Anthony Edwards

Nikola Jokic Named Most Valuable Player

May 8th, 2024 at 6:37pm CST by Arthur Hill

Nuggets center Nikola Jokic has been selected as the NBA’s Most Valuable Player for the third time in four years, the league announced (via Twitter).

Jokic won the Michael Jordan Trophy by a wide margin, showing up on all 99 ballots and collecting 79 votes for first place, 18 for second place and two for third place, giving him a total of 926 points. Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished second, collecting 640 total points by coming in first on 15 ballots, second on 40, third on 40, fourth on three and fifth on one.

Rounding out the top five were Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (4-36-50-8-0-566), Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (1-1-4-44-23-192) and Knicks guard Jalen Brunson (0-3-1-28-32-142).

Also receiving votes were Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0-0-1-14-39-89), Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (0-1-1-1-3-18), Kings center Domantas Sabonis (one fourth-place vote) and Suns forward Kevin Durant (one fifth-place vote).

Jokic becomes the ninth player to claim at least three MVP awards (Twitter link). He ties Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Moses Malone, and trails only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (six), Michael Jordan and Bill Russell (five each), and Wilt Chamberlain and LeBron James (four each).

The Nuggets celebrated the honor by tweeting a video tribute to Jokic narrated by his wife, Natalija.

Jokic posted another outstanding statistical season, averaging 26.4 points, 12.4 rebounds and 9.0 assists in 79 games. He shot 58.3% from the field and 35.9% from three-point range as Denver claimed the second seed in the Western Conference.

Bennett Durando of The Denver Post took a closer look at Jokic’s historic season, noting that he finished fifth in the league in total points, third in total rebounds and second in total assists. He also collected 25 triple-doubles and posted a true shooting percentage above 65% for the third straight season while leading the NBA in most advanced stats, including PER, VORP, box plus-minus, and win shares.

“I think he’s stated his case pretty well,” Jamal Murray said today before the award was announced. “He does it every night. It’s hard to do what he does and face the kind of pressure that he does each and every day. He does it in the smallest ways. He makes everybody around us better. He’s a leader on the court and someone we expect greatness from every time he steps on the court. And he’s delivered. … He’s been so consistent all his career, all his MVP runs. He’s been so consistent. So I don’t expect one or two bad games to sway that in any way.”

Northwest Notes: Blazers’ Staff, Edwards, Thunder Bench

May 5th, 2024 at 6:58pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Trail Blazers are shaking up Chauncey Billups’ coaching staff. They are not renewing the contracts of lead assistant Scott Brooks or Chauncey’s younger brother Rodney Billups, Aaron Fentress of the Oregonian reports. They now have three vacancies on the staff, since Steve Hetzel recently departed to join the staff of new Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez.

We have more on the Northwest Division:

Timberwolves All-Star Anthony Edwards torched Denver’s defense for 43 points in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals on Saturday. Edwards received good news from the NBA on Sunday, as the technical he was assessed during the third quarter has been rescinded by the league, Dave McMenamin of ESPN tweets. Edwards was given the tech for staring down Reggie Jackson.
The Thunder–Mavericks series begins on Tuesday and Thunder beat writer Ryan Stiles believes the Oklahoma City’s bench could be a deciding factor. They can call on Cason Wallace, Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins, Gordon Hayward and Kenrich Williams to provide an impact,
In another piece from Stiles, he explores six other storylines to watch in the Thunder–Mavericks series.

Northwest Notes: Connelly, Edwards, Murray, Nuggets

May 5th, 2024 at 1:55pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Nuggets-turned-Timberwolves team president Tim Connelly has reconfigured Minnesota to be potential giant-slayers against the reigning champs, writes Sam Amick of The Athletic. Connelly has made some major changes to the team since taking over the front office in 2022, most notably acquiring former Jazz stars Mike Conley and Rudy Gobert, plus swingman Nickeil Alexander-Walker.

