Anthony Edwards - Greatest Timberwolf

[thedoper]

Ant is insane. I cant believe he is on the Wolves. We have never had someone that wanted the ball in the big moments that could actually do it. KG would do it reluctantly (game 7 against Sac was amazing), Marbury and Jimmy didnt last long enough, and the rest were jokes. Garnett needs to swallow his pride and show up for one of these games. You know he wants to. Ant has done more at 22 than any player the Wolves have had. No wonder Glen is trying to fuck up this sale. Go Wolves!!

[Carlos Danger]

Good thread. He was amazing. And what's so fun is that he is still so young. We have no idea how good (great) he may become. I love that!

[DNatagal]

The bar is pretty low.

[Sundog]

Cmon doper, I agree he’s fantastic but you’re getting a little carried away. People forget how good Garnett was:

NBA champion (2008)
NBA Most Valuable Player (2004)
15× NBA All-Star (1997, 1998, 2000–2011, 2013)
NBA All-Star Game MVP (2003)
4× All-NBA First Team (2000, 2003, 2004, 2008)
3× All-NBA Second Team (2001, 2002, 2005)
2× All-NBA Third Team (1999, 2007)
NBA Defensive Player of the Year (2008)
9× NBA All-Defensive First Team (2000–2005, 2008, 2009, 2011)
3× NBA All-Defensive Second Team (2006, 2007, 2012)
4× NBA rebounding champion (2004–2007)
NBA All-Rookie Second Team (1996)
NBA 75th Anniversary Team
NBA Hall of Fame

Kevin Garnett is still the Greatest Timberwolf and will be for a while. Ant will get there though!

[Leado01]

Cmon doper, I agree he’s fantastic but you’re getting a little carried away. People forget how good Garnett was:

NBA champion (2008)
NBA Most Valuable Player (2004)
15× NBA All-Star (1997, 1998, 2000–2011, 2013)
NBA All-Star Game MVP (2003)
4× All-NBA First Team (2000, 2003, 2004, 2008)
3× All-NBA Second Team (2001, 2002, 2005)
2× All-NBA Third Team (1999, 2007)
NBA Defensive Player of the Year (2008)
9× NBA All-Defensive First Team (2000–2005, 2008, 2009, 2011)
3× NBA All-Defensive Second Team (2006, 2007, 2012)
4× NBA rebounding champion (2004–2007)
NBA All-Rookie Second Team (1996)
NBA 75th Anniversary Team
NBA Hall of Fame

Kevin Garnett is still the Greatest Timberwolf and will be for a while. Ant will get there though!

Yeah...Garnett considered top 50 all-time. Will take some sustained effort to surpass him

[thedoper]

Cmon doper, I agree he’s fantastic but you’re getting a little carried away. People forget how good Garnett was:

NBA champion (2008)
NBA Most Valuable Player (2004)
15× NBA All-Star (1997, 1998, 2000–2011, 2013)
NBA All-Star Game MVP (2003)
4× All-NBA First Team (2000, 2003, 2004, 2008)
3× All-NBA Second Team (2001, 2002, 2005)
2× All-NBA Third Team (1999, 2007)
NBA Defensive Player of the Year (2008)
9× NBA All-Defensive First Team (2000–2005, 2008, 2009, 2011)
3× NBA All-Defensive Second Team (2006, 2007, 2012)
4× NBA rebounding champion (2004–2007)
NBA All-Rookie Second Team (1996)
NBA 75th Anniversary Team
NBA Hall of Fame

Kevin Garnett is still the Greatest Timberwolf and will be for a while. Ant will get there though!

Garnett got many accolades after his time as a wolf. Garnetts MVP year was amazing and overall his career is in its own category. I rank Edwards 1 now, especially considering where this franchise was at before he arrived with Jimmy literally killing us again. But we, like zombie Glen Taylor, keep finding away to stay alive.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

This is an interesting conversation, and I don't want to derail it, but the comparison I was thinking about during this series wasn't between Ant and KG, or between Ant and MJ or Kobe, but between Ant and KD.

