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0:45

John Krasinski, you were recently

0:47

in Atlanta for an event that took place near

0:49

where Timberwolves star Anthony

0:51

Edwards grew up.

0:52

Can you describe the scene for us and

0:55

explain why it was a significant

0:57

moment for Edwards?

1:01

Yeah,

1:01

it was a really heartwarming scene

1:04

in Atlanta. He grew

1:06

up in a particularly rugged

1:09

area called Oakland City. And

1:11

then here he is returning to

1:14

launch his signature shoe

1:17

with Adidas. As a brand, we say a

1:19

possible is nothing. And you're the epitome

1:21

of that. We are honored to stand with

1:24

you and your family to unveil your first

1:26

signature shoe for the first time, the 81. Can

1:28

we help you all give it up? Make some

1:31

noise!

1:31

You're standing in a parking

1:34

lot of an abandoned flea

1:36

market. And there

1:38

is this giant pink and

1:41

peach Adidas stage.

1:44

And Anthony Edwards, who had

1:46

to scramble to make ends meet,

1:48

is introduced to the home crowd

1:52

with a peach Lamborghini

1:55

that is wrapped like his shoe sitting

1:57

in the parking lot. One of the biggest

1:59

hip hop.

1:59

stars in the world. Lil Baby

2:02

comes on and does a concert in his

2:04

honor. Guy really doesn't need an introduction.

2:07

He's from right here, Oakland City.

2:10

Atlanta's all, I need all the makes of no

2:12

one. Oh, no. The

2:15

city of Atlanta, representatives from the

2:17

mayor's office, renamed August

2:19

5th, which is Anthony Edwards' birthday,

2:22

Anthony Edwards' day in Atlanta

2:25

in perpetuity. And so next year

2:27

and for every year thereafter, August

2:29

5th is going to be Anthony Edwards' day. God,

2:31

I'm freezing. Woo! To

2:36

watch Anthony Edwards soak in that scene

2:39

and really kind of come to grips with

2:41

how far he has come, it

2:43

was pretty emotional. Anthony.

2:48

Anthony,

2:52

help us you here in the league. Anthony

2:55

Edwards is on the verge of

2:57

making the league to NBA Super

2:59

Startup. And screening,

3:02

where they are. Anthony EvJack history.

3:07

And the big group jumps into the zone. ',

3:10

thank you, the collision

3:13

weather. some of us are gonna be

3:15

a game that you're gonna play, you do. Anthony,

3:17

close to learn,

3:18

Anthony, we

3:20

talked all the way in

3:23

a gritty neighborhood in South West Atlanta

3:28

that made him flee. Today,

3:31

the athletic

3:33

teams are gonna feed out the story

3:35

of the words, unlike their eyes, and

3:37

both of

3:38

them will return to his hometown. And

3:41

the loving family that compelled him forward

3:44

and the whole trek, plus

3:47

the whole family and the Edwards bringing

3:50

to his new home city of Minneapolis.

3:53

I'm wondering, and today I'm sure it's gonna

3:56

be your one-day November 8th in

3:58

business.

4:06

So, John, our episode today is about the rise

4:08

of Anthony Edwards, and it's sort of a tale

4:10

of two cities. So, we wanted to start

4:12

with the city where Anthony Edwards grew

4:15

up. You recently spent time in

4:17

Oakland City, where the scene you just described

4:19

took place, and you did a bunch of research

4:21

on it. Tell us a little more

4:24

about Oakland City and give us a brief

4:27

sense of its history.

4:28

Oakland City has a

4:32

rich and checkered

4:34

history in Atlanta. It was

4:37

way back in the day, an area

4:40

of town where black

4:42

people were technically allowed to

4:44

live there while white

4:47

people and white politicians did as

4:49

much as they could to segregate the rest of

4:51

the city. As

4:55

we get into the civil

4:57

rights era of the 50s and 60s,

5:00

Oakland City all of a sudden

5:03

became sort of a hub

5:05

for very influential

5:07

black residents. And a lot of the

5:10

black leaders from Oakland City

5:13

sort of formed an alliance with some

5:15

of the white leaders in Atlanta to

5:18

really try to establish

5:22

a more hospitable

5:24

area for black people in the South,

5:27

which at that time obviously was

5:29

very wrought with all sorts of tension. So,

5:32

ultimately, their incorporation

5:34

into Atlanta helped to establish

5:37

this new model for Atlanta.

