Bill Simmons thinks very highly of Anthony Edwards now, but back during his rookie season, the veteran analyst didn’t seem to believe he’d be a great player one day. A clip from The Bill Simmons Podcast from 2021 has gone viral on social media where he was speaking about his concerns regarding Edwards.
“He’s a guy that I think is born in the wrong era,” Simmons said. “I think he would have been an unbelievable guy for like 1994. That (Latrell) Sprewell, (Isaiah) Rider, that athletic guard who just has all the gifts and is putting up stats, and we are not really judging him because we don’t have the internet.
“You watch him play, I don’t know if he’s ever gonna put it all together. He might not,” Simmons continued. “… It just seems like at the very very worst-case scenario, he’s going to be a 20-a-game guy in two years. I have no idea if his teams will ever win… I don’t know if he should have been the first pick but he is f***ing gifted.”
Bill Simmons in January 2021:
"I think Anthony Edwards was born in the wrong era. I don't know if he's ever gonna put it all together. I have no idea if his teams will ever win. I'd pick Edwards 4th in a re-draft after Wiseman, Haliburton and LaMelo” pic.twitter.com/IBVaTZf792
— The r/BillSimmons Podcast (@rBillSimmonsPod) May 20, 2024
Simmons was fascinated by Edwards’ athleticism but added that he would have selected him with the fourth pick in a re-draft. James Wiseman would have been his first pick, followed by Tyrese Haliburton and LaMelo Ball.
In case you were surprised about just how highly Simmons thought of Wiseman, he had made quite a statement about the Minnesota Timberwolves passing on him.
“The fact that Minnesota didn’t take him (Wiseman), and I do like Edwards, but if your case for not taking Wiseman is, we already have Karl-Anthony Towns, that’s fireable,” Simmons stated. “Cuz I actually think they could have played together and would have been a real problem and worst case scenario you just trade Towns. Wiseman it’s like, those guys don’t pop up in the draft [often].”
Bill Simmons in January 2021:
“If your case for not taking Wiseman is, we already have Karl-Anthony Towns, that’s a fireable [offense]. Guys like that don’t pop up in the draft [often]” pic.twitter.com/Cy7kTTWN0i
— The r/BillSimmons Podcast (@rBillSimmonsPod) May 5, 2024
When someone has been in the sports media world for as long as Simmons has been, some bad takes are inevitable, but these might have been among the worst of the lot. He ended up being completely wrong about Wiseman and Edwards.
Wiseman was selected with the second pick of the 2020 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors and has gone down as one of the biggest busts in recent NBA history. He was injured for much of his time with the Warriors and didn’t impress when he did step on the court.
That led to Golden State cutting ties with him fairly quickly, as Wiseman was traded to the Detroit Pistons in 2023. Unfortunately, didn’t make much of an impact on his new team either. The 23-year-old now averages 9.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 0.2 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game for his career and is a restricted free agent this summer.
As for Edwards, he certainly has made quite an impact after the Timberwolves selected him with the first pick. The 22-year-old has now led the team to the Western Conference Finals for just the second time in franchise history after they stunningly beat the Denver Nuggets in seven games in the second round.
As for why Simmons and some others weren’t sure Edwards would be all that good, his rookie season wasn’t all that impressive. He averaged 19.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game but shot 41.7% from the field and 32.9% from beyond the arc.
It seemed as if Edwards might end up being another high-volume but low-efficiency scorer, like the ones that Simmons mentioned. There was a time when players of that profile were highly thought of, but not in today’s NBA.
To Edwards’ credit, he worked on his game to be more efficient and has seemingly taken big steps with each passing season. In these playoffs, the two-time All-Star is averaging 28.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 1.7 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game while shooting 50.4% from the field and 39.8% from beyond the arc. Those kinds of numbers would be appreciated in any era.
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