The Andrew Wiggins All-Stars: Mavericks’ Christian Wood, Warriors’ Donte DiVincenzo and others ready to shine in new roles
Stars will be stars wherever they go. But apart from the best of the best, situation and role play an extremely important factor in player performance.
Andrew Wiggins is a prime example. Seen as something of a disappointment during his five-and-a-half seasons with the Timberwolves, Wiggins’ role changed after he was traded to the Warriors.
Success soon followed – he was named an All-Star starter and developed into an indispensable two-way force during their championship run.
There are a lot of players like Wiggins floating around in the league. Many never find the perfect place to shine. But every year there’s a handful of players who find a better situation that produces better results.
Here are the players who could follow in Wiggins’ footsteps.
MORE: Is Draymond Green worth max extension for the Warriors?
New maverick Christian Wood will party with Luka Doncic
Wood isn’t a perfect player, and teams focus more on what he can’t do than what he can.
The Mavericks will be his seventh team in seven years. He’s a somewhat careless defender. He’s always played on terrible teams, even going back to his college days. Despite averaging 17.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game for the Rockets last year, he had completely slipped off the national radar.
All of that is set to change this season. Wood will finally be playing on a winning team – and a great one at that. He’s going to get a lot more shine because this Mavs team is emphasizing his strengths.
One thing you can’t argue with about Wood is that he’s a great 3-point shooter. He’s knocked down 38 percent of his 3-pointers for his career. These attempts were not particularly easy either. Of the 179 players who made at least 100 open 3-point attempts last season, Wood ranked 128th in terms of the percentage of his 3-point attempts that were open.
Now check out how Luka Doncic’s other teammates fared in this stat last year.
Got through the NBA tracking data this morning. Top 5 players whose threes are mostly open (min. 100 tries), plus the % they shoot at them.
1. Royce O’Neale – 40.4%
2. Wes Matthews – 38.6%
3. Maxi Glue – 35.7%
4. Reggie Bullock – 39.9%
5. Dorian Finney-Smith – 41.1%— Steph Noh (@StephNoh) August 1, 2022
Maxi Kleber, Reggie Bullock and Dorian Finney-Smith all had some of the most candid looks in the league last season while playing alongside Doncic. Wood should jump into the top 10 next season from 128th on this list.
However, Wood is more than just a shooter. He’s a great vertical athlete who can dive to the rim for dunks. Doncic is also obviously a far better lob thrower than anyone Wood has ever played with. Wood was expected to lead the Mavs in dunks next season.
| player | Dunks 2021-22 |
| Christian Holz | 120 |
| Dwight Powell | 108 |
| Ja Vale McGee | 100 |
| Max Glue | 20 |
Defense was always the question mark with Wood. He has great natural tools and showed some improvement early in his career before completely falling off a cliff with the Rockets in the last two years.
There’s reason to believe that might change, too. Winning definitely helps, as does being in a contract year. And Wood will have a great defensive coach in Jason Kidd.
All the ingredients that Wood was missing are there for him in Dallas. The Mavs also have the controls to address his most glaring weaknesses. He’s facing a big year.
Donte DiVincenzo fits the Warriors’ mantra of “Strength in Numbers”.
The Warriors will be DiVincenzo’s third team this past calendar year. He showed promise after being drafted by the Bucks, but after a bad year and a long convalescence from a bad foot injury, he was traded to the Kings and didn’t do enough for them to keep him.
Like the other players on this list, DiVincenzo has some natural weaknesses. He can do some things as a secondary playmaker, but he’s not elite at creating his own shot. He’s been a somewhat so-so shooter throughout his career, but he hit 37.9 percent of his 3-pointers for the Bucks and clipped 36.8 percent for the Kings in his best year. He fights hard on defense, but his size limits him.
These weaknesses are mitigated in warriors. It fits perfectly on both sides.
The Warriors are built on maximizing Stephen Curry, so they need to find a specific type of player that suits him. Talent isn’t enough, as you’ve seen in players like D’Angelo Russell and Kelly Oubre. The players who function best in the Warriors system have an extremely high level of feeling and a good understanding of the unique movement Steve Kerr employs.
DiVincenzo is that player. He understands the gaps on the pitch well and finds little pockets to cut into on offense. He’s a good movement shooter that fits in with the stuff the Warriors are already doing.
DiVincenzo isn’t a physical specimen on defense, but he’s good at chasing players around the perimeter. He is usually in the right place at the right time and is an advantage as a helper. He’ll be stuck at that end.
The Warriors saw career revivals from the likes of Gary Payton II and Otto Porter Jr. last season. DiVincenzo fits the same mold.
Bruce Brown and Nikola Jokic are going crazy for the Nuggets
Like the Warriors, the Nuggets benefit from having a specific type of player to complement Jokic. They need players who can do things off the ball, understand distance and play defense. Brown meets all of these criteria.
On the defensive end, Brown will bring in a ton of his value. The Nuggets have been desperate for strong perimeter players, and he can track people there. He’s also one of the most versatile defenders in the league, although he’s only at 6-4, largely due to his insane competitiveness and strength.
On the offensive Brown is a jack of all trades, master in none. The most valuable skill in the NBA is the ability to gain an advantage. Brown can’t really do that, which has limited his stops so far. But he doesn’t have to do that in Denver because Jokic can do it for him.
Brown knows how to punish defenses when they creep. The pick and roll partnership with Brown as screen setter for Jokic will wreak havoc. Brown is an improved edge finisher and possesses a devastating drop float. And his training early in his point guard career makes him a strong short roll passer.
Brown is also one of the best editors in the league. He is elite at finding space in the smallest of cracks. Jokic, the all-time best center when it comes to finding cutters, will give Brown easier layups than ever.
The one area Brown doesn’t fit in as well as one would hope is his shooting ability. He’s a reluctant Sagittarius — and with good reason. He’s only hit 32.7 percent of his 3-pointers for his career.
Maybe that will change in Denver. That number rose to 40.4 percent last season, albeit on just 94 attempts. And he’ll get open looks for the nuggets.
While Brown remains an unreliable shooter, he does enough of everything else to be an effective guy. The nuggets are the perfect opportunity for him to showcase all the other special things he does.
De’Anthony Melton is the more rounded version of Matisse Thybulle of the ’76
The Sixers’ trade for Melton was secretly one of the better moves of the offseason. Melton is another prime example of a player who should have played more on his previous stops. He will finally get the chance to show his true skills in a bigger market.
Melton is a great defender, although at just 6-2 he doesn’t really see the role. He has great length, instinct and tenacity. He’s perhaps the league’s best shot blocker, ranking in the 97th percentile for the past two seasons, according to Cleaning the Glass. And he’s a Ballhawk with one of the best steal rates in the league.
Melton has always been a darling of advanced stats, which explains why Daryl Morey, president of basketball operations for the Sixers, would seek to trade for him. He finds small ways to affect the game in different areas.
Melton has flown under the radar in part because he’s not an open scorer on offense. His modest 10.8 points per game last season was the first time he cracked double digits. This is good for the Sixers. Even if he were a better creator, he wouldn’t get this opportunity to star alongside Joel Embiid and James Harden.
Melton also brings a lot of value off the ball as a shooter. He had a rough start to his career, hitting just 29.4 percent of his 3-pointers in his first two seasons. But he’s made great strides in his development, bagging 38.8 percent of his 3-point attempts over the past two seasons.
Melton is the perfect role player alongside Harden and Embiid. He’s not quite the defender like Thybulle, but he’s well above average and offers a lot more in offense. He should play a more solid role next season and finally show what he’s really capable of.