- Are you the best player in the draft class?
- I feel like I am, yeah.
- [Announcer:] Second steal for the Ant-Man and the flush.
Edwards launches and connects.
- Reverse it if you can, please.
- Oh, OK.
- Are they teaming up? - They're teaming up.
- [Announcer:] Impacts the game in a lot of ways.
- [Taylor Rooks:] When we were talking about KD,
you said you think he's the greatest player.
- [Anthony Edwards:] Yeah. - [Taylor:] Ever or right now?
- Ever. - Really?
♪♪♪
- What's up, guys? Anthony Edwards here,
shooting guard for University of Georgia,
diehard Atlanta guy.
I'm about to enter the NBA draft,
and I'm about to take it there with Taylor Rooks.
- Thank you for having me at UGA.
I feel like I'm back in college.
So take me to a college campus.
Walk me through your daily routine.
- Wake up in the morning, probably call my guy,
David, to get some breakfast.
Of course, brush my teeth, wash my face, go to the gym,
shoot, then have practice, then come back and play
Fortnite the whole night and go to sleep.
- Are you good at Fortnite?
-Yeah, I'm really good.
- When you do decide to leave your dorm,
how crazy is it walking around campus?
Like, are you always recognized?
- Yeah, majority of the time everybody knows me,
but I try to walk around with my hood on
so I don't get stopped that much.
- Well, you know, it was such a big deal
when you decided to come to UGA
because you are such a big recruit.
And traditionally, big recruits go to maybe
some of the blue-blood schools.
Was there a moment where you really did think
about taking that route?
- Most definitely.
When I went on my official visit to Kentucky,
it was exciting.
I mean, who don't wanna play in Rupp Arena?
So I was like, "Man, I think this is where I should go,"
but then I went on an unofficial to a Texas game, and I was like,
"You know what? Forget Kentucky, I'm gonna come here."
My sister had just had my nephew,
so I wanted to see him grow up a little bit
the little time I did spend in college.
So I think that was the most important thing.
- All righty.
You ready for me to beat you in some Uno?
- You playing against three other people, too.
- Yeah, but I really care about beating you
cuz you was talking trash up there.
OK, so who we got here?
We have my sister and UGA student, Ryan.
Justin, who is your trainer, mentor.
Tell me what Justin is to you.
- Like a big brother, basically.
- Yeah, and also about to be a loser.
- No, I'm definitely a winner.
- Yeah, about to be a loser in this game.
- If I lose, he gotta win. I'll put it like that.
- Oh, I see, one or the other. OK, you heard that.
- Us against the Rooks.
- All right. Everyone gets seven.
Justin, Anthony ready for the NBA?
- Always ready.
- What's it like training him?
- From when I started until now, it got a lot easier.
When he first started, you know, he was one of those young guys
that not used to the hard work until it rubbed off on him,
but I can tell you, once it rubbed off on him,
he'll call me to get in the gym now.
- [Taylor:] Yeah? - Wait, wait,
so if the, if the line
is under the number, is that a nine?
- [Justin:] Yeah. - OK, cool.
- No, a s– It's a nine if it's
- [Justin:] That's a nine. - OK, yeah.
- Even though I showed you my hand, we good.
- Yeah, I know everything you got going, cuh.
- OK, so you talk a lot about hard work.
Where do you think that motivation
to be a hard worker comes from?
- My big brother.
When I was in the ninth grade, I didn't work that hard.
Everything I did on the court was just based off
God-given talents and abilities that
He gave me, and my brother used to wake up early in the morning
and go shoot and go work out, like, on game days.
So I wanted to be like him. So I was like,
"Man, I'm fittin' to start getting up and working out."
- [ Taylor:] Yeah. - [Anthony:] It was hard because
a lotta stuff that I did with my trainer,
I couldn't really do cuz I was never really working out.
I was getting frustrated cuz I couldn't do this move
or make this shot or, you know, do something.
So I was like, "Man, I'm fittin' to get in here every day
so it can be second nature to me."
- When did you realize, "OK, I'm different.
Like, I'm separated from the pack a little bit. I'm elite."
- [Anthony:] Probably the Under Armour All-America camp.
I think I was in, like, 10th grade.
Everybody else was older than me, and I was just killing.
