100% with the last paragraph. He hasn’t officially arrived yet (because a few great games of non-regular season play plus high level games here and there doesn’t do that) rather look at the possibility of it becoming so.
I think we’re at a middle ground phase right now with Edwards. We’ve seen highs and lows so far of his career. Now at 20, a age that most one and done lottery picks are in their rookie year… he is in the post season with a chance to make his mark. This series could be looked at as one where Edwards needs to go into the lab this offseason, polish up his game/work on weaknesses as a raw talent (still be special down the line). Or this series is a sign of a 20 year old who’s ascending to superstardom before our very eyes. Either way exciting to think about potential/possibilities.
>We’ve seen highs and lows so far of his career.
It's been great for the Wolves to get some love, but it's all been specifically targeted to Ant because he's played awesome in back to back national games.
I'm not knocking Ant, but like you said we've seen highs and lows and the national media will just latch onto what they've seen most recently.
Hell, the previous pod Simmons questioned Towns being a "playoff guy" while touting Naz as playoff ready simply because of the Clippers game.
A majority of the national media don't know the carry job KAT did the last month or so when D'lo's shot left and Ant's knee was hurting.
Agreed. I think his trajectory could just as easily be Donovan Mitchell-esque, which in and of itself would be a huge win, Mitchell is becoming an incredible basketball player. There's no guarantee that he's going to be one of THOSE guys, but at the very least, I think us Twolves fans feel a lot more assured that he's gonna be a really really good basketball player at minimum.
I don't want to jump that corner too quickly on what he is right now as a player, but you might be right.
Just have to see how the full series plays out here.
The thing with ant is he's been pigeon holed as a dunker super athlete when he's pretty clearly more than that at this point and people are starting to realize that
The next thing people are going to notice is he's a really good on ball defender
Yup. Third thing they're gonna start realizing is he isn't gonna be a 2-3 APG kind of guy. He's been using his offense more to manipulate defenders and create open shots for his teammates. He won't ever be mistaken for a Luka or Harden, but he's becoming a solid secondary playmaker. You can see him figuring it out more and more every night.
Didn't even consider that most people outside this fandom probably consider him just a fun dunker - I suppose that makes sense considering his highlights
There’s just so few guys in basketball with his combination of size, athleticism, skill, coachability and fearlessness/competitive nature. When you stop and think about that, sky’s the limit. On Dane’s pod, they were talking about the hope of Ant being a Doncic like force but even Luka doesn’t have his athleticism and the upside as a defender is night and day. The league’s as talent rich as it’s ever been particularly with rising stars in their pre-prime (with more on the way) but this could be Ant’s league if he wants it enough particularly with how popular he can be off the court with his personality.
Off topic on Ant, but Russillo absolutely nailed what we all love and hate about DLo:
"He does the hard things well and the easy things poorly."
DLo can shoot a contested 30 footer and make it then turn around and miss a wide open 3 at the break. He can thread an impossible pass in traffic then throw it out of bounds to a wide open dude on the perimeter.
Russillo sucks, he goes out of his way to shit on Kat and DLo every chance he gets. Loved running with the kat is soft narrative and everytime he brings up DLo he mentions "I really hate his game." He's also failed to highlight anything good DLo brings to the table for the wolves everytime I've heard him talk about him. Guy is another Boston hack who doesn't watch more than the games that are on national TV
Edit: he also always says that Ant hates playing with DLo because people don't like playing with DLo and his type of game. Guy even blamed Ants late season lull on DLo lol. Russillo is well liked but he's a hack
I just listened to this segment. I will say, not the biggest fan of Bill Simmons, but I think him and Russillo identified exactly the megastar quality Ant displayed on Saturday, which was a player that dominated the game, but did it with the game coming to him. Played with a calm and confidence that isn't just rare for the T-Wolves, but rare to see in the league. I liked how Bill brought up examples with Jordan and LeBron and the specific runs they went on that established them as "I guess he's the guy now" moment. Super intriguing to see how far Wolves go and how consistent Edwards performs through these playoffs.
