Anthony Edwards Trajectory

[TimberKat]

If you ignore Ant's age 20 playoff stats and just look at last year and this year so far, Ant is avg 31 pts. That is the 3rd highest behind MJ and Luka. That is ahead of lots players including KD, LBJ, AI, etc, etc. way ahead of DWade.

[Special_Puppy]

I'm honestly okay if people don't quite feel comfortable putting him in the discussion with Jordan or Bryant. I think a couple others got caught up in that about 15-20 years ago, and while they maybe didn't live up to that standard, they still had damn successful careers. I'm talking about Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter. Those wouldn't be bad comparisons either.

I think its fine to say that his absolute ceiling is Kobe Bryant. I think I said that several months ago. Next test for Ant is whether he is able to play as well he did the past 4 games over 200+ games.

[Klomp]

Read on Twitter

[thinktank]

this dude is making a difference. but he needs to collect rings

and in this age of parity there is ZERO excuse not to get a few

That’s quite the conundrum.

Given: Parity

Then: Win multiple rings.

Well if there’s parity, it’s not going to be easy to win multiple rings.

not only a conundrum it's a flat out oxymoronic for me to say. however here's what i mean. parity is a lack of top level teams that separated themselves from the league. it is not the league getting better, it's is the lack of great teams and thus opening up the race to everyone. in this scenario you don't have to be great to get a ring you only have to be consistantly better than the pack

if ant is who people want him to be then parity is a good time for him to do it

Parity does not mean a lack of quality teams, but I get what you’re saying.

(If Denver or Boston wins the chip, I wouldn’t say that’s parity.)

[mowcrowbar]

He's shaping up to be a better version of Kobe. Still not a top 5 player, but he might get there.

Hmm I thought of him as a better version of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Ray Allen mixed into one.

[Metin91]

Pretty laughable some trying to compare him with Jalen Williams

ANT is putting up better numbers while being double teamed and is younger.

The whole defensive strategy of Phoenix and Denver next centers around stopping ANT.

Do teams put that much work into stopping Jalen Williams?

[Airmiess]

I do think saying Ant is better than Kobe is wild. They impact the game the same way only Kobe had waaaay more sample size. Its kind of egregious.

[Klomp]

I'm honestly okay if people don't quite feel comfortable putting him in the discussion with Jordan or Bryant. I think a couple others got caught up in that about 15-20 years ago, and while they maybe didn't live up to that standard, they still had damn successful careers. I'm talking about Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter. Those wouldn't be bad comparisons either.

I want to go back to this. McGrady didn't win a playoff series, but he was averaging almost 34 ppg in the playoffs at age 21.

[One_and_Done]

I do think saying Ant is better than Kobe is wild. They impact the game the same way only Kobe had waaaay more sample size. Its kind of egregious.

From 99-07 Kobe led the Lakers to a 135-137 record in games Shaq didn't play. Kobe's impact is overstated. He was a guy you add to help a team that is already good, he was not a floor raiser. Ant is already better than him by the looks of it.

[Klomp]

Don't forget about this when you're thinking about his trajectory!

Read on Twitter

[Airmiess]

I do think saying Ant is better than Kobe is wild. They impact the game the same way only Kobe had waaaay more sample size. Its kind of egregious.

From 99-07 Kobe led the Lakers to a 135-137 record in games Shaq didn't play. Kobe's impact is overstated. He was a guy you add to help a team that is already good, he was not a floor raiser. Ant is already better than him by the looks of it.

Thats disingenuous, when he had a good team with Rick Fox, Horry and the like he was able to win games without Shaq.
When he played with the likes of Smush Parker and Chris Mhim the losses naturally piled up.

[One_and_Done]

I do think saying Ant is better than Kobe is wild. They impact the game the same way only Kobe had waaaay more sample size. Its kind of egregious.

From 99-07 Kobe led the Lakers to a 135-137 record in games Shaq didn't play. Kobe's impact is overstated. He was a guy you add to help a team that is already good, he was not a floor raiser. Ant is already better than him by the looks of it.

Thats disingenuous, when he had a good team with Rick Fox, Horry and the like he was able to win games without Shaq.
When he played with the likes of Smush Parker and Chris Mhim the losses naturally piled up.

They had a worse record in the pre-05 period than the 05-07 period, so the facts don't bear your claims out. Mihm was a solid 5 btw, and way too much focus is put on Smush as opposed to the other guys on the team.

112-111 from 05-07 in games Kobe played
23-26 from 99-04 in games Kobe played without Shaq

The guys was not a floor raiser. He was a front runner who was on the title favourites 10 times at least, and won only 5 times.

[MoneyTalks41890]

Pretty laughable some trying to compare him with Jalen Williams

ANT is putting up better numbers while being double teamed and is younger.

The whole defensive strategy of Phoenix and Denver next centers around stopping ANT.

Do teams put that much work into stopping Jalen Williams?

