Former Portland Trail Blazers All-Star Rasheed Wallace weighed in on the abilities of current Minnesota Timberwolves All-NBA shooting guard Anthony Edwards, who recently disparaged virtually every non-Michael Jordan player during the Chicago Bulls’ Hall of Fame swingman era of the 1980s and 1990s, saying the others were relatively unskilled.
“At this point in his career, in my opinion, he’s no better than a Derrick McKey,” Wallace said. “He’s no better than a Grant Hill. He’s no better than a Scottie Pippen… I’m just trying to name… a few tight ends from that era in the ’90s. But again, I’m talking about both sides of the ball now. Derrick McKey was a defender.”
On a new episode of his “Sheed & Tyler” podcast, Wallace told former Blazers teammate Bonzi Wells that he doesn’t consider the current iteration of Edwards to be any better than a role player from the ’90s. McKey, a 6-foot-2 combo wing, was a two-time All-Defensive Second Teamer with the Indiana Pacers in 1996 and 1997. He also played for the Seattle SuperSonics and Philadelphia 76ers during his long career from 1987 to 2002. Unlike Edwards, McKey never made an All-Star team, much less an All-NBA team.
Criticism that Edwards isn’t on the level of Pippen or Hill is justified. Both players, now Hall of Famers, were transcendent two-way players and seven-time All-Stars during their long careers. Hill’s prime was abruptly cut short by a series of injuries while with the Orlando Magic, but he has developed into a solid three-point and defensive role player in his NBA senior years. Pippen was the second-best player, behind Jordan, on six NBA championship teams during a legendary eight-year stretch. A seasoned veteran, Pippen finally helped the Wallace-era Trail Blazers get close to a return to the NBA Finals in 2000. The team lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals after enjoying a 15-point fourth-quarter advantage in Game 7.
Edwards remains an interesting player, even if he isn’t at the defensive level of any of the three players mentioned above in their prime. Still just 23, the 6-foot-4 Georgia product is already a two-time All-Star and All-NBA Second Teamer, and just led Minnesota to a 56-26 record and its first Western Conference Finals appearance in 20 years. He’s clearly on track to be an all-time great, health permitting. Whether he’ll ever reach the level of Hill or Pippen is questionable, though. But he seems likely to eclipse McKey, if he hasn’t already.
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