Anthony Edwards is Elite

Anthony Edwards announced himself as one of the next big NBA superstars last night. He didn't really have to do too much more for me to notice, he is one of my favorite players, but boy oh boy did he let himself be known to the casual NBA fan after this first round series. Let’s discuss.

Edwards was the first overall pick in the 2020 draft. This was the COVID lockdown draft. He was the consensus number 1 guy, but there were questions. Georgia wasn't very good, he seemed to float in and out of games, his jumper wasn't great and his tenacity on defense was yet to be seen. And when he started playing, it was a lot of the same. But, Edwards has always had freakish athleticism. What attracted me to his game was his dunking ability. He reminded me of a guard version of Shawn Kemp. He dunked on people and he dunked hard on people. The dunk he had against the Raptors a few years back was one of the best in game dunks I'd ever seen. But the Timberwolves, while getting a little better, didn't really look like they would be much more than a first round out in the playoffs.

Then the T’Wolves traded for Rudy Gobert. The trade was maligned, and in year one it looked like the critics were right. The Timberwolves were not very good. They came off a season where they pushed the Grizzlies in round 1 to six games, and it was a hard fought series. The next season, the first with Gobert, they struggled to make the play in and were easily disposed of by the Nuggets in five games. But this season has felt different. And Edwards has looked different. You could see him starting to figure things out in that series against the Grizzlies two years ago. Last season he was the sole reason they got one game from the Nuggets. The athleticism and the ability was still there, but other things were clicking. I feel like this is the year where it has almost fully come together for him.

Minnesota finished as the 3 seed in the West, but they had a shot at number 1. They are a dominant defense, with Edwards fully buying in on that end this year. Edwards doesn't always go one on one anymore. He plays more within a flow of an offense built around his skill set. Karl Anthony-Towns, another number 1 overall pick, has started to relent and make note that it is Edwards' team. Gobert understands that he is there for defense. Mike Conley has taken Edwards under his wing and he looks like a proud basketball dad watching him grow into this supernova talent. Kyle Anderson seems to be really enjoying the ride. The Timberwolves have given Anthony Edwards the keys, and he is running with it all. And it is glorious to watch as a fan.

What Edwards did in this series, the way he dominated, it was one of the more impressive things I have seen on a basketball court. He went out there on a mission every year and he decided he wanted this series over in four games. The Suns were betting favorites in this series. The analytic nerds loved them. Kevin Durant wasn't ready to pass the torch. Rudy Gobert wouldn't be able to stay on the floor. Anthony Edwards was going to have to wait another year. People even mentioned that Devon Booker was possibly better. I'm sure Edwards heard all of that, and he decided his time was now. He was tired of waiting. He went out there on that floor and snatched it all away from the Suns, from KD, from Devin Booker, from Frank Vogel and from ESPN and their analytical staff. Edwards took over each and every game. He mentioned, before game 1, how KD was his favorite player and how cool it would be to beat him in this series. He did just that. Anthony Edwards was the best player on the floor by a wide, wide margin. In the first round sweep, Edwards had games of 33, 36 and 40 points. In game two, the one game he struggled in to score, he was lock down on defense. He also had 9 rebounds in three of the four games. He averaged 6 plus assists per game. He never took more than 24 shots to get all of his points. He played good defense in every game. He took over when he was asked to take over by his coaches and team. He did all the right stuff. And it was amazing for me to watch this kid ascend to these new heights.

I don't like to watch Luka Doncic because I find his game very boring and he whines all the time. Nikola Jokic is, for me, also very, very boring. Giannis cannot stay healthy lately and he is not much of a shooter. LeBron James is amazing, but he is very old now. Ja Morant was hurt most of last season, and he has the whole gun thing. So, for me, watching a player like Anthony Edwards make this leap, watching the same from Shai Gilgeous Alexander, it makes me hopeful for the future faces of the NBA. Not all of these up and comers are zeroes on defense or want to turn the game into a free throw shooting contest. Not every star has to gripe to the officials. Not every star has to be friends with the other stars. A player like Anthony Edwards gets me hyped because he is uber talented and he wants to rip your heart out on the court.

I hope this run continues and Timberwolves continue to develop Edwards into an even bigger star because I want to see him play more than any other player in the playoffs right now. While I'm still a Grizzlies fan, I think Anthony Edwards is my new current favorite NBA player. He is the most fun to watch. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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It's Time for Minnesota to Say Goodbye to the Rudy Gobert Experiment

I feel like I have to address the whole Rudy Gobert situation in Minnesota right now. I will do a full NBA playoff preview when the play in is done, but for now I want to talk about what happened the other night.

Rudy Gobert punched, well attempted to punch, Kyle Anderson on the bench during the final game of the regular season. This resulted in a suspension for last night's play in game against the Lakers. The Lakers won by the way. Gobert has come out and apologized, apparently he and Kyle Anderson have made up and they want to move forward. They do have another chance to make the playoffs if they beat the winner of the Pelicans-Thunder game tonight. But this whole season, and trade, has been a complete disaster for the Timberwolves.

I thought the trade was going to work. I figured they'd be a shoo in for the playoffs. I did not think they'd have to fight through the play in. I did not expect them to be 42-40 at season's end. I did not expect them to go scoreless in the last three minutes of the fourth quarter last night. I thought KAT and Gobert would work well together. Gobert is a great defensive player and KAT is a great scorer. It made sense to me. It never worked. They barely played together due to KAT's long term injury this season. But Gobert also took a major step back. He was not the all world defender he has been before. His pick and roll game has fallen off. He is a step slower. Anthony Edwards was asked to do far too much for this team. He is not ready to shoulder a load like that just yet. I am as big an Edwards fan as there is, but he needs more time to be the face of this team. He also had a great season by the way.

