Detroit Pistons: Strengths and weaknesses of Carsen Edwards

Detroit Pistons: Carsen Edward’s weaknesses

As great of a scorer as he is, Edwards struggled to find minutes in his first stint in the NBA with the Boston Celtics, particularly because of his struggles defensively, compounded by his aforementioned streakiness on offense.

In addition to this, without the high-level playmaking traits of a floor general, or the size of an off-guard, Edwards doesn’t fit the traditional molds of a point guard or shooting guard, which at times leaves him susceptible on both ends of the floor against teams with bigger guards.

While his size will always pose problems defensively, Edwards’ contributions on offense will define the magnitude of his weaknesses on the other end. When he’s putting points on the board in bunches, creating plays by getting downhill, and shooting from behind the arc consistently, Edwards’ struggles on defense only hold so much weight, especially in limited minutes.

However, when he’s not contributing offensively, and struggling on the defensive end, there’s very little Edwards brings to the floor. It is important to note that Edwards definitely showed glimpses of sound defense in Boston, by occasionally applying pressure on the ball and using his size as an opportunity to be pesky.

By playing limited minutes, Edwards should have more free-rein to do this again, and could also use his pressure on defense as an opportunity to generate easy points in transition.