SAN FRANCISCO — If shooting is an art form, then Chris Hines is a sculptor of gilded frames. A basketball professional. A steward of success.
As assistant coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves, he watches from the sidelines his latest masterpiece: the shooting of Anthony Edwards.
“The crazy thing now is, and it sucks for me,” Hines said, “I know when it’s not going in. So I’m watching from the bench and saying, ‘Damn!’ as soon as it leaves his hands.”
His student has no such problems.
‘I think I’ll make that every time. I’m not going to lie,” Edwards said, flashing that soda-advertisement smile from the Chase Center visitors’ locker room on Sunday.
Embedded in the boast is evidence of his sophistication. To be clear, Edwards can sense when his form is going wrong and a miss is likely. But he’s gotten his mechanics to a point where he doesn’t feel so much anymore.
“Most of the time,” he said, “when it leaves my hand, I think, ‘Damn, that felt good.’ Because I worked on it, man. I’m not even funny. I’ve been working on my Trey Ball so much. … I’m happy where it is.”
Behind all his flair, Edwards’ dedication is visible in his form. While his magnetism suggests superstardom is easy, his vastly improved marksmanship underlines a maniacal work ethic.
This art has functionality. Edwards left the Bay Area this week — after splitting a two-game series with the Golden State Warriors — with the most made three-pointers in the NBA at 103, and his 241 attempts were one behind Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum for most. 3s taken from Tuesday morning. Just over a quarter of the way through the season, Edwards is one of the best three-point shooters in the league — a powerful counterpoint to his reputation as a perimeter player.
But don’t miss the aesthetic of his polished sweater. Appreciate Edwards’ artistry, Hines’ technique.
It may be missed for Edwards’ highlights and viral quotes. But he has developed quite a picturesque shot.
“Yes,” Edwards said. “Super beautiful. Shout out to C. Hines.”
The third player in NBA history to hit 100 threes in the first 23 games.
special.
pic.twitter.com/S9JCNRq95s
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) December 9, 2024
The feathers hidden in its legs are already attractive. He just floats, it seems, as if time slows down when he’s in the air. Edwards getting up for a jumper looks like something cool is happening. He has already developed a classically attractive middle range.
The mechanics of his jumper have become much cleaner. It is an efficient transition from picking up to letting go. Soft. Effortless. Unlike the shot of typical jumpers, which reach the pinnacle of their jump before unfolding something awkward. Edwards has worked on his form until it is one fluid movement, consistently replicated, completed with a portrait-worthy follow-up and a click from the net.
Ant-Man has created a new avenue for awe. One of the league’s most captivating players added to a pocket of brilliance that was already packed with personality.
“It’s not the prettiest,” he declared, with a nod to Kevin Durant, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. ‘They have some nice sweaters. I’m not trying to have the nicest sweater. I just want it to go in. Yes, it looks good. But as long as it’s in there, it looks better.”
However, beauty comes with a price. For Edwards, it was paid for through a process as methodical as it was brutal.
Hines and Edwards put it together as a long-term project. Like so much with Edwards, his ability was evident. The talent oozes from him like Jheri curl juice. The past four years have been about leveraging its capabilities around the world, as will the next decade.
Edwards initially resisted. Some days he despised Hines, the torturous teacher.
“He hated me,” Hines said with a proud smile. “From the beginning. He says: ‘C. Hines, you can’t change my game.” I’m not trying to change your game. Let me refine it and everything will be fine.”
Chris Hines watches as Anthony Edwards warms up before a November game against the Phoenix Suns. Edwards credits Hines for the improvement in his shooting form. (David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images)
Hines earned Edwards’ trust by not changing the canvas, but appreciating it. Edwards often heard what he couldn’t do, how he needed to change – people steadily telling him how to paint his game. Hines instead affirmed that Edwards only needed refinement, not rebuilding. They started working on the structure and framing his shot around the game that made him special.
Hines started by cleaning up Edwards’ strengths. His handle. Are finishing packages. His footwork. His touch at the edge. These were fundamental elements on which to build.
“He already had a pretty decent, solid, strong shot,” Hines said. “We just wanted to tighten everything up around his shot. Little things. …How does he pack it in his pocket? Is it clean? How do you find the laces without looking for them? Little things like that. So tightening all that stuff up, it’s been a lot of fun to watch the process.
The shots are too incessant to count, the hours too blurry to be registered. Shooting is a meticulous craft. It is feeling and form. Technical and creative. It stays true to the shooter’s unique character while adhering to universal laws.
Hines went to work to simplify Edwards’ shooting stroke. First they had to break his habit of dropping the ball too low. Now, purely by muscle memory, his process begins with the ball near his belly button.
They then adjusted his high release. Edwards had a great range of movement and lifted the ball from his groin to behind his head, creating ample opportunity to upset the result. The longer one’s form, the harder to replicate.
So by raising the starting point and moving the release point forward, his movement became more efficient.
Another thing Hines has fixed: Edwards’ habit of bringing the ball close to his body, limiting his range of motion. Hines trained him to keep his elbows L-shaped instead of V-shaped, so as not to lose strength and flow. Hines has ingrained in Edwards the need to keep his elbow above his eyebrows at the top of his body.
The follow-through was another important part. Edwards now has a clear wrist movement, as if he’s putting his hand into the rim. It gives his ball an emphatic spin that splashes over the net.
“We’re in the gym four or five times a day, just filming,” Edwards said. “Just shoot. Just shoot. So I tried – tried to perfect it. Because when I came into the league, the biggest thing was, ‘He could go downhill, but he can’t shoot. He can’t shoot. He can’t shoot.’ So I’ve been trying to remove that from my name for a long time. It’s still a bit in the works, but I have the feeling that I’m going in the right direction.”
Last month, Edwards sent a voice message to Curry, trying to glean some off-the-ball wisdom from his Team USA friend. This was after a summer of picking the brains of Durant, his favorite player.
The threat of Edwards’ aggressive attacks, which produced a montage of highlights, prompted defenders to back off and allow the jumper to prevent the poster. His rise to MVP candidate increased the number of double teams he faced.
So his next level of growth is being a threat off the ball. The cadence of dribbling into a shot is very different without the stone. Maintaining the same form while catching and shooting requires repetition and precise drilling.
Edwards said he wants to shoot well enough long enough for his pump-fakes to get defenders in the air and open up lanes for his drives.
“To score without the ball,” Edwards said, “I have to be able to shoot. You know what I mean? Make sure they respect it. … Just being ready to shoot the catch makes you a new threat on offense. Because guys have to respect it now because I want to catch and shoot. So if you take me off the line now, I’ll now get to where I really want to go, which is downhill.
This takes thousands of recordings, hours and hours, for years. Hines did not want to rush the process. His intention was not to skip any steps and to master a skill before moving on to the next.
The pursuit of greatness is antithetical to haste. A masterpiece transcends time through a commitment to quality.
A player has to want this. I really want it. For this level of improvement, the grind is inescapable. The amount of work Edwards invests is illustrated when he retires. Suspended in the air. Fluid mechanics. Nice rotation. Silky splash. His weakness has become a work of art. You can tell by the way it’s framed.
(Top image: Meech Robinson / The Athletics; photo: Adam Pantozzi / NBAE via Getty Images)