The signing of Kyle Anderson seemed fitting this offseason for the T'Wolves. I was bummed the Grizzlies didn't keep him. He is a good vet player who knows his role and speaks his mind. That seems to be the issue that caused the problem the other night. Anderson told Gobert to get some blocks. Gobert chastised him back and told Anderson to get more rebounds. Anderson started to yell back and Gobert decided he had enough. Apparently Gobert was playing through back spasms and he felt like his toughness was being called out. But to try to throw hands, come on dude.

Gobert seems to have a pattern. We all remember how he dealt with COVID. I mean, he is the match that lit the shut down of the NBA in 2020. He felt sick, swore up and down it wasn't COVID, touched a ton of mics, hugged teammates and laughed it off. Guess what? He had COVID. The season shut down. Donovan Mitchell tested positive shortly after all of this nonsense. His teammates came out and complained about his behavior. You could already see the cracks. I wrote back then that the Jazz were going to have to trade one or both of them. They eventually traded both and are doing a full rebuild. But then we have the on court issues with Gobert that I already mentioned. He also came out earlier this year and called out officials for being biased. I agree that refs are biased, but the T'Wolves have stars. They have players that fans want to watch. I could watch Anthony Edwards play all day long. And it is not like the teams he mentioned are world beaters. The Suns are the 4 seed. The Lakers are the 7 seed. They both can go all the way, but I assumed the T'Wolves could too. And now this punching incident. I do not know how the Wolves don't trade him at this point. They have to try and recoup something, anything from the trade this past offseason. The T'Wolves gave up so much. So many players and so many picks. The T'Wolves should try to get picks back. They have two stars, Edwards and KAT. They have a veteran point guard in Mike Conley. Naz Reid may be the best backup big in the league and he should be fully recovered from his injury in time for next season. Kyle Anderson is a more liked player, and that is now very clear. Gobert is not the answer. He may be toast in the league. His best days are clearly behind him, and he has some issues he needs to deal with.

I think it would be best for the T'Wolves to move on no matter what happens during the remainder of the play in. This trade has already run its course and it was not good. The Timberwolves must keep KAT and Edwards and build from there. That would be the best for this franchise's future. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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Ty Watches "Hustle"

I finished "Hustle" last night. I have been wanting to watch this movie since I first heard about it. I am a sucker for movies like these. It is a genre I am quite fond of.

“Hustle” is about a down on his luck basketball scout that finds a diamond in the rough. It tugs at my heartstrings. Growing up I used to watch movies like "Blue Chips", "The Air Up There" and "Cool Runnings" constantly. I couldn't get enough of the whole underdog scenario. As I get older I still watch a very high number of sports movies. I used to devour "The Program". That is a terrible movie, but it is about college football and Michigan wins their game in it. "He Got Game" is still one of my all time favorites. I adore the original "Space Jam". I love a movie like "Major League". I will even get down with some of the sports movies people consider not so great. So "Hustle" is my type of movie. Add on the fact that Adam Sandler is the star and LeBron James is producing. That is icing on the cake. I was in before I even watched one second.

Fortunately, for me, the movie is very well made. Sandler is excellent. This is further proof that Sandler can do more than comedy. He has a few funny lines here and there, but this is way more of a drama, and he nails it. It is akin to "Uncut Gems", except he isn't so slimy, or "Punch Drunk Love", except he isn't a pushover in this. Sandler is in his pocket and doing great, great things here. I was so happy to see him acting so well. I could say the same for a number of the other actors. Robert Duvall brings an air of gravitas to his very small role. Queen Latifah is simply wonderful as Sandler's wife. Kenny Smith, in what I believe is his first fiction role, is magnetic and believable as a super agent. There are tons of NBA players playing themselves, and that is perfect for a movie like this. Ben Foster is a total scumbag and he pulls it off. Heidi Gardner is stretching her "SNL" legs and she does a formidable job. Jaleel White is in this and I did not see Urkel once in him. But, outside of Sandler there were two other standout roles. First off Anthony Edwards plays a young brash soon to be first round pick named Kermit in this movie. He is awesome. He was, quite possibly, my favorite part of the whole thing. He is cocky and can back it up. He talks shit. He has a line where he asks a player where he is from and the player says Spain. Edwards says to him, and I quote, "that shit sounds wack". It was the funniest and best line in the whole movie. Edwards was phenomenal. But this was Juancho Hernangomez's movie. He is the player that Sandler's character is trying to get to the NBA. I think it was a brilliant move by the people involved to get a non superstar in this role. He isn't a big name so not everyone knows who he is, but he is in the league so the training and game play stuff looked and felt real. It was wonderful. Seeing him go through drills and get better felt very, very real. When he plays with NBA stars in this movie you believe he has the skill. He can play with these guys because he actually does. When he goes up against Edwards' character part of me felt like the director just let the camera roll and this was real gameplay. It totally worked. I applaud the decision to cast a guy like Juancho Hernangomez. This movie is a true crowd pleaser. You will find yourself rooting for this young man. This is a movie that people who don't like basketball will enjoy. It helps to know who everyone is while watching, but even if you don't, this is a story about redemption and overcoming obstacles. I don't know too many people who dislike stuff like that. There is cliche stuff and the movie is paint by numbers, but dammit it works. They got it right.

I highly, highly recommend this movie. I have already watched it again with my son, who is obsessed with the NBA, and he loves it too. Check out "Hustle". It is well worth your time.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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