2020 NBA Draft profile: Anthony Edwards another Zach LaVine?

Shooting/Scoring

The first thing that jumps out about Edwards’ scoring package is his ability to make things happen in the open court.

Whether he has the ball in his hands or not, Edwards is a blur down the floor. Blink once, and you can miss him take off in flight. Catch up to him, and he may stop on a dime and pull up for an open transition three. Make the wrong move, and he won’t even bother slowing down and instead power through for an easy deuce.

Reading that description, it’s no wonder why he gets so much buzz in NBA circles in the first place. He’s certainly earned the praise, and the numbers even back up his case. Per Synergy Sports, Edwards ranks in the top 88 percent of all college players in transition with 1.29 PPP (points per possession).

Transition offense isn’t rocket science by any means. If you’re bigger, faster and make more effort to push the ball and get open on the break than the defense trying to stop you, chances are you’re going to be in position for a bucket.

One of the biggest praises I can offer Edwards is that he doesn’t lack effort.

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Rarely does one see Edwards jogging into place or standing around once the ball is live. Full sprints are a common sight, and a welcome one at that for anyone evaluating pro talent.

Another strong aspect about Edwards’ game is that he’s actually a three-level scorer.

His proficiency in finishing at the basket can’t be understated, but what he actually prefers to do more than anything is pull up from mid-range and connect on 3-point shots (Edwards takes jump shots 66.7 percent of the time per Synergy).

While his physical frame and explosive first step would suggest he’s best served trying to drive toward the basket and either hunt for an easy layup or draw contact and get to the line, Edwards falls in love too often at times with settling for the stop-and-pop jumper.

Quite frankly, I can’t argue with the pure premise of showing variety scoring the basketball, especially considering his handle isn’t among the most developed in his class.

More often than not, when Anthony Edwards chooses to drive in a half-court set and has more than one man to beat leading him into traffic, he’s caught like a deer in headlights and either makes an errant pass or loses the ball on an easy strip steal by the defense.

And that could be a primary reason behind why Edwards looks so much more comfortable at times picking his spot and pulling up for the jump shot. Can he create a good look for himself? Absolutely. Does he do so creatively? Well, he can leave something to be desired on the table in that department.

Normally guards have a package of handles in their bag to reach into and mix it up so defenses get thrown off guard. Edwards relies on a pretty routine crossover to lull his defender to sleep or throw him off balance. Once he sees what he likes from his man, it’s either a quick step and by or a step back into a shot off the bounce.

Would a few dribbles between the legs into a cleaner hesitation move be nice? Sure. But you can’t knock what’s effective, and not many guys have that same burst of quickness off one step forward like Edwards does.

And that’s going to be a common theme throughout the entirety of this piece. Edwards has so much natural talent it’s hard to ignore what he ultimately COULD become with enough seasoning and development. There are simple ways to add variety to a guard’s game with the proper work ethic and determination, the trick is getting the player to buy in to actually learning about those nuances.

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I don’t doubt that Edwards has the passion to further his understanding of his craft, but we’ll get to more of that later.

Where the jumper falls apart for Edwards is in his execution after initial takeoff. Upon inspecting his mechanics, Edwards will swing his entire body to the side in the air if he isn’t allowed a step into his shot. In other words, he throws off his entire range of motion if shooting off the catch.

Now the good news about his shot is that his release point and timing on his follow-through aren’t issues. What some scouts could view as an issue though is what I just pointed out above. He’s instantly making jumpers harder by his own accord, let alone what the defender is doing in terms of contesting or closing out.

This “glitch” in his shot is what will stop him initially from being a catch-and-shoot threat in the NBA. The way he can step into a look and square his shoulders into position off the bounce is something that just comes natural to him more than it does for other players.

What would concern the majority of scouts and personnel with that evaluation is that he won’t get all of those same opportunities right out of the gate.

Being able to create your own shot and operate more freely within an offense is something that’s earned in an NBA offense. Edwards has to prove that he can fit in and score effectively within a system before he’s given the reigns to freestyle as a focal point.

At some point, Anthony Edwards will have to can in buckets from open catch-and-shoot opportunities with regularity, it’s just a necessity at the guard spot in the NBA nowadays.

Does this mean he has to transform his style of playing into running off pindowns and backdoor cuts like J.J. Redick and Kyle Korver, always hunting for shots off the catch? Absolutely not. But when he’s standing there open in the corner waiting for the ball to swing to him, those are looks he can’t afford to let go to waste.

Can he mold himself into a featured scorer at some point in his career, one that has earned a high usage rate and can be the focal point of a winning offense? That much has yet to be seen, given his overall shot selection and quality of offense he tends to generate for himself.

Edwards has all of the latent ability to put himself in position to finish easy plays and put points on the board in bunches. Having broke his shot down and how he likes to score the ball, it’s time to move on to how he actually puts those plays into practice.