5:40

I think all of those factors created

5:43

a fertile climate for

5:46

civil and human rights to have to

5:48

be addressed. At some point, the city coined the

5:50

phrase, a city too busy to hate.

5:53

And for a long time in the 50s

5:56

and 60s, it really did

5:58

have a reputation of one

6:01

city in the South where Black

6:03

people and white people were able

6:06

to live together, govern together,

6:08

and work together in some

6:10

sort of harmony. And

6:15

then as we get into the 1970s and 1980s is sort of when the splintering

6:18

again begins, some

6:23

economic hardships fall on Oakland

6:25

City and there is

6:27

a long period of that

6:30

area really falling victim

6:32

to real estate problems,

6:35

to vacant housing, to crime.

6:37

So it has really gone on a long

6:40

and winding road. The area of Oakland

6:42

City is now referred to by

6:45

Outcast, by Goody Mob, by some of the

6:47

very prominent hip-hop artists

6:49

who call Atlanta home as

6:51

SWATS, S-W-A-T-S,

6:54

and that stands for Southwest Atlanta

6:56

Too Strong.

7:06

And

7:09

that really embodies sort of the spirit,

7:12

the grit, and the determination

7:15

of the people in that area. How

7:17

is it

7:20

a little bit about

7:21

Anthony Edwards' life growing up there? Who

7:23

were the people in his immediate family and what

7:25

were they like?

7:26

So Anthony Edwards grew up in

7:28

a very tight household.

7:31

His mother was a single mother who looked

7:33

over the whole family. He had

7:35

two older brothers and an older sister. Anthony

7:38

was the baby of the family. But

7:40

in the time that they were growing up there,

7:42

Oakland City was a tough area

7:45

and the neighborhood had a lot

7:47

of concerns about safety, about crime,

7:50

about gang activity. The Edwards

7:52

clan really kind of stayed

7:54

together with their mother, with

7:57

their grandmother. And those two

7:59

women... and really looked

8:02

over the kids in a very

8:04

protective manner. They were establishing

8:07

the ground rules of when they could go

8:09

out and where they could go. The only time

8:11

they ever really ventured

8:13

away from their house

8:16

was to

8:17

go to Anthony's football games,

8:19

to go to basketball games. Antoinette,

8:22

his older sister, was a cheerleader and

8:24

would go to those activities. I feel like

8:26

they did a great job of raising us and

8:28

letting us know like everything right here

8:30

is not for free, you gotta work for what you want.

8:33

Just

8:34

raises the correct way.

8:36

But when it was time for recreation,

8:39

when it was time for kids to be kids,

8:41

it was, hey guys, let's just stick in the backyard,

8:44

let's stay together, you have everything you need

8:46

right here with the four of you. The

8:49

family really just had this

8:51

very, very tight unit that

8:53

stuck together and tried to avoid

8:56

some of the trouble that was just right outside their door.

8:58

And tell us a bit more about Anthony Edwards'

9:01

athletic prowess and the buzz

9:03

around him when he was growing up.

9:05

Yeah, one of the most interesting things about Anthony

9:07

Edwards' emergence as an NBA

9:09

basketball star is that

9:12

that was not his sport as a kid.

9:14

He was a football player through and

9:16

through. I'm trying

9:18

out for the faggots, QB, man. Y'all

9:21

need to get a number five, man. Donovan meeting out,

9:23

out! Recognized at

9:26

a very young age of having this

9:28

incredible athletic ability

9:31

and also this real natural

9:33

charisma and charm about him that

9:36

sort of made people gravitate to him.

9:38

Sounds like you're just an athlete. Yeah.

9:41

And he's, okay, ping pong, baseball,

9:43

football, basketball. Pinnies, swimming,

9:46

lacrosse, whatever you need me to play, I'm gonna go

9:48

do it. If there's some money online, I'm gonna go do it. And

9:51

there are videos on YouTube

9:53

that you can go look up of Anthony Edwards'

9:55

highlights as a youth football star. And

9:57

he's breaking off long touchdown runs.

