Minnesota Timberwolves: Wolves populate the fringes of NBA GM survey

GMs believe Anthony Edwards will break out for the Minnesota Timberwolves

In perhaps the least surprising development of this year’s general manager survey, a great deal of front-office executives believe that last year’s Rookie of the Year runner-up will have a breakout season.

It depends somewhat on how we’re defining a “break out”, of course, but Anthony Edwards and Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball, who won the ROY award in 2021, are the only two second-year players on the list.

Edwards landed second with 13 percent of the vote, trailing only Memphis’ Jaren Jackson Jr., who earned 17 percent afters suffering through an injury-riddled third year in the league. Just two years ago, Jackson averaged 17.4 points per game as a 20-year-old but was limited to just 11 appearances last season.

Edwards, of course, struggled mightily early last season and didn’t even start the first 17 games of the season. But by March, he was a true force and dominated the final 10 weeks of the season. He improved his numbers and shooting percentages across the board, and certainly benefitted from (relatively) healthy versions of Towns and Russell returning to the floor late in the campaign.

For his part, Towns was included as an answer for this question as well. It’s notable, as he’s clearly the most accomplished player to be listed. Towns is the only player on the list who has made an All-NBA team and the only two-time All-Star; Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans is the only other player mentioned who has made an All-Star team at all.

The thinking, of course, is that Towns is finally healthy after an exceedingly rough past couple of years, not to mention all the off-the-court challenges that he’s faced by no fault of his own. Towns was an All-NBA player before the injuries popped up, and he finally has a strong roster around him.

As a still-consensus top-25 player, Towns could vault himself into the top 10 conversation if he can simply stay on the court and improve incrementally on defense.

The other Edwards-related bit is that he was ranked No. 3 on the “who is the most athletic” list, behind only Williamson (27 percent) and the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo (20 percent). Edwards received 17 percent of the vote, edging out Zach LaVine of the Chicago Bulls (13 percent) and Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies (10 percent). (For what it’s worth, Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons also received votes for this category…)

Okay, on to a couple of other Wolves mentions…