Wait, what? Did I hear you right? Did Anthony Edwards just make a jump to be a top 25 player at 20?

[Swish1906]

What a wall of text but then OP doesnt list 24 names, so we can all simply discuss who Edwards is beating out for top25... tzztzz

[Quentin]

I'd like to add that his defense is really coming along. Like what I'm seeing out of him there.

[MelTurpin]

refreshing post after the endless number of 1 or 2 sentence garbage posts with hot-take titles.

[_AIJ_]

Awesome post! But i hate thread like these because we all know everyone here do not respect the timberwolves

[Swish1906]

Awesome post! But i hate thread like these because we all know everyone here do not respect the timberwolves

Respect is a two way street

[TheZachAttack]

Bump

I just want to call out that the trends I spotted in Ant’s game 3 weeks ago (that suggest he’d taken a big leap forward) have continued for another 10-15 games since then.

[Godymas]

too much writing about one basketball player to bother reading...learn how to get valid points across in less words because that's meaningful communication

[TheZachAttack]

too much writing about one basketball player to bother reading...learn how to get valid points across in less words because that's meaningful communication

Meh - this post isn’t meant for you then and I didn’t write it for you. Imagine complaining about free content.

[cupcakesnake]

Yep the sample size now is getting pretty encouraging. He's been very efficient for 2 months now after starting the season pretty chaotically.

I think the exciting thing about Ant is: he still looks raw and wild. He still doesn't have good shot selection. But even with those things holding him back, he's been incredibly effective. The talent is just elite. To be this good and still have so much room to grow is extremely encouraging.

[GreatWhiteStiff]

LMAO. He has 17 PER. SEVENTEEN. Seventeen. Seventeen? Did I say that correctly? 17 PER. Yes.

I will read your realgm thesi (plural of thesis, I suppose) when he hits 20 PER. Calm down.

[TheZachAttack]

Yep the sample size now is getting pretty encouraging. He's been very efficient for 2 months now after starting the season pretty chaotically.

I think the exciting thing about Ant is: he still looks raw and wild. He still doesn't have good shot selection. But even with those things holding him back, he's been incredibly effective. The talent is just elite. To be this good and still have so much room to grow is extremely encouraging.

I agree with your overall statement. However, I disagree with your statement on shot selection.

Ant’s shot profile is arguably the best in terms of efficiency among any volume scorer in the NBA. He’s top 5 among wings/guards in shots at the rim, transition points, points off turnovers, and 3 point attempts while shooting the lowest amount of midrange shots among any #1/#2 options that I compared with.

Really, he just needs more usage so he can drive more often and draw more contact (but needs to become a better ball handler so that he can be used more while also keeping teammates involved). It’s really a myth that he doesn’t have a good shot selection. Especially when you realize that he has the ~3rd best 3 point shooting percentage among the highest 20 3 point volume shooters.

There actually isn’t really any other wings/guards in the league who have a shot selection/profile that’s as efficiency as his. It’s part of the reason for his jump this season and his efficiency.

You can’t be among the league leaders in attempts s the rim, 3 pointers, and transition baskets while shooting almost no mid range shots and have an inefficient shot selection.

Can you help me understand why you think his shot selection is inefficient?

[Ballerhogger]

Hes improved in every category since his first year https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/e/edwaran01.html

[Ballerhogger]

LMAO. He has 17 PER. SEVENTEEN. Seventeen. Seventeen? Did I say that correctly? 17 PER. Yes.

I will read your realgm thesi (plural of thesis, I suppose) when he hits 20 PER. Calm down.

it has improved by 2.0 hes going be all star next year.

[macNcheese3]

I really liked what he brought against Portland. He played well on both sides of the floor, high energy and he looked really really good out there with high energy. I was actually happy for Minny seeing him play so well. Hopefully he can maintain that, and things might just turn around for the Wolves. If they can add some proper depth, I can see them finally being a consistent playoff team.

[TheHartBreakKid]

He's definitely on the path to stardom, but 22.7 points on close to average TS % isn't enough these days to make a player automatically top 25.

For a player whose most impressive trait right now is scoring:


Edwards is currently the 19th highest scorer in the league from qualified players. All 18 players above him have a higher PER. All, except 4, have a higher TS% (4 being SGA, Beal, Tatum, and Booker).

Then you have players who haven't qualified but are obviously better than him; AD, Luka, PG, Lillard.(we could ignore Kyrie, Simmons, and Kawhi, Zion for this season).

