Minnesota Timberwolves Roundup: Edwards analysis, trade scrutiny

Minnesota Timberwolves rookie Anthony Edwards has thrust himself back into the national media spotlight with a series of strong games and a handful of poster-worthy dunks. The Athletic’s John Hollinger wrote about his standing in what has been a surprisingly solid rookie class thus far.

Also, now that we’re in the beginning stages of the unofficial trade season, everyone seems to be trying to evaluate last year’s major trades, not the least intriguing of which is the Minnesota Timberwolves acquisition of D’Angelo Russell.

Minnesota Timberwolves: John Hollinger’s analysis of Anthony Edwards

The Wolves’ selection of Anthony Edwards at No. 1 was wholly uncontroversial. Yes, it went against the wishes of some folks in the Timberwolves blogosphere, including yours truly and Dunking With Wolves site co-editor Dylan Jackson. (The Athletic’s Hollinger actually argued that Ball would have been a fine fit with the Wolves, too.)

But it was largely considered to be the “right” selection, based on ceiling, positional fit, and so on.

Edwards was impressive early, went through a multi-week swoon, and has come on strong of late. Hollinger has a bit of a harsher perspective on Edwards’ early-season production, however, writing that over his first 20 games, Edwards “delivered occasional flashes of brilliance but otherwise was a destructively bad player” (subscription required).

Yes, Edwards has had some unsightly box scores and continues to struggle with shot selection. The biggest concern has been his defense, but Hollinger mostly focuses on his offensive game, pulling clips of a pair of massive dunks by Edwards over the past week to prove his point that the Wolves rookie is nearly unstoppable when he gets downhill.

Still, Hollinger places Edwards in “Tier 2: Picking Up Steam” behind only three players in Tier 1: LaMelo Ball, Tyrese Haliburton, and Immanuel Quickley. Edwards is clearly playing better of late, and he’s starting to get the requisite national attention for that improvement.

Minnesota Timberwolves: Evaluating the Russell-Wiggins trade

Trade season is upon us, with virtually all players now eligible to be traded and the March 25 deadline now within five weeks. We’re also just over a year beyond last year’s deadline, which means revisiting past deals.

The Athletic’s Sam Amick revisited the four most significant deals from last year (subscription required), including the Wolves-Warriors deal that sent Andrew Wiggins and a pair of 2022 draft picks to Golden State in exchange for D’Angelo Russell.

Of course, Russell has shared the court with Karl-Anthony Towns for exactly five games in the calendar year since the trade, while Wiggins has been a solid role player and defender for the 16-13 Warriors.

Wiggins’ resurgence has been somewhat oversold; his production isn’t too dissimilar from his peak with the Wolves, and a recent shooting slump has caused his 3-point percentage to head back towards his career norms. But it’s inarguable that the Warriors are winning this deal at the one-year mark.

The real verdict can’t be reached, however, until we know A) what Russell and Towns are able to when on the floor together, and B) if the Warriors indeed get to hang onto the Wolves’ pick this year, which is top-three protected.

At any rate, the various rehashings of the deal are worth a read, if only to get a few varying views of the deal in retrospect.