You know this whole argument about Andrew Wiggins being a star takes me back to the old Paul Pierce days. I'm not hating on the Truth. He was the first Celtic superstar I ever got to root for and I'll always love #34 till the day I die, but lest we forget, there was a time and place when
Paul Pierce was a total jackass. We all knew he had the tools to be a superstar, but remember when he did this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbwm2tolAHoIt was crunchtime and the Celtics were up 1, and Pierce, who should have known he was going to get fouled and just taken it, inexplicably shoved Tinsley down (Tinsley sold it but Pierce overreacted), which not only got Pierce ejected from the game, but it also got the Pacers to choose who they wanted to shoot the free throws from the foul. They ended up choosing young Kendrick Perkins and though I can't remember the exact details, the Pacers ended up tying the game to go to overtime. Though the Celtics ended up winning, the damage was done. Pierce had almost cost them the series with that one dumb play, and to make matters worse, he tried to make himself look like the victim by taping his jaw at his press conference.
It was at that time that we all questioned whether or not this idiot was really our "franchise player". Did he show he was one of the better players in the league and that he could deliver when the game was on the line? Yup, but whether or not he had the mental strength to put the team above himself during a playoff run was the big question. Compare that to say Kobe and Shaq. They hated each other and both wanted to assume the alpha dog role, but they managed to put their differences aside and get the Lakers 3 straight titles. They could get over themselves for their team. Could Pierce do that? At the time, we all thought no and it was time to move on. Not even Danny believed in Pierce. He had a deal in place to send Pierce to Portland for the #3 pick in the draft (which was going to be Chris Paul) and Nick Van Exel's contract (which was going to be waived) before Pierce told Portland he'd make them miserable if they traded for him. We were stuck with him, which at the time, was not something that we wanted.
However, the next year, Pierce changed. He didn't act like a moron anymore. Even though his supporting cast was weak, he put the team on his back and played like an MVP candidate and better yet, played like the guy we all knew he could be. The Celtics weren't good by any means and if say Kobe or Dwight Howard were in Pierce's situation, they would have begged for a trade. That was what stood out about Pierce. He embraced the leadership role and never complained about being the lone superstar on a subpar team. Pierce hit his full potential. Not just because he had the tools, but because mentally he evolved, which makes me love the fact that Pierce would lead that same team to a championship a mere 2 years later.
Oddly enough, we're starting to see the same change in Jared Sullinger. Before he looked like a kid that was good but was going to eat himself out of the league, but since the season has started, he's looked arguably like the Celtics best player. He looks committed. He looks like he's worked on his defense. He looks like he's working on sticking to what he's good at. No, Sully does not have as high potential to be the Hall-of-Fame player like Pierce is, but he can be a great player for this team in the future. Then again, we don't know what the future holds and for all we know, this is just to get a new contract, but we will see.
The point is, nobody knows what the future holds for Andrew Wiggins. The guy just started his second season and is playing for a franchise that up until now, had no high potential as a team since the early KG days. The general consensus from last season was that Wiggins was a sure thing and was a superstar in the making. He has 4 games of not quite good basketball and all the sudden those same concerns about him not having "it" come crawling back? People, the season is 82 games and Wiggins has a whole career ahead of him. We have yet to see him play in the playoffs and probably won't for another year or two. I'm not saying that he doesn't have his own issues. I see that, but just because a player may have certain issues does not mean he can't get over them. Paul Pierce did. Jeff Green didn't. Jared Sullinger might, but that's on them. I believe Wiggins can, but whether or not he does, is up to him.
One last tidbit. James Harden is regarded as a superstar, and I believe he is, but since there's been a lot of talk about "mental strength" holding Wiggins back, why don't we look at the Beard himself? Harden, despite claiming over and over again that he was the MVP last season, is notorious for being a joke defensively and during his breakout season with the Thunder, no-showed in the 2012 finals against the Heat, but that's not the biggest concern to me for Harden being a so-called superstar. The biggest concern to me was game 6 of the Western Conference semis last season, aka, the Rockets comeback. Remember this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS-4u6LkW7AYou know the one player who didn't aid that comeback? That's right! James Harden! Everyone else aided that surge except for him, but that's not what stood out to me about Harden. Not only did Harden not help the cause, but from what I read, he checked out. His body language had shown that he had given up. Granted they were down by a fair margin, but since superstars are supposed to have the "mental strength" to win, Harden should have kept his head up and kept at it. It wasn't just that he looked like he was done trying, but when his teammates started cutting at the lead, it wasn't until they had cut it very close that Harden started cheering them on. Would KG have done that? Nope. He would have cheered them on from the start. So as far as "mental strength" goes, even the most talented players can have their struggles with mental strength.
Wiggins is a talented player. Whether or not he will have "it" in the near future we will see, but now it's too early to tell because he's a sophomore. People seriously questioned KG, Dirk, Shaq, and even Lebron if they really had "it". Those guys learned from their failures and eventually got over the hump. I believe Wiggins will have his mishaps, but I think he'll follow the same path as the others mentioned, but that is all up to Andrew Wiggins, not me.
Topic: Wiggins doesn't look like a star to me (Read 13799 times)