Think about it.

In 2010-11, when KD was in his fourth year, he was 22 years old, averaged basically 28/7/3 on good efficiency. Then he led his team to the WCF after his team had gotten knocked out in the first round the previous year. And on top of that (and this may be difficult to recall), he was accessible, charismatic, funny, and well-liked. It was the year after LeBron's PR disaster with "The Decision" had kind of turned him into a villain and during that year, KD was kind of embraced as the good-guy foil. Gatorade and Nike promoted him heavily, and when his team went on that playoff run, people called him the new face of the league. All of this happened when Ant was about 9 years old, and like a lot of other 9 year olds at the time, KD became his favorite player.

Flash forward 13 years, and Ant's in his fourth year, he's 22 years old, averaged 26/5/5 on good efficiency, and then after two years of his team getting knocked out in the first round, he just led his team to a sweep in the first round (with more to come!). He's accessible, charismatic, funny, and well-liked. With aging stars like Curry already out, Durant now out, and LeBron on the cusp, people are calling Ant the face of the league.

So there is some genuine history repeating itself in the clash between these two during this series and I have no doubt the respect is real and mutual between them, but it's really hard not to see Ant's playful charisma as a complete contrast to Durant's dour disposition, and the perception of these stars by the media also couldn't be more different. Seriously, watch their press conferences and listen to how the talking heads discuss these two. The contrast couldn't be more stark. Obviously, one lost and the other won, but man, the apparent transformation in KD's personality and in the way he's perceived has made an absolute 180. To some degree, the reality is probably more complicated. He probably wasn't such a ball of sunshine as we thought 13 years ago, and he's probably not the black hole of darkness he seems to be today. But man, talk about a change.

How did we get here? Obviously, KD's decision to go to Golden State, then Brooklyn, and then his request for a trade all tarnished his reputation, and he clearly seems to have taken the public criticism at every step of the way extremely personally. Over time, the young, playful, funny player became a curmudgeon, at least in public.

Why do I think this comparison is important? First, I hope it serves as a warning to Ant. He can age gracefully, like Curry and Conley, or he could become kind of a dick, like KD (I'm not even going to point out the dark sides to MJ and Kobe that nobody wants to bring up here in all the comparisons). Second, I hope it serves as a reminder to us to enjoy this moment, when Ant's spectacular talents are matched by his utter authenticity, guilelessness, honestly, youthfulness, and innocence. He's a budding star, and those are the easiest to cheer for. Let's enjoy this starlight while it lasts, because all stars age, and it's never certain how they'll go out.

[Carlos Danger]

As a VORP guy, I have to admit that KG was better than Edwards - at least through their first four years (both guys age 19-22):

Edwards: 17.0 PER, .076 WS/48, 7.7 VORP
Garnett: 19.1 PER, .124 WS/48, 13.2 VORP

But what I wrote earlier is we still don't know his ceiling. KG took a huge leap in year five. From age 23 to 30:

KG: 25.8 PER, .213 WS/48, 61.0 VORP

If we get anything close to that with Edwards, we will all be very happy. KG is HOF - obviously a very high standard. Edwards has flashed similar abilities. It's just fun to watch young players grow their game.

[AbeVigodaLive]

Give it time... give it time. Kevin Garnett was a pretty special player.






BUT... Anthony Edwards is doing things Timberwolves fans have never seen before... and he's only 22.

[rapsuperstar31]

To reach the level of Kevin Garnett is going to be tough for anyone to do. He is one of the best players of all time. Now Garnett only had one really awesome supporting cast and that was the only year that the Wolves made it beyond the first round. You never know from year to year what can happen, but I do foresee Ant getting out of the first round multiple times as a Wolf. For now lets just enjoy the ride, if we can beat Denver, that is going to be quite the statement for Ant, for Rudy, for Kat, for Mike and all of our players legacies, especially Wolves legacies.