As Amick notes, Connelly’s decision to emphasize an oversized frontcourt seemed like a direct response to two-time MVP Denver center Nikola Jokic. Connelly has, for now, been striving to retain incumbent big men Karl-Anthony Towns and Naz Reid, the latter of whom he signed to a three-season, $42MM contract as a free agent in 2023.

Following an uncharacteristic 106-99 Game 1 Denver loss to Minnesota, Jokic himself praised the opposition’s flexibility.

“I think that’s why they’re good,” Jokic opined. “They can play big. They can play small. …They’re long, physical. They rebound really well. They’re aggressive. I’m satisfied with the shots that I took. Some of them I missed. Some of them I made. So it’s a tough game, and they’re a really good defensive team.”

For his part, three-time Defensive Player of the Year Gobert appeared to be reveling in the challenge of trying to contain – or at least slow – Jokic.

“I mean, to me, he’s the best player in the world,” Gobert told Amick. “He’s soon to be a three-time MVP for a reason, but I think my abilities are unique in the way I can impact the basketball game. That’s why I’m really grateful for Tim Connelly and all these guys for believing in me, bringing me in this situation to help this team become a championship team and be a top defense. That’s who I try to be every day.”

There’s more out of the Northwest Division:

Timberwolves All-Star shooting guard Anthony Edwards has been looking positively Michael Jordan-esque during Minnesota’s playoff run thus far, opines Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. As Thompson writes, Edwards has been used a variety of patented moves, on both ends, that emulte the former Bulls great’s signature style — from clutch fadeaway jumpers to thorough perimeter defense to extended mid-air hang time.
Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray, struggling with a calf strain, has also been dealing with some shooting inconsistencies for much of these playoffs to this point. Those issues popped up again during Denver’s Game 1 defeat against the Timberwolves, according to Ryan McFadden of The Denver Post. During the Nuggets’ five-game first round series against the Lakers, Murray made just 40% of his field goal attempts and 29.4% of his three-pointers. Against Minnesota, the Kentucky vet scored 17 points on just 6-of-14 shooting from the floor.
Now trailing 1-0 to the Timberwolves in their second round playoff series, the Nuggets find themselves playing catch-up in a series for the first time in years, per Tony Jones of The Athletic. As Jones notes, Minnesota is one of the few teams with the kind of big, physical roster that’s truly capable of giving Denver trouble throughout the course of a series. The Nuggets will face the challenge of containing Edwards’ athletic, three-level scoring, in particular, while Minnesota’s frontline is able to at least somewhat mitigate the efficacy of Jokic, Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr.

Timberwolves Notes: Edwards, Game 1, Reid, Gobert

May 5th, 2024 at 9:00am CST by Arthur Hill

Anthony Edwards is putting up historic numbers, and the Timberwolves suddenly look like a legitimate threat to the defending champs, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Edwards sc0red 43 points in Minnesota’s Game 1 victory at Denver Saturday night, joining Kobe Bryant as the only other player 22 or younger with back-to-back 40-point games in the playoffs. His 119 points over the Wolves’ past three postseason games are the most in franchise history.

“To be honest, he’s a special player, I have huge respect for him, he can do everything on the floor,” Nikola Jokic said of Edwards. “You need to give him respect, how good and how talented he is.”

Edwards connected on his first five shots from the field as Minnesota made an early statement by taking an 18-4 lead. He finished 17-for-29 with seven rebounds, three assists, a steal and two blocks. He also radiated the confidence that the Wolves will need to pull off the second-round upset.

“It’s not about introducing ourselves to nobody. We know who we are,” Edwards said. “We’re coming out and as long as we got each other’s backs, it don’t really matter what anybody else thinks.”

