Anthony Edwards has continued to add to his game every single season he's been in the league. However, with LaMelo Ball in the mix, it's now a lot less about Edwards scaling up on offense and more about him becoming a more well-rounded player, especially by improving on defense.
During media day, both Edwards and Tim Connelly discussed the importance of his defense this season.
"I think when I was younger, it used to be how many points," Edwards said when asked how he goes about evaluating if he had a good game. Now it's like, I look at the plus-minus when I was on the floor and really just about how good I was playing defense that night. Like, I feel like the last couple years I couldn't play defense as good as I wanted to cuz I was bringing the ball up at times."
"I think Ant's best chance to be the best player in the world, and he has that chance, right? There's only a handful of people that have that ability; is that he has to be the best two-way player in the world," Connelly said. "His competition is so good and so talented to be in that mix of the top four or five guys to be a real MVP candidate, and I think he'd be the first to tell you at times last year, and some of it was our fault—we put him in positions where he had to do so much offensively—we think a lot of the ball-handling stuff will be out of his hands now with more traditional point guards next to him, but he's got to be a two-way player. He's got to be elite on both ends. He's shown the ability to be, I think, maybe the best on-ball perimeter defender in the NBA who can guard up."
It's time for Anthony Edwards to fulfill his defensive upside
Now, I can't agree with Connelly that Ant could be the best on-ball defender in the league, especially with Jaden McDaniels existing. Regardless, there's no doubt that Edwards has the gifts to be an elite defender. He's an athletic freak with a 6-foot-9 wingspan. And we've seen him lock up stars in clutch situations.
However, as things stand, Edwards' defensive effort and off-ball engagement are subpar, which limits his effectiveness as a defender. Last season in particular, Ant was highly disengaged off the ball on most nights. He was slow to rotate, didn't navigate screens well, and often got back-cut because he was out of position.
I'm willing to give him a pass, though, because he was overtaxed on offense. Still, with Ball alleviating the pressure off Ant, there's no excuse for these poor defensive habits to continue. Clearly, defensive growth is a priority for both him and the organization.
From both an individual and team standpoint, defense will define just how successful Edwards' season will be.
While Jaden McDaniels is the Wolves' primary point-of-attack defender, Minnesota could use a secondary POA stopper, when McDaniels is off the court or to deploy him off the ball. Generally speaking, Edwards' on-ball defense has been his strength defensively. Nevertheless, he has another gear to reach that would make an already elite Wolves defense even better.
More importantly, though, Edwards can't be targeted off the ball, which is something we saw happen at times last season. Ball should give Ant more energy on defense, but he isn't a good defender. As such, Edwards' struggles can't continue.
Likewise, the Wolves were a highly inconsistent team last season, in part because of Edwards' apathy toward defense. They were more talented than the sixth seed in both of the last two seasons, and certainly are this season. Nonetheless, making a sizable seeding jump won't happen without Edwards cleaning up his defensive issues.
Individually, Ant becoming a two-way force can help propel him into MVP talks and make him a clear-cut top-five player in the league.
Everyone knows what Edwards is capable of on offense—last season, he averaged 28.8 points, which ranked third in the league. More generally, he is one of the most gifted and versatile scorers. Playing alongside Ball might lead to a slight statistical leap, as LaMelo will unlock his off-ball scoring. Even so, being a high-quality defender will be what truly takes him to the next level.
Edwards has accomplished a lot at age 25, but so far he's never made an All-NBA first team. If he can continue his offensive production and elevate on defense, that's bound to change this year. And if the Wolves are a top-three seed, this may even result in an MVP season.
More importantly, Edwards unlocking his defensive upside will help the Timberwolves reach their overall ceiling.
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