Anthony Edwards is asserting himself in Jordanesque fashion for Minnesota these days, the most promising star on the rise in the NBA.
Edwards, the SEC’s Freshman and Newcomer of the Year in the Covid-shortened 2019-20 season, has showcased his spectacular athleticism in leading his pack of Timberwolves to a 2-0 lead over Denver in the Western Conference semis heading into tonight’s 9:30 p.m. game.
A chiseled 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds, Edwards drives the lane with the explosiveness of Nick Chubb, elevates for dunks like George Pickens high-pointing a ball and fires passes with the accuracy of Matthew Stafford.
“That’s the Dawg in me, that’s the football,” Edwards said in 2019, before arriving to play basketball at the University of Georgia, where his presence led to Georgia setting a total attendance record which still stand today.
“I loved football when I was younger, I was a Dawg. I’m good at football. I can be a wide receiver.”
One year later, Edwards fancied himself as a defensive back.
“Anthony loved football, he saw himself as a cornerback,” said Tom Crean, an ESPN analyst who recruited and coached Edwards at Georgia after successful coaching stints leading Marquette and Indiana. “Our team would be out working on the turf outside the football building, and Ant would be yelling and looking up at the offices and hoping Kirby Smart was watching.
“Sam Pittman watched him one time when he was coming in to work, because that’s where the coaches would park. I think Anthony could have been pretty good at any position in any sport, but yeah, he was hoping Kirby would catch a look during our workouts.”
To Crean’s point, Edwards’ has a rare blend of size, speed and athleticism that would translate to most any sport in a Bo Jackson kind of way.
Seth Coleman, a former youth sports reporter in Atlanta, had a different vision the first time he saw Edwards play basketball.
“With his athleticism, size and development, it reminded me of seeing Cam Newton when he was a sophomore at Westlake High School,” Coleman said.
“Cam was 6-5, 230 and ripped, and that’s who Ant-man looked like in terms of the way he was able to move with that size.”
NBA reporter Ethan Sherwood Strauss recently suggested on The Bill Simmons podcast that Edwards might have more NBA potential than Hall of Fame Kobe Bryant.
Edwards’ athletic prowess is such that Strauss said “he could walk on a football field and run for 1500 yards.”
Edwards did, indeed, play running back in the youth football ranks along with quarterback and cornerback.
Edwards, in watching his youth football highlights with DawgNation Daily host Brandon Adams some five years ago, conceded he was confident he could have found a spot on Kirby Smart’s championship football program.
“Sometimes I’ll be thinking, ‘Man I could play out there with those people,’ " Edwards said, his signature smile in place. “I just don’t like it anymore.”
Edwards did like being selected No. 1 overall in the 2020 NBA Draft.
“It’s a blessing come true, to be from Atlanta and be the No. 1 pick, and go to Georgia and be Georgia’s first No. 1 pick … " Edwards said in his NBA Draft zoom call.
“Everything is just a blessing, and there’s more to come, and I’m ready to get to work.”
Indeed -- but on the basketball court, not the gridiron -- as football-mad fans can only wonder.