There’s more on the Timberwolves:

In a post-game interview with TNT (video link), Edwards credited his Team USA experience last summer with helping to prepare him for big moments. Edwards emerged as one of the stars for the U.S. in the FIBA World Cup and he’s expected to play a major role at this year’s Olympics.
Even with Minnesota’s fast start, it took a strong performance from Naz Reid to get to the finish line, notes Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. With Karl-Anthony Towns in foul trouble, the Sixth Man of the Year had 14 points in the fourth quarter as the Wolves took the lead for good. Reid is eager for the opportunity after missing last season’s playoffs with a wrist injury and barely playing in the 2022 postseason due to personal issues. “I just never gave up. I just fight, fight,” he said. “… Being undrafted kind of got me that edge that I have now. I have my teammates. They kept me up the whole time.”
Minnesota also found ways to frustrate Jokic in Game 1, Hine adds in a separate story. Even though the two-time MVP had 32 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, the Wolves forced him to turn the ball over seven times and were able to disrupt his usual offense late in the game. “Jokic is a very, very smart player, but I think I’m a very smart defender, too,” Rudy Gobert said. “Sometimes you’re going to win some of these, sometimes I’m going to win some of them, and just always try to stay a step ahead in those situations.”

Nuggets/Wolves Notes: Murray, KCP, Connelly, Edwards, Gordon

May 3rd, 2024 at 7:02pm CST by Luke Adams

Jamal Murray was “in and out” of the Nuggets‘ two practices in the days leading up to Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals vs. the Timberwolves on Saturday, head coach Michael Malone said today. As Bennett Durando of The Denver Post writes, Murray was able to play through a left calf strain on Monday when the Nuggets closed out the Lakers, but the injury hasn’t fully healed.

“Just trying to be smart with that calf,” Malone said on Friday. “Knowing that tip-off at 5:00 tomorrow night is priority No. 1.”

When the Nuggets released their initial injury report for Game 1 on Friday, Murray was listed as questionable. However, as Durando tweets, neither the Nuggets’ messaging nor the guard’s comments have suggested that he’s in real danger of missing Saturday’s game unless he experiences a setback.

The news is even better on Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who suffered a sprained left ankle on Monday. According to Durando, Caldwell-Pope was a full participant in both Thursday’s and Friday’s practices. He’s not listed on Denver’s injury report.

Here are a few more notes on the upcoming matchup between the Nuggets and Wolves:

There’s plenty of shared history between the two Northwest clubs, as Jon Krawczynski and Tony Jones of The Athletic detail. While it’s no secret that Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly spent years running Denver’s front office, it’s also worth noting that current Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth used to work for Minnesota. The familiarity between the Nuggets and Wolves, who are meeting in the playoffs for a second straight year, could help create the NBA’s next great rivalry, The Athletic’s duo suggests.
Referring to the Timberwolves as a “really dangerous” team, Nuggets star Nikola Jokic heaped praise on Minnesota guard Anthony Edwards (“He’s a really talented player who can do everything, who has everything in his arsenal”) and lauded former Denver executive Connelly for the job he has done building the Wolves, according to Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports (Twitter link) and Durando of The Denver Post. “I think they’re built really well,” Jokic said. “Hopefully we are not going to get swept. I think Tim Connelly, when he made that (Rudy Gobert) trade, everybody was laughing at him and what he was doing. But he made a great team. And I think he deserves great credit for doing that.”
Aaron Gordon will be a crucial X-factor for the Nuggets in the series, according to Sean Keeler of The Denver Post, who points to the tremendous job the forward did defending Karl-Anthony Towns in the playoffs last spring. When Gordon guarded Towns during that first-round series, the Wolves’ star shot just 37% from the field and had three times as many turnovers (9) as assists (3), Keeler notes.
Seerat Sohi of The Ringer provides an in-depth preview of the series, suggesting that how the Wolves fare against the defending champions will serve as a “true litmus test of their progress.”

Western Notes: Thunder, Doncic, Spurs’ Arena, Edwards

April 30th, 2024 at 10:52pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Youth and playoff inexperience didn’t matter in the Thunder‘s sweep of the Pelicans in the opening round. They’re the youngest team in NBA history to win a playoff series and ESPN’s Tim MacMahon notes that the Thunder got only one basket in the entire series from a player older than 25 (Twitter link).