10:00

And one of the things that his

10:02

family still kind of smiles

10:04

about and laughs about today is that

10:07

they remember Anthony Edwards'

10:09

mother being one of the few

10:11

people who could keep up with him on

10:14

the field. And she would chase down the sideline

10:16

as Anthony Edwards was running away from the

10:18

rest of the competition and cheering her son

10:21

on.

10:28

Her voice carried through the

10:31

neighborhood. She was a very vocal supporter

10:32

of all of her children, particularly

10:43

Ant-Man, as he was called back then, the

10:45

baby of the family. And so

10:47

as hard, I think, as that

10:50

family had it growing up, there

10:52

was a deep love and connection

10:55

with the brothers and sisters and with

10:57

mom and grandma that really provided

10:59

the cocoon around Ant-Man

11:03

so that he was able to kind

11:05

of develop into the star

11:07

that he became. And

11:08

John, you had an anecdote in your story

11:10

about how competition was not just

11:13

on the football field. It took place in the

11:15

house as well. Can you explain?

11:20

Yeah, I think one of my favorite parts

11:22

of this story is listening to Anthony

11:25

Edwards' older sister, Antoinette,

11:28

tell the stories about Sunday

11:30

nights in the Edwards household.

11:32

They lived in a rather modest

11:34

apartment in Oakland City. And

11:38

on Sunday evenings, Ant's mom

11:40

would want to kick her feet up, sit in her bed,

11:43

watch some Lifetime movies and just relax

11:45

before the week ahead of her.

11:47

And every Sunday night,

11:50

it was a race between Antoinette

11:52

and Anthony to see who could get into

11:56

Yvette's bed and cuddle with their mom

11:58

first. We vote with me in

12:00

there, like we vote with me in there, and she would be like,

12:02

okay, money I'd like to go. But we both will

12:04

end up sleeping in there together with her. And

12:07

so there was kind of a real estate rush,

12:09

if you will, to get there, spend time

12:11

with mama, and they

12:13

would argue over it, they would compete

12:15

over it. A lot of times they would all three

12:18

squeeze into bed together, but Antoinette said,

12:20

Ant was the baby, a lot of times he won out on

12:23

that. And so they would just sit there, watch

12:25

the movies, relax before

12:27

a week of school, a week of work came ahead.

12:32

Well,

12:32

that brings us to the part of the

12:34

story where the Edwards family experienced

12:37

not one, but two tragic

12:39

losses. Can you explain what happened

12:41

and how the family responded?

12:43

Yeah, just a heartbreaking situation,

12:45

Tiff, when you think about how close

12:48

this whole family was growing up and how

12:51

big of a role that Yvette,

12:53

Anthony's mother and Shirley, Anthony's

12:56

grandmother, played in just establishing

12:59

the family unit and looking

13:01

after these kids. When

13:06

Anthony was 14 years old, within

13:08

several months of each other, Yvette

13:10

and Shirley both died from cancer.

13:13

And those two deaths,

13:16

one on top of each other, absolutely

13:18

rocked this family and

13:20

really this community as well. They knew

13:22

Yvette, they knew Shirley, they

13:25

could hear Yvette's voice all

13:27

over town and they knew what

13:29

kind of a connection she had

13:32

to her children. We were going to my mom was real

13:34

tough.

13:35

And my grandma, she was like,

13:37

our bat mom seemed like no matter what happened,

13:39

they're like, just smile, because you're able to wake up and see

13:42

the next day.

13:43

They lost their North

13:46

Star and that really put

13:49

so much more pressure on Antoinette,

13:52

who was, I believe, 19 at the time, to

13:55

take custody of the boys and

13:58

really try to... to lead

14:01

this family forward. She's

14:03

pretty much like, kept everything together, man.

