Wiggins to be counted upon to help offset absence of injured Thompson
SAN eRANaISaO >> Near the end of Andrew Wiggins’ 12-game trial run last season, head coach Steve Kerr asked the 6-foot-7 wing to defend opposing point guards. It was a hedge in case Klay Thompson, coming off a torn ACL,
Dec. 22: Warriors at Nets, 4p.m., TNT could not pick up those assignments as he once did during the Warriors’ championship runs.
But with Thompson suffering yet another season- ending injury — this time a torn Achilles — Wiggins’ trial run becomes more prescient. The former No. 1 pick may have left high expectations behind in Minnesota, but now he’ll be asked to fill a Thompson-sized void in Golden State.
“Just gotta do more,” Wiggins said during his media day interview Thursday. “Do as much as I can to fill that spot.”
Wiggins, 25, will never be a shooter of Thompson’s caliber, but improving his career 33% mark will go a long way in helping the Warriors space the f loor in Thompson’s absence. Listed last season at 197 pounds, he’s also giving up a few pounds to the 215-pound Thompson. In Minnesota, Wiggins earned a reputation as a below- average defender, while Thompson is widelyregarded as one of the top two-way players at his position.
Training in Los Angeles in the offseason, Wigg ins addressed these points. He added “a couple of pounds” of muscle, watched film and scrimmaged to improve defensively, and worked on his 3-point shooting.
“A lot of shooting,” he said
While it’s unfair to expect Wiggins to fully replace what T hompson does on both ends of the court, tapping into the potential that made him the top pick in the 2014 draft would push Golden State’s ceiling higher.
In 5½ seasons in Minnesota, Wiggins was asked too often and too soon to save the team’s offense
and simultaneously blossom into an all- pro defender. The Warriors are asking him only to make open 3-pointers, cut to the basket and defend with earnestness. Doing just that would lead to a career year for Wiggins, who says he can still reach another level.
“I was coming into the season with the mentality that I got to go,” Wiggins said. “I always feel like I can get better.”
Though he’s averaged more than 20 points per game for a season four times in his career, Wiggins has never done so efficiently, and advanced statistics have always rated him as one of the league’s worst defenders.
But after being acquired by the Warriors in a trade deadline deal for D’Angelo Russell and two others, he posted the best effective field- goal percentage (a measure that weighs 3 - pointers more than 2-pointers) and defensive box plus-minus (a measure of a player’s defensive impact versus the league average) of his career.
Playing in an up-tempo system, as the Warriors aim to do, should nudge those numbers further in the right direction. Wiggins will f lank Stephen Curry and Kelly Oubre Jr. in the backcourt. Draymond Green will anchor
the front court alongside a cohort of centers to form a modern starting lineup that can pressure the basket, swarm on defense and create turnovers. It’s easy to imagine Wiggins sprinting the floor, running to a corner, ready for a kickout 3-pointer or finishing down the lane with a dunk.
“In transition, in the open floor is where I’m at my best,” he said.
Last season, Wiggins played only once with Curry. During next week’s group training camp, the two will be tasked with learning each other’s tendencies so that they may complement each other in a way that starts to make up for the loss of Thompson. It’s worth pointing out that even when Thompson returns next season, Wiggins is still under contract through 2023 and would benefit from building chemistry with Golden State’s core during what’s left of this championship window.
However, chemistr y and playing style can take a team only so far. Ultimately, the Warriors need talent. Over the last few months, general manager Bob Myers has done well to add talented young players, but Thompson’s loss is a setback that could require Wiggins and others to actualize their potential sooner rather than later.