“There’s a difference between age and maturity,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said, per The Athletic’s Darnell Mayberry. “And we have a mature team. We have a committed team.”

We have more from the Western Conference:

Mavericks star Luka Doncic has been fighting through a knee injury since the first quarter of Game 3 of their series against the Clippers, according to Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News. Game 5 will be played on Wednesday. “It’s hurting, obviously, but it shouldn’t be an excuse, man,” Doncic said after the Game 4 loss. “We just came out a little sloppy. We’ve got to do way better than that.”
There’s a hush-hush tone to the discussions about San Antonio building a downtown arena for the Spurs, Molly Smith of the Express-News reports. City officials have not only been trying to keep their talks secret, they’ve signed legally binding contracts that would penalize them for saying anything about the discussions, or even acknowledging that they’re considering building a new arena. The project, if it advances, could cost $1 billion or more, and San Antonio taxpayers could be asked to foot at least part of the bill.
Anthony Edwards has quickly grown into a leadership role on the Timberwolves at a young age, according to Chris Hine of the Minnepolis Star Tribune. “One thing about Ant, he’s become more of a vocal leader,” assistant coach Micah Nori said. “But he’s also one of those guys that he puts in the work, so guys see him working. He’s got some self humor — you’ve seen all of his interviews — he’s the first one to congratulate and move all of his glory or whatever over to his teammates.”

Northwest Notes: Daigneault, Edwards, Wolves, Nuggets, Jazz

April 29th, 2024 at 2:43pm CST by Luke Adams

A day after Mark Daigneault was named the NBA’s Coach of the Year for 2023/24, Thunder center Chet Holmgren lauded his head coach for his “crazy X’s and O’s” and his ability to connect with one of the NBA’s youngest rosters, per Rylan Stiles of SI.com.

“Shoutout to Mark man. Helluva coach,” Holmgren said. “… (He) puts us all in position to be successful. … He’s not that much older than us. He’s one of the bros.”

As John Hollinger of The Athletic, the world of NBA coaching is a “thankless” one, so now that he has shown the sort of success he can have in the regular season, Daigneault will be judged going forward on how and the Thunder perform in the postseason. Daigneault is off to a promising start on that front, notes Hollinger, pointing to an instance in Saturday’s win in which the Thunder extended their lead by using Gordon Hayward as a small-ball center.

As Hollinger writes, it would have been easy for Oklahoma City to take a conservative approach on Saturday with a 2-0 lead in the series, but Daigneault has shown repeatedly that he “doesn’t do safe and predictable.” His unorthodox strategies – which lean heavily on data and analytics, Hollinger points out – have the Thunder one win away from their first second-round series since 2016.

Here’s more from around the Northwest:

Fourteen-time All-Star Kevin Durant, who was on the receiving end of plenty of trash talk from Anthony Edwards during the Timberwolves‘ four-game sweep of Phoenix, had nothing but praise for the young star after Game 4, tweets Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. “I’m so impressed with Ant. So impressed with Ant,” Durant said of Edwards, who averaged 31.0 PPG during the series. “My favorite player to watch. Just grown so much since he came into the league.”
The Timberwolves‘ dominant first-round victory over the Suns serves as a reminder that many NBA analysts were wrong about the Rudy Gobert trade, according to Jim Souhan of The Star Tribune. There was skepticism about the ability of Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns to be effective alongside one another, but they’ve proven over the course of this season that’s not a problem, Souhan adds.
While both Nuggets point guards are banged up, neither Jamal Murray (left calf strain) nor Reggie Jackson (left ankle sprain) has missed a game yet during the team’s first-round series vs. the Lakers. That streak is up in the air with Murray still considered questionable for Monday’s Game 5, but Jackson seems good to go — he’s listed as probable to play, tweets Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette.
In a report for The Salt Lake Tribune, Andy Larsen, Blake Apgar, Kevin Reynolds, and Robert Gehrke take a look at how the Delta Center – the Jazz‘s home arena – might be affected by team owner Ryan Smith‘s plan to bring the NHL to Utah.