14:05

She was like the staple of everything, and like

14:08

with me and my two brothers were like a sheet of paper,

14:10

and she was accused of stapling, so she kept everything

14:12

together, so a big shout out to her. Instead

14:15

of letting it completely devastate

14:18

and destroy them, what we saw instead

14:20

was a group of kids who just banded

14:22

together even stronger and

14:24

said, we are all each other has,

14:27

we have to keep going forward because

14:30

that is what Yvette and Shirley taught us to do,

14:32

and so Antoinette got

14:35

herself an apartment for the

14:37

family, and they piled into there, and

14:39

they just went about figuring

14:42

out how to make this all work, and

14:44

so the resilience that they showed, the

14:47

strength that they showed, really is, I think,

14:49

the defining characteristic of

14:52

this family that has allowed Anthony

14:54

to get to where he is today.

15:00

So as you said, Anthony Edwards was 14

15:02

years old when he lost his mother and grandmother.

15:05

What were the next few years of his basketball

15:08

journey like, and how did he emerge as

15:10

a guy with the talent to go first

15:12

overall in the NBA draft?

15:14

So one thing that Anthony

15:16

never has done is

15:19

he's never wallowed in the

15:21

loss of his

15:23

mother and grandmother. Any time

15:25

that he has asked about it, any time that he

15:28

talks about it, he mentions some

15:30

of the pain that he felt, but really

15:32

what he said is he ultimately threw

15:35

himself into basketball as sort

15:37

of an escape, as a release. I

15:39

just kept playing basketball. Like, me

15:41

and my brother told each other we wanna stop playing basketball

15:44

because of it, because we know that if they were still here,

15:46

they would want us to keep playing.

15:48

So I just channeled all my edits towards basketball,

15:50

stopped worrying about everything. And he got together

15:53

with an athletic trainer by the name of

15:55

Justin Holland, who is now his business

15:57

manager. You would never guess, you know,

15:59

I think. that the things that he's done with his life just

16:01

cause he carries everything. He's smiling,

16:04

you know, just jubilant, full of jokes

16:06

and full of life, you know, that's the same person who was

16:08

like that. And really what

16:10

you saw in the wake

16:13

of the tragedy was an entire

16:15

community that threw its arms

16:17

around Anthony Edwards, whether it was teachers, coaches,

16:20

trainers, neighbors, family

16:23

members, they all could see

16:25

this raw natural talent

16:28

and the potential for him to

16:30

make something out of himself. And so Anthony

16:33

started working very closely with Justin Holland,

16:35

started to really

16:38

figure out what it meant like to practice,

16:40

to work on his game, to sacrifice. And

16:44

so Anthony started to play

16:46

in high school at a public school in the area,

16:48

Thoreau High School. He eventually transferred

16:51

to a private high school on

16:53

the North side of town to get a little bit more

16:56

one-on-one time, a little bit more academic development.

16:59

And all of those things. And that was

17:01

an hour commute each way from

17:04

his house in Oakland city.

17:06

The days and the commute would be so taxing

17:09

on him physically. He would get into his school

17:11

day after an early morning

17:13

workout and he would be exhausted. And

17:16

so he had an advisor, an academic

17:18

advisor named Rachel Little, who

17:21

would allow him during lunch hour to

17:23

come into her classroom. And

17:25

he would just curl up on the floor,

17:27

put a hoodie underneath him for a pillow and

17:30

sleep for 20, 30 minutes. These

17:32

are the kinds of sacrifices that he made

17:35

individually, but also the

17:37

kinds of understanding that

17:39

the people around him, including Rachel Little,

17:42

did to accommodate just what

17:44

this young man had to deal with

17:46

and just finding ways to make

17:50

something work in adverse situations. That's

17:52

really the Anthony Edwards story.

17:54

And John, bringing this back to the scene

17:56

we started with and two of the women who

17:58

were so important in shaping. Edwards

18:00

life. Can you tell us about the reveal

18:02

that happened at a sneaker event?

18:04

Yeah, you know, I still kind of get a little

18:06

teary thinking about it right now. So Anthony

18:08

Edwards is in his fourth season with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

18:11

I've gotten to know him very well.

