Edwards has that gift. He is built like a running back: herky-jerky shoulders atop the most talked-about thighs in the league. Every time he catches the ball, he looks like he is doing a little dance before he makes his move, trying to twist the defender into a pretzel before exploding into a shot or drive. While many players have to adjust to the way defense is played in the NBA, Edwards is already used to having defenders tightly chase him over screens and having to work every angle, just like Walker.
“If you can feel the defender still on your hip when you’re going off the screen and they stay tight and they don’t go under the screen, then you can just keep going downhill towards the rim ’cause he’s already on your hip and you can make the play,” Edwards said. “But if he goes under it, you can flip the screen, you can retwist the screen and come off it again and get downhill into the pull-up. It’s all a feel for the game that you get.”
Walker has mastered this cat-and-mouse game over the years, while Edwards is making the transition to playing it against much bigger, faster and smarter defenders. In college, Edwards would keep taking what the defense was giving him, between a lane to the hoop or the deep shot, and then know when to catch it off balance. But against NBA defenses, he has been noticing they are just pushing him into open space near the sidelines and giving him the midrange shot.
“He’s got a very unique skill set, which is pretty impressive, man,” Walker said of Edwards. “Like, his shot-making ability — it’s crazy.”
