So part of what we are doing, that I’m doing [reaches behind him for a small stack of plastic-bound folders and lays the one with Andrew Wiggins’ name and picture on the cover down on the table] for every player is [this individual guide] for player development. If you look at this [flips pages, most of them full of numbers on some pages, some highlighted in yellow marker, other pages marked with bullet points], we are going through this. We are doing it on every player.
So this is Andrew’s. We are working with him on all of this. Andrew Wiggins. [Points to paragraph.] His mental approach and what we are trying to do [to improve it]. What we are doing to him and where he is right now and where he ranks. What he has done thus far. His shots that he has taken. What we are focusing on and working with him on, and where he ranks in those areas. And then, when we get down here to what we are doing with him.
[Points to specific highlighted numbers.] Pull-up jump shots. He has got to make fifty [in practice]. Pick and roll passing. Three-point shooting: got to make 50 at five different spots. Defensive areas of focus. There is video stuff and different points of emphasis. Free throws. Every day they have to make 50 in practice, but they have to shoot 85 percent or keep doing it. Three point shooting. You’ve got to make 25 in five spots — it is up to you how long it takes.
Then we go ahead into weight training, alright? Pictures: Look at how he looks there [a series of photos have the month they were taken listed below]. We got him up to 200 pounds — he was listed at 194. But this is six pounds of muscle, alright? Lean muscle mass. Strength exam we go here: This is his history. Areas of improvement: This is where he has improved. Here is the focus of where we are working. Summary. [The last page or two detailing what has been laid out.] And we are doing this on every player.
MP: So where it says Phase II, that means what is next?
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What’s next. Every player. The Timberwolves have never done this before. We did it in Toronto. So at the end of the year, when my general manager would ask me questions about this, this, this and this—[picks up Wiggins folder and slaps it down on table] there you go on every player.
Every shot he took for the season, every weight he lifted, everything we talked to him about, everything we worked with him about. So then when someone wants to come in and say, “Hey now, Andrew Wiggins didn’t do this or this or this.” Wait a minute now, hold on. We got it documented. And we show this to the player and they sign it. This is what we have done with you. So they can’t say, “Coach we didn’t do that.” Every day we chart every shot they take in practice, and games. The Timberwolves have never done that. I started doing this in Toronto on every player. Every player. So that at the end of the season when the general manager had questions, I could pull that book out and show him every single day for the season.
And we update this three times a year. We start it at a certain point in the season and then another point and then at the end of the season. And the same thing is going to happen—we are going to have a player development program this summer. This is something the Timberwolves have never done that we have got to do — our summer program. Not summer league. Not come in here four days before summer league and try to do something. We want them here — they have three weeks off and then we need them here. They have got to get bigger, they have got to get stronger — but not just go pack on dead weight, that slow you down and cause injuries. Lean mass that adds proper weight.
I remember when I was in Milwaukee and they kept bulking up Joel Przybilla to guard Shaq. I get there as an assistant coach, and I said, “Coach, Joel is here in the East and Shaq is in the West. He’ll only play Shaq twice.” You see, he can’t move. Joel Przybilla was a shot-blocker. Athlete. Man, they put on like 40 pounds in Milwaukee and his feet started hurting and he couldn’t run or jump — he couldn’t do nothing. So I got him to lose weight and try to get him back to what he used to be — long and athletic and a shot-blocker, with lean muscle mass.
That’s the thing we’ve got to do here. Wigs is going to gain weight. But we want him when the weight comes to put on functional weight, lean muscle. Just think, if we can get him to 205 by the end of the summer if he is in my program or 208 in his muscle, how much quicker and more bouncy and athletic he is going to be — and stronger. So it is important that our guys give up some time this summer and I am going to push hard for them to be here this summer.
@ Ricky's chicken legs.
Read it this morning and Im even more convinced that although Sam knows the flaws, he cant fix them.
