Amid all the excitement about how LaMelo Ball will help make Anthony Edwards' life much easier on offense, what can't get lost is that Ball's arrival should also help Edwards fulfill his two-way upside. Frankly, Edwards' defense was disastrous last season, and to maximize the backcourt pairing with Ball, that can't happen again.
In a recent interview with Chris Hine of The Star Tribune, Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch made it clear that Edwards' defense has to improve.
“It’s not negotiable for his defense to come back a little more,” Finch said, while adding he understood that Edwards’defense took a hit because of all they were asking him to do offensively. “It was probably an unfair burden for Anthony,” Finch said. “And I thought he navigated it as best as he possibly could.”
While Edwards arguably had the worst defensive season of his career, to Finch's point, it's not a coincidence that this subpar defense occurred in a season in which he was heavily overtaxed on offense. Now, with LaMelo in the mix, Ant will have more energy to commit to the defensive side of the ball.
Even if Ball makes his life easier in this regard, the onus is on Edwards to live up to his defensive upside.
Anthony Edwards needs to live up to his defensive upside
As we all know, Ant-Man is an elite athlete. In addition to his jump out of the gym leaping abilities, Edwards has a 6-foot-9 wingspan. This, paired with his flashes of brilliance as an aggressive on-ball stopper, has earned Ant a reputation as a two-way star.
The reality is that Edwards has merely shown flashes of his defensive upside throughout his career and certainly last season. He's been a great defender in high-leverage situations, but over the course of an 82-game season, he has never been a true two-way game force.
Regarding last season in particular, Edwards' engagement off the ball wavered significantly. He was often back-cut while struggling with rotations and screen navigation.
Consequently, the Wolves' defense was 5.7 points per 100 possessions worse with Edwards on the court.
With LaMelo's defensive deficiencies, these problems from Edwards can't persist. Otherwise, the Wolves' backcourt will struggle immensely on defense, and ultimately, Minnesota won't reach its ceiling.
Additionally, with Jaden McDaniels primed to guard forwards more often, Ant will likely take on more on-ball duties. Generally speaking, off-ball engagement and habits were the bigger problem for Edwards rather than his on-ball defense. Still, he was far from an elite point-of-attack stopper.
By all accounts, Edwards needs to up his defense for the Timberwolves to reach their ceiling and for them to maximize the Ant-LaMelo pairing. Edwards has always had the physical tools to succeed and be a true two-way force. Now, the Timberwolves have a roster around him where he won't be overtaxed on offense and can focus more of his energy on defense.
Finch's comments set the expectation for Edwards to be a true two-way star, and it's on him to live up to this standard for the betterment of the team.
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