Wolves Notes: Finch, Conley, Edwards, Reid

April 29th, 2024 at 9:01am CST by Arthur Hill

The Timberwolves‘ only major injury concern after their first-round series involves head coach Chris Finch, writes Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic. Finch suffered a ruptured patella tendon in his right leg during a collision with Mike Conley late in Sunday’s game (video link). Conley was dribbling along the sidelines when Devin Booker bumped him into Finch, who fell to the court in pain.

“I didn’t see him at first, I was just trying to push the ball up the floor and Book hip checked me out of bounds,” Conley said.

The injury capped a memorable day for Finch, who finished third in the Coach of the Year balloting, then won his first playoff series as a head coach. He was able to celebrate with the team in the locker room, sitting on a chair as players gathered around him. Finch had to use crutches as he left the arena, and no announcement has been made about treatment plans. The series sweep gives him a few days to rest before the start of the second round.

“Prayers up for him,” Conley said. “I’m sure he’ll be fine. We’ll do it for him and we’ll keep it moving.”

There’s more on the Wolves:

Anthony Edwards has been considered a future star, but his performance against Phoenix shows he’s in that category already, observes James L. Edwards of The Athletic. Edwards scored 40 points on Sunday to finish off the Suns, and he served as the team’s emotional leader throughout the series with a mixture of highlight plays and trash talking. “He’s the face of the league,” Karl-Anthony Towns told reporters after the game. “He hates when I say it, but it’s true. Like I said, ‘Future so bright, got to put the sunglasses on.’”
It took time for Edwards to earn Finch’s trust, according to Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. Although he was the top pick in the 2020 draft, Edwards’ game was unrefined when he entered the league, which caused friction with his coach. “Imma be honest. At first it was like, up and down,” Edwards said. “He don’t want me doing this. He want me to do this. We fighting. Which is like a regular coach-player relationship. … But probably the end of my second year, going into those playoffs, we gained each other’s trust. We took off ever since then.”
Naz Reid was honored to be selected as Sixth Man of the Year earlier this week, Krawczynski tweets. It’s a significant accomplishment for a player who never averaged more than 20 minutes per game before this season. “To get this award is a monumental moment for myself,” Reid said, “just to see how far I’ve come since I started this journey.”

Wolves Notes: Edwards, Phoenix Series, NAW, Defense

April 27th, 2024 at 8:06am CST by Tristan Tucker

The Timberwolves blew out the Suns for a third straight game in the first round of the playoffs on Friday. Anthony Edwards impressed with his shot-making in Game 1; his play-making stood out in Game 2; and in Game 3, he put it all together, Chris Hine of The Star Tribune writes. Edwards had 36 points, nine rebounds and five assists in the 126-109 win to bring the Wolves within one win of their first playoff series win 20 years.

“He’s a smart player he just has had a lot to learn and he’s learned it a lot,” head coach Chris Finch said. “He’s benefiting and we’re really benefiting.”

Edwards has outplayed Phoenix star Devin Booker through three games, averaging 28.0 points, 7.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists to Booker’s 20.3 PPG and 6.0 APG. No team has ever come back from the 3-0 deficit which Phoenix finds itself in.

“We don’t think we broke their spirit until we win Game 4,” Edwards said. “We gotta win Game 4 and then we can say we broke their spirit. You never know man, a lot of crazy things happen.”

For his part, Edwards said he isn’t planning on relenting any time soon.

“I just want to kill everything in front of me,” Edwards said, via ESPN’s Tim Bontemps (Twitter link). “That’s the main thing, pretty much. That’s all there is to it.”