Followed by the players who may not score more than him but are clearly better players: Siakam, Gobert, Middleton, Butler, Bam, Sabonis, CP3)

Then, there are countless other guys like who I would take over him right now though I suppose it's closer with these guys:

Fox, Draymond, Ingram, Lonzo, Porzingis, Vucevic, Holiday, Randle, Brogdon, FVV, Mccollum, Lamelo, Mobley, Garland, Lowry and I'm sure more that I'm missing.


So yeah, he's closer to 40-50 than he is 25. But still damn good for a second year player at 20 years old.

[SoulJah]

He is better than Bum Simmons that's for sure.

Didn't you sixers fans say that Ben Simmons was next coming of Magic Johnson not even a year ago? When other people called him last couple of years, you guys were there to slander and go on a full blast mode. That was homerism at its best. Glad you guys came around to see him for what he is.

[Godymas]

too much writing about one basketball player to bother reading...learn how to get valid points across in less words because that's meaningful communication

Meh - this post isn’t meant for you then and I didn’t write it for you. Imagine complaining about free content.

your content is just one of billions amongst all the free content in the world

free content doesn't make for good content, good content is engaging, the fact that you have to bump your own efforts says enough about the quality of your content

[thinktank]

He's definitely on the path to stardom, but 22.7 points on close to average TS % isn't enough these days to make a player automatically top 25.

For a player whose most impressive trait right now is scoring:


Edwards is currently the 19th highest scorer in the league from qualified players. All 18 players above him have a higher PER. All, except 4, have a higher TS% (4 being SGA, Beal, Tatum, and Booker).

Then you have players who haven't qualified but are obviously better than him; AD, Luka, PG, Lillard.(we could ignore Kyrie, Simmons, and Kawhi, Zion for this season).

Followed by the players who may not score more than him but are clearly better players: Siakam, Gobert, Middleton, Butler, Bam, Sabonis, CP3)

Then, there are countless other guys like who I would take over him right now though I suppose it's closer with these guys:

Fox, Draymond, Ingram, Lonzo, Porzingis, Vucevic, Holiday, Randle, Brogdon, FVV, Mccollum, Lamelo, Mobley, Garland, Lowry and I'm sure more that I'm missing.


So yeah, he's closer to 40-50 than he is 25. But still damn good for a second year player at 20 years old.

Interesting. You say he’s got the 19th highest scoring average and point out that the players ahead of him are better. Wow!

The other guys you listed in the “players who aren’t qualified but OBVIOUSLY better” and “players who may not score better than him but are CLEARLY better players” are backed with zero data and only your opinion.

Then “COUNTLESS other guys like who I would take over him right now” is also backed with no data and only opinions. You better google the definition of “countless”.

Long story short, I detect some anti-Edwards bias.

[TheZachAttack]

too much writing about one basketball player to bother reading...learn how to get valid points across in less words because that's meaningful communication

Meh - this post isn’t meant for you then and I didn’t write it for you. Imagine complaining about free content.

your content is just one of billions amongst all the free content in the world

free content doesn't make for good content, good content is engaging, the fact that you have to bump your own efforts says enough about the quality of your content

This post is sharing a process I used to figure out how to think about Edwards improvement this year and a jump he has seemingly made as a player. It does two things, 1) dig into Edwards underlying profile 2) define thresholds for what type of underlying profile is shared by wings who are #1a or #1b scorer and considered in the top 25 range.

It's also planting a flag on an observation and a prediction for the future. I don't care about responses, but shared it instead of letting it go into the oblivian. The cheeky bump is just after his 40 point game and an additional 3 weeks of production suggesting a sample size that's bordering on something much more actionable in response to a lot of posts laughing saying you can't make predictions based off of the sample size I was using.

If you don't like the content--go somewhere else. I didn't write this trying to make the perfect piece of content. It's a resource that may allow you to learn a thing or two if you're interested--or if not then don't. It's also a data point that allows me to plant a flag on an observation that I can come back to.

[alabamawolf]

too much writing about one basketball player to bother reading...learn how to get valid points across in less words because that's meaningful communication

Meh - this post isn’t meant for you then and I didn’t write it for you. Imagine complaining about free content.

your content is just one of billions amongst all the free content in the world

free content doesn't make for good content, good content is engaging, the fact that you have to bump your own efforts says enough about the quality of your content

If you don’t like the content then ignore it and don’t engage. It’s a simple concept