Q12543 wrote:I just can't get excited about Edwards. I get the logic in the sense it gives you a third potential "star" and allows you to quickly move on from Malik Beasley since presumably you'd want to put Edwards at the starting 2 right away.
Just too many red flags with defense and shot selection.....stuff that often doesn't work itself out. Dennis Smith Jr. anyone?
I got big Dion Waiters vibes when I watched Edwards play last year at Georgia. I think he's more talented and more physically imposing than Waiters, but the Waiters comp lingers in my head.
LoL....Wiggins, Waiters, Dennis Smith....None of the comps bode well! Stay away from this guy Rosas! This is where POBOs/GMs sometimes get enamored by the body and athleticism and arrogantly think they can change bad habits, which only a select few franchises seem capable of doing. We don't have Pat Riley and Eric Spoelstra, so we just can't risk expending a #1 pick on this guy.
It seems like this is one of those drafts where it's far more likely someone picked between 6 and 20 blows up into a star versus 1-5.
Wiseman is such the obvious pick at #1 due to his really high floor (IMO) and then just trade down if there is some other guy you fall in love with and can pick up another asset along the way.
Wiggins, waiters and Dennis smith seem to be the comps by people who dont like him. Oladipo and Wade seem to be the comps by people who like him. If we make our decisions based on past trauma and a realization that we cant develop like Riley we've lost already and we should trade the #1 for a mediocre vet.
It's not just about past traumas, it's about actual data, game footage, and scouting reports. He takes plays off defensively, he takes awful shots, he doesn't take it to the rim as one would want him to, he shot 29% from 3. I just can't think of other past top 10 picks with this sort of profile that actually became a really good NBA player. Can you?
There are a lot of great NBA players who shot 3s poorly in their underclassmen years in College. Oladipo's sophmore year was miserable with high usage.
I'm not talking about only the 3s. I'm talking about all of the flags - the 3s, the poor defense, the poor shot selection, the coachability questions. I just can't think of a past prospect with that collection of flags that ended up becoming really good.
I don't get the coachability questions? His coach praised him for his coachability and improvement over the year. Where else would we get info about a player's coachability?
Maybe it's just me, but Anthony Edwards' shot selection and defensive weaknesses -- in this case -- go hand in hand with his perceived coachability. That's more speculation and individual prospect evaluation, but I have to feel like Georgia's coaching staff begged Edwards to pressure the rim over and over while he instead continued to hoist tough jumpers. Or maybe they were fine with him routinely taking lesser efficient shots and that speaks poorly upon their basketball intellect. Who knows, right?
Also, Tom Crean absolutely has to speak positively about Edwards if he ever wants to recruit more four and five star recruits to Georgia. That's just the nature of college basketball. If he were to flat out say to the media that Edwards didn't listen to instructions/coaching/scheming/etc., would any top prospect risk their NBA future on UGA knowing that Crean wouldn't support them to the fullest when it mattered most? No, they wouldn't.
Edwards has shown no signs of being a typical "bad apple" or troublemaker in the locker room, but there are certainly red flags that do point to whether or not he can take coaching and implement it in his game on the court.
Camden0916 wrote:Maybe it's just me, but Anthony Edwards' shot selection and defensive weaknesses -- in this case -- go hand in hand with his perceived coachability. That's more speculation and individual prospect evaluation, but I have to feel like Georgia's coaching staff begged Edwards to pressure the rim over and over while he instead continued to hoist tough jumpers. Or maybe they were fine with him routinely taking lesser efficient shots and that speaks poorly upon their basketball intellect. Who knows, right?
Also, Tom Crean absolutely has to speak positively about Edwards if he ever wants to recruit more four and five star recruits to Georgia. That's just the nature of college basketball. If he were to flat out say to the media that Edwards didn't listen to instructions/coaching/scheming/etc., would any top prospect risk their NBA future on UGA knowing that Crean wouldn't support them to the fullest when it mattered most? No, they wouldn't.
Edwards has shown no signs of being a typical "bad apple" or troublemaker in the locker room, but there are certainly red flags that do point to whether or not he can take coaching and implement it in his game on the court.
On Crean, I do think they need to say positive things, but that didn't stop him from acknowledging his areas for improvement including shot selection. I think Crean has seen a lot of players and knows it takes time to develop.
More generally a year with Covid and no tournament makes it really hard to see or acknowledge growth with the lack of those high pressure games at the end of the year. I think it's fine to speculate on coachability. I think singling out shot selection on the one star on a piss poor team is probably not a key area of coachability. Crean on this said Edwards had a total green light for the shots he took. The more logical conclusion I would come to is that Edwards hadn't developed the complete array of moves to get to the rim at will in College and that the 5 on 1 defenses would be a lot for any freshman to handle. Either way it is speculation.
It's definitely speculation on my part and there's no hiding that. Because the season was shortened and the pre-draft process has been condensed, much of what we feel about these prospects is speculation. So, I'm with you there, at least in that regard. And I'm not saying Edwards isn't even a fine prospect -- just that he has areas that make me very uneasy and unsure about his NBA future. I hope that clears up everything that I may have left out earlier in this thread.
Camden0916 wrote:It's definitely speculation on my part and there's no hiding that. Because the season was shortened and the pre-draft process has been condensed, much of what we feel about these prospects is speculation. So, I'm with you there, at least in that regard. And I'm not saying Edwards isn't even a fine prospect -- just that he has areas that make me very uneasy and unsure about his NBA future. I hope that clears up everything that I may have left out earlier in this thread.
Its all good, youre being fair in having reservations. I feel this way about every prospect this year. Wiseman's measurables are insane. He looks awesome in limited footage, and could be the next KG for the Wolves. I just wish he played in more than 3 games so we could also unpack his existing deficiencies a bit more.
On Edwards...on one hand he played with a bad offe rice team at Georgia that was terrible at making 3's. On the other hand if he was/is a good player shouldn't he have elevated the roster more or how much should we expect from a Freshman like him?
I like Crean I think he is a good coach a really smart guy and great on TV. He has 2 really good perimeter players in Wade in Dipo and...who else in how many years? Who else came out of college coached by him and was a worthwhile player? I'm guessing there were a couple guys but I'm blanking on them. It's not like he was coaching BIGtime programs...I mean Indiana is supposed to be one but it wasn't when he took it over and he didn't really take it to that level either. So idk if playing for Crean really makes me feel like that's makes me feel like he is going to be more well prepared than say 20-30 other programs.
I get the Waiters vibe too. I do think Edwards does have more ability to score from the perimeter IF he is actually a good 3point shooter. If I remember right Waiters was just built like a tank and was pretty athletic and he attacked and that worked in college. Looking back he also was a potential guy as he didn't even start a game in college. I should probably do more homework but I'm basically in the trade down camp but definitely in the draft wiseman or trade down and I'd be fine passing on both Ball and Wiseman. I'm still hoping some team gives up something valuable to move up. I like plenty of guys in the top maybe even 8 guys.
