However, there were concerns with the pairing that have proven to be true early this season.

First, two high usage players sharing the same role has historically not worked out in the modern NBA era. This is the reason teams, aside from the New Orleans Pelicans, do not invest in two high usage big men with the same skillset (and the Pelicans have greatly struggled to build a good team around their attempt) Generally, in any big-big or wing-wing combo, you want one high usage player who is skilled with the ball and a good facilitator, and a low usage player who mainly shoots when passed to (or dunks, in the case of bigs) and defends. Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green. Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson. Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.

Having two high usage wings means one is going to greatly sacrifice touches. The problem with Wiggins in this situation is his game was highly dependent on touches. He has never been a great shooter; he made up for it by taking 6-8 free throws a game, and he got those free throws mostly by attacking in isolation. But not that he does not have the ball, he isn't getting those isolation possessions, and thus not getting to the free throw line as much (and again, not making the ones he does get)

The second problem is Wiggins does not appear to be cut out for being the low usage wing either.

The theory was that moving to a role off the ball would lower Wiggins' scoring, but raise his shooting percentages, give him more energy to rebound and defend, and more opportunities to make plays for his teammates. Wiggins has improved on the defensive end in terms of effort, but the rest of this has clearly not happened.

Contrary to the expectations, Wiggins has shot worse from everywhere on the floor compared to last year, his assists have gone down, and his rebounding has - at best - stayed the same. He's the tenth worst rebounder per 48 minutes among small forward (he would rank 40th out of 67 among shooting guards). In 36 minutes of playing time, he is being outrebounded by wings playing significantly less minutes than he is - the player right ahead of him is Andre Iguodala, who is averaging more rebounds while playing 10 fewer minutes.

There are a lot of technical issues to his game that I will let more qualified analysts like the guys at Basketball Breakdown figure out. But I think the core of the problem is this: playing off the ball is simply completely, 100% foreign to Wiggins and he doesn't know what to do.

Wiggins was the consensus #1 recruit out of high school, with an aggregate scouting grade of 97. He was then "the man" in his one year of college at Kansas, and in his first two seasons in the NBA. So he's never had to defer to anyone, and the offense has always been catered to his strengths - isolation and attacking the rim for free throws.

However, playing off the ball takes away that strength and magnifies his weaknesses - poor jump shooting, poor activity level, and poor instincts for moving away from the ball. So much of scoring off the ball is the work that needs to be done before getting the ball. Players who are good at shooting off the catch have a natural instinct for running around screens and cutting without the ball, and finding the areas the defense leaves open.

One of the best examples of this is Ray Allen. In this video, keep an eye on Allen when he doesn't have the ball. Watch how he uses screens, shuffles left or right to move away from defenders, and spaces himself opposite of the ball in transition.