The Timberwolves made the biggest draft day trade on Thursday when they shipped out Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and the No. 7 pick (Lauri Markkanen) to the Bulls for Jimmy Butler. With a core of Butler, Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins coached by Tom Thibodeau, Minnesota figures to jump into the West’s top eight and contend for a playoff appearance.
Jimmy Butler trade to Timberwolves puts a ton of pressure on Andrew Wiggins
Will Wiggins fit in as the third piece alongside Butler and Karl-Anthony Towns? Will he improve his weaknesses? If not, what will his future be?
Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
But in order to do so, the Timberwolves need their complementary stars to step up. And while Towns showed promise his sophomore season after winning Rookie of the Year in 2016, it’s Wiggins who needs to become the star many believed he’d develop into when he went No. 1 overall in 2014.
Wiggins needs to make a bigger impact on the game
Yes, on paper Wiggins had a sensational third season in the league. The versatile wing averaged 23.6 points on 45-percent shooting from the field and 35-percent shooting from 3. But his scoring numbers haven’t moved the needle, as evidenced by Minnesota’s 31-51 record despite a talented core and a proven head coach.
Player Efficiency Rating (PER) is essentially the result of adding a player’s positive impact and subtracting his negative. Wiggins has one of the worst such ratings of all players to score 20 or more points.
The Timberwolves forward has a PER of 16.62. That’s the second worst of players with a usage rate of 27 or better, ahead of only Dennis Schroder and Devin Booker.
Another thing Wiggins needs to do better is create for his teammates. The Timberwolves’ wing averages just three assists per 48 minutes. For a player as dynamic and athletic as Wiggins, that number isn’t nearly enough.
Defense has to improve
With the terrific athletic tools Wiggins has at his disposal, he figured to be a game-changing perimeter defender. But the Timberwolves’ wing hasn’t lived up to his potential on the defensive end of the ball either.
Wiggins averaged a depressing half-block and 1.3 steals per 48 minutes for the Timberwolves last season. He averaged only 2.9 fouls per 48 minutes as well, which could be an indicator of how locked in the young player is on that end of the ball, too.
On a team coached by Tom Thibodeau, effort is the lone requirement, and Wiggins hasn’t given much on the defensive end. That needs to change if the Wolves are going to make the jump to playoff contention.
Rebounding can’t be this bad
At 6’8” with a 44-inch vertical, Wiggins should be soaring down the lane, grabbing rebounds at a whim. But the Wolves’ forward hasn’t been a glass cleaner in Minnesota. Wiggins only averages four rebounds per game. Per 48 minutes, the Kansas product averaged 5.2 boards last season.
Sure, there are only but so many rebounds to go around and Towns grabs 12.3 of them per game, but Minnesota ranked as the sixth-worst rebounding team in the NBA last season. Wiggins’ four rebounds per game played a part.
The Timberwolves shook up the roster, dealing a promising young guard in LaVine to bring in a superstar like Butler. The time is now for this team to make its push for the playoffs. It’s also the time for Wiggins to step up and become the winning player the Timberwolves desperately need him to be to make the jump back into the league’s respect franchises.
The optimistic view is that Butler’s legendary work ethic rubs off on Wiggins and channels him into his best role. As SB Nation’s Ricky O’Donnell said on the Limited Upside podcast (18:11 mark):
“Jimmy Butler, when he came up, made his name on the defensive end,” O’Donnell said. He made his game on getting to the foul line. He made his name locking people down on the perimeter. Wiggins hasn’t done that. But Wiggins can take a lot from Jimmy Butler, and maybe Jimmy can help him become a better player.”
Butler can indeed be a great example for Wiggins. But if Wiggins can’t have a bigger impact making winning plays — rebounding, defending and creating for teammates — it could be the former No. 1 pick who’s on the way out next.
See More:
