Jace Frederick: Will Anthony Edwards pull back if NBA fines continue?

OKLAHOMA CITY Anthony Edwards was fined another by the NBA on Wednesday for using a curse word as an adjective during his postgame press conference following Minnesota s Meeting loss to the Thunder Edwards stated he had to take more than bleeping shots which was his shot volume in Tuesday s loss In goes another contribution to the swear jar The fine brought Edwards season long tally to K giving to the league for his transgressions He has earned much of that The NBA can t countenance players delivering profanity-laced postgame comments or telling fans in the stands about the size of his genitals But to particular degree it does feel like there are times where Edwards reputation precedes him Because the -year-old guard has made efforts over the past insufficient months to curtail his cursing when speaking to the media And his slip Tuesday felt like just that a slip Frankly curse words are part of Edwards everyday vernacular Eliminating his use of them in certain settings is part of a maturation process that is very much still in the infant stages He certainly requirements to improve in a number of off-the-court areas Everyone understands that repeat offenders are often shown little in the way of grace But slapping the guard s wrist every time he commits a minor infraction seems counterproductive Edwards is one of inadequate players who fans are nearly as excited to hear talk as they are to see play His charisma is one of his major selling points For the first inadequate years of his career his postgame interviews were must-see content The volume of those has waned a bit in up-to-date seasons as Edwards has slowly withdrawn from the media He turns down the majority of post-practice or shootaround interviews and even somewhat regularly declines to provide postgame comments The latter includes a multi-week media hiatus the all-star took after he began being fined by the league for his language prior to the calendar flipping to And certainly at that point the league had to teach Edwards a lesson He couldn t be swearing at the volume he was particularly when doing on-court interviews That doesn t fall in line with the image any pro sports league wants to portray Edwards didn t see it that way He was initially frustrated But his improvements should be acknowledged Efforts were being made to clean up his comments while still showing himself to be the athlete to whom so a large number of fans are drawn That s the line to walk The NBA shouldn t want Edwards to delete or mute his personality It s a selling point for the Timberwolves and the Association at large Fans adore the guy who walked around the LA area surrounding Crypto Com Arena after the Wolves bounced the Lakers in Round of these playoffs Ideally that can still come across without the language not suited for young kids or certain clientele But should the NBA continue to crack down to this degree punishing every minor slip of the tongue it does danger Edwards pulling away further The ability to express who you are should be encouraged within reason The NBA s challenge is to walk that line of maintaining cordiality while promoting charisma The fine levied Tuesday even if it s pocket change to Edwards felt like a step in a direction that is slightly too conservative All-defense recognition Rudy Gobert earned his first second-team all-defense honor of his career when the two teams were reported by the NBA on Thursday Gobert nabbed the th-and-final spot on the all-defense teams Gobert was a level below the athlete who won his fourth Defensive Contestant of the Year honor a season ago for much of the - campaign but he was still the anchor and largest part critical piece on a Minnesota defense that finished sixth in defensive rating this season by allowing points per possessions that number dipped to when Gobert was on the floor This selection marks Gobert s eighth all-defense selection He was named to the first squad every season from - and was first association again last year Gobert received three first-team votes and second-team votes from the -voter panel He edged New York forward OG Anunoby for the final second-team selection Absent from the two teams was Wolves perimeter stopper Jaden McDaniels McDaniels earned his first all-defense selection a year ago when he was named to the second band But like Gobert he got off to a slow start to the season overall While his admission may seem like a slight cracking the list of the league s top defenders each season is a challenging task particularly for perimeter players whose efforts aren t as well represented by defensive metrics Related Articles Now the Timberwolves understand the challenge that is the Thunder The Timberwolves attempted -pointers in Meeting Can they win that way Frederick We ve perpetually known Timberwolves and Thunder were Next But which one is now Anthony Edwards heroic shots get Timberwolves out of trouble Mizutani All aboard the Julius Randle bandwagon