We have more notes on the Wolves:

The Wolves have fully arrived, James L. Edwards III of The Athletic writes. After years without one, Minnesota has an identity, characterized by elite defense and stars. “I don’t care what happened beforehand,” Finch said. “The reality is that we have a bunch of guys who love playing together, play hard and play the right way. They’re young. They let me coach them hard. It’s been fun. That’s been the foundation of being able to grow this little by little. A long way to go for us, but we don’t really care what happened before because that doesn’t relate to any of us.“
Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who was widely viewed as a throw-in in the Mike Conley trade at the 2023 deadline, has come up huge in the playoffs. Alexander-Walker, making $4.3MM next season, hit four big three-pointers in the third quarter and the Wolves outscored Phoenix 32-16 in his minutes. Through three games, he’s averaging 14.7 PPG and 4.0 APG and is shooting 39.1% from deep on 7.7 attempts per contest. Finch complimented the fifth-year guard’s defense and shot-making after the game, according to James Edwards (Twitter link). Alexander-Walker said the credit goes to his teammates, Hine writes. “[Anthony Edwards] trusts me,” Alexander-Walker said. “I think the cool thing about it is none of those shots really go in tonight without the trust of my teammates. To have that feeling, it’s a really good one.“
While they allowed 109 points in Game 3, the Wolves held Phoenix under 100 points in each of the first two games of the series. Jim Souhan of The Star Tribune analyzes seven plays that highlight Minnesota’s dominance on defense. In the regular season, the Wolves led the league in defensive rating and opposing points per game.

Wolves Notes: McDaniels, Gobert, Edwards, Towns

April 24th, 2024 at 2:10pm CST by Luke Adams

Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels had arguably the best game of his four-year NBA career on Tuesday vs. Phoenix, posting 25 points, eight rebounds, and three assists. The Wolves outscored the Suns by 24 points in the 41 minutes he played and were outscored by 12 points during the seven minutes he was on the bench.

As Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic writes, McDaniels has waited all year to shine on this sort of stage after feeling as if he let down his teammates last spring by punching a wall after the regular season finale, breaking his hand and ending his season. The young forward didn’t realize when he went to hit a canvas awning out of frustration that there was a concrete wall behind it, but still felt embarrassed about the injury — and distraught that he wasn’t available to help his club in the playoffs.

“I was sick just watching them play (vs. Denver in last year’s first round),” McDaniels said. “I just felt like it would have been different if I got hurt playing, trying to battle. Just hurting myself, I felt selfish.”

The incident didn’t dissuade the Timberwolves from investing long-term in McDaniels, who signed a five-year, $131MM rookie scale extension in the fall. But he has still been waiting all year for the opportunity to redeem himself in the postseason — through the first two games against Phoenix, he’s well on his way to delivering on that goal.

“His activity’s been on another level so far in two games,” head coach Chris Finch said of McDaniels.

Here’s more on the Wolves:

McDaniels’ strong play in the series vs. Phoenix certainly hasn’t escaped the notice of Suns head coach Frank Vogel, who suggested before Game 2 that his team needs to prepare a plan of attack for the defensive standout. “He’s outstanding,” Vogel said, per Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune. “His length, his athleticism, his quickness, his speed. He’s a great defensive player. We have to make sure we attack him the right away.”
Despite appearing likely to win his fourth Defensive Player of the Year award this spring, Rudy Gobert was voted in The Athletic’s player poll as the NBA’s most overrated player. No one within the Wolves’ organization feels that way though, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic, who suggests that Gobert’s intensity and attention to detail are key reasons why the club didn’t lose three straight games all season. “There’s a difference between being the reason you win and being the reason you don’t lose,” Finch said. “And Rudy is the reason we don’t lose. He doesn’t let us lose these games. He’s been this way all season. He’s an incredible floor raiser and he just brings it and he knows when the team needs him to do this the most. That’s one of the many reasons he’s so valuable for us.”
ESPN’s Tim MacMahon published a similar feature on Gobert this week, exploring why the French center seems to rub so many of his fellow NBA players the wrong way — and why that no longer bothers Gobert.
Speaking to Taylor Rooks of TNT Sports (Twitter video link), Anthony Edwards expressed a belief that he and Karl-Anthony Towns are the NBA’s top duo. If the Wolves advance to the second round, they’d likely be on track to square off against another duo that believes it’s the league’s best: Nuggets stars Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic.

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