Foul Shots: Is Andrew Wiggins ready for NBA?

“Wiggins has an unreal amount of potential and he’ll be under the eye of every scout over the next few years … Considered the top player in his class by most recruiting services, and has first overall pick potential whenever he enters the NBA draft…” 

-NBAdraft.net profile of Andrew Wiggins

Any time you’re designated as the NBA’s next superstar, you know you’ve done something right. 18-year-old Andrew Wiggins of the University of Kansas basketball team has been given this title. His father is former NBA shooting guard Mitchell Wiggins and his mother a former Olympic silver medalist in track and field.

So you could say Andrew Wiggins was born for stardom. He first appeared on YouTube as a 13-year-old in 2009, dominating his competition with thunderous dunks and unstoppable drives to the basket. From there, his legend only grew. He won the Gatorade National Player of the Year award and was named Mr. Basketball USA this year, becoming the first Canadian player to win either award (he was born in Canada, but moved to West Virginia in 2011).

I’ve watched Wiggins’s highlight tapes and the highlights from his first exhibition game with Kansas. He’s ridiculously athletic, quick and a developing perimeter shooter. On the defensive side of the ball, he shows good mechanics, although an occasional lack of effort plagues him, as it does many young players. But all in all, he’s one of the most talented prospects the college game has seen since Kevin Durant in 2007.

Wiggins consistently ducks any comparison to NBA stars when he can. This is a prudent course of action. He hasn’t officially played in a regular-season NCAA game, let alone faced down LeBron James with the clock winding down and the game tied in the playoffs. That being said, Wiggins has been compared to James and Durant quite often. While he doesn’t yet have James’s wrecking ball-like ability to get to the rim at will or Durant’s freakish height and agility combination, the comparisons make sense. Wiggins is capable of leading a team to the next level right now. A college team, that is.

And that’s just the issue. Labeling a player as the Next Big Thing is a perilous proposition. Sometimes it works. Remember how LeBron was called “The Chosen One” in a 2002 Sports Illustrated feature? It seems like he’s doing all right for himself. But what about someone like Marcus Fizer? Fizer was drafted No. 4 overall by the Chicago Bulls in the 2000 NBA draft, drawing comparisons to Karl Malone, among other superstars. But he could never quite harness his immense talent, and was out of the NBA by 2006.

Labeling someone as the next great NBA talent before they even enter college is a slippery slope. Obviously, the player in question has talent. They wouldn’t be referred to that way if they were a middling benchwarmer. But as a college freshman myself, I know how hard it is to stay grounded and focused. I can’t even imagine how difficult it must be to stay humble and true to myself in the face of so much adulation and expectation. Everyone wants a piece of you, from your fellow students to pro agents and sneaker companies waiting and drooling over your earning potential.

I made it abundantly clear how I feel about the one-and-done rule in my column a couple weeks ago. I think it’s stupid, especially for these super-hyped players that are celebrities and really couldn’t care less about going to college. Someone like LeBron James, who was obviously mature enough to handle the NBA life as an 18-year-old, shouldn’t be wasting his time.

Is Andrew Wiggins worth the hype? Physically, there’s no question that he is. In terms of pure talent (depending on how you feel about Anthony Davis), he’s the best prospect we’ve seen since Kevin Durant. As for his mental makeup, it’s largely unknown. It’s a good sign already that he’s attempting to debunk NBA player comparisons. It shows that he’s aware of his standing as a relatively unproven entity.

I hope that Andrew Wiggins is able to handle the pressure of big-time basketball. I hope he comes to Kansas and dominates his competition. I hope he’s the No. 1 pick in the 2014 NBA draft and lands on a team where he can grow and develop with veterans and other young players alike. If all goes as planned, the NBA will have its next superstar. If it doesn’t go as planned, it will be a tragedy. As someone who loves the NBA unconditionally, through a lockout and years of a tarnished image after the 2005 Pacers-Pistons brawl, I believe in Andrew Wiggins and I hope he pans out. Oh, and I hope he ends up at Chicago. I love the Bulls, so that would really be something.