Would You Trade Smart for Wiggins, Right Now?

[Erik]

I don’t think there’s any player drafted in the last decade I’ve been more disappointed in.

Strong statement in a decade with Fultz, Okafor, and Thabeet. At least Wiggins is putting up some numbers. The three I listed were "can't miss" (less so Thabeet) and put up / have put up complete donuts.

[konkmv]

If wiggins had 13m contract I would trade for him... I am sure he would learn next to Stevens..

[Fan from VT]

Tough question. I think I would not.

1. Salaries do matter; Smart's overall contract "value" I believe is better than Wiggins' in a vacuum, unless Wiggins makes a big leap.

2. Wiggins is a scorer who is fairly inefficient and doesn't contribute much else at this point. Smart is a much more inefficient scorer, but scoring is about his 4th priority behind Defense, ball movement, and general hustle plays.

3. I would rather have Irving, Horford, Tatum, Gordon, and Brown taking shots over Wiggins. So adding Wiggins and his 25-33 million dollars to be a 6th option, or, worse, to wedge himself into being a less-good 3rd option, would make our offense worse. Given that he doesn't bring anything else, that's a tough pill to swallow.

[saltlover]

I don’t think there’s any player drafted in the last decade I’ve been more disappointed in.

Strong statement in a decade with Fultz, Okafor, and Thabeet. At least Wiggins is putting up some numbers. The three I listed were "can't miss" (less so Thabeet) and put up / have put up complete donuts.

Fultz has time to catch up to Wiggins, but I’m giving him another season before he truly disappoints.  I wasn’t a fan of Okafor, and Michael Olawakandi and later on Patrick O’Bryant taught me my lesson about bigs with questionable skills beyond being bigger than everyone else, so while I was surprised Thabeet didn’t work, I wasn’t shocked. It’s a risk with bigs who’s primary strength is being big.

Wiggins should be an All-Star two-way player.  He is not.

[byennie]

I don’t think there’s any player drafted in the last decade I’ve been more disappointed in.

Strong statement in a decade with Fultz, Okafor, and Thabeet. At least Wiggins is putting up some numbers. The three I listed were "can't miss" (less so Thabeet) and put up / have put up complete donuts.

I think there's a lot of Okafor in Wiggins. If you take their per-36 over the 1st two seasons of their careers (and remember, Okafor played 30mpg as a rookie), you get:

Okafor: 20/8/2 (1.5 blocks), 54% TS, 0.43 WS/48
Wiggins: 19/4/2 (1.0 steals), 53% TS, 0.51 WS/48

Now obviously Okafor fell off a cliff once Philly committed to Embiid moving forward, but they are surprisingly similar in terms of production. Okafor is probably more of a black hole on offense, and Wiggins is somehow even worse defensively.

Maybe there's still hope for Wiggins considering the level of talent and age, but if you can't play a lick of defense after 300+ games, 36 MPG in perfect health under Tom Thimbodeau... there might be something wrong.

Couple that with mediocre shooting (45/33/74 career), mediocre rebounding (4 per 36), mediocre passing (2 per 36), and I'd say he's just about the most overrated player in the league at this point.

[byennie]

I don’t think there’s any player drafted in the last decade I’ve been more disappointed in.

Strong statement in a decade with Fultz, Okafor, and Thabeet. At least Wiggins is putting up some numbers. The three I listed were "can't miss" (less so Thabeet) and put up / have put up complete donuts.

I think there's a lot of Okafor in Wiggins. If you take their per-36 over the 1st two seasons of their careers (and remember, Okafor played 30mpg as a rookie), you get:

Okafor: 20/8/2 (1.5 blocks), 54% TS, 0.43 WS/48
Wiggins: 19/4/2 (1.0 steals), 53% TS, 0.51 WS/48

Now obviously Okafor fell off a cliff once Philly committed to Embiid moving forward, but they are surprisingly similar in terms of production. Okafor is probably more of a black hole on offense, and Wiggins is somehow even worse defensively.