Like, every game I was killing, and I was like,
"Man, I think I'm better than everybody in here."
- Yeah? - Yeah.
- Who–Was there any notable names there that we would know?
- Yeah, Jahvon Quinerly, Trevon Duval, Naz Reid.
- OK, very nice.
I watched an interview, and you said
that an NBA player told you that,
"You can tell a guy is ready to go to the next level
when they seem like they're bored, like,
with what they're playing." - Yeah.
- Do you feel bored now at all?
- Yes and no.
Yes because I get doubled, like, every game.
I get denied every game.
So it gets boring, and it gets frustrating
because I can't do what I wanna do
and give the fans what they wanna see
because I'm getting doubled all the time,
and they're locked in on me,
but no because, I mean, my teammates,
and they always make it fun for me, so.
I love my teammates. They're like my brothers, so.
- The person who goes No. 1,
what are the expectations of the No. 1 pick?
- I feel like to just come in and impact the game immediately.
Like, whatever team you go to, just show them that you can win.
- And you can win? - Yeah.
- [Taylor:] Yeah? What makes you a winner?
- [Anthony:] My competitive nature.
I always wanna compete.
I wanna go against the best every time I step on the floor.
- All right, Ryan, so, like, as a student here, like,
what are people saying about Anthony?
- Well, like, Georgia's a huge football school,
but now that you're here, people are like,
"Oh, my gosh, are we finally becoming
a basketball school?" Like, "Oh, my gosh!"
- What do you think it would take for UGA
to be a basketball school?
- We gotta win, so. And we gotta get players.
So that's why I came here so they'll see
that I came so they'll start coming,
and more players will try to stay at home.
- Yeah? Do you feel like
more people are going to basketball games?
- Definitely. - Yeah?
- [Ryan:] Yes.
- OK, before I put this card down, I know
Uno may be one of your weaknesses,
but what's your weakness as a player?
- Hmm, whatchu think?
- I think his weakness might be
just staying engaged for 40 minutes.
It's not about what he can't do.
It's about, "Is he gonna do it all the time?"
- Would you agree? Yeah? - Yeah.
- What do you feel about your shot selection?
- Sometimes bad, but being how I'm guarded,
sometimes I gotta take bad shots.
- [Taylor:] Yeah, you gotta do what you gotta do?
- Yeah.
- Well, right now, you gotta put down a blue if you have it.
- Mmm, that's so clutch.
- [Justin:] Ooh. - [Anthony:] That's so clutch.
- So let's talk the draft.
Are you the best player in the draft class?
- I feel like I am, yeah.
- Yeah? What do you think separates you?
- I feel like me on the defensive end. Like,
if I lock in every time on the defensive end,
nobody is better than me in the draft.
Of course, I feel like I can score the ball the best,
pass, rebound, all types of stuff,
but I feel like defense is gonna separate
everybody in the draft, yeah.
- [Taylor:] So you feel like you deserve to be the No. 1 pick?
- Yeah. - [Taylor:] OK.
A lot of really good guys in your draft class,
so let's talk about some of them.
Give me an evaluation of Cole Anthony.
- I never really played against him, so.
- Mmhmm. - Like, I played with him.
He's really good at picking roles. Like, he real smart.
He can pass. He can shoot.
He's a great player if you ask me, yeah.
- Yeah. Give me an evaluation of James Wiseman.
- I love James. He's 7 feet.
Can shoot, run the floor like no other,
plays hard, don't really complain about the ball.
If he want the ball, he's gonna let you know
he want the ball.
A great person on and off the court.
- LaMelo Ball?
- [Anthony:] Really good point guard at,
like, 6'7", 6'8", I guess.
I don't know. Flashy point guard.
- [Taylor:] OK.
We are going to walk through some of the teams
that could maybe draft you, OK?
You give me your thoughts on those teams.
-OK. - All right. New York Knicks.
- I mean, New York I'd play for anywhere.
I definitely can fit with the Knicks.
They, like, they in need of, like, a shooting guard,
a point guard, whatever.
Whatever position they wanna put me at,
I'm ready to play it. - Yeah?
- [Anthony:] Yeah.
- [Taylor:] OK, Cleveland Cavaliers.
- Cleveland got a dude I'm real cool with, Collin Sexton.
