SGA vs. ANT: Next 7 years

[O_6]

SGA: 30/6/6 (.636 TS) + very good D (11.4 On/Off + 8.8 EPM)
ANT: 26/5/5 (.575 TS) + very good D (2.8 On/Off + 4.2 EPM)

Ant is a 22 year old who just finished 7th in the MVP vote. SGA is a 25 year old who finished 2nd in the MVP after finishing 5th last year.

SGA just had a phenomenal year for the #1 seed Thunder. He was clearly the better player this regular season. Great two way player and as consistent a scorer as we’ve seen since maybe KD. Statistically, he just had a beastly year for a guard. He’s already here and looks like he will have staying power.

But it seems to be young Anthony Edwards who is getting the hype as “the next one”. Some of it might be country of origin, a lot of it is based purely on how “fun” they are to watch with Edwards maybe being the nastiest star finisher since young Blake.

The fact that they’ve already had a little back and forth makes it extra interesting. Seems like this could be an awesome “rivalry” or atleast a competitive battle for the “alpha wing” for the next X amount of years (I know Luka also exists and will be there but he’s more of a big PG).

Just wondering who you guys think will be better for the next 7 years. Seems like a fair amount of time. SGA is better now but ANT seems to have a slightly higher potential based on athleticism.

A battle in the WCF seems very possible which could lead to this debate really becoming a thing. Would love to see it.

[AEnigma]

I think Edwards at least has more room to improve. Cannot tell whether Edwards will continue on this current trajectory, but I am confident his best case scenario is higher. Either way I would love to see both establish a regular conference finals rivalry like Butler/Tatum or Bird/Erving — and while I personally hope Shai is on the winning side of such a rivalry, Edwards being in Minnesota makes his success and superstardom much more palatable than it might be in a bigger market.

[penbeast0]

Ant may have more room to improve but he has to improve quite a bit to be at the level SGA played at this season. Of course, no guarantee that SGA maintains this level either. I just hope they both stay healthy so we can see this play out.

[ronnymac2]

I'd be very comfortable taking Anthony Edwards in this. That's really not meant to be a knock on SGA, but Edwards' greater potential to be a destructive wing defender gives him the edge IMHO.

[Cavsfansince84]

I don't think its a safe assumption that Ant becomes a top 3 player yet. Top 5-6 sure. I expect SGA to be a top 3-4 player for the next 7 years so the answer is him. Also think he'll get at least 1 mvp.

[rk2023]

Going to toss a dart here and say Ant. What he is doing this playoffs is bonkers, and I’m curious to see if he can put heaters together from October through June. As good as MN was, I did have some criticism for Ant’s approach on Offense all of the regular season. Let’s see how he finishes this playoffs.

I do think, regardless, there’s more juice left to be squeezed from Ant’s foundation as a player than there is in Shai’s case. I second Penbeast here: All the best for their health and development, so we can see this play out in an iron sharpening iron manner.

[ardee]

I don't think its a safe assumption that Ant becomes a top 3 player yet. Top 5-6 sure. I expect SGA to be a top 3-4 player for the next 7 years so the answer is him. Also think he'll get at least 1 mvp.

The window for anyone to get MVPs is the next 3-4 imo, after that it's Wemby's to lose every year for a long time.

[tsherkin]

Ant may have more room to improve but he has to improve quite a bit to be at the level SGA played at this season. Of course, no guarantee that SGA maintains this level either. I just hope they both stay healthy so we can see this play out.

I'm with this model right here.

Playoff Ant, at least so far, leaves open the possibility that he'll be an extremely scary player if he can put it together over a whole season. SGA is, of course, doing that right now as we speak, so there's some catching up to do, but the potential is clearly there.

[Colbinii]

As a Wolves fan, ANT. As any other fan it seems hard to go wrong with SGA.

