The NBA is set to go through the same evaluation process that NFL prospects go through each year. Over the next month, the rumor mill will churn out reports about top prospects dropping or having huge holes in their games.
Ryen Russillo did a nice piece for Grantland on how NBA scouts and front office types felt about Jabari Parker, Joel Embiid, Julius Randle and Andrew Wiggins.
The evaluations of the players were all over the board and that was expected but one NBA scout took the cake when he compared Wiggins to the oft-traveled Gerald Green.
I think in the draft, if Embiid is healthy, Wiggins goes no. 3. He will be lost in an NBA half-court offense. He is great in transition, but he has no ball skills. All right hand, no idea what to do without the ball. He struggles with confidence. He actually reminds me more of Gerald Green than any of these studs he’s compared to.
He’s an erratic shooter and has no plan when attacking the rim. He will be easy to coach against with his limited game right now. Needs to find out what playing hard is. He tries hard, but I don’t see that second gear. He would scare me as your franchise’s no. 1 pick, with all the stuff that will go along with being no. 1 in this class. Is he really a face of the franchise?
I think the only thing Wiggins and Green have in common is natural athletic ability. Yes we know both men can jump out the gym, but that’s where the comparison stops.
Green was the 18th pick in the 2005 draft and is a career nine points per game scorer. He spent several seasons out of the league, and finally rounded into a decent NBA player this season after averaging 15 points a game this season. Wiggins can be a dominant lockdown defender in the league right now.