Georgia basketball: Anthony Edwards shines for Timberwolves in Year 2

Former Georgia basketball standout Anthony Edwards showed flashes of becoming a superstar in just his second NBA season.

The Minnesota Timberwolves first overall pick from the 2020 NBA Draft has helped to completely turn the team around, leading Minnesota to just its second playoff appearance since 2004.

The Wolves finished the 2021-22 season with a 46-36 overall record after only winning a total of 42 games in the two previous seasons.

Former Georgia basketball star Anthony Edwards finishes year two strong.

Edwards finished as the Wolves’ second-leading scorer, averaging 21.3 points per game, shooting 44.1% from the field,  35.7% from three and 78.6% from the free-throw line.

After years of mediocre-at-best finishes, Minnesota appears to be trending upwards, led by the young duo of Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns.

The Wolves competed in the NBA Play-In Tournament, defeating the Los Angeles Clippers on the back of Edwards’ 30-point performance to earn the 7-seed in the NBA playoffs.

Edwards averaged 25.2 points per game in the Wolves’ first-round series loss to the 2-seed Memphis Grizzlies, accumulating the most points in a playoff series by any player before turning 21 years old.

In his first career playoff game, Edwards’ 36 points made him the third-youngest player in NBA history to score 35 or more points in a playoff game.

The Wolves ultimately lost to the Grizzlies in six games but gave fans reason to look forward to what’s to come. This team was not supposed to be there in the first place, and a highly competitive series with Memphis showed what the team is capable of when firing on all cylinders.

The Wolves’ shortcomings in that series can be linked almost entirely to the inability to close out games. During Game 3, Minnesota led by 16 points entering the fourth quarter before being outscored 37-12 in the final period to lose the game. Similar lapses occurred in Games 5 and 6 that ultimately cost the Wolves the series.

Memphis was the better team, but Minnesota had every chance imaginable to pull off the upset. The Wolves’ youth and inexperience contributed to a fourth quarter point differential of -62 throughout the series.

As disappointing as it was to let the series slip away, the emergence of Edwards as a future superstar is a silver lining to hold onto moving forward.

Edwards’ ability to elevate his game in the playoffs is an unteachable trait and uncommon in players of that age.

Towns is still considered the face of the Timberwolves, but Edwards is well on his way to taking that title for himself after just two seasons. While Edwards does have some areas of his game in need of refinement, he is one of the best young scorers in the league today.

His versatility makes him extremely tough to defend, as he often displays high-flying dunks and can shoot at a blistering rate from beyond the arc when he gets hot.

Further development of his playmaking could help unlock the full offensive potential of a Wolves team that finished in the top 10 in both offensive rating and points per game.

Experiencing a playoff atmosphere and understanding how the game plays on that stage was vital for Edwards, even in a losing effort. It’s a learning experience, and improving, as a result, will only help to elevate his game even further.

As impressive as he is already at such a young age, the sky is the limit for Edwards in the coming years. He also reminds us that despite it being such an up and down era of Georgia basketball, he was one of the brightest spots and continues to give fans hope.