Nevius: New Warrior Andrew Wiggins can turn career around — if he wants to

We need to agree on something about Andrew Wiggins, the Warriors’ big-ticket acquisition from Minnesota.

He is not an enigma. He’s not a puzzle. It is not a mystery why he has not become a transcendent player, as expected when he was the first choice in the 2014 draft.

Spend 15 minutes on the Google Machine and you can compile a list of his alleged shortcomings: lackadaisical defense, jacking up long low-percentage shots with a defender in his face and a passive, disinterested demeanor.

Which is interesting, because all those have one thing in common. They can be corrected with conscious effort. Want to play defense? Move your feet. Poor shot selection? Don’t take those. Passive? Be active.

The nightmare for any team is to trade for someone with a huge contract only to find that he can’t play. So the Warriors dodged that bullet. Wiggins obviously can play.

But does he want to?

Well, you say, this move must have gotten his attention. Minnesota, which drafted him, gave up on him. And Golden State is one of the elite franchises in professional sports.

It is time for someone to give him straight talk. Tell him now is the time to take a serious look at his game and work to fix it.

Except he has been told - over and over. We give you this headline from Vice Sports, “It is time for Andrew Wiggins to Step Up.” That’s from 2017.

And, in an acrimonious locker-room meltdown in Minnesota in 2018, teammate Jimmy Butler questioned Wiggins’ work ethic and effort.

So he knows that’s the knock on him.

But, you say, Wiggins has played great in his first three games in a Golden State uniform. He didn’t force shots, but led the team in scoring. He defended, blocked shots and made steals.

All true. And let’s hope this is the beginning of a renaissance that will change the arc of Wiggins’ career.

But he’s done this before. In the archives there are also stories about Wiggins “finally” playing to his potential. It just didn’t take.

So, at the All-Star break, what do we have?

Well, let’s repeat it - he’s playing great. And the Warriors aren’t making it easy on him. It is no accident his first three defensive assignments were LeBron James, Butler and Devin Booker.

This is saying, on this team we not only don’t need you standing around admiring the view, your new job is defending their best guy. And we expect you to hold your own.

And Wiggins has. Against Phoenix he had four blocked shots, a career high. Which, if you are 6-8 and measure seven feet from fingertip to fingertip, is something you should be doing.

In person he seems like a nice guy, making eye contact when asked a question and answering pleasantly and politely. Maybe a little shy. It wasn’t easy getting a smile out of him.

But he didn’t get defensive when pushed about his rep as a bad defender.

“I’m solid,” he said, but added, “I’m still learning. Getting better.”

No matter what, this certainly increases interest in the shank end of the season. We’ve got a front-row seat for the Andrew Wiggins Warriors audition.

Keep in mind, this has been a bit of a rocket ride for a 24-year-old from Vaughn, Ontario, Canada. After he left high school, he spent one year at KU in Lawrence, Kansas, and then was suddenly on the way to Minneapolis as the No. 1 choice in the draft.

Those are all relatively small markets. He has to be thinking San Francisco is his biggest stage so far.

So granted, his whole career has been a whirlwind. But sometimes he hasn’t helped, either. His brother, Nick, a quick-on-the-Twitter relative, ignited a whole beef with Butler two years ago.

That was when Butler became so disenchanted with the Timberwolves and their two checked-out stars - Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns - that he demanded to be traded.

When he was, Nick Wiggins Tweeted, “Hallelujah,” which was exactly what that toxic situation did not need.

And then there was the Toronto Star story in 2018, claiming that the Wiggins family told Canada if it wanted Andrew to play on the Olympic team, it would have to pay him.

I hope that isn’t true. If you don’t want to play for your country, just say so. And say it in public so your countrymen know how you feel. But don’t hold them up for money.

So we have a bit of a mixed bag. You have to root for Wiggins, either because he’s a likable young guy or because he can hit threes and slash down the lane.

But before anyone starts talking about what a steal this is, let’s see how it works out. Wiggins, as always, has to answer a question:

We know you can play - do you want to?

Contact C.W. Nevius at cw.nevius@pressdemocrat.com. Twitter: @cwnevius