18:13

But one of the areas

18:16

that he is rather

18:18

closed off about and just does not want to discuss

18:21

publicly are his personal

18:23

feelings about how he

18:25

managed that loss. He has these

18:28

gestures that really underscore

18:31

how important those two women were to him. He has

18:33

a tattoo on his arm that

18:36

honors his mother. Another major

18:38

move for him this summer was

18:41

to change from number one, the

18:43

jersey number he had for those first three years in

18:45

Minnesota to number five.

18:47

We

18:48

hear because I'm one of the world's

18:50

fans that I'm switching from number one

18:52

to number five this year. Finally,

18:54

and number five has always been kind of

18:57

the Edwards family number. He

18:59

had it in college, he had it in high school, a

19:01

Timberwolves teammate had it when he was drafted

19:03

here. And so he could not get it until this

19:06

season. But it is deeply important

19:09

to him a lot of big, big days

19:11

on the fifth, my birthday, my sister's birthday.

19:14

You know, my grandma passed on the fifth. So

19:17

I mean, just big, big days, big days.

19:19

His mother and his grandmother both passed away

19:22

on the fifth of a month. And so

19:24

having that number on his chest and on his

19:26

back is also a way of him

19:29

kind of keeping them close

19:31

to him. But he is standing on the stage

19:33

at this shoe launch back in Oakland

19:36

City back in that parking lot, right

19:38

next to that flea market. And there's

19:40

a giant wall that faces

19:43

the parking lot and faces the stage

19:45

that he is standing on. When he gets up there,

19:48

it's covered by just this huge curtain.

19:50

But as the ceremony continues,

19:54

one of the heads of Adidas basketball says

19:56

we have one final gift for

19:59

you. And

20:02

before I go, we got one last surprise to honor

20:05

you and your family and your community

20:07

forever. We want to give you an incredible

20:09

mural that we have over here to the South.

20:12

So let's hold that down. Oh,

20:16

wow. And the curtain drops

20:19

and it's a mural with a picture

20:22

of Anthony Edwards face with

20:24

Yvette and Shirley right next to him. And

20:28

watching him process

20:30

this as he thought because it was complete

20:32

surprise to him. He takes his hat

20:34

off of his head, scratches his head

20:37

and is at a complete loss for

20:40

any words because this

20:43

is his hometown where

20:45

he rose from very

20:47

difficult circumstances. And

20:50

he did not cry, but

20:52

it looked like he was pretty close a couple of times to

20:54

his family members who were in the

20:56

audience were weeping. There were not

20:59

a lot of dry eyes in the house as

21:01

they saw that. And

21:03

the emotional impact of that

21:06

was just incredible. And Ant told me afterwards

21:08

that now every time that he

21:10

goes back to Atlanta, he's going to make sure

21:13

that he drives by it. There is such

21:15

a sense of pride that this

21:17

is the Edwards family and this is the mark

21:20

and the legacy that they have left. And

21:22

this is a neighborhood that needs

21:24

inspiration that is finding that

21:27

in him and in their story. And it

21:29

was a really powerful moment.

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Real

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22:53

all about it on Watch What Crappens.

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Our podcast is daily and it covers

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24:41

Okay, John, now we're going to travel about 1100 miles

24:44

northwest of Atlanta to Minneapolis

24:47

to look at how that city is motivating

24:49

Anthony Edwards and vice versa. So

24:52

first, can you just refresh our memory,

24:54

big picture on the Timberwolves place

24:57

in the Minnesota sports landscape?

24:59

Yeah, they've had a very difficult

25:02

road here over the last 20 or

25:04

so years. Julie, let me tell

25:06

you, you can just feel the disappointment in the

25:08

air here in downtown Minneapolis after tonight's

25:11

unfortunate loss. But you know, many people we spoke

25:13

with say they aren't giving up on the wolves

25:15

just yet. There was... It

25:17

is a clear hierarchy with

25:20

the Minnesota Vikings right at the top. You

25:22

have the Twins and the Wild

25:25

right after that because they

25:27

have been in the playoffs

25:29

and had a little bit of success. And

25:31

then you have the Timberwolves in the clear fourth place.

25:34

They just stopped.

