Revisit: Better Player Right Now: Jalen Brunson V Anthony Edwards

[mdonnelly1989]

Revisit:

[One_and_Done]

It's definitely Ant.

[Maverick41]

Brunson right now. The guy just finished 5th in MVP and came very close to carrying his team to the ECF with a significantly hobbled Knicks team.

Ant certainly has a significantly higher ceiling and can easily pass him this upcoming season though.

[shrink]

Well, Ant finished 7th, and Ant’s athleticism and size makes him switchable defensively, and he’s terrific on ball against anyone.

I would also point out that we are learning now that the Wolves were hobbled as well, Ant from a hard fall in Game 6 versus the Nuggets, and Towns was hiding how bad off his calf injury was, so he could come back in time for the playoffs. And FTR, Wolves beat the Nuggets to make the conference finals in the West, Knicks lost to the Pacers to miss theirs in the East.

I will add that I’m already looking forward to 2028 when they can play together for Team USA.

[bkkrh]

I am biased, but at the moment it's definitely Brunson. Will actually be interesting to revisit this in 3 seasons.

[tsherkin]

I think Brunson applies better pressure to the D when his 3 isnt falling; he makes much more use of places other than at the rim or from 3 (and effectively) than Ant as a scorer and is a more dynamic playmaker. Ant is obviously the better defender.

It's an interesting comparison.

[Tracymcgoaty]

Brunson.

[Karate Diop]

Brunson right now. The guy just finished 5th in MVP and came very close to carrying his team to the ECF with a significantly hobbled Knicks team.

Ant certainly has a significantly higher ceiling and can easily pass him this upcoming season though.

He was 5th in MVP because of the pro-NY bias / good storyline it made not because he's that good.

Ant's better. People love to pretend like defense doesn't exist in these convos but once you take it into account, you can't even pretend that Brunson > Ant... Also if the league stops giving Brunson the old Trae Young calls, you're going to see a serious dropoff in his play...

[The4thHorseman]

Brunson right now. The guy just finished 5th in MVP and came very close to carrying his team to the ECF with a significantly hobbled Knicks team.

Ant certainly has a significantly higher ceiling and can easily pass him this upcoming season though.

He was 5th in MVP because of the pro-NY bias / good storyline it made not because he's that good.

Ant's better. People love to pretend like defense doesn't exist in these convos but once you take it into account, you can't even pretend that Brunson > Ant... Also if the league stops giving Brunson the old Trae Young calls, you're going to see a serious dropoff in his play...

What was the obvious storyline?

[cupcakesnake]

I have them right next to each other on my current top 50 list. Brunson at #12, Ant at #13. (I think you can argue both of them could be higher, depending on how you feel about some of the old guys.)

Brunson consistently puts way more pressure on the defense with his strength, handles, and ability to get decent shots off. Ant on a good night is a whole other level of problem because he's bigger and way more athletic. Until he figures out how to consistently get to his best actions against tough defense, Brunson is the better offensive player. The decision making tree is complete for Brunson while Ant is still figuring out how to build that.

Defensively there's an enormous gap here. You can debate Brunson being a liability or "solid enough". Ant is maybe the meanest ball pressure guy in the league when he's locked in. I don't have Ant as a truly elite defender yet though. He's not always giving 100% on that end.

[cupcakesnake]

I would also point out that we are learning now that the Wolves were hobbled as well, Ant from a hard fall in Game 6 versus the Nuggets, and Towns was hiding how bad off his calf injury was, so he could come back in time for the playoffs. And FTR, Wolves beat the Nuggets to make the conference finals in the West, Knicks lost to the Pacers to miss theirs in the East.

Yeah it was pretty obvious for those following that Ant had that hard fall and then stopped being able to drive the ball at a high level. It didn't become a playoff story, but people who want to act like Dallas (or even Denver late in the series) "figured him out"... I don't think that's solid analysis. I didn't know the Towns thing at the time, but it makes sense considering his shot just had no legs.

Basically we gave everything we had to beat Denver and had nothing left in the tank against Dallas. Our perimeter defense collapsed, and we weren't able to punch back on the other end.

[picc]

I would also point out that we are learning now that the Wolves were hobbled as well, Ant from a hard fall in Game 6 versus the Nuggets, and Towns was hiding how bad off his calf injury was, so he could come back in time for the playoffs. And FTR, Wolves beat the Nuggets to make the conference finals in the West, Knicks lost to the Pacers to miss theirs in the East.

Yeah it was pretty obvious for those following that Ant had that hard fall and then stopped being able to drive the ball at a high level. It didn't become a playoff story, but people who want to act like Dallas (or even Denver late in the series) "figured him out"... I don't think that's solid analysis. I didn't know the Towns thing at the time, but it makes sense considering his shot just had no legs.

Basically we gave everything we had to beat Denver and had nothing left in the tank against Dallas. Our perimeter defense collapsed, and we weren't able to punch back on the other end.

That's not a real excuse when the Mavericks actually played more games before the WCF than the Wolves did. And were more injured. And their stars were older.

Minnie didnt run out of gas. They just lost to a better team.

As for the question, its super close, but i'm starting a team I'd rather have Ant. Brunson could have a higher average, but I think Ant's ceiling game to game is higher with his defense, which had a real impact during the playoffs. He's not an elite defensive player, but him compared to Brunson's contribution on that end - which is zero, if not negative - flips it in his favor.

