Wiggins Commits to Timberwolves for the Long Haul

(by Jonathan Lewis MSU Contributor)

Andrew Wiggins signed his max extension with the Timberwolves this week, ending what had been a strange period of silence from the announcement that the Wolves had presented the offer to when Wiggins actually signed it. The deal, a 5 year $146.5 million deal, will keep Wiggins in Minnesota for the foreseeable future. The Timberwolves are taking a bit of a risk with the deal, because Wiggins is only 22 and there are questions as to whether or not he can become a max player. This is why the Timberwolves went the extra step with Wiggins and had him sit down with owner Glen Taylor to talk about what will be expected of him going forward. Let’s take a look at what Wiggins does well and where he can improve.

            Positives: Obviously Wiggins has flourished as a scorer in his early career. Wiggins has done most of his damage by slashing to the basket, drawing contact, and finishing strong. Wiggins does a good job converting drawn fouls into points, having an almost identical free throw percentage of 76% per year in his 3 year career. In his first season Wiggins shot 43% from the field and has been able to improve that to 45% the last 2 seasons. Wiggins has also improved his outside shooting, improving his 3 point shooting percentage from 30% 2 years ago to 35% last year, which allows him to now be a threat to score in the paint and outside. Wiggins also offers incredible durability, having averaged over 35 minutes per game throughout his career and only having missed ONE game. These are the things that make offering him the max contract an easy decision. Drew Mahowald of Canius Hoopus had the following to say about Wiggins. "He’s a very gifted high-volume scorer from all over the floor. Few have taken up the responsibilities he has through three seasons as a featured scorer for an offense, including crunch time. He’s also an absurd athlete, one of the most athletic players in the league and it’ll stay that way for a long time."

            Areas to Improve: For Wiggins a lot of his room for improvement comes on the defensive side of the ball. In the press conference announcing the extension, Wiggins noted that he has a good on-ball defender but that he can work on his defense off-ball. This has been an area of concern for the entire Timberwolves team over the past handful of seasons. The addition of Jimmy Butler should help both Wiggins and Karl Anthony Towns with their defense, which leaves fans hopeful that Wiggins will show improvement in this area. Throughout the preseason Wiggins did a good job with his defense, but the jury is out as to whether or not that will carry over into the regular season. One of the biggest question marks with Wiggins has been his rebound rate. Wiggins has averaged just over 4 rebounds per game throughout his career, which seems odd considering his ability to get to the basket and 6-8 size. That will be another area where Wiggins can look to improve. Wiggins is certainly more of a leader by his play on the court as opposed to what he says, but there has been noticeable fire from Wiggins on the court, which hopefully will lead to more aggression and more rebounds. "The next step for him is to form a well-rounded game — Improve rebounding, and defense. His off-ball defense is probably his biggest weakness now, and that should improve simply with the presence of Jimmy Butler and other veterans on the floor." said Mahowald. If Wiggins can improve on those areas, this contract will be one the Timberwolves end up looking good on, and certainly better than the decision by Philadelphia to sign Joel Embiid despite an extensive injury history. If Wiggins makes these strides, not only will he reward the Timberwolves for their decision, he will also reward fans with a playoff appearance at the least.