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Edwards settles for outside jumpers, just like Tatum. SGA doesn’t take many 3s at all. He certainly baits, I would be dumb to deny that, but it’s part of the game and the Refs call it.And maybe more importantly, there doesn't seem to be any sort of abnormal jump in attempts from regular season to playoffs when comparing him to other top players:
SGA - 8.8 FTA in the regular season --> 9.2 FTA in the playoffs
Brunson - 6.9 FTA --> 7.8 FTA
Haliburton - 3.0 FTA --> 3.4 FTA
Murray - 3.7 FTA --> 4.0 FTA
Mitchell - 5.1 FTA --> 9.9 FTA
Tatum - 6.1 FTA --> 6.8 FTA
Brown - 5.1 FTA --> 6.0 FTA
Butler - 7.7 FTA --> 7.3 FTA
Edwards - 6.3 FTA --> 5.8 FTA
His attempts have actually increased at a slightly lesser rate than the average player, so while you'd have to compare usage rates and a handful of other variables to make this a more exact study, you'd think it would show up in this data if he were indeed being officiated differently than everyone else.
Of course, it could just be that, based on my limited research, Edwards is getting a bad whistle, which makes it stand out more when SGA is officiated normally. But I'm more inclined to believe that SGA living at the line is more a result of him settling for threes less than other star players.
I’ve always been in the state of mind that take it out in the Refs for calling it rather than the player who is taking advantage of it. Change the rules in the offseason, have Silver emphasize it more.
Many fans on twitter run with it, and it’s fun to poke at SGA’s embellishment, but Brunson does it a ton and may even exaggerate the contact more, Luka, Trae, Jokic, etc. It’s really whatever.