[BDM22]

I don't think its a safe assumption that Ant becomes a top 3 player yet. Top 5-6 sure. I expect SGA to be a top 3-4 player for the next 7 years so the answer is him. Also think he'll get at least 1 mvp.

The window for anyone to get MVPs is the next 3-4 imo, after that it's Wemby's to lose every year for a long time.

We'll see. Voters do get fatigued. Lebron only has 4 and he's Top-2 all time. Lost to Steve Nash when he was putting up 31/7/7 in a much lower scoring era. Jordan only has 5. You could make a case both were the best players in the league for 10+ years easily. Narratives play a huge role.

You also have the 65 game minimum to contend with now. I have no doubt Wemby will be a multi-time MVP, but it rarely works out that even the most dominant force wins MVP every year.

[Cavsfansince84]

I don't think its a safe assumption that Ant becomes a top 3 player yet. Top 5-6 sure. I expect SGA to be a top 3-4 player for the next 7 years so the answer is him. Also think he'll get at least 1 mvp.

The window for anyone to get MVPs is the next 3-4 imo, after that it's Wemby's to lose every year for a long time.

That's also assuming health and that he's playing on 54+ win teams every year also though. I mean I was as high as anyone on here on him before he even got drafted and so I'm rooting for him but things still need to go right to win mvps and then there's voter fatigue after a guy gets two. MJ didn't even get his 2nd one until he was 28.

[ardee]

I don't think its a safe assumption that Ant becomes a top 3 player yet. Top 5-6 sure. I expect SGA to be a top 3-4 player for the next 7 years so the answer is him. Also think he'll get at least 1 mvp.

The window for anyone to get MVPs is the next 3-4 imo, after that it's Wemby's to lose every year for a long time.

We'll see. Voters do get fatigued. Lebron only has 4 and he's Top-2 all time. Lost to Steve Nash when he was putting up 31/7/7 in a much lower scoring era. Jordan only has 5. You could make a case both were the best players in the league for 10+ years easily. Narratives play a huge role.

You also have the 65 game minimum to contend with now. I have no doubt Wemby will be a multi-time MVP, but it rarely works out that even the most dominant force wins MVP every year.

LeBron is my GOAT (by a lot), but I don't buy that he missed out on a ton of deserved MVPs.

You mentioned 2006: I think he was in the 3-5 range that year. Kobe and Dirk are 1-2, he's in the mix below with Wade and Nash.

2007: I think it should've been Nash but Dirk was an ok choice.

2008: That MVP was Kobe's, no doubt about it.

2009: he won

2010: he won

2011: can't see the argument considering Rose led the Bulls to a better record as the solo star. If not Rose, then Howard

2012: he won

2013: he won

2014: don't really see an argument over Durant (he was by far the better player but in terms of RS value to their teams KD gets it)

2015: again, not much of a case against Steph

2016: same situation as 2016

2017: tbh I really think he could've won it this year if not for the fall off the Cavs experienced in the second half. Started 40-16 and finished 11-15. Russ won only 4 fewer games in a harder conference with a worse supporting cast.

2018: another year he has a decent argument. I wouldn't have been averse to his winning it here, finished runner-up after all.

2019: injured

2020: I think if covid doesn't happen he wins it. But given the season got cut off, Giannis still had the edge.

2021: would've won it, but got injured

2022 onward: too old to compete for MVP

So basically, imo he had a case in 2018 but the voters chose differently. Could've won it in 2020 and 2021 but other circumstances interfered.

I don't think he ever lost one to real voter fatigue, as in, he was the obvious choice but they didn't give it to him.

[BDM22]

The window for anyone to get MVPs is the next 3-4 imo, after that it's Wemby's to lose every year for a long time.

We'll see. Voters do get fatigued. Lebron only has 4 and he's Top-2 all time. Lost to Steve Nash when he was putting up 31/7/7 in a much lower scoring era. Jordan only has 5. You could make a case both were the best players in the league for 10+ years easily. Narratives play a huge role.

