77 Comments

Testing

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Wiggins seems shy and mellow off-court and on the bench. Was he like that in Minny as well? None of that matters as long as he has killer instinct (like Steph/Dray) and/or swagger (like Klay) on-court.

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Worst broadcasting jinx of the night from ABC was when they commented on how one of Wiggins' best qualities was his durability given than he played basically every game for the last several seasons.

(Snide take: it's probably a lot easier not to get hurt when you're not trying very hard!)

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The Elevated Sea Dubs (plus Wiggins & Looney) were electric. A little more familiarity and they could really upset some teams this season!

Who needs roster numbers 11, 23, or 30 anyway?

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Damn, Daniel... What happened to your Wiggins Stan post?

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Dang

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I believe. Buying a Chriss jersey today because he has by far earned my respect and genuinely is a great player. 29 teams missed out, once again.

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Yeah, the rest of the league missing the chance to pick him up off waivers is like... I guess we wouldn't be light years ahead if everyone else weren't light years behind!!

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lol well said! 29 teams passing on him tells me the Scouts are complacent league wide, theyre not watching the games... because I have to get up and go to a regular job in about 9 hours - and I saw that he was an NBA player.

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Feb 10, 2020Liked by Daniel Hardee

Great article. We don’t need Wiggins to be a max slot star if he can produce as a role player. That, of course, being a huge IF. What we will need is some quality assets to go alongside the big 3, Loon and Wiggins. Like better than Gasol level helpful, and preferably a wing. That’s where the draft capital comes in. We’ll see.

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For what it’s worth, Wiggins has a better offensive and defensive rating than Dlo, and was a slight net positive for the wolves on court vs off, whereas the warriors were worse with dlo on the floor.

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Did Wiggins shrink when he came to the Dubs? He was 6'8" tall a day ago, and now he's shrunk to 6'7".

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League demands that all new warriors recruits shrink at least one inch in height/vertical reach in the name of parity. Little known fact, OKC KD was actually 7'2".

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I think maybe he was cut twice, but only measured once. Oh wait! It was measure twice, and cut once. Seriously, though, his wingspan went from 7'0" to 6'10" and he lost an inch in height. I guess in today's world, he's as good or bad, tall or short, lazy or committed as we want to say he is. Although "Reality Wins"

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if wiggins plays like he did last night then there will be no cause for concern, he'll be a great fit. i'm highly skeptical it will actually happen, however. seems like wolves fans are used to seeing him bring it every once in a while, then go back to coasting through games

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This was also the knock on Cauley Stein, and proved true. I do feel that Wiggins would love nothing more to prove everyone wrong and turn it around. Sometimes all we need is a fresh start. Maybe the Bay Area media can help and not immediately start rumors that Wiggins is leaving or being traded.

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This is the knock on him -- great gifts, maddeningly inconsistent. That's not going to go well here if that happens. But maybe he'll find himself and hit his prime going full speed finally.

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I tell you what, if these guys can bring the type of energy they brought last night for the next 30 or so games, these eyes will be glued to the screen.

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Please keep this team together for awhile. I really want to see it with Steph and Klay.

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Feb 9, 2020Liked by punk basketball

As one of the people who freaked out when I heard about the Wiggins trade, I have to admit, I feel pretty good about things right now. I didn't see the game but sounds like Ender was a much more complete player than the image most people have. If he can even resemble that in the future, we are looking good, whether we ultimately trade him and draft picks, or keep him and draft a bunch of young guns.

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Ender just needs some mind games from the coaching staff to unlock his killer potential.

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Hard to imagine a better start for Wiggins.

I always maintained that as great as Durant was, the Warriors never got the full benefit of an MVP-caliber player out of him because his iso skills were overkill in the Warrior offense.

Wiggins looked at least like a peak version of Rudy Gay out there. If this is who he's going to consistently be, we're in good shape.

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Feb 9, 2020Liked by punk basketball, Daniel Hardee

Nice article Daniel. I was not pleased when the news of the Wiggins trade broke but I am rooting hard for the guy to prove me wrong at every chance he gets. I didn't think Chriss would contribute anything to this season either based on his previous results in the league and so far he has been a very welcome and productive surprise. Hoping for more of that.

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author

thanks Crusty! I was quite surprised by the move, but if I can spend years rooting for Monta Ellis wholeheartedly, I surely can exhort young Wiggs

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TBH, I was never on the Monta train (mostly because...well, the post-We Believe slaughter broke me and I didn't come back until the year he was traded.)

But the Wiggins train? He barely warrants an electric train so far. His debut was a pleasant surprise, but let's see how he fares *AFTER* the honeymoon phase.

How many fans do you think will be calling for his head in 3 weeks?

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author

if Steph's back I would hope Wiggs would look even better

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Feb 9, 2020Liked by Daniel Hardee

Daniel...I love your work, and I agree! The Chef, the Golden Boy, the Baby-Faced Assassin, the Unanimous One, the Hero of the Bay...could make a dead Dachshund look like an offensive threat. But would it play defense? Or be worth $30 million per year? Even with Steph and Klay and Dray?

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author

if we win the title next year, would you care how much money Wiggins makes?

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Thank you. Using $30M salary to define whether he is good is irrelevant if he plays like what Dubs expect him to. Lacob said as much in his talk with TK (see The Athletic). It only becomes relevant if we have to trade him. Rest is all about Lacob's money. In the same talk with TK, he sees them using $17M TE, mini-MLE and paying salary for high pick.

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Nope, not for a second. But that's a big 'if'. And that's also assuming he's not Harrison "The Grey Pigeon" Barnes v. 2.0.

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The choice of the header photo for the article was also kinda poignant and hopefully predictive, with McGee, another "trash" player the Dubs rejuvenated in the background.

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McGee and his resurgence is the only reason I haven't totally given in to OG Warriors Fan Despair Syndrome.

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Feb 9, 2020Liked by punk basketball

Of course, McGee was making about 10% of Wiggins' $30 million...

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And that's the reason my despair level is still high. We'll have to give up assets to trade him for someone better unless we can manage to get Jimmy Dolan on the phone...after they manage to get, I dunno, PG13 in free agency or something.

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If we had a dollar for every 'JaFail' or 'Shaqtin' comment when we signed him

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I still miss Javale. Man, I wish we'd convinced him to stay. He's only making minimum on the Lakers, and we could have avoid WCS altogether if we'd had McGEEEEE! still.

He's like WCS, except with +5 Athleticism, +100 Experience, and +25 BBIQ.

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He's actually making ~4.1 mil per year which I think means we had to choose between him and Looney for the MLE?

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and +100 entertainment value.

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*avoided

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author

SOMEBODY GETS IT! :D

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Feb 9, 2020Liked by Daniel Hardee

Don’t forget Norvell. I really like that dude.

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