Anthony Edwards is the face of the Minnesota Timberwolves and he has been having a stellar offseason representing Team USA at the 2023 FIBA World Cup. An explosive scorer who became a first-time All-Star this past year, Edwards has cemented himself as one of the better offensive talents in the league at just 22 years old.

While the young shooting guard has found a lot of success on the floor, the Timberwolves have seemed to level out. The 2021-22 season resulted in them winning 46 games and they made the postseason for the first time since 2018, but Minnesota followed this great season up with a 42-40 record this past year. They ended up losing in the first-round of the playoffs each of the last two seasons.

The 2023-24 season is a critical year for the T-Wolves, especially since they will have some big decisions to make moving forward regarding their core and Karl-Anthony Towns' contract situation. It is imperative that this team proves they can still grow into a real contending threat in the Western Conference and head coach Chris Finch is going to be leaning on his young leader to help elevate this group.

Edwards is still growing, though, and Finch recognizes this. Recently talking on “The Old Man and The Three” podcast with former NBA sharpshooter J.J. Redick, Minnesota's head coach discussed what improvements he wants to see from his young stars, especially the one area he must get better in.

“This isn't necessarily a step in evolution, but it is a significant one for me. He's got to get better at foul drawing,” Finch explained. “I'd put that in the context of: ‘How do you control the whole game when the ball is in your hands?' He has the ability to get to a lot of different shots, some of them are better than others, but he's got to get better at manipulating the floor, reading the floor, understanding coming maybe in advance. And then being able to slow the game down enough, draw fouls or make the right play.

“Just kind of keep trusting that the right play is going to benefit him in the long run. I think that's the cerebral part of the game and he's learning that.”

While he averaged 24.6 points per game last season, which ranked him 16th in the league in scoring, Anthony Edwards only took about 5.3 free throws per game. This average ranked 28th in the league and Edwards' 422 total free throws attempts this past year ranked 20th in the league.

These numbers and rankings are certainly not bad, but the young Timberwolves star has a chance to put even more pressure on his opponents by finding more ways to get to the line. This will allow him to control the pace of play better and not be as worn out late in games as he was during the second half of the season.

Becoming an all-around playmaker and someone who can dominate every single second on the game clock can put Edwards in the same category as elite scorers like Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Jayson Tatum, all of which change their pace of play and utilize the free throw line, especially when they need a quick break on the court.

As he prepares for his fourth NBA season, Anthony Edwards has shown flashes of this mindset and dominance with Team USA over the summer. Minnesota has high hopes and expectations entering the 2023-24 season, which is why he will carry a heavy burden for his team once more.