Maybe there's still hope for Wiggins considering the level of talent and age, but if you can't play a lick of defense after 300+ games, 36 MPG in perfect health under Tom Thimbodeau... there might be something wrong.

Terrible defense? Check.
Terrible rebounding (4 per 36)? Check.
Terrible passing (2 per 36)? Check.
Mediocre shooting (45/33/74 career)? Check.

Plenty of talent, but he looks like a 6th man chucker at best to me. Quite possibly the most overrated player in the league at this point.

[Pucaccia]

If wiggins had 13m contract I would trade for him... I am sure he would learn next to Stevens..

I would agree with you in most cases however Thibs is a very good coach too.

[ETNCeltics]

Based on ability, yes.

Based on contracts, no. Wiggins isn't worth his deal. $30 million a year for a 33% 3pt shooter and a horrible defender. I think Wiggins would be no better than a 6th man on our roster, same as Smart.

[fairweatherfan]

On paper, ignoring contract, yeah.  But Wiggins' skills seem redundant with what the team's already got. His game would be empty calories for the way the team is built. Whereas Smart functions as like a high-level glue guy that lets the more effective scorers do their thing. Smart makes far more sense for this team even when you ignore paying him less than half as much.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Here's another way to look at it: which player do you think would be the best trade piece for a player like Davis or Giannis?

In that case, I'd have to say Wiggins. He fits the Oladipo-mold as a young athlete that hasn't reached is potential but on a new team he might surprise.

Then again, Smart could be a culture-changer. He could bring a winning attitude that changes the way middling teams think. He could also become a better scorer with a higher usage.

Just an interesting mental exercise.

[DooVoo]

Smart is probably a better fit, but Wiggins is the better player with more value around the league, so if they made the same amount, I would absolutely trade Smart for Wiggins.  At half the cost, I'd keep Smart.

Actually Wiggins is NOT the better player nor does he have more value. He is an inefficient volume scorer and those skills are not exactly in demand in the NBA. People simply assume since Wiggins was the #1 pick that he is the more talented and better player. That is simply not true. Both Smart and Wiggins have played 4 years in the NBA. Smart's career VORP after 4 years is 4.3. Wiggins career VORP after 4 years is -1.2. VORP is much better than Win Shares since Win Shares overvalue points scored. Smart simply does way more as a player to make his team better than Wiggins. Obviously a lot of that is because Wiggins is an inefficient scorer and one of the worst defensive players in the league. There was actually a stat that showed any player being guarded by Wiggins had the highest shooting percentage in the NBA. You could have that player be guarded by a chair and theoretically their shooting percentage would go down. That is how bad Wiggins is and a lot of it comes down to terrible footwork and positioning. None of which he has corrected after 4 years in the league.

People can say well Stevens will unlock Wiggins potential, but he has played under maybe the best defensive coach in the NBA in Thibodeau the past two years and nothing has changed. Wiggins got overpayed cause he was the #1 pick and scores points. And the hope he will improve as a player. But after 4 years in the league you get a pretty clear picture of what a player is going to be. He would be a terrible fit for the Celtics, since he would not get many shots, and he is not as good an overall player as Smart.

[ChillyWilly]

https://youtu.be/vv1BaDhcQUU

[Rosco917]

It's amazing on this site some do not understand that defense wins Championships. Defense has little to do with putting in an unrealistic effort. It's a talent and mental issue more than an effort issue.

The NBA changes from decade to decade on how it scores points. But when it gets to playoff time Defense wins Rings.

If Golden State couldn't defend as they can (see Klay Thompson and Draymond Green) there would fewer rings.

Trade Marcus for Wiggins? Get serious. Would I want Wiggins in our second unit with Marcus? Different story.

[gouki88]

https://youtu.be/vv1BaDhcQUU

Jeesh. That's a horrible play defensively. James Harden-esque defensive footwork

[Erik]

https://youtu.be/vv1BaDhcQUU

Jeesh. That's a horrible play defensively. James Harden-esque defensive footwork

This looks like the ice defense that Thibs used in Boston (we still use it). I think KAT is at fault on this one.