Around the League: 2020 Offseason

[Kobblehead]

Jaylen Nowell with 22 points in 13 minutes? Impressive.

I was recently entertaining him as a possible trade target for us. The Timberwolves clearly have a surplus of players like him. We could use an additional playmaker on the ball like him for our 2nd unit.

[Negrodamus]

Read on Twitter

It's so funny that Vassell fell to me. He was arguably the best defensive player in the draft and it wasn't as if his offensive game wasn't promising. He was a top 5 pick for me. Of course the Spurs are going to turn him into their next stud.

[Kobblehead]

I think Haliburton and Vassell both fell based on apprehension about how they'll project as scorers. Both showed potential to score off the dribble, though. I'm guessing scouts wanted to see more of it and with more aggression in doing so. Even if both wind up as defensive role players, they're going to be incredibly impactful starters for their respective franchises. You really can't go wrong with those two.

[Kobblehead]

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Dlo speaking candidly about Edwards. Mentioned that the jumper hasn't been hitting much. His jumper was extremely bad at Georgia, too, despite shooting well from the free throw line.

For someone who is not an aggressive slasher, him not having a reliable jumper is a major issue.

[HotelVitale]

Every time I watch the extremely draftable players from the Zhaire Smith draft who were taken after pick 9 I vom a little. No disrespect meant to Zhaire the person.

I don't think it can be undersold how far behind the first season disaster set Zhaire back. He was a project player who needed time to develop an offensive game, broke his foot... and then almost died. From freaking sesame. That will change your entire mental makeup. I think if the kid goes to Europe and works crazy on his game he could end up as an NBA role player in 5 years.

I always thought he was a foolish pick, really hard for me to squint and see a good NBA player. I wouldn't have minded him as a guy to take a flyer on but he was essentially a lotto pick and that was just a really bad bet. I agree that he can be back as a NBA role player in a few years but a guy your near-contending team takes with its last lotto pick should have more potential than that.

Here's my draft preview take on him from the draft, fwiw: "Zhaire Smith: don't trust the shot despite the %s, and he also has to be completely open to get it off; love his lateral quicks on D but he's more of a run-around-like-crazy guy than a solid defender (he's also not big); his athleticism is the sort of thing that's cool but that doesn't really help his game or boost his strengths, so not sure that should be a major mark in his favor; seems like he'll be an energy guy, and I don't have enough faith in his shooting to boost his realistic upside past that"

[Negrodamus]

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Dlo speaking candidly about Edwards. Mentioned that the jumper hasn't been hitting much. His jumper was extremely bad at Georgia, too, despite shooting well from the free throw line.

For someone who is not an aggressive slasher, him not having a reliable jumper is a major issue.

Surely he's good at defense, right?.... right?

[HotelVitale]

[Dlo speaking candidly about Edwards. Mentioned that the jumper hasn't be hitting much. His jumper was extremely bad at Georgia, too, despite shooting well from the free throw line. For someone who is not an aggressive slasher, him not having a reliable jumper is a major issue.

Weird commentary on Edwards. Edwards' shot wasn't 'extremely bad' in college, his form and touch are nice and he just didn't make enough shots in college. Took too many and often had bad rhythm and no sense of what shots he really liked. And the whole premise of him is that he can fairly easily become an aggressive slasher, has all the tools for that and did it pretty consistently in college. Again, he just didn't do it quite enough.

I don't like Edwards that much and would bet against him at even odds, but he absolutely has the ability to be a great NBA slasher and a nice pull-up shooter, and that's not pie in the sky potential or anything--he's already 100% shown the right moves and skillset to do that. He just needs to play like he does when he's playing well and he'll be really good--that's a really tall order and I don't like the chances on it but dude's not a mirage.

[Kobblehead]

[Dlo speaking candidly about Edwards. Mentioned that the jumper hasn't be hitting much. His jumper was extremely bad at Georgia, too, despite shooting well from the free throw line. For someone who is not an aggressive slasher, him not having a reliable jumper is a major issue.

Weird commentary on Edwards. Edwards' shot wasn't 'extremely bad' in college, his form and touch are nice and he just didn't make enough shots in college. Took too many and often had bad rhythm and no sense of what shots he really liked. And the whole premise of him is that he can fairly easily become an aggressive slasher, has all the tools for that and did it pretty consistently in college. Again, he just didn't do it quite enough.

I don't like Edwards that much and would bet against him at even odds, but he absolutely has the ability to be a great NBA slasher and a nice pull-up shooter, and that's not pie in the sky potential or anything--he's already 100% shown the right moves and skillset to do that. He just needs to play like he does when he's playing well and he'll be really good--that's a really tall order and I don't like the chances on it but dude's not a mirage.

I think you should take another look at his Hoop-Math profile, HV.

Edwards shot 29.4% from three. If you want to explain that away on poor shot selection, fine, but how do you explain his 30.2% on mid-range jumpers? You can't dress that up any other way other than to admit that he just shot awfully in college. The free throw percentage is optimistic, but any time that guy shot a jumper there was a whopping 70% chance it was going to miss. That's garbage shooting, in my eyes. Hard to rationalize that.

I have my doubts on him as a slasher, too. Just 26% of his field goals occurred at the rim and he was heavily assisted whenever he got there (nearly 40%). Those are not indicators of an aggressive (or even capable) slasher.

Ironically enough, the guy played like DLO, without any of the shooting skill of DLO.

[Arsenal]

[Dlo speaking candidly about Edwards. Mentioned that the jumper hasn't be hitting much. His jumper was extremely bad at Georgia, too, despite shooting well from the free throw line. For someone who is not an aggressive slasher, him not having a reliable jumper is a major issue.