You also have the 65 game minimum to contend with now. I have no doubt Wemby will be a multi-time MVP, but it rarely works out that even the most dominant force wins MVP every year.

LeBron is my GOAT (by a lot), but I don't buy that he missed out on a ton of deserved MVPs.

You mentioned 2006: I think he was in the 3-5 range that year. Kobe and Dirk are 1-2, he's in the mix below with Wade and Nash.

2007: I think it should've been Nash but Dirk was an ok choice.

2008: That MVP was Kobe's, no doubt about it.

2009: he won

2010: he won

2011: can't see the argument considering Rose led the Bulls to a better record as the solo star. If not Rose, then Howard

2012: he won

2013: he won

2014: don't really see an argument over Durant (he was by far the better player but in terms of RS value to their teams KD gets it)

2015: again, not much of a case against Steph

2016: same situation as 2016

2017: tbh I really think he could've won it this year if not for the fall off the Cavs experienced in the second half. Started 40-16 and finished 11-15. Russ won only 4 fewer games in a harder conference with a worse supporting cast.

2018: another year he has a decent argument. I wouldn't have been averse to his winning it here, finished runner-up after all.

2019: injured

2020: I think if covid doesn't happen he wins it. But given the season got cut off, Giannis still had the edge.

2021: would've won it, but got injured

2022 onward: too old to compete for MVP

So basically, imo he had a case in 2018 but the voters chose differently. Could've won it in 2020 and 2021 but other circumstances interfered.

I don't think he ever lost one to real voter fatigue, as in, he was the obvious choice but they didn't give it to him.

You're pretty much just proving my point. A lot is narratives, team record, etc. A guy going to a team and suddenly they make a big jump up is a story they like. It's noot about who is the singular better player.

Unless the idea is that Wemby's team is going to win like 70 games every year or he's truly multiple tiers above like MJ/Bron, it's hard to imagine a world where he wins every MVP after a few years (which is what I was replying to).

[penbeast0]

Can we avoid turning this into an MJ/LeBron thread and go back to SGA and Ant?

[RSCD3_]

I'd be very comfortable taking Anthony Edwards in this. That's really not meant to be a knock on SGA, but Edwards' greater potential to be a destructive wing defender gives him the edge IMHO.

I think they're not too apart in current defensive value (both long armed and quick) but I think Edwards has a deeper tank when it comes to keeping up defensive effort on defense despite a high offensive load and there's potential for ANT to fill out and defend bigger wings

[O_6]

18-10 vote edge for Anthony Edwards at the time of this post.

Pretty crazy how highly so many of us are projecting Edwards to be willing to take a gamble on his potential when SGA is a 25 year old who finished 2nd in EPM and 2nd in MVP for the #1 seed in the West. Two way beast who is good for an efficient 30 PPG while being a solid passer. Who already had a 1st team NBA appearance last year when he finished 5th in the MVP vote.

SGA looks locked in to be a Top 5 player with a chance to win atleast one MVP over these next 7 years, just wild how Edwards still seems to be the fairly clear choice so far in this thread.

This is kind of a time capsule post as I wanted to see how the vibe was in regards to this comp as of today, it will be really fun looking back at this post in 3 years time or so to see which option would've been the correct choice.

[Colbinii]

18-10 vote edge for Anthony Edwards at the time of this post.

Pretty crazy how highly so many of us are projecting Edwards to be willing to take a gamble on his potential when SGA is a 25 year old who finished 2nd in EPM and 2nd in MVP for the #1 seed in the West. Two way beast who is good for an efficient 30 PPG while being a solid passer. Who already had a 1st team NBA appearance last year when he finished 5th in the MVP vote.

SGA looks locked in to be a Top 5 player with a chance to win atleast one MVP over these next 7 years, just wild how Edwards still seems to be the fairly clear choice so far in this thread.