25:36

They just stopped touring. They

25:38

followed the teams. They're

25:41

in Minnesota. They usually cheer. They have

25:44

been one of the most dysfunctional

25:46

franchises in professional

25:48

sports over the last say 20 years

25:51

or so. They have three playoff

25:53

appearances in that time. They

25:55

have made a cottage industry

25:58

of firing coaches and general... managers

26:00

and having crazy drama

26:03

within their organization. It is

26:05

a franchise that has rarely been

26:08

taken seriously in this town in recent

26:11

memory until, not coincidentally,

26:14

Anthony Edwards arrived and started to

26:16

kind of give a little bit more hope to the people

26:19

around here.

26:19

And can you give us a quick snapshot of what Edwards

26:22

has done over the past year to create

26:24

an incredible amount of hype and hope?

26:26

What has his move toward NBA Superstar

26:29

looked like?

26:30

Yeah, it's been really neat to see a very

26:32

worn down fan base now start

26:34

to connect with what they see as a dynamic,

26:38

vibrant, star level young

26:40

player.

26:42

He has played incredibly

26:45

well in both of the Timberwolves

26:47

playoff series the last two years against Memphis

26:50

and against Denver. 22 seconds

26:53

left in overtime. Edwards,

26:56

towards the fence at a switch cross

26:59

over. We can! This

27:03

kid is a live wire.

27:05

And I think that the fans

27:07

seeing this player

27:10

really rise to the moment, even

27:12

if their team did not win those series,

27:15

they have a player who they know is becoming

27:19

really difficult to deal with on

27:21

a national stage.

27:24

Unafraid of the moment,

27:27

wants the responsibility when

27:30

his team needs him most. And

27:32

then he was with Team USA this

27:34

summer at the World Cup and

27:36

quickly became the most important player

27:40

on that team. The leading scorer, the one that

27:42

everyone looked to when

27:44

things were going wrong. Do you

27:46

feel like there was any unfair

27:49

officiating and how did that affect you? Nope,

27:53

they beat us fair and square man. Shout

27:54

out to number 22. He hit two

27:57

big drees. Shout out to him man.

27:59

night, maybe

28:02

the fair score. So now all

28:04

of a sudden you don't just have this 22

28:07

year old young player who is establishing

28:09

himself but you have a fan

28:11

base of a team that is used to being

28:14

overlooked. Suddenly they

28:16

have something to be proud

28:17

of. And

28:20

so they have fallen very hard

28:23

for Anthony Edwards very quickly

28:25

both for his play on the court and

28:27

then just kind of this very

28:30

authentic, charming, charismatic

28:33

personality. And so it's

28:35

been really interesting to see the quick

28:38

connection that has developed between this 22

28:41

year old kid from Atlanta and

28:44

this very skittish fan

28:46

base with the Timberwolves that just need something

28:48

good to happen to them.

28:50

And John, you wrote about something a bit

28:52

unusual that's been happening around town

28:54

in Minneapolis, some strange landmarks

28:57

popping up. Can you explain?

28:59

Yeah, one of the very cool things

29:01

that has sprouted from this relationship

29:04

between the fans and Anthony Edwards

29:07

is they have just randomly

29:10

now started to appear

29:12

at seemingly unexplainable

29:14

locations, little sort

29:17

of chachkes, little art pieces

29:20

that look very

29:22

similar to Anthony Edwards.

29:27

There is a ridge right in Minneapolis

29:30

called the Franklin Avenue Bridge and there's

29:32

a very small little depiction

29:34

of a basketball player with the number

29:37

one on his back dunking over a

29:40

player that is wearing white and red.

29:43

And so it looks almost exactly

29:45

like Anthony Edwards dunking over Miami Heat

29:47

player Gabe Vincent, which is one

29:49

of the first electric plays that Edwards

29:52

had that really captured the imagination

29:54

of fans. And, awesome things!

