Anthony Edwards Thread: Part Two (Read First Post)

Post #361 » by **Klomp** » Mon Aug 14, 2023 7:14 pm

Post #362 » by **Klomp** » Wed Aug 16, 2023 11:09 pm

When players combine explosive slashing with strong off-the-dribble 3PT shooting, it gives their attack a level of unpredictability that makes them nearly impossible to guard 1v1.

Via @The_BBall_Index's database, 4 players landed in the top 15 in both Rim AND 3PT Shot Creation last season:

• Anthony Edwards
• Damian Lillard
• Jalen Green
• Jayson Tatum

These 4 players have the process for creating these opportunities down, but the second part of the equation is actually converting.

Here's a look at the percentiles each of these 4 land in, when it comes to capitalizing:

Rim Shot Making / 3PT Pull Up Shot Making

Edwards: 90th / 85th
Lillard: 96th / 99th
Green: 13th / 85th
Tatum: 93rd / 56th

Just some general thoughts -

Dame has this mastered, the only way to stop him at this point is to hope he's missing, and Ant's getting there.

In order for Green to take that next step, he's got to improve his finishing around the rim; his ability to create those opportunities and get to the FT line, when paired with his perimeter game would make him one of the game's most lethal self-creators.

Tatum's shot making is inconsistent, especially from 3, but he's still *good enough* that he offers strong value from inside-out.

BlacJacMac · Post #363 » by **BlacJacMac** » Wed Aug 16, 2023 11:43 pm

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Dalvin · Post #364 » by **Dalvin** » Thu Aug 17, 2023 4:52 am

Klomp wrote:

Read on Twitter

When players combine explosive slashing with strong off-the-dribble 3PT shooting, it gives their attack a level of unpredictability that makes them nearly impossible to guard 1v1.

Via @The_BBall_Index's database, 4 players landed in the top 15 in both Rim AND 3PT Shot Creation last season:

• Anthony Edwards
• Damian Lillard
• Jalen Green
• Jayson Tatum

These 4 players have the process for creating these opportunities down, but the second part of the equation is actually converting.

Here's a look at the percentiles each of these 4 land in, when it comes to capitalizing:

Rim Shot Making / 3PT Pull Up Shot Making

Edwards: 90th / 85th
Lillard: 96th / 99th
Green: 13th / 85th
Tatum: 93rd / 56th

Just some general thoughts -

Dame has this mastered, the only way to stop him at this point is to hope he's missing, and Ant's getting there.

In order for Green to take that next step, he's got to improve his finishing around the rim; his ability to create those opportunities and get to the FT line, when paired with his perimeter game would make him one of the game's most lethal self-creators.

Tatum's shot making is inconsistent, especially from 3, but he's still *good enough* that he offers strong value from inside-out.

Dang, the disrepect Minnesota gets. They didn't even used his picture wearing a Twolves jersey and used one with him wearing a US jersey

Post #365 » by **Klomp** » Mon Aug 21, 2023 7:21 pm

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Post #366 » by **Klomp** » Mon Aug 21, 2023 7:40 pm

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Note30 · Post #367 » by **Note30** » Mon Aug 21, 2023 9:06 pm

With the way he's going, Ant may eventually be the greatest Wolf in history.

Post #368 » by **Calinks** » Mon Aug 21, 2023 11:27 pm

Note30 wrote:With the way he's going, Ant may eventually be the greatest Wolf in history.

I think its definitely attainable. KG is an all time great but his one weakness was he kind of had a cap on his ability to take over a game on offense. Like at best, he could get 35ish points. I think both Kevin Love and Karl-Anthony Towns had a higher scoring ceiling. Like those guys could get you 50+. KG was just never capable of cracking the really high number on a consistent basis and he dwindled a lot in the 4th on offense. It was the one area he wasn't elite at.

Ant is a guard which I think makes it a lot easier for him to keep scoring down the stretch. Ant also has already shown he doesn't have a cap on his scoring ability. In fact, Ant thrives in the big moments and big shots. So I think because of that alone, Ant can take this team further than KG could because Ant can be unstoppable in the playoffs.

Note30 · Post #369 » by **Note30** » Wed Aug 23, 2023 1:40 am

Calinks wrote:
Note30 wrote:With the way he's going, Ant may eventually be the greatest Wolf in history.

I think its definitely attainable. KG is an all time great but his one weakness was he kind of had a cap on his ability to take over a game on offense. Like at best, he could get 35ish points. I think both Kevin Love and Karl-Anthony Towns had a higher scoring ceiling. Like those guys could get you 50+. KG was just never capable of cracking the really high number on a consistent basis and he dwindled a lot in the 4th on offense. It was the one area he wasn't elite at.

