T-wolves take Edwards 1st in NBA Covid-19-delayed drat
The Minnesota Timberwolves, who finished 19-45 in the coronavirus-hit 2020 season, made University of Georgia standout Anthony Edwards the first overall selection in the pandemic-delayed NBA drat on Wednesday.
Timberwolves’ prime pick, who averaged 19 points per game as a freshman, enables them to bolster a roster that includes young stars Karl-Anthony Towns and D’angelo Russell.
“I feel like I’m going to fit perfect with those guys because Russell likes to play off the ball sometimes, and I can play on the ball,” Edwards said in a virtual press conference from his home in Georgia.
“When he wants to play on the rock, I can play off the ball. And KAT is the best three-point shooting big man in the league. So I feel we can’t go wrong with that, a lot of pick-and-pops, pick-and-rolls and such.”
The Golden State Warriors took centre James Wiseman with the second overall pick and the Charlote Hornets -- owned by NBA icon Michael Jordan -- made guard Lamelo Ball the third selection.
Edwards, a 6-foot-5, 220-pound guard from Atlanta who spent his lone collegiate season at Georgia, joins a young Timberwolves core led by star centre Karl-anthony Towns and point guard D’angelo Russell.
Edwards led all Division I freshmen with 19.1 points per game and was the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year. The 2020 drat comes five months ater it was originally scheduled in June and barely four weeks ater Lebron James and the Los Angeles Lakers clinched the NBA Finals.
And it comes just five weeks before the 2020-21 campaign tips off on Dec.22.
That means the NBA’S newest top recruits face being thrown in at the deep end ater an unprecedented last leg of their journey to the league.
The Warriors, who finished last in the Western Conference ater a season marred by injuries to Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, got another injury scare hours before the drat with what they called a leg injury to Thompson in training, the severity of which was not immediately known.
In Wiseman they get a player who hasn’t played organized basketball in more than a year. He played just three games for the University of Memphis to aim at the NBA drat.
“This drat process has been the longest for me, so I’ve just been working on my game,” said the 7t 1in (2.16m) centre who is an imposing presence at the rim. Ball, the youngest of three basketballplaying brothers who already have their own reality TV show, was touted as a potential top selection.
But erratic shooting ability may have weighed
The Golden State Warriors took centre James Wiseman with the second overall pick and the Charlote Hornets — owned by NBA icon Michael Jordan — made guard Lamelo Ball the third selection
against the 6t 7in 19-year-old from California whose path to the NBA included stints playing professionally in Lithuania and Australia. He averaged 17 points, 7.4 rebounds and 6.8 assists in 31.2 minutes over 12 games for the Illawarra Hawks in Australia’s National Basketball League this past season.
The Chicago Bulls took Patrick Williams with the fourth pick, Isaac Okoro went fith to the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Atlanta Hawks took Onyeka Okongwu sixth overall.
French point guard Killian Hayes, who has been playing with ratiopharm Ulm in Germany, went seventh overall to the Detroit Pistons -- the highest overseas player taken this year.
Hayes, 19, averaged 11.6 points and 5.3 assists per game in 2019-20 in Germany’s top league and is expected to combine well with last year’s first-round pick, Sekou Doumbouya, who is also from France. Deni Avdija, 19, became the highest-drated player from Israel when the Washington Wizards took him ninth.
Avdija, who played for Israeli powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv at 16 and averaged 12.9 points per game in the 2019-20 Euroleague season, was tabbed by the Wizards a year ater they made Rui Hachimura the first player from Japan to be drated in the first round.
For the first time two players born in Nigeria -- Precious Achiuwa and Udoka Azubuike -- featured in the first round. Achiuwa was taken 20th by the Miami Heat and Azubuike 27th by the New York Knicks.