He's from Atlanta. - [Taylor:] Yeah?
- [Anthony:] Yeah, I would love to play with Cleveland.
- Golden State Warriors.
- Oh, who wouldn't love to play with Stephen Curry,
Klay Thompson and Draymond Green?
They're gonna be great
and could make me better at all times,
so, yeah, I'd love to play with them.
- Atlanta Hawks?
- That's my home, so that'd be like a dream come true
if I play for the Hawks.
I'm real cool with Trae Young, so.
- [Taylor:] Yeah? - [Anthony:] And Cam Reddish,
so, like, playing for the Hawks would be crazy.
- [Taylor:] All right.
Speaking of winners, I have two surprises for you,
OK?
I had two friends of mine send in a video for you.
- [Michael Vick:] Taylor, what up?
I know you're sitting down with Anthony today.
Tell Anthony I said, "What's up?"
Tell him I said, "The hard work gonna pay off in the future.
He's in this position for a reason."
I hope y'all have a good interview,
and I hope some good things come from it.
- You're a big Michael Vick fan, right?
- Yeah, most definitely.
- What's it like seeing that?
- [Anthony:] To me,
he's the greatest quarterback to ever play.
I love Michael Vick, so seeing that just, like I said,
drives me to keep working hard.
- Yeah, and it's crazy, you know.
He, like, watches this stuff. When I told him
that I was gonna do this interview, he's like,
"Oh, I know who Anthony is. I'd love to send one."
Want me to show you the second video?
- Yo, what's up, Ant? - My guy.
- Victor Oladipo here, man.
First and foremost, just wanna let you know
I'm a big fan of yours.
Just continue to keep getting better, bro.
Like, you got the talent already.
You got the potential, but stay hungry,
and everything else will take care of itself,
all right?
And don't let anybody else stop you
from achieving whatever goal you want,
not only on the court, but off it, too.
All right. The sky is the limit for you.
Peace and love. - Yeah, that's my guy.
- [Taylor:] Who, Victor?
- Yeah, we almost text every day, yeah.
- Really? - Yeah.
- Awesome. - Especially when he was hurt.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- So you guys have a pretty special relationship?
- Pretty good relationship, yeah.
- [Taylor:] All right.
So, Anthony, up there when we were talking about KD,
you said you think he's the greatest player.
- [Anthony:] Yeah. - [Taylor:] Ever or right now?
- Ever. - Really?
- Cuz he's 7 feet
and can do everything a point guard can do.
- Over Jordan? - Yeah.
- [Taylor:] Over LeBron? - Yeah.
- Wow!
Big talk. - That's a young fella talking.
He didn't see the GOAT.
He didn't see MJ in person. He didn't see that.
- But he's sure.
He is–that is conviction right there.
He's sure. - He make people–
they miserable when they gotta guard him.
- Superteams obviously have become a big thing in the NBA.
- [Anthony:] Mmhmm.
- Would you wanna play for a superteam in your career?
- No.
- You're not about the superteams?
- Nah. That's the only thing I didn't like
about Kevin Durant, when he did that.
- So what about superteams don't you like?
- I just feel like if you so good, you should be able to win
without three or four other players on a team–
- OK. - Like, superstars on a team.
- Very nice. Yellow.
- Now we talkin'.
- [Justin:] Ope, skip you, though.
- Come on, cuh.
Aight, bet. Aight, bet.
- Uno.
- Oh, shoot. That's all right.
She ain't got a yellow in her hand, so we good.
- Don't skip me no more, how 'bout that?
And she won't have game. - All right, I gotchu.
- Now, what type of basketball
do you envision yourself playing?
Like, what kind of NBA player do you see yourself as?
- I feel like a shooting guard, loving to score the ball
but also getting my teammates involved,
like a Bradley Beal or something like that.
- [Taylor:] Mmhmm. - [Anthony:] Yeah.
- So this is totally a dream, never gonna happen,
but I'm going to let you pick
what a dream team for you would be.
You can pick your fave– - My starting five?
- Yes, your starting five current NBA players.
- Oh, current? - Yes, current.
- Not old? - No.
- At the 1, sorry, y'all, but I gotta take Kyrie.
- [Taylor:] OK. - [Anthony:] Got to.
