bit.
Now do Lauri
Edit: googled that for ya
https://x.com/The_BBall_Index/status/1810343086603604160
I’m relatively pretty high on Wiggins at least compared to most the vocal people on this sub. If he returns to the average of his years in GS and is just available, you can see how his contract actually becomes kind of good.
The availability isn’t as big of a ‘if’ compared to chronically injured players.
Defense is extremely contextual and driven by scheme, as well as how much you and your teammates buy in to that scheme and communicate. This is why all of the defensive stats fall short.
Anything based on a box score is fatally flawed because box score stats don’t matter.
On off numbers are deeply influenced by who you share the court with, but probably are a bit more useful over a big enough sample (also with a coach who plays a lot of lineups).
Tracking data is pretty noisy because there are a bunch of scenarios where playing good defense makes you look bad. For instance, say your teammate blows a switch and you leave your guy to cover for him, but no one gets you.
Basically, props to the warriors front office/ coaches for seeing the potential for an elite defender and plugging him into a cohesive scheme.
This is another reason why if we really wanted a second option score-first guy who wouldn’t be super expensive, I could talk myself into Anfernee Simons. He’s a dude who can score in bunches and shoots the lights and while he is probably in a shortlist for one of the worst 10-20 defenders in the league, it feels like some of that could just be institutional.
It feels like some with some teams – those early Wiggs Minnesota teams, Portland and Atlanta forever – it’s hard to determine who is truly freaking bad to their core at defense and who has some of the tools to improve but is in a bad situation.
Steph, Draymond, and Wiggins were the only consistently good players in 2021. Crazy that he jumped from an F to an A. Though it proves what Wolves fans have been saying all along. Wiggs’ problem is effort.
It’s what makes him so frustrating for fans. When he cares, he’s an All Star. But outside of a 3 year stretch, he largely did not give a shit. And fans think we should keep him in the hopes that he will just decide to start caring again? He’s worth less than his contract right now. I’d rather trade him for someone who’s better consistently than checked out Wiggs, instead of wasting another season on his whims.
He was only good for 13ppg last year, down 3-4 ppg from his previous 3 years with us. We only missed the 6th seed by 4 wins. And we LOST ELEVEN GAMES by 3 points or less. We could’ve made the playoffs if he just gave a shit.