T'wolves rookie Wiggins as good as advertised

Last season the 76ers, who usually keep their opinions to themselves, made it known about their affinity for Andrew Wiggins before the NBA draft.

The high flier from Kansas was taken first by the Cleveland Cavaliers, who traded him to Minnesota in a three-team deal that included the Sixers.

Drafting third, the Sixers selected Wiggins' Kansas teammate, center Joel Embiid, who has not played this season because of a foot injury.

Wiggins will make his first appearance in Philadelphia on Friday when the Timberwolves visit the Wells Fargo Center. To this point, he has shown why his skills enamored the Sixers and many others around the NBA.

Entering Thursday, Wiggins was leading all rookies in scoring, averaging 15.1 points. (Former St. Joseph's star Langston Galloway was second but had played only nine games since the Knicks called him up from the NBA Development League.)

Wiggins is shooting 42.9 percent from the field and 35.7 percent on three-pointers. He has played in all 45 games for Minnesota (8-37).

"He has got that bounce and that elite athleticism," Sixers coach Brett Brown said. "You always wonder: Is he is going to be Kobe [Bryant], something of that type of elite, take-charge . . . guy who can create his own shots with that incredible athleticism and quickness? I always thought he has the ability to be an elite defender."

Brown feels the future is bright for Wiggins.

"When you say 'Who he is going to be,' your mind can wander," Brown said. "I just know what he is going to be is really good."

Last year's rookie of the year has taken notice of this year's front-runner.

"He has been playing great," Sixers point guard Michael Carter-Williams said. "He has really improved throughout the season."

The statistics agree.

The 6-foot-8 Wiggins, who turns 20 next month, has scored in double figures in 19 consecutive games after totaling 12 points Wednesday in a 110-98 victory over the visiting Boston Celtics.

In those 19 games, he is averaging 19.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, shooting 47.4 percent from the field and 35.3 from beyond the arc.

"He is very quiet and soft-spoken and does a lot of different things on the court people don't see," teammate Thaddeus Young, a former Sixer said Thursday in a telephone interview. "He is very athletic, a mismatch waiting to happen on the wing."

The way things are going, it will be almost impossible for Wiggins not to win rookie of the year honors. In a season when so many rookies have struggled, Wiggins is clearly living up to his draft status.