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Rudy Gobert is NBA followers’ favourite punching bag. Each time one thing goes mistaken on his crew, he’s the primary individual individuals blame. It could possibly be that he’s French, whiny, overrated, overpaid — or all 4 — and that’s superb. You’re not going to listen to me argue with Minnesota Timberwolves followers about how dangerous the commerce was, or his match is.
Be that as it could, I wish to level out that Anthony Edwards hasn’t precisely taken the leap we thought he may. The third-year guard and former No. 1 total decide ended final season on a trajectory on par with different nice, younger gamers.
Ja Morant went from 19 factors per recreation to 27 in his third yr. Jayson Tatum improved his scoring common by nearly eight factors from his second to 3rd seasons. Ant gave us a style late final season and into the playoffs, dropping 49 within the second to final recreation of the yr, 30 within the play-in, and 25 ppg over through the first spherical.
Properly, marginal upticks in factors (21.3 to 22.6), rebounds (4.8 to five.9), and turnovers (2.6 to three.2) aren’t what individuals envisioned out of Edwards this season. He’s taking fewer threes and in addition hitting fewer of them, isn’t passing the ball higher, and despite the fact that he’s capturing extra freebies, his proportion from the road has dipped.
Minnesota’s begin to this season has sucked the enjoyment out of the sport, and it’s been evident on and off the courtroom. The Wolves are a recreation beneath .500, with an above-average offense and a below-average protection. The crew boasted a high 13 protection by score a season in the past, and that’s dropped to nineteenth this yr. On the opposite aspect of the ball, the score has sunk from eighth to seventeenth. And 2021’s numbers got here in a yr after they fired their head coach midseason.
Not often capable of benefit from mismatches, Karl-Anthony Cities is a shell of the participant we noticed a yr in the past. He hasn’t found out the right way to play alongside Gobert, as the 2 have a unfavourable 1.5 level differential in 400-plus minutes collectively, and now KAT is sidelined for 4 to 6 weeks with a calf pressure.
The state of the Western Convention is such that Minnesota can in all probability survive with a middling efficiency sans Cities. That’s not what anybody needs although, and Minnesota is able to extra solely as a result of Edwards isn’t maximizing his potential.
This isn’t D’Angelo Russell’s time to take over, and we all know Gobert isn’t able to getting his personal offense. The man with the perfect instruments to go nuts for a month stretch is Edwards. It might be straightforward for him to get the identical stats in KAT’s absence as a result of all the pieces comes straightforward when you’ve gotten the sort of expertise Edwards has displayed.
He’s sleepwalking to 23, 6, and 4, however we all know the ceiling is infinitely greater.
The most important knock on Ant popping out of Georgia, and one which Jay Bilas continually harped on, was his maturity. Whereas I’d by no means get mad at somebody for consuming an excessive amount of Popeyes, I’ve by no means been on an NBA roster. Luka Dončić sucked down candy tea prefer it was lifeblood and nonetheless put up 28, 9, and eight.
That mentioned, it’s not the one story to make me query Edwards’ headspace. He needed to apologize earlier this yr for posting a video that includes homophobic language, which primarily tells me he wants to coach himself, but additionally that he hasn’t grasped how necessary he’s to the Timberwolves group.
It appears as if the 21-year-old guard noticed all of the backlash to the Gobert commerce and let it have an effect on him, which is comprehensible. Properly, there are not any excuses anymore. The issues when KAT and Gobert share the ground are gone, and lanes and alternatives will probably be there for him if he seems like exploiting them.
When Tyler Herro mentioned he considers Dončić, Morant, and Trae Younger his friends, we bought snicker. If Edwards talked like that, NBA followers would nod in settlement as a result of he possesses all of the bodily traits essential to be on the extent of these younger stars, and we’ve seen him go toe to toe with one. The Memphis-Minnesota collection might’ve gone both method in April, and it left NBA supporters in settlement that Ant-Man was one of many recreation’s subsequent superstars.
Properly, my man, it’s time to place down the additional crispy, get off Instagram, and go to work.
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