Timberwolves

Top NBA Analyst Says Ant Is On the Cusp Of Being Elite

Photo Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn (USA TODAY Sports)

Ryen Russillo started his most recent podcast with a list of players who he feels are “next” in the NBA. Fair warning, it’s an opening monologue, and he’s kind of all over the place. He also uses a unique criteria, which I’ll lay out here.

For starters, here are his top 7 players “in no particular order”:

  1. Giannis Antetokounmpo
  2. Kevin Durant
  3. Luka Doncic
  4. Nikola Jokic
  5. Joel Embiid
  6. Stephen Curry
  7. LeBron James

“I still feel it’s worth putting LeBron seventh,” he qualifies. “That may be a reach at this point, we’ll see what this season looks like as he turns 38.”

He’s breaking players into tiers, not unlike Mike Sando’s quarterback tiers, for those who follow football. The seven players above are his Tier 1 players in the NBA. They’re elite.

“That feels like the right group,” Russillo summarized. “If we were doing tiers, and that’s why I don’t always love top-5 because what if I feel that five, six, and seven are all kind of the same, I don’t want to have to decide that one isn’t worthy of being in that group.”

Giannis, Luka, Jokic, and Embiid are all locks in Russillo’s mind, “but KD is 34, another injury season (and he drops out). LeBron, we’re getting near the end. Steph I think is always gonna be really valuable, just because I think the shooting is going to hold up. I just kinda wonder if two, three years from now (he’ll drop off).”

So what makes a Tier 1 player in Russillo’s mind?

“So kinda the exercise is,” he explains, “of the players who we’re talking about now, how many names can we come up with in a list that could be potential replacements, two to three years from now, as like that new group of Tier 1s? That top seven or eight players.”

Russillo took Kawhi Leonard out of the group. “Just too many injuries at this point,” he said. James Harden was top-5 statistically, but not a top-5 guy necessarily. “He was worth talking about,” said Russillo. “Now he’s bumped out of that.”

ESPN.com put Durant (8) behind Jayson Tatum, who they ranked seventh. “Maybe. I don’t know if I feel that,” said Russillo. Ja Morant (9) and Devin Booker (10) were also in the mix. ESPN had Anthony Edwards as No. 25, but Russillo is far more bullish on Minnesota’s third-year star.

“I actually think Anthony Edwards has a chance to be one of these guys,” says Russillo, “and that is pretty rare of me to go, ‘Yup, two years in, I think he can be this special,’ which also means you better start winning like 55 games, you need to be the No. 1 [option].

“It’s not always gonna be 55 games, but you get the point.”

Russillo uses Doncic as an example of a player who’s not always on winning teams but who unquestionably drives winning.

Like what Luka did, even if I don’t think of the Mavs as a perennial Western Conference Finals team, which had more to do with, well, it’s a combination of things. It’s the Mavs roster, and it’s also how tough the West is gonna be. But that can change, we’ll see what happens here as we move forward.

But that Luka had a run in his third year, after putting up absurd numbers in the first place in those couple series against the Clippers to get things starter. So he’s had his kind of coming out playoff run, beating a Phoenix team that was incredible in the regular season.

I don’t think they really had much of a chance against Golden State, but Luka has had that breakout moment, at least, where it’s like, ‘Okay, this guy actually could carry a team this far by himself. Because when you think about his No. 2s and the other guys’ No. 2s, but a lot of that has to do also with the style of play the Mavs have to have with a guy like Luka.

In sum, Edwards isn’t there yet, but he can become one of the best players in the league. He just needs to become Minnesota’s definitive No. 1, and the Wolves need to win 50-plus games this year.

“So, Edwards, I would put on the potential list,” Russillo said without elaborating.

Okay, so not a ton of explanation there. But still, Russillo’s putting him in the same sentence as many of the best players in the league. The Wolves are in good shape if Edwards eventually replaces Steph, LeBron, or KD on Russillo’s list.

For context, Russillo believes that Morant and Zion Williamson will be the other guys who join that list. Zion has to be healthy, of course.

How about Karl-Anthony Towns?

“When I look at Towns, to me, it’s an emphatic no,” says Russillo. “The numbers are awesome. The shooting for a guy that big, historic kind of stuff. He’s won three playoff games in his entire career, and he’s about to be 27 in November.

And I do think the Timberwolves are about to be good. But Towns as the seventh-best player? Never gonna see that. Although, to be fair, when I bring up that he’s only won three games in his playoff career, Booker had won zero before Chris Paul showed up. But Booker feels like a better bet to be on this list, potentially, because he’s already kinda right there.

So I’m gonna go ahead and put him down, but I’m not gonna put Towns down.

Okay, so no on Towns. Yes, on Edwards, though. And if Edwards is a top-7 player and Towns is on the outside looking in as his No. 2, the Wolves are in good shape. And don’t lose sight of the fact that Russillo thinks the Timberwolves are gonna be good. The guy watches a lot of basketball.

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