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Anthony Edwards is looking like the next in a long line of great NBA wings. Michael Jordan has become the exemplar of this group (for obvious reasons), but at the time even Michael Jordan was the next somebody.
In the table below, I've jotted down stats from recognizable periods of each great wing's career. Can you identify who's who?
The options are, in chronological order
  • Dr. J
  • MJ
  • Kobe
  • Jimmy Buckets
  • Kawhi
  • Ant Man
StatPlayer 1Player 2Player 3Player 4Player 5Player 6
Points30.127.127.428.629.826.4
eFG%.509.518.482.565.572.511
Rebounds6.26.85.48.25.69.3
Assists5.35.35.14.34.54.7
Steals2.31.91.52.01.61.8
Blocks0.80.60.70.81.41.8
There'll be some sort of prize based on correctness of matches.
Player 1- Jordan Player 2- Jimmy Buckets Player 3- Anthony Edwards Player 4- Dr J Player 5- Kobe Player 6- Kawhi
This was a wild ass guess. I placed MJ and Kobe based on most points and went from there.
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Nice try.
2/6
200 sats
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Hey, I will take it. I definitely regret where I put kawhi. Too many rebounds. Dr J should be 6.
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There are plenty of combinations if you want to take another crack at it.
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1- MJ 2- Kawhi 3- Ant Man 4- Kobe 5- Jimmy Buckets 6- Dr J
Doesn't look right but I am going with it.
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2/6 again
100 sats
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1- MJ 2- Ant Man 3- Kobe 4- Jimmy Buckets 5- Kawhi 6- Dr J
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Getting warmer
3/6
100 sats
Dammit. I was hoping for at least 3 this time. Now I am totally unsure.
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I'm glad it's hard. Originally, it was just Jimmy, Kobe, and MJ, but I thought that looked too easy.
200 sats \ 13 replies \ @gnilma 6 May
Fun game, but I have no idea. Just a random guess...
1 Jordan 2 Jimmy 3 Kawhi 4 Kobe 5 Ant 6 Dr J
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Wow!
4/6
100 sats (@grayruby really killed everyone else's earning potential with his many guesses)
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Lucky guess and referencing GR's previous guesses helped. My line of thinking is Jordan probably has most points, Kobe probably has least assists, Dr J is pretty tall, so he probably gets top rebounds and blocks. Then I went guessing the rest from there.
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That reasoning is 2/3's correct.
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21 sats \ 8 replies \ @gnilma 7 May
You going to reveal the answers soon?
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Sure, but I need to get back to my computer that has the basketball reference tabs open, if I’m going to explain it.
The short answer is that you got Kawhi and Kobe mixed up.
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Jalen Brunson. Jalen freaking Brunson. That dude is a stone cold killer.
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I really thought the Pacers had that game. That's going to be a fun series.
I'm not feeling good about our most recent bet, but I'm feeling even better about the first bet. Minnesota's defense is insane.
I regret nothing.
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  1. Michael Jordan's career regular season numbers
  2. Playoff Jimmy's last two playoff averages
  3. Kobe's playoff averages as a starter
  4. Kawhi's playoff averages since 2016
  5. Ant's career playoff averages
  6. Dr. J's career playoff averages until 1982
When we talk about these guys turning into Jordan in the playoffs it's not far off, as long as we recognize that Jordan also made a leap in the playoffs and none of these guys approach that level.
Ant's numbers really shocked me. This kid is way better than I realized.
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119 sats \ 3 replies \ @gnilma 7 May
Ant was already showing signs of greatness last playoffs, where he was the top scorer for most if not all of the games against the Nuggets. This year, he elevated himself to another whole new level. He also has the highest eFG% on the list, which is quite something! A great and bright future for this young man.
Thanks for compiling this list to allow for comparisons and perspective. I'm surprised Kobe isn't the person with the least number of assists, I'm also surprised Kobe is the person with the lowest eFG%. But when I think about it more, I guess it makes sense, because he probably takes a lot more shots. He's also known to take really tough shots, so maybe that explains the lowest eFG%
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I had looked at the Jordan vs Kobe vs Butler numbers before and was really intrigued by how similar they were. It was fun expanding that to the other three guys.
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69 sats \ 1 reply \ @gnilma 7 May
I've been thinking more about why they all arrive at such similar numbers. My theory is that maybe this is peak human performance as a two way wing player in terms of basketball played at the highest level. Just like how the 2 hour mark is peak human performance for running a marathon.
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I've been having similar thoughts. I imagine that imitation is also playing a big role, both on the parts of these players and their coaches, as well as the opposing players and coaches.
Because he was the consensus GOAT, Jordan became a template for these wings going forward. If you have a guy who can do Jordan-type stuff, why would you try to make him do something else? You're going to put similar kinds of players around him and use him in similar ways, until someone comes up with a better way to use guys with these abilities.
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Awesome. Fun game. Nice work @gnilma
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