Could Carsen Edwards be the right pick for the OKC Thunder?

Skills

Carsen Edwards has great ball handling ability, and that ball handling mixed with his range means he can create his own shot at will. He has a very developed bag of tricks off the dribble to get himself open and knock down a shot from every level on offense.

Despite being able to make his own space and shot, Edwards is also a knockdown shooter off ball from the catch and shoot department. The offense does not have to live with the ball in his hands, so despite being the point guard more players can get involved, and run more action on offense.

Edwards can put his head down and get to the rim through traffic, finishing at the cup is a different story, but the fact he has the ability to use his speed, athletism, and dribble moves to get to the rim, is encouraging.

Weaknesses

The biggest knock on Carsen Edwards is the fact that he is undersized, and in the NBA, he will be targeted on the defensive end. A counter to that for OKC is that they are equipped to hide a bad defender. How many bad defenders would Edwards be on the floor within Bricktown? Not many, so the same way the Warriors can hide Steph Curry, the OKC Thunder can protect Edwards. That is the positive outlook on Presti compiling all these long athletic non-shooters.

Edwards is not the best distributor in the World, but he is not exactly leaving a powerhouse school. At Purdue, the entire Boilermaker offense was run through Edwards, and he was charged with the bulk of the bucket getting. He did not have the best teammates to pass to, and with better more reliable NBA level teammates could result in better playmaking.

Unlike Dennis Schroder, and Russell Westbrook, Edwards can not thread the needle and make the flashy pass, but again, that was never his role at Purdue until year three, so despite being 21 years old, Edwards still has room to grow in that aspect.

Combine Performance

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Carsen Edwards has an 8.75 inch hand in length, and 9 inch hands in length, with a 7’10.5 standing reach, so despite his 6’0 frame, he is not a “box” player.

Edwards ranked third in the shuttle run with a 2.82 run, two-tenths of a second off of second place guard Devon Dotson. Edwards lane agility time clocked in at 10.53, and his three quarter sprint was 3.22.

The 21 year old was able to leap for a 34 inch max vertical, and his standing vertical was a 29.5.

Edwards’ strength popped off the page as his max bench press repetitions were tied for second most among guards at 14 reps.