Pete Thamel's take on Andrew Wiggins

Earlier today, every Kentucky fans favorite sports writer Pete Thamel published an article for SI.com on the subject of Andrew Wiggins. In it, Pete discus's how "Wiggins must carry with him the burden of a country's basketball hopes, its legacy of underachieving players and a reputation for only playing hard when necessary."

First off let me start my pointing out the obvious. Yes, Mr. Thamel is a "professional" and yes I'm just a guy behind a keyboard, but even I would not have painted Canadian athletes in such a light. Especially when the athlete he is writing about is from Canada. He goes on to talk about how there are "warning signs" when it comes to Wiggins because he played for three different schools during his high school career. Pete didn't stop there, he went on to bring up some personal family items that I won't mention, then proceeded to question Andrew's effort on the court by saying "Andrew Wiggins' work ethic and motor have yet to catch up to his athleticism and raw ability. That leaves the question of whether he'll cost on talent to a solid NBA career or tap into his vast potential and emerge as an elite player and Canadian icon."

Pete did have a few good things to say about Wiggins, "The consensus from those around Wiggins is that he's unfailingly polite, humble and always willing to deflect attention to his teammates." That quote I can agree with 100%, every time I have had the pleasure of attending a Huntington Prep game, Andrew was very polite and never turned away an autograph when he was asked for one and believe me that's a lot. That holds true for the entire Huntington Prep squad, you would have trouble finding a better bunch of kids to be around. As far as his motor and work ethic, let me tell you something about that. Huntington head coach Rob Fulford would not settle for anything less than 100% effort from his entire team and staff. These guys practice hard, play hard and it shows every single night his team hits the floor. 

Is Andrew going to take a play off here and there? Sure, he's a 17 year old kid, they all do, that's why they have coaches. Believe me, if this kid had any sort of issues with his "motor or work ethic" he wouldn't be garnering the attention of the likes of Kansas, UNC, FSU, Duke and Kentucky who all have made multiple trips to Huntington to watch Andrew do his thing on the court.

I'm not real sure about Pete's agenda with this article or what he was even trying to accomplish, but I'll tell what he did do, upset Andrew Wiggins before his game today. People have said Andrew was bothered by this article and that he didn't care for it at all. So tonight when his team took on Marietta College JV, Andrew turned in a stat line of 57 points, 13 rebounds, 4 blocks and 2 steals. Imagine what he could've done if he only had a "motor and work ethic" that Thamel would approve of...