worldK wrote:The most encouraging improvement of edwards
in these 3 games for me is the defense. He was getting beat backdoor and was slow reacting his first game. But he has really looked good on that end the lst two games.
He gets down in a nice defensive stand. Move his feet and body well to stay in front of his man. Has quick and active handa. He fights tru screens. Doesnt look lost when defending off the ball and contests shot. No wow possesions outside of that chase down block but played basic and strong defense.
He has all the tools to be an excelent defender. I think that is a very important development.
His offensive efficiency can improve as he learn his spots in the nba and gain more experience. The talent is obviously there on that end and Im not worried about it. Players improve on that end the longer they play in the league.
But if he can be a plus defender from the start, that guarantees him a long nba career and possibility of becoming a superstar higher. Players dont improve significantly on d throuout their careers
They are usually either good at that from the start or bad at it. They get better on that end but there is no big jump there. If Edwards can start out as a plus defender then the higher chance of him developing into an elite one down the road.
Yeah, I share that excitement for the defense. Seeing him hit a deep three, handle the ball fairly well (already better than Wiggins ever was, though obviously a work in progress), or make a decent pass is nice. But we already knew much of his potential was on the offensive end. Hopefully he can get more efficient on that end over time, and if so, I think he could be a really nice offensive player.
But it is the defense that got me to whoop a couple times. I remember seeing him totally fall asleep on D one time that first game and his guy just blew past him on a backdoor cut for a layup and I thought: man, that's awful. As bad as any of the clips in the "Weaknesses" sections of those draft videos. Just totally got caught ball watching and forgot his guy.
Since then though, I've seen him close out well on shooters, then he got that eye-popping block from behind in the second Memphis game and I remember thinking "whoa, ok." He's deflected a couple balls and gotten a couple steals--wasn't one a nice strip? I especially liked seeing him handle Luka defensively a bit in that last game and force Luka into a tough fadeaway.
If he develops as a defender, he might be one of those rare 2-way guys we don't seem to be able to get. And I noticed that ESPN is listing him at 6'3". He looks at least as tall as Russell and Okogie who are listed at 6'4", and when you look at Edwards and Okogie two next to each other, it's clear Edwards has a more imposing physical presence. If he can be a defender like that with that body, that would be awesome. Luka is a big, strong dude and Edwards looked completely physically capable of keeping up with him on the dribble, bodying him up to keep him out of the paint, and getting the timing on the contest pretty good to force him into a tough shot. We need guys who can play on both ends so bad. It'd be great if Edwards turns out to be able to do that.
