Anthony Edwards Sparks a Debate: Evolution of Skill in the NBA and the Pressure to Win

So Anthony Edwards ruffled a few feathers with his statement saying that there wasn’t a lot of skill in the league when Jordan came in, and that Kobe essentially came in and took it to another level. Now, this rubbed Magic Johnson the wrong way. He basically came out and said, Anthony Edwards, you know you never won anything. I don’t want to listen to anyone who’s never won a championship. I don’t even know if you won in high school. Then Kevin Garnett kind of added on to that, saying that Edwards was misinformed and that he needs to go back and rewatch some of those games. And I feel both sides of this argument, hear me out now, for magic and their generation, it’s hard to say that, you know, that they weren’t skilled cause you can see clips of, you know, Isaiah Thomas, Larry Bird, magic himself, like they were doing things, Jerry West. They were out there doing things that other guys on the court couldn’t necessarily do. But there also weren’t that many skilled players on each roster. You probably had two, maybe three guys that can do those types of things. Now, if you fast forward to the Kobe generation, Kevin Garnett, Vince Carter, Allen Iverson, Tracy Mcgrady, the list goes on. Those guys took it to another level because not only were they skilled, but they were athletic as well. So I do feel like it evolved around that time. And I think That’s essentially what Anthony Edwards is alluding to, he’s just not saying it in the right way. And to be fair, now you have probably eight to nine guys on a team that are legit highly skilled, as opposed to maybe in the mid 2 when you had four to five, or even in the 90s and 80s when you had two or three. So the evolution of the game has taken place. And I do think that’s essentially what Anthony Edwards is trying to say. And it’s hard to take this kind of stuff because you don’t know what kind of context is in. I think this is when he had his interview with Jalen Rose and Kevin Durant, if I’m not mistaken. But at the end of the day, man, I do think that the most important part of this video is this. Anthony Edwards better win something. And he better win something. So. Cause when you make all these statements and you start pissing off all these legends and media members, they’re going to be on your head if you don’t perform well and if you don’t essentially win a championship within these next two to three years. So maybe this is a way to motivate himself, maybe to motivate his teammates, I don’t know. Cause Edwards, I will say he stands on what he says like he stands on business. So I’ll give him that. But I would advise him to win and win soon. And If he does, man. Hey, I think this is good for the league. Yes, it’s a little bit disrespectful. I wouldn’t say that if I were him. But I’m not Anthony Edwards. And also I don’t have his kind of talent, I don’t have his kind of charisma. This is what makes him go and this is what works for him. So let me know what you think in the comments, man. Which side are you on? And more importantly, do you think that Edwards is going to be able to back up all of this talk that he’s been doing? Cause honestly, I think he will.