NBA Draft 2020: What Anthony Edwards has to do to be the #1 pick
By Brian Rauf
3) Put Georgia in mix for NCAA Tournament bid
Winning cures all things, right? The most universal thing NBA teams look for in a No. 1 pick, aside from talent, is leadership and leading their team to wins. Since the top pick will most likely end up being the centerpiece for a franchise, that’s a trait they look for.
Since the one-and-done rule was enacted prior to the 2007 NBA Draft, only two players were taken with the No. 1 overall pick without having led their team to the NCAA Tournament. Those players were Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz, both of whom were taken by a Philadelphia 76ers team that enjoyed tanking and already had an alpha in Joel Embiid.
Now, Edwards is in a bit a different situation because Georgia wasn’t expected to make the NCAA Tournament. They’re still rebuilding in head coach Tom Crean’s second season and Edwards, an Atlanta native, mostly wanted to play close to home.
That’s fine, and he doesn’t have to take UGA to the Big Dance – but he does have to lead them to enough wins to get them on the bubble.
The Bulldogs only have six of their 14 remaining regular-season games against teams that are expected to make the NCAA Tournament. There’s no reason they shouldn’t end this stretch with eight wins, which would put them at 19-12 – firmly in bubble territory.
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Doing so will require consistent good-to-great performances from Edwards, which leads us back to the first point. Everything goes hand in hand with each other.
At the end of the day, Edwards will hog the NBA Draft spotlight for two months. What he does with it will impact his draft stock either way and doing these three things could make him the No. 1 overall pick.