Bill Simmons had David Jacoby and Kevin Wilds on his Monday podcast to talk about Team USA, James Harden, and the AFC East. About five minutes into the podcast, Simmons asks Wilds what his favorite thing about FIBA is.
“Anthony Edwards,” Wilds answered without hesitation.
It felt like Anthony Edwards had … he already is a superstar, but it felt like he was the dominant player. And I haven’t watched every game, but it felt like he was the dominant player there. That he’s bringing the ball up the court, that he’s taking even desperation threes with the shot clock running down, this is my ball.
He’s making good passes. I think Anthony Edwards, I put it on Twitter, ‘What’s his ceiling next year?’ Is he top (pauses to think), could he be the eighth-best player in the league?
“I thought you were gonna ask, ‘What is Minnesota’s ceiling?’” Simmons responded. “I thought you were gonna have that conversation. Because if you remember, they threw some haymakers at Denver. They probably gave Denver the best series of all (of the teams they faced).”
“It was one game,” Wilds countered.
“Eh, those games were all pretty good,” Simmons offered back. “Like, they did a decent job on Jokic. I don’t know, I’m kinda getting excited about Minnesota.”
“They won one game in overtime,” Jacoby responded skeptically.
“They won one game,” echoed Wilds.
“C’mon,” goaded Simmons.
“But I think Anthony Edwards could be the eighth-best player, I guess,” offered Wilds. “But he looks great.”
“Yeah, could he be top-10?” Simmons asked rhetorically.
Well, it’s interesting, so they put together this team, and they’re trying to do like a blueprint of guys that have worked in the old teams.
So they go and tell [Brandon] Ingram, like, ‘You’re our Carmelo [Anthony]. You’re not gonna have the ball. Play off the ball. You’re just gonna be a heat-check, three-point scorer.’
[Jalen] Brunson, ‘You’re gonna be our captain. You’re gonna be our Chris Paul guy.’And then Edwards, I don’t know if they said this to him, but they’re basically like, ‘You’re gonna be the Jordan, Kobe, Wade of this team.’ Like, this is your spot. You’re here.
Jacobes, did you feel like he was ready for this? Because he certainly seems like he thinks he was ready.
“Yeah, I feel like he was ready for this,” confirmed Jacoby. “He loves the opportunity, and I feel like we’ll get to the Timberwolves conversation in a second, but it’s kinda like watching him do this, the Timberwolves are doing a little bit of a disservice to Anthony Edwards by the way they run their offense and structure their team.”
That’s the million-dollar question with the Wolves. Did they mess up the Ant situation by trading for Rudy Gobert and putting two bigs on the floor? Simmons, Jacoby, and Wilds divert for a bit, talking about Jaren Jackson Jr. and some of the other players on Team USA.
However, Simmons brings it back to Edwards after a commercial break, about 22 minutes into the podcast.
“But the big story of this team,” offered Simmons, “for people catching up, is this feels like a moment for Edwards.”
Jacoby and Wilds agreed.
Then Simmons compared Edwards’ breakout to Kevin Durant’s in 2010.
Like something’s happening. It reminded me of in 2010, when Durant, I forgot where they had the Team USA, and they didn’t … nobody wanted to play, and it kinda ended up being KD’s team, even though it was young KD.
He had been in the league, I think, three years, and it kinda, all of a sudden it kinda became KD’s team. And KD had this moment in 2010, and we all kinda looked at each other. I even wrote about it back when my fingers worked, and we were like, ‘Oh, okay, this is gonna happen now.’
And then it happened. And then within two years, he was in the Finals. It’s not unrealistic to think that might be the case for Edwards down the road here.
Wilds suggested that Edwards may be able to recruit players to Minnesota.
Can I also bring up? Like this game was too interesting to really just have a thought exercise during it, but the thing I like most about USA basketball, when you look back, is LeBron, Wade, and Bosh, like, ‘Yeah, we really started hanging out during the Olympics, and we started kicking it around.’ Like, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we played together.’
And I think it was KD and Draymond, I think there’s stories of them cementing their relationship during the Olympics. So if you look around, ‘Huh. Who really sorta is really vibing with someone else? Who’s a free agent? Who do you really think wants to team up out of this team?’ Like, ‘You know what, why don’t you come to Minnesota?’
What if Edwards recruits Tyrese Haliburton and Mikal Bridges join the Wolves? Fans here can dream, right?
Simmons then doubled down on his take that the Wolves gave Denver a run in the playoffs last year.
Alright, with the Edwards/Minnesota thing, if you looked at Denver last year, Denver’s odds were way too out of whack, considering that they had Jamal Murray coming back. They had a two-time MVP, and they weren’t even being mentioned.
Minnesota is not really being mentioned in the West. And maybe they shouldn’t be. And maybe the Gobert/Towns thing is gonna be too weird. But that said, we don’t really have a Dame Lillard trade. And I’m wondering, like … see, I broke my rule. I didn’t want to mention Dame Lillard, but now I’m mentioning him.
But you wonder if Dame Lillard’s watching this going, ‘You know what? Me for Towns? You just switch us. We have Gobert, we have Edwards. It’s kinda nice. Me and Ant together, I get to be aligned with this guy who’s clearly gonna be one of the best five or six guys in the league. Maybe that’s a better situation for me than anywhere else, and I want to win a title, and this doesn’t seem unrealistic to me. F— it.’
Minnesota. I’m adding them to the list.
Jacoby is just staring at me like a chicken.
“No, that’s not gonna happen,” Jacoby said flatly.
“Okay,” Simmons responded.
“It’s not,” Jacoby said with emphasis. “He wants to go to the Heat.”
Most national pundits are going to agree with Jacoby. Lillard is steadfast that he wants to go to the Heat, and Minnesota is typically not a destination market. Still, Edwards is a special player, and other players will be drawn to him. Assuming he likes the organization, his teammates, and Chris Finch, he’ll be advocating for other players to join him.
It’s also not the first time that Simmons has suggested Minnesota as a Lillard destination. The Wolves would have to give up Karl-Anthony Towns, who is in his prime and wants to stay here. But an Edwards-Lillard backcourt would be formidable. Even if that doesn’t happen, it matters that Simmons led off his return podcast by talking about Edwards and the Wolves, and that he’s starting to believe in this team.