30:05

There is a little bakery

30:07

in South Minneapolis and right

30:09

behind a bench is

30:11

another little scene of a player

30:14

in red and black dunking a basketball

30:17

again and Anthony Edwards went to the University

30:19

of Georgia, wore red and black, a

30:21

uniform. We don't know who is

30:23

doing it. There may be more around

30:25

town as well, but it's becoming like a

30:27

little scavenger hunt that people kind of

30:30

go looking for these things. And

30:32

it's something that is so small, it's not

30:34

a giant mural anywhere. It's

30:37

just a little thing that lets people know that

30:39

hey, Anthony Edwards is connecting

30:42

with fans at a grassroots level. And

30:44

there is a pride that Minneapolis

30:47

now is taking in being home

30:49

to Anthony Edwards, much like Oakland

30:51

City takes its pride in

30:54

being home to Anthony Edwards.

30:58

And how in your opinion have

31:00

Edwards and the Timberwolves look so far in

31:02

this still very young NBA season?

31:05

So Edwards came into this

31:07

season expecting to make

31:09

a leap, another leap. He wants to

31:11

be the guy who

31:13

is an all NBA player, who is a top 15 player.

31:17

And his numbers right now are

31:20

painting that picture. He is averaging

31:23

career highs in points

31:25

through five games, in rebounds,

31:28

and he's tied for his career high in assists. He

31:31

is shooting 54% from

31:33

three point range, which is an unbelievable

31:36

percentage, even for a guy who has

31:39

done prolific in that area. One

31:41

of

31:41

the things that he

31:43

has really had to balance this

31:47

year is there is all this hype around

31:58

him. He wants to be the star.

31:59

star but when he has run into

32:02

trouble early in the season is when

32:04

he becomes too thirsty for

32:08

chasing points and Anthony Edwards has acknowledged

32:10

this after the game he told me the other

32:12

night that sometimes he worries

32:15

too much about how many points

32:17

he's scoring. It's gorgeous playing

32:19

within the game, playing within the flow. I be worried

32:21

so much about scoring and how many points I

32:23

got and how many points I'm trying to get instead

32:26

of just worrying about you know the little

32:28

things. Rebound and boxing out, getting back on D. The

32:30

difficult thing for him is he is so athletic,

32:33

he is so dynamic that he can really

32:36

get to his shot whenever

32:38

he wants it. Now he has to make

32:40

the right decisions about when that's a good

32:42

shot to take and when it's time to get

32:45

teammates involved and that is when the Timberwolves

32:47

believe that they are at their best. It's

32:49

never really like a certain number, I'm just trying to score

32:51

as many points as I can. When

32:54

I'm not doing that I think we're in good shape. The

32:57

Wolves came into this season expecting

33:00

to be a contender in the Western Conference

33:02

and early on we've seen both

33:05

signs of having that potential

33:08

and also signs that there's still a work in progress.

33:10

They have been the number one ranked defensive

33:13

team in the league through five games.

33:15

The very interesting part about them

33:17

so far is that where

33:20

they have had some wrinkles is on the offensive

33:22

end and they have Anthony Edwards and Carl Anthony Towns

33:24

who are two of the most talented

33:27

offensive players in the entire league

33:29

and it's just taken a little time for them to

33:32

mesh with Rudy Gobert, with Jadon

33:34

McDaniels, with everyone around them. They

33:36

had a very good game over the weekend

33:39

where Towns and Edwards both started to make

33:41

some shots against Utah and then you

33:44

really see that when this

33:46

offense is really clicking on all

33:48

cylinders they look like a very hard

33:51

matchup and Edwards is leading

33:53

that charge on the offensive end

33:55

and so they're very optimistic

33:58

about where they can go with this from

34:00

what they've seen in the first five games.

34:02

Finally, John, as we've talked about,

34:05

Edwards is a 22 year old who is carrying

34:07

the hopes of his hometown

34:10

and his adopted hometown. Is

34:12

he built to carry that burden?

34:14

You know, I was wondering about that. Tiff says,

34:16

I went down to Atlanta and spent

34:19

time with him there and really kind

34:21

of looked at the whole

34:24

operation and the way that so many people

34:26

are looking up to him. And it's

34:28

the same thing back here. I mean, the Timberwolves

34:31

are a desperate organization. There

34:36

are so many people relying on a 22 year

34:38

old young man to

34:40

be the one who changes everything

34:43

for them. So far,

34:46

it looks like...