Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Not since LeBron James has their been quite as much hype for an athlete as Andrew Wiggins is receiving. The Canadian superstar who is destined for the NBA has been lighting up the high school basketball circuit showing freakish athleticism and basketball skills that only come around once in a generation.
It is clear where Wiggins gets his athleticism from. His father is a former NBA player and his mother happens to be an Olympic track athlete. The athletic bloodlines for Wiggins certainly run deep. His unparalleled athleticism allows him to get to the cup seemingly at will and his jumper, which is coming along, looks smooth on the high school level. He is as complete a high school athlete as the game of basketball has seen since James and may even be showing more speed and explosiveness than the Great One himself did in high school.
Teams will certainly be vying for Wiggins’ services come the 2014 NBA draft, and there is no doubt in anyone’s mind he would have easily been the top pick in this year’s draft had he been eligible. One team desperate for the young man’s services that have just started a total rebuild under new GM Sam Hinkie is the Philadelphia 76ers.
Wiggins would come right in and re-ignite a fan base that is starving for any sort of superstar or elite level athlete to grace a Sixers uniform. Excitement is something the Sixers simply have been completely lacking since the end of the AI era, and Wiggins would come right in and be the face of the franchise to go along with two potential new cornerstone players in Michael Carter-Williams and Nerlens Noel.
Wiggins will be the apple of every NBA GM and executive’s eye next June. The Sixers will need to be a bad basketball team and also have a little bit of luck to land the most heralded high school basketball player since King James. If the ping pong balls bounce the right way the Sixers can instantly go from basement dweller to future contender in one fell swoop. 2014 can’t get here soon enough.
