I’ve got a confession to make. Much like the Minnesota Timberwolves, I haven’t been giving 100% effort. I’ve been trying to pawn off my work on other people.
People have been asking me whether I know what the problem is. All I can say is I know. And I know I can change it. So I just got to buy into the things that I know.
So from here on out, I’m going to give it my all. I’m going to leave it all on the page. Blood, sweat, tears, farts, whatever, it’s all going on the page. I want to thank Twitter users Ryan Hines, Rolexvy, and Sabrina Lurene for their support through this time. Oh, and how could I forget my guy Deej:
And with that, let’s dive into this week’s piece about Anthony Edwards.
We’ve seen increased versatility in Edwards’ game over the last 17 contests. Edwards’ ability to slide up and down the positional spectrum can open up so many options for Chris Finch’s rotation, something he’s been trying to figure out all season. After the Wolves lost to the Detroit Pistons on New Year’s Eve, a reporter asked Finch how he could improve the team’s effort. “Maybe I need to think differently about who plays when and how,” he responded. “Maybe I’ve just got to shuffle it up totally different.”
Though his most natural position is as the shooting guard, Edwards has spent most of his career playing up to small forward. Edwards has always been big enough to moonlight at power forward, but recently he’s shown the defensive chops that make him less of a novelty at that position. In his rookie season, Edwards played 10% of his minutes at the 4, but that Timberwolves team was bereft of a starting-caliber power forward. Jarred Vanderbilt was still in the early stages of his development, Jaden McDaniels was 200 lbs. soaking wet, and Juancho Hernangomez couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn in the Spanish countryside that season.
Things got so desperate that then-coach Ryan Saunders tried to gaslight us into thinking that Josh Okogie was a legitimate option at power forward. Y’all remember when Saunders coined the term “effective height?” I do.
Well, things are better in Wolves Land these days. The dearth of frontcourt players that once plagued the team has transformed into an abundance. The excess size has proven a worthy investment as injuries have chipped away at the roster, forcing Finch to dig deep into the depth chart to find competent minutes. During this long, drawn-out battle against injuries, Edwards has stepped up, and his development is huge for the limited Wolves.
Since Karl-Anthony Towns went down with a calf strain, Edwards has seen his rebounding rate rise. Over this 17-game stretch, Edwards is corralling 6.8 boards per game. He ranks third on the team in rebounds per game behind only Rudy Gobert and Towns. Beyond the numbers, he’s gotten to flash an ability to guard two of the best power forwards in the league Zion Williamson and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
He did a surprisingly decent job putting pressure on them with his on-ball defense. I’m not ready to say that Ant is a full-time power forward defender, but it was great to see him hold his own. It was also eyebrow-raising to see him pull off a couple of big blocks, like this nice recovery block on Giannis:
And this nice little help side block on Williamson:
Edwards’ spot minutes at power forward have been fun to watch. However, if he’s going to reach his peak as a player, it will be with the ball in his hands. The good news is that Edwards’ lead guard skills are developing as well. In Monday’s game, he started as the nominal point guard for the Wolves. D’Angelo Russell and Jordan McLaughlin were both unavailable for the game, the ball landed in Ant’s hands to run the point.
Finch opted to insert Jaylen Nowell and Kyle Anderson in the starting group as well. Anderson and Nowell are pointguardish in their own right. But, in reality, the Denver Nuggets saw the Wolves play point guard by committee. Still, Ant’s ability to initiate offense for himself and his teammates is starting to become a legitimate NBA skill.
Over the last 17 games, he’s been dishing out 5.2 assists to only 3.3 turnovers. A couple of years ago, I came up with my CPER stat (Chelanga’s Passing Efficiency Rating). It’s basically a measure of how much and how well a player passes the ball. The highest end of the spectrum is Russell Westbrook’s MVP season during which he had a CPER of 10.82. Here’s a basic breakdown of the number ranges.
6-8+ – All-NBA level creation
4-6 – All-Star level creation
2-4 – Starter level creation
Anthony Edwards’s CPER since Towns went down with injury is 3.79. It’s not a crazy high number, but it’s been a nice stretch for him. Thought the Wolves have faltered lately, Edwards has continued to take full advantage of his time as the focal point of the team. His versatility and ability to slide up and down the positional spectrum will be important through this injury patch and throughout his career. If he grows into the type of player that can legitimately suit up and play 1-4, then the team building possibilities around him into the future are wide open.