[3toheadmelo]

easily brunson

[cupcakesnake]

I would also point out that we are learning now that the Wolves were hobbled as well, Ant from a hard fall in Game 6 versus the Nuggets, and Towns was hiding how bad off his calf injury was, so he could come back in time for the playoffs. And FTR, Wolves beat the Nuggets to make the conference finals in the West, Knicks lost to the Pacers to miss theirs in the East.

Yeah it was pretty obvious for those following that Ant had that hard fall and then stopped being able to drive the ball at a high level. It didn't become a playoff story, but people who want to act like Dallas (or even Denver late in the series) "figured him out"... I don't think that's solid analysis. I didn't know the Towns thing at the time, but it makes sense considering his shot just had no legs.

Basically we gave everything we had to beat Denver and had nothing left in the tank against Dallas. Our perimeter defense collapsed, and we weren't able to punch back on the other end.

That's not a real excuse when the Mavericks actually played more games before the WCF than the Wolves did. And were more injured. And their stars were older.

Minnie didnt run out of gas. They just lost to a better team.

As for the question, its super close, but i'm starting a team I'd rather have Ant. Brunson could have a higher average, but I think Ant's ceiling game to game is higher with his defense, which had a real impact during the playoffs. He's not an elite defensive player, but him compared to Brunson's contribution on that end - which is zero, if not negative - flips it in his favor.

I'm not making an excuse. I never said we lost because of health. Dallas' defensive scheme was extremely effective against us, and Luka only needed corner shooters and lob threat to make our defense- which was looking historical until this series- look completely helpless. Luka shredded us, and would have shredded us even if we were healthier. Lively/Gafford and that scheme was always going to matchup pretty well against Ant's drives.

Going into that series, my hope was that KAT's (and Naz's) shooting could force Dallas to make a defensive adjustment and get away from the stuff they used to beat OKC. Then KAT- who had been excellent against Denver and Phoenix- all of a sudden shot 24% from 3 and looked awful against a defense he should have been well suited to score on. When I hear he was hiding an injury, that makes sense to me. Ant's injury is a fact and I was already aware of that.

Dallas beat us pretty handily. 4-1, outscored us by a solid 40 points over the series. I don't think an injury swung the series. Moreso I think we could have played a little better and not gone out so sad with our 2 best offensive players healthier. Dallas had been pretty banged up too against LAC and OKC, but I think they were the healthier team in that series. I happily admit they beat us either way.

[shrink]

I would also point out that we are learning now that the Wolves were hobbled as well, Ant from a hard fall in Game 6 versus the Nuggets, and Towns was hiding how bad off his calf injury was, so he could come back in time for the playoffs. And FTR, Wolves beat the Nuggets to make the conference finals in the West, Knicks lost to the Pacers to miss theirs in the East.

Yeah it was pretty obvious for those following that Ant had that hard fall and then stopped being able to drive the ball at a high level. It didn't become a playoff story, but people who want to act like Dallas (or even Denver late in the series) "figured him out"... I don't think that's solid analysis. I didn't know the Towns thing at the time, but it makes sense considering his shot just had no legs.

Basically we gave everything we had to beat Denver and had nothing left in the tank against Dallas. Our perimeter defense collapsed, and we weren't able to punch back on the other end.

That's not a real excuse when the Mavericks actually played more games before the WCF than the Wolves did. And were more injured. And their stars were older.

Minnie didnt run out of gas. They just lost to a better team.

Were the Mavs more injured? I know Ant and KAT played, as did Kyrie, but did the Mavs have more injuries to critical components? A healthy Gobert is not going to beat the Mavs.

But there were two other big factors here. First, Jaden McDaniels is a terrific defender against elite wings, as he showed in the previous two series. But against Luka and his weight, he couldn’t do the same, so Luka deserves a ton of credit.

The other issue is MIN’s mindset. The year before last season, the #8 Wolves had one of the best records against the top teams in the league, and one of the worst against the bottom five teams. Last season they did better against the bottom teams, but still dropped games to bad teams when they showed up lifeless. You saw it in last year’s playoffs. When experts predicted the Suns would beat them as a bad regular season match up, the Wolves showed up strong. Against DEN with their playoff experience, the Wolves were again considered underdogs, and pulled an upset. Even when they got ahead in this series, they started dropping games. And after an emotional Game 7 in DEN (where the Nuggets also ran out of gas), when they were finally predicted to be the favorites in a series against DAL, they again couldn’t muster enough to win. The last three years when they have games when they are ahead in the playoffs, they back off and end up losing. They are a classic example of a team that struggles to play from the front. It didn’t reach the national media, but many Timberwolves players after the series said they were emotionally wiped after playing DEN, and a couple have said they didn’t prepare mentally or physically to play 100 games, and that’s what they would focus on this off-season.

[Eightnineborn]

Brunson is extremely overrated in this board. Ant is the better player.

[tsherkin]

He was 5th in MVP because of the pro-NY bias / good storyline it made not because he's that good.

Well, that, and...

About the same OBPM as Steph, so about 6th/7th in the league depending on rounding. 4th-best O-EPM in the league. 5th in O-LEBRON among guys with 1500+ minutes.

Like, he was really, really good on offense. It wasn't just city-rooted bias.

[JimmyPlopper]

I think Brunson is a better player from what he has shown, but that Edwards has a little more value and a higher ceiling.

[Catchall]

I said Ant because he has stretches where he's unstoppable. Whereas, Brunson can be stifled by wing defenders.

[JXL]

The topic is Better Player Right Now

Brunson is the Better Player Right Now

Ant is really close because of he's younger therefore his ceiling is higher.