At the 2, James don't shoot too much, can't take James.
I gotta take Klay. Klay Thompson, yeah,
cuz he gonna defend, too.
- [Taylor:] Mmhmm.
- At the three, I'm taking KD.
At the 4, I'm taking LeBron, and for the 5,
I would say Anthony Davis, but I gotta take
Greek Freak.
- [Taylor:] Ooh, OK.
Why choose Giannis over AD?
- Because when they both was with their own team, like,
AD was with the Pelicans and Giannis still with the Bucks,
I kinda feel like Giannis did a great job carrying his team.
- All right. Now we're gonna build a team.
You're on the team,
and it's kind of, like, the younger generation of guys,
OK? - OK, cool.
Starting five? - Yep, including you.
- All right, bet.
Me at the 1.
Luka at the 2.
Jayson Tatum at the 3.
My 4 man, Bam Adebayo.
- [Taylor:] OK.
- Well, no, Zion, and then Bam Adebayo.
- What kind of ball would y'all be playing?
- We gonna be athletic, I'mma tell you that.
We gonna be real athletic.
I got three scorers outside the paint: me,
Luka and Jayson Tatum. - [Taylor:] Mmhmm.
- Like, those two guys are prolific scorers, if you ask me.
Zion, you can't stop him in the paint.
The only person that could stop him probably is LeBron,
and Bam Adebayo, I feel like he's the best
on-ball defender big man there is in the league.
- [Announcer:] Bam Adebayo, look out!
- Do you think about what kind of NBA player you wanna be
in terms of the type of career you wanna have?
- If I could pick now,
I probably would say Dwyane Wade.
- [Taylor:] OK. Why Dwyane?
- [Anthony:] I just felt like he was great in the NBA, like–
- [Taylor:] Yeah?
- [Anthony:] He did a lotta great things,
and I love, like, when he hit buzzer-beaters,
he'd go stand on top of the little thing.
- [Taylor:] The scorer's table, yeah.
- [Anthony:] Yeah. I love that.
- And I know you have a good relationship with D-Wade.
- Yeah.
- So walk me through this. How does this happen?
Like, how do you become good friends with these guys?
You talk to Victor, I assume, cuz of [Tom] Crean.
- Yeah. - You talk to D-Wade.
How do you form these relationships,
and who's another mentor that you have in the NBA?
- Well, actually, I didn't meet D-Wade from Coach Crean.
I met D-Wade from his son, who was at Pangos
All-American Camp, and me and his son
happened to be teammates.
And at the time, his son didn't know who I was,
but at the camp, I went, like, crazy.
So, like, going between the legs,
dunking on people, like, shooting,
scoring all type of ways.
And I guess his son's friend,
who was, like, his assistant down there,
called him and was like,
"Yo, there's this kid on Zaire's team.
He's really good. Like, he's really, really good."
Then, like, next thing you know, he followed me,
and we was texting and stuff like that, yeah.
- Oh, that's great. - [Anthony:] Yeah.
- OK, what about Victor?
- [Anthony:] Vic started texting me
when he found out, like,
I was goin' to play for Coach Crean.
- [Taylor:] Yeah?
- Then we just gained a really good relationship.
- And what about Trae Young?
- [Anthony:] Trae a young guy, so we been knew each other,
and now it's just like he want me to come play with him, so–
- Yeah? - Yeah.
- Yeah, what's that like?
So is Trae like, "Man, Atlanta's gotta get you.
Atlanta's gotta draft you"? - Yeah, just like Ja Morant.
- Yeah. - Me and Ja Morant real cool.
He want me to come play with him.
- [Taylor:] Really? - [Anthony:] Yeah.
- What's that friendship like, you and Ja?
- I would love to play with Ja. - Yeah.
- I mean, he's super, super good,
and he love to pass the ball. - [Taylor:] Mmhmm.
- So I'd love to play with somebody like that.
- Yeah, and he's a dunker, which is always fun.
- Yeah. - [Taylor:] Yeah.
So basketball, you know, is always evolving.
You had, like, fast-break game, post game, iso game.
Now we're very positionless.
What type of game do you prefer?
- I like playing fast cuz I feel like
I play my best ball scoring early in the shot clock,
like, eight seconds, first eight seconds.
- Do you think you're a positionless player?