Ant is a guard which I think makes it a lot easier for him to keep scoring down the stretch. Ant also has already shown he doesn't have a cap on his scoring ability. In fact, Ant thrives in the big moments and big shots. So I think because of that alone, Ant can take this team further than KG could because Ant can be unstoppable in the playoffs.

If we are champions in the next 5 years it will be solely because of Ant.

KGdaBom · Post #370 » by **KGdaBom** » Wed Aug 23, 2023 2:27 am

Note30 wrote:
Calinks wrote:
Note30 wrote:With the way he's going, Ant may eventually be the greatest Wolf in history.

I think its definitely attainable. KG is an all time great but his one weakness was he kind of had a cap on his ability to take over a game on offense. Like at best, he could get 35ish points. I think both Kevin Love and Karl-Anthony Towns had a higher scoring ceiling. Like those guys could get you 50+. KG was just never capable of cracking the really high number on a consistent basis and he dwindled a lot in the 4th on offense. It was the one area he wasn't elite at.

Ant is a guard which I think makes it a lot easier for him to keep scoring down the stretch. Ant also has already shown he doesn't have a cap on his scoring ability. In fact, Ant thrives in the big moments and big shots. So I think because of that alone, Ant can take this team further than KG could because Ant can be unstoppable in the playoffs.

If we are champions in the next 5 years it will be solely because of Ant.

If we are the champions at any time it will take a hell of a lot more than Ant playing well. No way will it be because of him and him only.

Note30 · Post #371 » by **Note30** » Wed Aug 23, 2023 10:32 pm

KGdaBom wrote:
Note30 wrote:
Calinks wrote:I think its definitely attainable. KG is an all time great but his one weakness was he kind of had a cap on his ability to take over a game on offense. Like at best, he could get 35ish points. I think both Kevin Love and Karl-Anthony Towns had a higher scoring ceiling. Like those guys could get you 50+. KG was just never capable of cracking the really high number on a consistent basis and he dwindled a lot in the 4th on offense. It was the one area he wasn't elite at.

Ant is a guard which I think makes it a lot easier for him to keep scoring down the stretch. Ant also has already shown he doesn't have a cap on his scoring ability. In fact, Ant thrives in the big moments and big shots. So I think because of that alone, Ant can take this team further than KG could because Ant can be unstoppable in the playoffs.

If we are champions in the next 5 years it will be solely because of Ant.

If we are the champions at any time it will take a hell of a lot more than Ant playing well. No way will it be because of him and him only.

Sure, but he's going to be the main reason. Without him this team is a lottery team.

m2002brian · Post #372 » by **m2002brian** » Wed Aug 23, 2023 10:34 pm

Note30 wrote:
KGdaBom wrote:
Note30 wrote:
If we are champions in the next 5 years it will be solely because of Ant.

If we are the champions at any time it will take a hell of a lot more than Ant playing well. No way will it be because of him and him only.

Sure, but he's going to be the main reason. Without him this team is a lottery team.

Shhh

Note30 · Post #373 » by **Note30** » Wed Aug 23, 2023 11:22 pm

m2002brian wrote:
Note30 wrote:
KGdaBom wrote:If we are the champions at any time it will take a hell of a lot more than Ant playing well. No way will it be because of him and him only.

Sure, but he's going to be the main reason. Without him this team is a lottery team.

Shhh

What?

m2002brian · Post #374 » by **m2002brian** » Wed Aug 23, 2023 11:35 pm

Note30 wrote:
m2002brian wrote:
Note30 wrote:
Sure, but he's going to be the main reason. Without him this team is a lottery team.

Shhh

What?

You’re speaking too much truth.

KGdaBom · Post #375 » by **KGdaBom** » Thu Aug 24, 2023 3:01 am

Note30 wrote:
KGdaBom wrote:
Note30 wrote:
If we are champions in the next 5 years it will be solely because of Ant.

If we are the champions at any time it will take a hell of a lot more than Ant playing well. No way will it be because of him and him only.

Sure, but he's going to be the main reason. Without him this team is a lottery team.

How about you believe he is our best player.
Main reason is a very long ways off from the one and only solely reason. If we are a lottery team without him then we aren't going to win a championship. I don't think we are a lottery team without Ant and hopefully we never have to find out.

Note30 · Post #376 » by **Note30** » Thu Aug 24, 2023 5:50 am

KGdaBom wrote:
Note30 wrote:
KGdaBom wrote:If we are the champions at any time it will take a hell of a lot more than Ant playing well. No way will it be because of him and him only.

