Imitate Harden at his peak! Edwards aims to increase the number of free throws: He hopes to reach Alexander s level

On November 14, according to "Sports Illustrated", one of the Timberwolves' tasks this season is to get Edwards to stand on the free throw line more often, and in order to achieve this goal, they adopted an interesting method: studying Harden in his peak period.

This news comes from commentator Mark Jones, who revealed during the Kings' game against the Timberwolves that he had discussed this strategy with the Timberwolves' director of player development, Chris Haynes.

"Haines said he sat down and watched James Harden's game tape in the 2018-19 season a few weeks ago, and they were studying Harden's rhythm, changes of rhythm, change of direction skills and ability to draw fouls. The Timberwolves coaching staff believes that if Edwards can get to the free throw line a few more times - ideally to Alexander's level, not only will his personal ceiling increase, but the ceiling of the entire team will also increase," Jones said.

In the eight years from the 2012-13 season to the 2019-20 season, Harden ranked first in the league in free throws made and attempts in seven seasons. During that period, he finished in the top ten in MVP voting every season, finishing in the top five six times, finishing third once, and finishing second twice, and was elected MVP in the 2017-18 season.

Why do the Timberwolves focus on Harden’s performance in the 2018-19 season? Although we can't determine the specific reason, it is probably related to Harden's peak performance that season - he averaged a career-high 36.1 points per game, and also averaged a career-high 13.2 three-point attempts per game. Even so, he still averaged 11.0 free throw opportunities per game, which is amazing.

Harden averaged 36.8 minutes per game that season, while Edwards has only averaged 28.4 minutes per game so far this season, but his regular playing time is usually around 35-36 minutes. Based on this situation, we can compare Harden's per-game average in 2018-19 with Edwards' per-36-minute average in seven games this season.

Although Harden's per-game data in the 2018-19 season is better than Edwards' per-36-minute data this season, this is reasonable - after all, Harden is a pure point guard, while Edwards plays more often without the ball.

If Edwards can get to the free throw line as often as Harden or Alexander, his scoring data may be further improved. So far this season, Alexander has averaged 9.3 free throw opportunities in 13 games, while Edwards has averaged 5.6 free throws per game.

Like Harden, Alexander is also a master of controlling rhythm and change of direction. He is better at inducing opponents to foul and at the same time using extremely convincing performance to get the referee to call the ball.

After the Timberwolves stopped in the Western Conference Finals last season, head coach Chris Finch expressed the hope that Edwards could improve in drawing fouls.

"You see in the league now, it is very clear which performances can be rewarded with whistles. You need to work more on this aspect. Although this may not be the way he originally likes to play, this method is obviously very effective," Finch said.

In the next games, we will pay close attention to whether Edwards will borrow part of Harden's playing style.