- Yeah, I can be. I can play the 1 or the 2,
nothing more than that, but, yeah.
- [Taylor:] Nothing more than that, OK.
- [Justin:] Green.
- No, no, no, no. - [Justin:] Oh, my bad.
- But I gotta do this to you.
- [Justin:] You go ahead and do it.
Do it. Go ahead and do it. Just get it over with.
- That yellow card.
- We would never do that. No.
- Don't let them, don't let them do that, now.
- We gotta get in between them.
- Yo, we good. We good. We good.
- Don't let them do that.
- What's your favorite movie?
- "Matilda."
- "Matilda." You have to explain
why your favorite movie is "Matilda."
- Because I feel like women are powerful, so Matilda,
I mean, she was a very powerful little girl at such a young age,
and I just like to see things like that.
So when I first seen it, I was like,
"This is the best movie of all time."
- The best movie of all time, I love that answer.
I know that you've had some very strong women
in your life: your mom, your grandma.
I wanna give you a chance to just talk
about the impact that they had on you.
- Like, working hard, I got it from both of them.
They always worked late night.
They was the best people I ever had in my life that
I ever met, yeah. - Yeah?
What have you learned from having to deal with loss
at such a young age? - Don't let things rattle me.
I don't really let nothing bother me
cuz of what I've been through, so.
Feel like people coming to me
complaining about this, about that, I'm like,
"Dude, there's always a way." - Yeah.
- So I always try to tell people that.
Man, there's always a way.
God got something better for you.
- You say there's always a way.
When you were maybe feeling, like, down, probably basketball,
I don't know, was this season difficult for you
with not having a winning record
and experiencing losses on the court?
- Losing is always bad, but you just gotta look at it
like I'm blessed to wake up the next day and play the game.
So we were always worried about the next game.
No matter what happened this game,
we worry about the next game after that.
- Why did you select No. 5 as your jersey number?
- My mom passed on January 5, and my grandma on July 5, so.
My birthday is on the fifth.
My sister's birthday on the fifth.
So, I mean, it's a lotta fives going on around, so.
- [Taylor:] Yeah. - Yeah.
- OK. When you go to the NBA, you have to wear No. 5?
- [Anthony:] I pray to God they let me get it.
- [Taylor:] Yeah? - [Anthony:] Yeah.
- You don't seem like you get very rattled by anything.
- No, not really.
- OK, then what rattles you?
Something has to rattle you.
- Being in the dark. - [ Laughing]
- That's it. If I can see what's going on,
I'm not rattled at all.
- OK, opponents, take note.
You wanna beat Anthony, turn off the electricity.
- Nah, I'mma get up out of there.
- You have a nightlight? - Nah, I ain't got no night–
nah, I ain't got no nightlight, no.
♪♪♪
- What's his player comparison?
- He doesn't have a true player comparison.
He's like a mixture between guys.
You gotta take a little bit from this guy and that guy.
He's unique the way he moves.
He moves like a smaller guy, a guard,
but he's a bigger guard,
and then when you find a bigger guard,
they don't move like him, and they're not as athletic.
- Yeah.
- Or they're athletic and they can't shoot.
So he's like a mixture between a few different people.
- [Taylor:] OK. - [Justin:] Yeah.
- [Anthony:] I know she ain't got yellow.
- [Justin:] You know she ain't got yellow.
- Yeah, cuz she just picked up a card
when it was yellow and didn't throw it out.
- Uno. Ahhh!
- But that card over there still ain't yellow.
- Still ain't yellow. - So that's all that matters.
You feel me? Don't change the color.
Oh, look, look.
She knew she had a blue card, cuh.
Why you do that? Look at this.
- What'd I tell you?!
- She knew she had a blue card, though.
- What'd I tell you?!
- She better be glad we got time restraints.
- What'd I tell you? Wait, hold on. Um you gonna–
- We had a great game, great game.
- Good, you're a good loser.
You need that in the NBA. - Great game.
- [Taylor:] You ain't gonna win every game.
- Great game. - That's what we do.
I'll take it there, OK? - Y'all cheated.
I'll take it there. - We'll take it there.
- See what I'm saying?
- OK, well, thank you for spending so much time
with me today, and good luck in the draft.
- Thank you so much.