Sure, but he's going to be the main reason. Without him this team is a lottery team.

How about you believe he is our best player.
Main reason is a very long ways off from the one and only solely reason. If we are a lottery team without him then we aren't going to win a championship. I don't think we are a lottery team without Ant and hopefully we never have to find out.

Objectively he's our best player there's no question about it. Who would you place ahead of him?

If Ant were to get injured tomorrow and miss the season we'd be lucky to scrape 40 wins at best. Realistically more like in the 30s range. Hell we were missing Towns and we barely scrapped 42. Those are just the facts.

Ant was more often than not the only real offense we had down the stretch with Conley, McDaniels, Anderson, and Gobert on the floor. It was painful to watch us score and it took a lot of effort. The few games late in the season Ant was out? There was one crazy fluke game by Prince, the rest were painful to watch with the only scoring coming from our bench in Reid.

On the defensive side of the ball he's our second best perimeter player behind McDaniels. Case could be made for NAW, but he gets super limited minutes and hardly contributes the same way on offense.

So yeah it's not just me thinking he's our best player, he is.

shrink · Post #377 » by **shrink** » Thu Aug 24, 2023 6:12 am

I think Ant is our best player, but I also think that we would make the playoffs without him.

Conley and SloMo are players that can control games. If Ant missed the season, we would have a veteran team with those two, Towns and Gobert, which should overwhelm many teams trying to place very young players in important roles. In addition, even without Ant. our size would overwhelm several teams, like OKC in the play in. Finally, I would assume that we would have a better record this year against bad teams simply on professionalism, and it’s not the first year here for many of our major pieces.

So if I believe we could make the playoffs without Ant, imagine what I think we can do this season WITH him!

KGdaBom · Post #378 » by **KGdaBom** » Thu Aug 24, 2023 6:13 am

Note30 wrote:
KGdaBom wrote:
Note30 wrote:
Sure, but he's going to be the main reason. Without him this team is a lottery team.

How about you believe he is our best player.
Main reason is a very long ways off from the one and only solely reason. If we are a lottery team without him then we aren't going to win a championship. I don't think we are a lottery team without Ant and hopefully we never have to find out.

Objectively he's our best player there's no question about it. Who would you place ahead of him?

If Ant were to get injured tomorrow and miss the season we'd be lucky to scrape 40 wins at best. Realistically more like in the 30s range. Hell we were missing Towns and we barely scrapped 42. Those are just the facts.

Ant was more often than not the only real offense we had down the stretch with Conley, McDaniels, Anderson, and Gobert on the floor. It was painful to watch us score and it took a lot of effort. The few games late in the season Ant was out? There was one crazy fluke game by Prince, the rest were painful to watch with the only scoring coming from our bench in Reid.

On the defensive side of the ball he's our second best perimeter player behind McDaniels. Case could be made for NAW, but he gets super limited minutes and hardly contributes the same way on offense.

So yeah it's not just me thinking he's our best player, he is.

Most people would now think he is our best player. Going into last season ESPN had him as our 3rd best player. KAT may still be better. If Gobert returns to his Utah form he may be better. I would agree with you that he is our best player. However, we have a lot of talent on this team besides Ant. If we win a title it's not going to be because Ant is great and everybody else sucks. It will take everybody playing up to their potential.

KGdaBom · Post #379 » by **KGdaBom** » Thu Aug 24, 2023 6:16 am

shrink wrote:I think Ant is our best player, but I also think that we would make the playoffs without him.

Conley and SloMo are players that can control games. If Ant missed the season, we would have a veteran team with those two, Towns and Gobert, which should overwhelm many teams trying to place very young players in important roles. In addition, even without Ant. our size would overwhelm several teams, like OKC in the play in. Finally, I would assume that we would have a better record this year against bad teams simply on professionalism, and it’s not the first year here for many of our major pieces.

So if I believe we could make the playoffs without Ant, imagine what I think we can do this season WITH him!

The Wolves will win and lose as a team. Not as Anthony Edwards and the Pips.

shrink · Post #380 » by **shrink** » Thu Aug 24, 2023 6:20 am

I’ve watched some Edwards on Team USA. Some of his plays are breath-taking, but he still makes a lot of dumb mistakes. It’s frustrating, but the mistakes seem so bad (mistakes other pros rarely make) that they are likely very easily correctable.

Ant is already a star - even with these mistakes. Cutting down on these bad plays should be low hanging fruit, which will raise his game to incredible heights.

Glue him to Mike Conley.