Weird commentary on Edwards. Edwards' shot wasn't 'extremely bad' in college, his form and touch are nice and he just didn't make enough shots in college. Took too many and often had bad rhythm and no sense of what shots he really liked. And the whole premise of him is that he can fairly easily become an aggressive slasher, has all the tools for that and did it pretty consistently in college. Again, he just didn't do it quite enough.

I don't like Edwards that much and would bet against him at even odds, but he absolutely has the ability to be a great NBA slasher and a nice pull-up shooter, and that's not pie in the sky potential or anything--he's already 100% shown the right moves and skillset to do that. He just needs to play like he does when he's playing well and he'll be really good--that's a really tall order and I don't like the chances on it but dude's not a mirage.

Not that one game means much, but Edwards looked totally useless off the ball last night. Not surprising. He has a long way to go to be effective in that role. Right now he's like a Fultz who can't function off ball. Not sure how that pairing w/D'Lo is going to work long term.

[Kobblehead]

This guy shot 30% from the field on every jumpshot he took. Not only does he project to be poor off the ball, I think there's serious risk that he's a trainwreck on the ball, too, based on his perimeter pull-up playstyle.

He either has to re-invent his game and become a slasher or learn how to make jumpshots.

And while all this is going on, he's a pedestrian passer and slightly subpar defensive player.

Just a tough pick.

[HotelVitale]

[Dlo speaking candidly about Edwards. Mentioned that the jumper hasn't be hitting much. His jumper was extremely bad at Georgia, too, despite shooting well from the free throw line. For someone who is not an aggressive slasher, him not having a reliable jumper is a major issue.

Weird commentary on Edwards. Edwards' shot wasn't 'extremely bad' in college, his form and touch are nice and he just didn't make enough shots in college. Took too many and often had bad rhythm and no sense of what shots he really liked. And the whole premise of him is that he can fairly easily become an aggressive slasher, has all the tools for that and did it pretty consistently in college. Again, he just didn't do it quite enough. I don't like Edwards that much and would bet against him at even odds, but he absolutely has the ability to be a great NBA slasher and a nice pull-up shooter, and that's not pie in the sky potential or anything--he's already 100% shown the right moves and skillset to do that. He just needs to play like he does when he's playing well and he'll be really good--that's a really tall order and I don't like the chances on it but dude's not a mirage.

I think you should take another look at his Hoop-Math profile, HV. Edwards shot 29.4% from three. If you want to explain that away on poor shot selection, fine, but how do you explain his 30.2% on mid-range jumpers? You can't dress that up any other way other than to admit that he just shot awfully in college. The free throw percentage is optimistic, but any time that guy shot a jumper there was a whopping 70% chance it was going to miss. That's garbage shooting, in my eyes. Hard to rationalize that..

Look at him playing basketball again, there are a handful of full Georgia games on youtube. It's basically clear he has the size, strength, speed, and skills to be dominant at any given time, and he also made plenty of plays that were pretty perfect. That's all I'm saying--he doesn't exactly need to improve or have an above average 3-year skill development to be a very good NBA player, he just needs to be the good things he does and not whatever he is 70% of the time. (He also genuinely did take a mountain of dumb shots, he basically created everything for himself at Georgia and was just sort of running around and trying things out.)

Also, I mean I did repeatedly say 'I wouldn't bet on him' so I'm not trying to make a case for him. There are too many unknowns with him and I'm not sure he's particularly good if he just straightens out one part of his game (e.g. can he live as a power driver whose shot and IQ is still shaky?). But I feel like it's weird or in bad faith to pretend to be able to make a judgment on his NBA potential right now based on the tape we have. He's got a lot more potential than a lot of guys we've held out hope for on these boards.

Sidenote about shooting--the margins for being good or bad NBA shooters are so slim--8% is the difference between an elite and trash NBA shooter--so for guys who I don't think are clearly good or bad shooters based on form and some intangible stuff, I usually try not to speculate too too much on where they'll fall on that spectrum. In Edwards' case, I don't think he's a great bet as a shooter now but also don't want to read too much into 29% from 3, since he literally could've made one more 3 every week or two--or not taken two stupid shots per week--and been more like a 36% shooter.

[Kobblehead]

Great size, great athleticism, and he has enough handle to get all the shots he wanted in the mid-range (but not at the hoop). There's some star potential, there. But the fact that his entire game is predicated on being a pull-up perimeter jumpshooter and he shot 30% both inside and beyond the arc points to some serious doubt that he pans out.

[76ciology]

Yup. I also dont know what’s special about edwards.

I think ive asked this question twice on our board.

He looks like a star but he doesnt play like one.

[Negrodamus]

It's really amazing that OKC left that draft with Poku and Maledon. It's as if they are the only one that are capable of seeing clearly through the BS when it comes to the draft.

[Stanford]

Anthony Edwards **** stinks

Poku rules

[LloydFree]

Yup. I also dont know what’s special about edwards.

I think ive asked this question twice on our board.

He looks like a star but he doesnt play like one.

Offensively, he has everything Donovan Mitchell had, coming into the league.

[Negrodamus]

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I'm going to call Fultz "The Musket" because it takes 40 seconds for him to load up his shot.

[Kobblehead]

As an uninspiring slasher, I think Anthony Edwards has more in common with R.J. Barrett.

[Kobblehead]

Talen Tucker balling for the Lakers. Big defensive player that can create off the dribble.

[76ciology]

Watch on YouTube

Jumper looks improved but not yet there.