This is kind of a time capsule post as I wanted to see how the vibe was in regards to this comp as of today, it will be really fun looking back at this post in 3 years time or so to see which option would've been the correct choice.

What do you mean a gamble on ANT's potential?

He is already a Top 5 post-season performer over the past 3 seasons.

[O_6]

18-10 vote edge for Anthony Edwards at the time of this post.

Pretty crazy how highly so many of us are projecting Edwards to be willing to take a gamble on his potential when SGA is a 25 year old who finished 2nd in EPM and 2nd in MVP for the #1 seed in the West. Two way beast who is good for an efficient 30 PPG while being a solid passer. Who already had a 1st team NBA appearance last year when he finished 5th in the MVP vote.

SGA looks locked in to be a Top 5 player with a chance to win atleast one MVP over these next 7 years, just wild how Edwards still seems to be the fairly clear choice so far in this thread.

This is kind of a time capsule post as I wanted to see how the vibe was in regards to this comp as of today, it will be really fun looking back at this post in 3 years time or so to see which option would've been the correct choice.

What do you mean a gamble on ANT's potential?

He is already a Top 5 post-season performer over the past 3 seasons.

Don't get me wrong, he's already really good and has been sensational in these playoffs. But he hasn't proven it over 82 games (not that I'd expect him to at that age), so it still is a gamble if he actually turns into "this guy" on a regular basis.

I'm sold on him, I think he'll be a future MVP. But let's not act like he's already an established MVP candidate like SGA has proven to be. It's why this is a fun debate imo. Is Edwards' potential ceiling so scary high that we're willing to roll the dice on that over the proven commodity of a player like SGA who is a Top 5 player in the league easily this year with a great Top 3 argument?

[Colbinii]

18-10 vote edge for Anthony Edwards at the time of this post.

Pretty crazy how highly so many of us are projecting Edwards to be willing to take a gamble on his potential when SGA is a 25 year old who finished 2nd in EPM and 2nd in MVP for the #1 seed in the West. Two way beast who is good for an efficient 30 PPG while being a solid passer. Who already had a 1st team NBA appearance last year when he finished 5th in the MVP vote.

SGA looks locked in to be a Top 5 player with a chance to win atleast one MVP over these next 7 years, just wild how Edwards still seems to be the fairly clear choice so far in this thread.

This is kind of a time capsule post as I wanted to see how the vibe was in regards to this comp as of today, it will be really fun looking back at this post in 3 years time or so to see which option would've been the correct choice.

What do you mean a gamble on ANT's potential?

He is already a Top 5 post-season performer over the past 3 seasons.

Don't get me wrong, he's already really good and has been sensational in these playoffs. But he hasn't proven it over 82 games (not that I'd expect him to at that age), so it still is a gamble if he actually turns into "this guy" on a regular basis.

I'm sold on him, I think he'll be a future MVP. But let's not act like he's already an established MVP candidate like SGA has proven to be. It's why this is a fun debate imo. Is Edwards' potential ceiling so scary high that we're willing to roll the dice on that over the proven commodity of a player like SGA who is a Top 5 player in the league easily this year with a great Top 3 argument?

Eh, I don't know if ANT will ever be an MVP. Even ATG only win 1 like Kobe or none like Wade, Drexler, Kawhi, ect.

It's really freaking hard for smaller wings to win the MVP award. You basically need to be an ATG offensive anchor like Nash/Curry or you need to be a big Wing or Big Man to win MVP. The other way to win is being a ridiculously high usage scorer with a narrative [Harden, Westbrook, Rose, AI].

I don't know if ANT ever wins, and I'd definitely side on the "He never wins MVP", but he definitely has the talent and narrative track record to win one at some point.

[AEnigma]

If he wants to win MVP then he needs to up his scoring volume (and if his team is going to permit that then he needs to increase his regular season shot selection and efficiency). Being the scoring leader can get you a top three finish on an 8-seed; scoring leader on a top seed is almost an automatic vote for a good chunk of the base.