Charles Barkley believes Anthony Edwards has actually regressed as a player this season. Speaking on Inside The NBA, Barkley noted that Edwards’ decision to shoot more jump shots has actually taken away from his game, as he doesn’t drive to the basket as much. Aside from taking the ball to the hole more, he believes Edwards needs to grow more as a leader to turn things around.
“I actually think Anthony Edwards has regressed. he’s become an outside shooter. He’s not aggressive like he was last year… He’s taking too many threes in my opinion. He’s such a terrific player.”
“If you’re guarding him, you want him shooting threes. Because if he’s going to the basket, he’s dunking on people, he’s getting you in foul trouble, and he’s getting you in the penalty sooner. When he shoots threes, even though he makes them… They end up losing that game…”
“One thing we do on television that is so stupid, like last year, we said ‘This dude is like Michael Jordan’. They’re just both black. He’s not Michael Jordan. I think he’s a great kid and he has a chance of being a great player.”
“But I personally think he’s regressed and become a jump shooter. He’s not aggressive. He’s going to have to become more of a leader. When you have a breakout [season], it doesn’t get easier, it gets harder.”
This season, Edwards has averaged 24.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game while shooting 44.0% from the field, 40.9% from the three-point line, and 81.0% from the free-throw line. He’s averaging 9.7 three-pointers attempted per game this season.
Edwards has been shooting a lot this season, attempting 2.9 catch-and-shoots (converting 1.3 attempts), 11.1 pull-ups (converting 4.3 attempts), and 5.8 attempts from less than 10 feet per game (converting 3.1 attempts).
In terms of frequency of shots, he shoots catch-and-shoots 14.5% of the time, pull-ups 55.8% of the time, and attempts from less than 10 feet 29.2% of the time during games.
Almost all of his catch-and-shoot attempts are three-pointers (2.8/2.9 attempts per game), as he makes 45.6% of shots from three. And 6.8 of his 11.1 pull-up attempts per game are from three, where he converts 40.2% of his attempts. You can check out his shot chart for the season below:
In contrast, last season, Edwards averaged 25.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game, while shooting 46.1% from the field, 35.7% from three, and 83.6% from the charity stripe.
He attempted a fewer amount of three-pointers last season, taking just 6.7 attempts from beyond the arc last season. It is clear that Edwards is shooting better from three, but worse from the field this season compared to the last.
Edwards attempted 2.3 catch-and-shoots (0.9 made), 9.4 pull-ups (3.4 made), and 7.9 attempts from less than 10 feet per game (4.7 made). In terms of frequency of shots, he shot catch-and-shoots 11.7% of the time, pull-ups 47.6% of the time, and attempts from less than 10 feet 40.2% of the time during games.
Much like this season, almost all of his catch-and-shoot attempts last season were three-pointers (2.1/2.3 attempts per game), as he made 41.1% of shots from three. And 3.4 of his 9.4 pull-up attempts per game were from three, as he converted 33.4% of his attempts. His shot chart from the previous season below looks drastically different:
Comparing the two shot charts shows just how much more Edwards would drive to the hole last season. He has changed his game to incorporate a greater focus on three-point shooting. Perhaps he feels the need to attempt more threes due to the absence of Karl-Anthony Towns, who was one of the best shooters on the Timberwolves before he got traded.
Edwards recently complained about being double-teamed, and how that forces him to attempt more three-pointers as he can’t drive to the basket with the increased defensive attention. This might be another reason behind his increased three-point shot attempts this season.
Regardless of the situation, Edwards and the Timberwolves need to figure it out. The team has completely fallen off and is no longer looking like the NBA championship contenders they were last season. Perhaps the first step is to get Edwards to stop shooting so many three-pointers.
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