Jalen is a second year player who is less than four months older. And no his numbers are not better. But why engage with the stats, where Ant is extremely inefficient by comparison, when you can just say stuff that fits your agenda?

EPM is the gold standard on advanced stats, where Ant and Jalen are neck and neck, and Shai has Ant almost doubled up.

Point is he's much closer to Jalen than SGA.

[OkcSinceSGA]

I do think saying Ant is better than Kobe is wild. They impact the game the same way only Kobe had waaaay more sample size. Its kind of egregious.

From 99-07 Kobe led the Lakers to a 135-137 record in games Shaq didn't play. Kobe's impact is overstated. He was a guy you add to help a team that is already good, he was not a floor raiser. Ant is already better than him by the looks of it.

When people say I’m “upset” or “overreacting” they will know these are the posts I’m talking about. I’ve literally read multiple posters such as this claim Ant is ALREADY better than prime Kobe or Wade lol.

[One_and_Done]

I do think saying Ant is better than Kobe is wild. They impact the game the same way only Kobe had waaaay more sample size. Its kind of egregious.

From 99-07 Kobe led the Lakers to a 135-137 record in games Shaq didn't play. Kobe's impact is overstated. He was a guy you add to help a team that is already good, he was not a floor raiser. Ant is already better than him by the looks of it.

When people say I’m “upset” or “overreacting” they will know these are the posts I’m talking about. I’ve literally read multiple posters such as this claim Ant is ALREADY better than prime Kobe or Wade lol.

Because he is.

[OkcSinceSGA]

Pretty laughable some trying to compare him with Jalen Williams

ANT is putting up better numbers while being double teamed and is younger.

The whole defensive strategy of Phoenix and Denver next centers around stopping ANT.

Do teams put that much work into stopping Jalen Williams?

Jalen is a second year player who is less than four months older. And no his numbers are not better. But why engage with the stats, where Ant is extremely inefficient by comparison, when you can just say stuff that fits your agenda?

EPM is the gold standard on advanced stats, where Ant and Jalen are neck and neck, and Shai has Ant almost doubled up.

Point is he's much closer to Jalen than SGA.

100% closer to Jalen than SGA, yet some believe he’s better than likely runner up MVP SGA who is worth an estimated 20 wins each of the last two years (he was 5th in MVP last year too).

[Klomp]

Pretty laughable some trying to compare him with Jalen Williams

ANT is putting up better numbers while being double teamed and is younger.

The whole defensive strategy of Phoenix and Denver next centers around stopping ANT.

Do teams put that much work into stopping Jalen Williams?

Jalen is a second year player who is less than four months older. And no his numbers are not better. But why engage with the stats, where Ant is extremely inefficient by comparison, when you can just say stuff that fits your agenda?

EPM is the gold standard on advanced stats, where Ant and Jalen are neck and neck, and Shai has Ant almost doubled up.

Point is he's much closer to Jalen than SGA.

100% closer to Jalen than SGA, yet some believe he’s better than likely runner up MVP SGA who is worth an estimated 20 wins each of the last two years (he was 5th in MVP last year too).

If SGA and Williams are both so great, how did they miss the playoffs last year? Sounds like a massive embarrassment to me.

[jpatrick]

This is ridiculous. It’s like people don’t watch games. Was Ant as good as SGA this year, obviously no. Who would the majority of NBA teams pick going forward, I don’t know. My guess is that it’s a close call.

Jalen Williams is incredible. I think he has a good chance to be this generation’s Pippen. But is he getting those numbers as the absolute focal point of the defense? No. Plus, Ant has no where near the space that either Williams or SGA have. OKC is built to maximize their efficiency with the space provided. Ant plays with KAT (when not injured) and Conley. No one else is above average as a shooter. Obviously Gobert clogs the paint. McDaniels is great but not a shooter. And the Gobert and Slow-Mo minutes are infuriating because opponents essentially put 3 on Ant. Stats without context are meaningless. The fact that Ant, at 22, is putting those numbers up as a focal point on a team with spacing issues that asks him to also play defense is pretty incredible.

[One_and_Done]

Right now Ant's per 100 stats are 40.3p, 10.4r, 8.1a, 648 TS%, on a 128 Ortg, while playing good D. Tell me the playoffs Kobe had that I should compare that too. It's still early of course, but if he keeps this up it's clearly better than anything Kobe did. The dude is killing it out there, and that more than any stat is notable.

[One_and_Done]

Jalen is a second year player who is less than four months older. And no his numbers are not better. But why engage with the stats, where Ant is extremely inefficient by comparison, when you can just say stuff that fits your agenda?

EPM is the gold standard on advanced stats, where Ant and Jalen are neck and neck, and Shai has Ant almost doubled up.

Point is he's much closer to Jalen than SGA.

100% closer to Jalen than SGA, yet some believe he’s better than likely runner up MVP SGA who is worth an estimated 20 wins each of the last two years (he was 5th in MVP last year too).

If SGA and Williams are both so great, how did they miss the playoffs last year? Sounds like a massive embarrassment to me.

They're young.