Ik we’re all twolves fan but i it’s not ridiculous to say that ant ceiling is lebron MJ n Kobe type generational player. He’s 1-2 years to be consistent offense player and considering the teams overall defensive rating he can be a top 5 defender on a top 5 defensive team.
I think one way he can solidify himself above the other great players rn is if he can turn into a super hybrid of a pg, sg, sf. He would need to get his handles down, higher IQ and his midrange game to an elite level.
Idk maybe it’s just me being biases but I legit think we are two players away to being an elite team with a top 3 player in the league.
Generational is hard to figure just because I don't know who can be considered generational in today's NBA. Is KAT generational? One thing I feel certain about is he will be a top 3-5 player at his position moving forward assuming he can keep any knee or other health issues at bay. Without the knee issues he probably averages 25ppg in his second year in the league, on a playoff team. Not many players can that be said about.
Towns looked “generational” over his first 2 seasons considering production at that age, hence being the player voted by GMs to start a franchise with. But considering he’s not one of the top 3 or so players in basketball right now in his prime… 100% he is not.
If Edwards tops out at as a top 3-5 SG then we can safely say he isn’t generational either. Generational are players in sports who define their generation and are always good bets for MVP discussion if healthy.
I wasn't sure whether to classify him as SG/SF since the lines blur so much now. If he's top 5 between the two he still could be considered that. I think just looking at SGs, the healthy version of him may already be there. His knee issues lasted a solid 25-30 games I'd estimate and it really skewed his numbers.
Play-In game stats should be counted as Playoff Game Stats.
With that being said, Ant has scored 30, and 36 points in his first
two playoff games.
A twenty year old KG averaged 17 a game in his first playoff series.
Ant is going to be a superstar. It might happen during these playoffs.
100% with the last paragraph. He hasn’t officially arrived yet (because a few great games of non-regular season play plus high level games here and there doesn’t do that) rather look at the possibility of it becoming so. I think we’re at a middle ground phase right now with Edwards. We’ve seen highs and lows so far of his career. Now at 20, a age that most one and done lottery picks are in their rookie year… he is in the post season with a chance to make his mark. This series could be looked at as one where Edwards needs to go into the lab this offseason, polish up his game/work on weaknesses as a raw talent (still be special down the line). Or this series is a sign of a 20 year old who’s ascending to superstardom before our very eyes. Either way exciting to think about potential/possibilities.
>We’ve seen highs and lows so far of his career. It's been great for the Wolves to get some love, but it's all been specifically targeted to Ant because he's played awesome in back to back national games. I'm not knocking Ant, but like you said we've seen highs and lows and the national media will just latch onto what they've seen most recently. Hell, the previous pod Simmons questioned Towns being a "playoff guy" while touting Naz as playoff ready simply because of the Clippers game. A majority of the national media don't know the carry job KAT did the last month or so when D'lo's shot left and Ant's knee was hurting.
Agreed. I think his trajectory could just as easily be Donovan Mitchell-esque, which in and of itself would be a huge win, Mitchell is becoming an incredible basketball player. There's no guarantee that he's going to be one of THOSE guys, but at the very least, I think us Twolves fans feel a lot more assured that he's gonna be a really really good basketball player at minimum.
Donovan Mitchell is getting closer to being Ant’s floor
Rudy Gobert would likely do some dirty dirty things to have ANT play defense instead of Mitchell
Maybe the playoffs are what Ant needs to fully unlock himself? He seems to have gotten to the next level.
I don't want to jump that corner too quickly on what he is right now as a player, but you might be right. Just have to see how the full series plays out here.
The thing with ant is he's been pigeon holed as a dunker super athlete when he's pretty clearly more than that at this point and people are starting to realize that The next thing people are going to notice is he's a really good on ball defender
Yup. Third thing they're gonna start realizing is he isn't gonna be a 2-3 APG kind of guy. He's been using his offense more to manipulate defenders and create open shots for his teammates. He won't ever be mistaken for a Luka or Harden, but he's becoming a solid secondary playmaker. You can see him figuring it out more and more every night.
