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Minnesota Timberwolves: October player grades

By James Grieco

SHENZHEN, CHINA - OCTOBER 05: Jimmy Butler #23, Andrew Wiggins #22, Karl-Anthony Townsand and Taj Gibson #67 of the Minnesota Timberwolves celebrate during the game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Golden State Warriors as part of 2017 NBA Global Games China at Universidade Center on October 5, 2017 in Shenzhen, China. (Photo by Zhong Zhi/Getty Images)
SHENZHEN, CHINA - OCTOBER 05: Jimmy Butler #23, Andrew Wiggins #22, Karl-Anthony Townsand and Taj Gibson #67 of the Minnesota Timberwolves celebrate during the game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Golden State Warriors as part of 2017 NBA Global Games China at Universidade Center on October 5, 2017 in Shenzhen, China. (Photo by Zhong Zhi/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images)
(Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Andrew Wiggins

5 GP, 29.4 MPG, 16.4 PPG, 3.6 RPG

After suffering a right quad contusion early in the game against the Indiana Pacers on Oct. 22, Wiggins missed consecutive games for the first time in his career. That leaves his October workload at just above four games — a small sample size, to be sure.

Wiggins has definitely shown some encouraging signs in that span, although he stands to show more if he wants to live up to his max contract. He’s been hustling more on defense, as seen here:

His energy on defense still ebbs and flows too much to be a consistent positive, as you can see here when he fails to get back on the live-ball turnover:

… and here, where he isn’t in a defensive position or aware of what’s going on around him:

https://twitter.com/utahjazz/status/1057789493917343744

Still, advanced defensive stats (for what they are worth regardless of their limitations) don’t universally condemn Wiggins. Overall, opponents are actually shooting worse than their expected field goal percentage when guarded by Wiggins this season — a positive sign even in a small sample.

On offense, Wiggins’ 38.1 percent on 3s and 82.4 percent from the free throw line are encouraging, yet his shot selection remains iffy as he seemingly forgets his elite athleticism can help him score at the basket much more efficiently than taking long contested 2s. His shot chart does not scream gifted scorer, and without rebounding or passing chops, Wiggins desperately needs to be more efficient as a scorer.

Wiggins needs to take a page out of Donovan Mitchell‘s playbook and work to eliminate the mid-range from his game. Wiggins has the athleticism to get to the rim at the same rate as Mitchell does, but his game hasn’t evolved to take advantage of that.

More worrying is when Wiggins is doing his damage on offense. He has constantly gotten off to hot starts, shooting 22-of-42 in the first half on the season, but he’s essentially disappeared down the stretch in each game he’s played, as he is shooting just 8-for-26 in second halves this year.

The positives from Wiggins are good but not frequent enough for a young player who has nearly worn out his leash.

Grade: C+

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