The Whiteboard: Anthony Edwards FIBA goals, Harden's fine and more

The FIBA World Cup hasn't even begun and it's already assumed that Anthony Edwards will be using the tournament as a launching pad towards super-stardom.

Steve Kerr has called Edwards "the guy" after he averaged 18.8 points on 50 percent shooting in five warmup games. It seems almost certain he'll score a lot of points and build both confidence and momentum heading into next season. But the next step of his offensive evolution is really about something other than shining in international competition.

Can Anthony Edwards avoid the pull-up jumper?

Edwards shot a respectable 36.9 percent from beyond the 3-point arc last season, the second straight season his outside shooting has improved. He made 57.8 percent of his shots within eight feet of the basket last season, better than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Ja Morant, Jalen Brunson, Darius Garland or James Harden.

Where he continues to struggle is with his pull-up jumper — an effective field goal percentage of 44.8 last season, 36th of the 37 players who averaged at least 7.0 pull-up attempts per game. He will absolutely need to improve in that regard — being an efficient primary perimeter scorer means being able to hurt the opposition from all three levels.

But one way he can improve his efficiency is by being a lot more selective about when he uses the pull-up. Last season, Edwards averaged 1.52 drives for every pull-up attempted. That's much closer to dead-eye jumpshooters like CJ McCollum (1.51) or Brandon Ingram (1.42) than it is to perimeter scorers who lead their team's offense with balance driven by craft and a physical edge. For example, Shail Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Brunson, Tyrese Haliburton, Bradley Beal, Darius Garland and Ja Morant all have a ratio above 2.00. 

The difference between his ratio and those other perimeter scorers may seem like splitting hairs but stretched over the course of the season it's enormous. All else being equal, a ratio of 2.00 would have meant roughly 100 pull-ups over the course of the season turned into drives, on which he had an effective field goal percentage of 52.3, compared to 44.8 percent.

Edwards has immense physical tools, he's a solid foul shooter and a strong finisher. The more he leans on those advantages the more his overall efficiency will rise. And that may be the most important lesson he could take from this FIBA tournament, especially playing against a slightly lower level of athletic competition than he faces nightly in the NBA. If he played with a bit more of the force of Ja Morant and a little less of the quick-trigger of McCollum or Ingram, he'd be much more effective.

James Harden — 76ers rift gets worse

It seems increasingly unlikely that Harden and the 76ers will be able to patch things up, even though the 76ers have claimed they are planning to enter next season with him still on the roster, despite his trade demand.

Yesterday afternoon, the NBA announced their investigation into Harden's comments calling Daryl Morey a liar had resulted in a $100,000 fine for Harden. In a news release, the league said the fine was for, “public comments on August 14 and 17 indicating that he would not perform the services called for under his player contract unless traded to another team."

The NBPA is filing a grievance on behalf of Harden but the fine will likely stand at some amount and this certainly isn't going to make it easier to convince Harden to bury the hatchet and return to Philly.

READ MORE:

• NBPA filing grievance, says James Harden didn't violate rules by Tim Bontemps, for ESPN: Read more about Harden's defense.
• NBA Daryl Morey investigation ends with James Harden fined $100k by Chris Kline, for FanSided: We are fast approaching an unstoppable force vs. immovable object scenario here

Dario Saric could be a difference-maker for the Warriors

The Warriors signing of Dario Saric this summer was a relatively quiet addition but one that is looking more and more like it could pay huge dividends.

He appeared in just 57 games last season, between the Suns and Thunder, after missing all of the 2021-22 season because of an ACL injury. He was fairly effective but with a limited role and limited minutes, it was all mostly below the radar.

Croatia is not in the field for the 2023 FIBA World Cup starting later this week, but Saric just helped them win the FIBA Olympic Pre-Qualifying Tournament on Sunday with a victory over Turkey. His averages across the five games of the tournament — 15.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game — become even more impressive when you consider he only played 28.7 minutes per game and convert them to per-36 — 19.8 points, 8.0 rebounds and 7 assists. 

Saric won't be a star for the Warriors but his shooting, finishing, size and passing ability make him an easy fit into their offense and, now slightly more than two years removed from his ACL tear, the versatile, 29-year-old big may still have his best basketball in front of him.

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1. Is it Haywood Highsmith time?: "Coaches love his earnestness on defense but know he needs to improve his 3-point shot if he’s going to earn regular minutes. Over the last two seasons, Highsmith has made only 32.8% of his corner 3s. If Highsmith can show real development in that area in training camp, perhaps he can take the starting power forward job and be Miami’s "PJ Tucker 2.0.'"3 Miami Heat starting lineup options without Damian Lillard.

2. Can a Nikola Jovic breakout get the Damian Lillard deal done?: "Jovic can play though, and he’s had good flashes for Serbia in their FIBA World Cup warm-up games. In their final warm-up game against Brazil, Jovic scored 11 points in the 89-85 victory where Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nikola Milutinov sat out." 5 NBA players with a point to prove at the FIBA World Cup.

3. Wave your Flagg: "There are players with deeper and more impressive one-on-one scoring bags out there, but Flagg’s incredible team defense and well-rounded offensive game pairs with both his physicality and his smarts to make him the best NBA prospect in the world still outside of the league."The 11 best NBA prospects in high school basketball right now, ranked.