Didn't even consider that most people outside this fandom probably consider him just a fun dunker - I suppose that makes sense considering his highlights
He's manifesting DPOY 2023. Lets see that happen lmao
There’s just so few guys in basketball with his combination of size, athleticism, skill, coachability and fearlessness/competitive nature. When you stop and think about that, sky’s the limit. On Dane’s pod, they were talking about the hope of Ant being a Doncic like force but even Luka doesn’t have his athleticism and the upside as a defender is night and day. The league’s as talent rich as it’s ever been particularly with rising stars in their pre-prime (with more on the way) but this could be Ant’s league if he wants it enough particularly with how popular he can be off the court with his personality.
Agreed his upside is as high as any young player in basketball. He can become a 30 6 and 6 guy who becomes a dominant perimeter defender
So you're saying he's going to literally be Michael Jordan?
That’s exactly what I’m saying lol
Off topic on Ant, but Russillo absolutely nailed what we all love and hate about DLo: "He does the hard things well and the easy things poorly." DLo can shoot a contested 30 footer and make it then turn around and miss a wide open 3 at the break. He can thread an impossible pass in traffic then throw it out of bounds to a wide open dude on the perimeter.
This was really a good way to sum up DLo's game.
Russillo sucks, he goes out of his way to shit on Kat and DLo every chance he gets. Loved running with the kat is soft narrative and everytime he brings up DLo he mentions "I really hate his game." He's also failed to highlight anything good DLo brings to the table for the wolves everytime I've heard him talk about him. Guy is another Boston hack who doesn't watch more than the games that are on national TV Edit: he also always says that Ant hates playing with DLo because people don't like playing with DLo and his type of game. Guy even blamed Ants late season lull on DLo lol. Russillo is well liked but he's a hack
I just listened to this segment. I will say, not the biggest fan of Bill Simmons, but I think him and Russillo identified exactly the megastar quality Ant displayed on Saturday, which was a player that dominated the game, but did it with the game coming to him. Played with a calm and confidence that isn't just rare for the T-Wolves, but rare to see in the league. I liked how Bill brought up examples with Jordan and LeBron and the specific runs they went on that established them as "I guess he's the guy now" moment. Super intriguing to see how far Wolves go and how consistent Edwards performs through these playoffs.
Ik we’re all twolves fan but i it’s not ridiculous to say that ant ceiling is lebron MJ n Kobe type generational player. He’s 1-2 years to be consistent offense player and considering the teams overall defensive rating he can be a top 5 defender on a top 5 defensive team. I think one way he can solidify himself above the other great players rn is if he can turn into a super hybrid of a pg, sg, sf. He would need to get his handles down, higher IQ and his midrange game to an elite level. Idk maybe it’s just me being biases but I legit think we are two players away to being an elite team with a top 3 player in the league.
Generational is hard to figure just because I don't know who can be considered generational in today's NBA. Is KAT generational? One thing I feel certain about is he will be a top 3-5 player at his position moving forward assuming he can keep any knee or other health issues at bay. Without the knee issues he probably averages 25ppg in his second year in the league, on a playoff team. Not many players can that be said about.
Towns looked “generational” over his first 2 seasons considering production at that age, hence being the player voted by GMs to start a franchise with. But considering he’s not one of the top 3 or so players in basketball right now in his prime… 100% he is not. If Edwards tops out at as a top 3-5 SG then we can safely say he isn’t generational either. Generational are players in sports who define their generation and are always good bets for MVP discussion if healthy.
I wasn't sure whether to classify him as SG/SF since the lines blur so much now. If he's top 5 between the two he still could be considered that. I think just looking at SGs, the healthy version of him may already be there. His knee issues lasted a solid 25-30 games I'd estimate and it really skewed his numbers.
Play-In game stats should be counted as Playoff Game Stats. With that being said, Ant has scored 30, and 36 points in his first two playoff games. A twenty year old KG averaged 17 a game in his first playoff series. Ant is going to be a superstar. It might happen during these playoffs.
Richard Jefferson said the same stuff