Andrew Wiggins is in search of new dimensions

Andrew Wiggins is a line, or at least on paper he is. On any 94 by 50 plane, Wiggins can only move from point A to point B, and point B is always buckets. Wiggins does not defend, he does not rebound with verve, nor does he move the ball with intent. At this point in his career, the Timberwolves should be able to subsist on more than just 20 points on 16 shots from a kid they’ve invested their future in, but right now, Wiggins dwells in one dimension.

Wiggins could be the most polarizing figure in the NBA this season. He just received a max contract extension worth $146.5 million over five years, and the Timberwolves absolutely had to give him that money. However, Wiggins simply isn’t producing like the superstar his contract says he is. The potential is there, though, and this is where things get sticky. Before the new deal, Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor all but demanded that Wiggins give him more if he’s going to cash him out.

"To me, by making this offer, I'm speculating that his contribution to the team will be more in the future," said Taylor. "We've got to be better. He can't be paid just for what he's doing today. He's got to be better.”

Wiggins hasn’t been terrible for Minnesota. He increased his scoring averages in each of his first three years and has shown flashes of whom many expected him to be when coming out of high school, then Kansas. If nothing else, Wiggins is a prolific athlete who thrives as a weakside slasher without the ball. Many of his struggles early in his career are consistent with young players entrusted with too much responsibility too early. His usage rate last season was nearly identical to Stephen Curry's in 2015, but the production coming out of the amount of time with the ball is markedly different. Wiggins had the ball in his hands too much for someone who doesn’t create for others, and this is usually the recipe leading to poor decision making and shot selection.

Last season, Wiggins was a bastion of inefficiency. Over 50 percent of his field goal attempts were medium to long two-point shots while only 47 percent came at the rim or behind the three-point line. For comparative measures, 77 percent of the shots James Harden put up last season were either right at the rim or behind the arch. While Wiggins will never approach the rate of high-percentage shots that Harden takes, he has to start moving in that direction if the youngster is to begin breaking out of his volume scoring cocoon.

There are signs that his metamorphosis is taking place, though. Last season, his three-point shooting jumped up five percentage points from the year before, and he shot 41 percent on catch-and-shoot threes. With the additions of Jimmy Butler and Jeff Teague, much more of his workload will come off the ball. This season, he’s already shooting 11 percent more threes than he was last season while only shooting a shade under his career-high clip. His usage rate has come down, and he’s settling into a role that is more beneficial to both Wiggins and the Timberwolves. Considering Wiggins's size and athleticism, Butler should be an archetype he aspires to become.

Wiggins, however, is the diametrical opposite of Butler on the defensive end of the floor. At Butler’s peak, he’s one of the 10 best perimeter defenders in the NBA. Since Butler entered the league, only 10 different wings have finished the season with more than 4.5 defensive win shares. Last season, Wiggins may have been the worst wing defender in the NBA. When he contested shots, opponents had an eFG% nearly identical to what the league average was for players who were wide open. Much of Wiggins’s troubles stem from an ostensible lack of effort, which is even more troubling with defensive-minded Tom Thibodeau coaching the team. He’s lazy closing out defenders and loses assignments on the weakside by ball watching. Knowing that Karl-Anthony Towns has struggled mightily on that end of the floor, too, it may be up to Butler to help turn things around on that end.

In search of a second and third dimension, Wiggins is going to have to begin on the defensive end of the floor. As his shot selection improves and he matures as a decision maker, everything will eventually come together for him as an offensive threat. With Butler on the opposite wing, the Timberwolves could become downright dangerous if Wiggins can just improve to a middle-of-the-pack defender. He has the length and lateral quickness to disrupt ball handlers and the speed to be disruptive in the passing lanes or closing out on shooters.

The onus is on Wiggins to help the Timberwolves fully realize their potential. He and Towns now have the help and coaching many other young teams are still in search of. Before losing to the Warriors, the 'Wolves rattled off five consecutive wins showing that they belong among the Western Conference playoff-bound teams. To become one of the elite teams in the NBA, Wiggins must evolve from a line to an object with breadth, then depth. Minnesota’s only hope in finding postseason success is if Wiggins discovers new dimensions.