With Anthony Edwards scheduled to undergo an arthroscopic knee procedure that will sideline him for two or more months, Timberwolves fans, rightfully so, are freaking out. There are plenty of ramifications that could derail the season, but there are also plenty of reasons why the team will be able to carry on just fine until he gets back.
Jaden McDaniels All-NBA truthers, it’s time to assemble.
Every single time that he has been thrust into a bigger role due to injury, he’s stepped up. Look no further
than last year, when he absolutely took over the Denver playoff series after Ant and Donte DiVincenzo went down with injuries.
How could Jaden be integrated into the offense, you ask? I wouldn’t count on him as a pick-and-roll ball handler, but running him off screens can and will give him the necessary space to get his shots off, especially in the mid-range where we know he excels.
This is a variation of “floppy” action, using screens along the baseline to create space for the offensive player to work. In this instance, Ant gets a floater out of it. There were also times where it was used to get Ant three-point looks as well. You could even see some “flex” action, where a cross screen across the baseline sets up a post-up.
There will still be opportunity to attack close-outs, as LaMelo Ball will probably be asked to penetrate the defense off the dribble more and Ayo Dosunmu beating defenders off the dribble with his speed creating scenarios where Jaden’s defender will have to help off of him then close out. Basketball Reference has Jaden averaging 15 points per game through four games, I’d be willing to bet that that number will rise to 20 or more by the time Ant comes back.
Ayo Dosunmu got paid starter-level money this offseason, and it’s now time for him to prove that giving him all that money was worth it. In my opinion, he definitely is. There’s only so many people who have the speed he has, and he really knows how to use it to create advantages for himself. He’s also more than capable of playing on the ball, which means that LaMelo can continue to do the things that he was doing off the ball while sharing the floor with Ant.
Ayo can even replicate Ant’s defensive role. I’m not saying Ayo is the same player that Ant is, but he can definitely replicate to a degree some of what Ant does. That’s why keeping him around, even if it’s at a price tag higher than some may expect, was so important. I guarantee that this doomsday scenario of one of Ant or LaMelo getting hurt and sitting for an extended period of time was on the mind of Wolves executives when working to get Ayo’s deal done.
Terrence Shannon Jr. has been so good so far this season. The shot is falling, the attacks have been great, and transition offense is and always has been awesome. Now the onus is on him to fully lead the bench unit, with the aforementioned Ayo Dosunmu likely slotting into the starting lineup. TSJ is shooting 50% from both the field and from three specifically this year, according to Basketball Reference. Those numbers will likely drop with more volume, but it’s an excellent starting point. There will also be a lot of time on the ball without Ant, and I can’t think of a much better option off the bench to take the ball with some of those high ball screens to get himself downhill than TSJ.
Now that the bench has lost its best player, everyone is going to have to step up to a gear that they haven’t hit yet. Not just TSJ, but Joan Beringer, Bones Hyland, Trey Lyles, Jaylen Clark, and maybe even Cody Williams or Isaiah Evans. Ant was averaging 33 points per game. That’s a big loss that can’t just be replaced by whoever takes his place with the starters. A player who I’m really curious to see if he gets a shot at some rotation minutes is Cody Williams. I mentioned in my recap of the preseason game against the Bulls that I thought he was going to have a really good stretch of play this season, and now would be a great time for my prediction to come true.
Jonathan Kuminga is someone I will have mixed feelings about while watching the Ant-less games. We won’t ever know what truly happened with Steve Kerr and him. If there are reported struggles with his role and how many shots he’s getting while Ant sit, it could add a layer of dissent into this stretch that I do not want to endure.
We just got done with the moodiness of Julius Randle, and I don’t know about other Wolves fans, but I cannot do that again.
In a perfect world, he takes what the defense gives him, and finds a niche where he’s playing off of LaMelo and Jaden. Chris Finch can even manufacture touches for him, but if he starts chucking up Julius level bad shots I won’t want to watch.
All in all, Anthony Edwards having a surgical procedure done at any point is bad news. However when it comes this early in the season, it’s not the worst. This is a good, maybe even great, team without him. They’re more than capable of playing at or above .500 by the time Edwards comes back, putting them in a perfectly fine place to make a run for a top three seed.
One more thing – Wolves Twitter is abuzz with people whining about not getting this procedure done over the summer, and that needs to stop. Once an athlete has surgery, you can’t go back from that. You can get close, but your body will be forever changed.
With Ant reportedly dealing with ‘runner’s knee,” most of the time rest and rehab work takes care of it, but you also just kind of have to deal with it. Per The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski, an incident happened in the season opener in Miami. Ant tried to play through it. But after a back-to-back on the road, new imaging suggesting that that he should just take care of it now. The goal is for him to be in top shape for the important final stretch.
This is not a fumble of epic proportions. This is something that just happens to guys like Ant and they’re doing the responsible thing by getting it corrected now.
