Minnesota Timberwolves phenom Andrew Wiggins has been named the 2014-15 NBA Rookie of the Year. Wiggins beat out Chicago’s Nikola Mirotic, Philadelphia’s Nerlens Noel and Orlando’s Elfrid Payton for the award.
Andrew Wiggins wins NBA Rookie of the Year
Wiggins played in all 82 games and led all rookies in scoring.
Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports
Wiggins played in all 82 games for the 16-66 Wolves this season, leading all rookies in scoring by putting up 16.9 points per game. He shot 43.7 percent overall and just 31 percent from three, but he helped make up for that by getting to the line nearly six times per game. The 20-year-old also averaged 4.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists on the year.
Some of the advanced numbers favored the other candidates, but Wiggins gets rewarded for playing big minutes all season and making an impact despite all of the injuries in Minnesota.
Player | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | TOTAL |
| Andrew Wiggins | 110 | 17 | 3 | 604 |
| Nikola Mirotic | 14 | 81 | 22 | 335 |
| Nerlens Noel | 3 | 22 | 60 | 141 |
| Elfrid Payton | 3 | 8 | 40 | 79 |
| Marcus Smart | 0 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| Jusuf Nurkic | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Jordan Clarkson | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Trading a superstar is supposed to be the most difficult thing a franchise can do, but there’s no denying the Timberwolves maximized Kevin Love’s trade value by landing Wiggins, the No.1 pick in the 2014 draft. Minnesota finished with the worst record this season, which means the team will be adding another elite young talent to pair with the athletic wing.
How would Karl-Anthony Towns’ strong two-way play look next to Wiggins? What about Jahlil Okafor’s dominant post scoring or D’Angelo Russell’s tantalizing offensive skill set?
In the 20-year-old Wiggins, Minnesota has a great building block for the future. Now he has his first piece of hardware.
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