Most mock drafts no longer have him as the No. 1 pick next summer. As sad as this may sound, he’s an 18-year-old who some see as a disappointment before he’s really done a single thing.
There is no doubt we live in an age of extraordinary hype, where stars are too often made before they are born; we crave The Next Big Thing as we crave our next breath and there is an insatiable appetite to bestow greatness upon those who might not deserve it at the moment.
And for all the celebrities that are created, there can be as many victims, men and women — in too many cases, boys and girls — upon whom so much is placed that it is impossible for them to live up to it.
A case in point: Andrew Wiggins.
Three months ago, the Thornhill native was the presumptive No. 1 pick in the coming NBA draft, a can’t-miss bundle of promise to lead one of the most promising draft classes since the LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh collection of 2003.
Wiggins was an Internet sensation before he’d done as much as take part in a college practice, let alone play a game — his mix tape of high school highlights got more than 4 million hits on the web — and people bought into the hype like suckers at a carnival midway. Canadians in particular have been fawning over him for more than a year.
Today?Today, some draft-specific websites have him, at best, as the third choice behind Duke’s Jabari Parker and his Kansas teammate Joel Embiid. ESPN suggests only three of 14 current lottery teams would use the No. 1 pick on Wiggins. Draft guru Chad Ford on Wednesday dropped Wiggins to No. 2 for the first time this season, behind Embiid.
Unquestionably, Wiggins is no longer a lock to go No. 1, he could slide to four or five depending on the needs of teams making the selections and, as sad as this may sound, he’s an 18-year-old who some see as a disappointment before he’s really done a single thing.
“There was almost too much (hype) about him,” one NBA talent evaluator said this week. “He’s still got a lot of promise and his upside is significant and probably better than any of them but he was built up to be something he’s not yet.”
The questions and concerns about Wiggins’s game were evident — and ignored by a large segment of the highlight video-watching public — long before he got to Kansas.
His tendency to coast through portions of games was a quiet criticism since his high school senior season (“what’s his motor really like,” one scout asked rhetorically this week); his ball-handling skills still need work. Those who thought he was anywhere near an impact player in the NBA were wearing blinders, one scout said this week. It was guesswork then; it is guesswork now.
His astonishing athleticism is still off the charts and it is not to say he can’t redeemparajumpersonlinestore himself — as if a teenager who’ll be a Top 4 NBA draft pick needs redemption — as the NCAA season unfolds.
He had arguably his best game of the year Monday against Iowa State on Monday, 17 points and 19 rebounds as the No. 15 Jayhawks beat the No. 8 Cyclones. It was the kind of performance that still leaves some scouts drooling.
“The potential is off the charts, but that’s what it is right now,” said one.
The whole draft guessing-game process is fed by a need to see into the future when the future cannot be seen.
The top of the 2014 draft class was touted as the best since the James year, primarily on the basis of far more attention being paid to unproven teenagers than ever before. Scouts now see that it is good but not necessarily great, a solid collection of top players who may or may not have an immediate and long-lasting impact on the league.
Wiggins?
He went into college carrying far too many expectations that were in no way of his own doing. He is a kid learning how to play — a gifted, special kid but a kid nonetheless — and if the flaws in his game have knocked him a down a peg or two on the board in January, there’s no reason he can move himself back up by June.
SOURCE: THE STAR
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