Sports

How Anthony Edwards built that new ‘super pretty’ jumper: ‘Make ’em respect it’

Published

1 year ago

December 12, 2024

How Anthony Edwards built that new ‘super pretty’ jumper: ‘Make ’em respect it’

SAN FRANCISCO — If shooting is an art form, then Chris Hines is a sculptor of gilded frames. A basketball craftsman. A steward of strokes.

As an assistant coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves, he watches his latest masterpiece from the sideline: the shooting of Anthony Edwards.

“The crazy thing now, and it sucks for me,” Hines said, “I know when it’s not going in. So I’m watching from the bench like, ‘Damn it!’ as soon as it leaves his hands.”

His pupil doesn’t have such issues.

“I think I’ma make that b—- every time. I’m not gon’ lie,” Edwards said, flashing that soda-commercial smile from the visitors locker room at Chase Center on Sunday.

Embedded in the braggadocio is evidence of his sophistication. To be clear, Edwards can feel when his form goes awry and a miss is likely. But he’s gotten his mechanics to a point where he doesn’t feel that often.

“The majority of the time,” he said, “when it leaves my hand, I’m like, ‘Damn, that b—- felt good.’ Because I’ve been working on it, man. I’m not even being funny. I’ve been working on my trey ball so much. … I’m happy where it’s at.”

Behind all of his flair, Edwards’ diligence is visible in his form. Though his magnetism suggests superstardom comes easy, his vastly improved shooting underscores a maniacal work ethic.

This art has functionality. Edwards left the Bay Area this week — after splitting a two-game series at the Golden State Warriors — with the most made 3-pointers in the NBA at 103, and his 241 attempts were one behind the Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum for the most 3s taken as of Tuesday morning. Just over a quarter of the way through the season, Edwards is one of the best 3-point shooters in the league — a potent counter to his reputation for attacking the rim.

But do not miss the aesthetics of his polished jumper. Appreciate the artistry of Edwards, the engineering of Hines.

It perhaps goes missed because of Edwards’ highlight dunks and viral quotes. But he has developed quite the picturesque shot.

“Hell yeah,” Edwards said. “Super pretty. Shout out to C. Hines.”

3rd player in NBA history to hit 100 threes in first 23 games.
special. 🐜 pic.twitter.com/S9JCNRq95s
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) December 9, 2024

The springs hidden in his legs are already alluring. He just floats, or so it seems, as if time slows when he’s in the air. Edwards rising for a jumper looks as if something cool is unfolding. He has already developed a classically attractive midrange.

The mechanics of his jumper have gotten much cleaner. It’s an efficient transition from pickup to release. Smooth. Effortless. Contrary to the shot of typical leapers, who reach the peak of their jump before unfurling something clunky. Edwards has worked on his form until it’s one fluid motion, consistently replicated, capped with a portrait-worthy follow-through and a snap of the net.

Ant-Man has authored another avenue for awe. One of the league’s most captivating players added to a bag of brilliance already brimming with personality.

“It’s not the prettiest,” he declared, giving the nod to Kevin Durant, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. “They’ve got some pretty-ass jumpers. I’m not trying to have the prettiest jumper. I just want it to go in. Yeah, it looks good. But as long as it goes in, it looks better.”

However, beauty comes with a cost. For Edwards, it was paid through a process as methodical as it has been relentless.

Hines and Edwards pieced it together as a long-term project. Like so much with Edwards, his capacity was obvious. The talent drips off him like Jheri curl juice. The last four years were dedicated to harnessing his all-world abilities, as will be the next 10 years.

Edwards resisted at first. Some days, he would despise Hines, the torturous teacher.

“He hated me,” Hines said with a proud smile. “From the beginning. He’s like, ‘C. Hines, you not finna change my game.’ I’m not trying to change your game. Let me fine-tune it, and you’ll be fine.”

Chris Hines looks on while 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 had to change — people steadily telling him how to paint his game. Hines instead affirmed Edwards only needed refinement, not reconstruction. They went to work on the structure, framing his shot around the game that made him special.

Hines began by cleaning up Edwards’ strengths. His handle. His finishing packages. His footwork. His touch at the rim. Those were foundational elements on which to build.

“He already had a pretty decent, solid, strong shot,” Hines said. “We just wanted to tighten up everything around his shot. Small stuff. … How is he picking up into his pocket? Is it clean? How do you find the laces without looking for ’em? Small things of that nature. So tightening all that stuff up, it’s been really fun to watch the process.”

The shots are too incessant to be counted, the hours too blurred to be logged. Shooting is a meticulous craft. It’s feel and form. Technical and creative. It remains true to the uniqueness of the shooter while beholding universal laws.

Hines went to work simplifying Edwards’ shooting stroke. First, they had to break his habit of dropping the ball too low. Now, by sheer muscle memory, his process begins with the ball near his navel.

Then they amended his high release. Edwards had a long range of motion, lifting the ball from his crotch to behind his head, creating plenty of opportunity to disrupt the result. The longer one’s form, the harder to replicate.

So by raising the starting point and bringing forward the release point, his motion became more efficient.

Another thing Hines fixed: Edwards’ habit of bringing the ball close to his body, restricting his range of motion. Hines drilled him to keep his elbows L-shaped instead of V-shaped so as not to lose power and flow. Hines ingrained in Edwards the need to keep his elbow over his eyebrows at the top of his form.

The follow-through was another significant component. Edwards now has a pronounced snap of his wrist, as if he’s dipping his hand into the rim. It gives his ball an emphatic spin that splashes the net.

“We be in the gym four or five times a day just shooting,” Edwards said. “Just shooting. Just shooting. So I’ve been trying — trying to perfect it. Because when I came in the league, the main thing was, ‘He could get downhill, but he can’t shoot. He can’t shoot. He can’t shoot.’ So I’ve been trying to knock that off my name for a long time. It’s still kind of on it a little bit, but I feel like I’m trending in the right direction.”

Last month, Edwards sent a voice message to Curry, seeking to glean some off-the-ball wisdom from his Team USA homie. This was after a summer of picking the brain of Durant, his favorite player.

The threat of Edwards’ aggressive drives, which have produced a montage of highlights, prompted defenders to back off him, conceding the jumper to prevent the poster. His rise to an MVP candidate increased the amount of double-teams he faces.

Thus, his next level of growth is being a threat off the ball. The cadence of dribbling into a shot is much different without the rock. Keeping the same form while catching and shooting requires repetition and precision drilling.

Edwards said he wants to shoot well enough for long enough that his pump-fakes get defenders in the air, opening lanes for his drives.

“In order for me to be able to score without the ball,” Edwards said, “I’ve got to be able to shoot. You know what I’m saying? Make ’em respect it. … Just being ready to shoot on the catch, that makes you another threat on the offensive end. Because guys gotta respect it now because I want to catch and shoot. So now if you run me off the line, now I’ma get to where I really want to go, which is downhill.”

This takes thousands of shots, hours and hours, for years and years. Hines didn’t want to rush the process. He was intentional about not skipping steps, mastering a skill before advancing to the next one.

The pursuit of grandeur is antithetical to haste. A masterpiece transcends time by being committed to quality.

A player has to want this. Really want it. For this level of improvement, the grind is inescapable. The amount of work Edwards invests is illustrated when he pulls up. Suspended in air. Fluid mechanics. Pretty rotation. Silky splash. His weakness has become a work of art. You can tell by how it was framed.

(Top illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic; photo: Adam Pantozzi / NBAE via Getty Images)

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Sports

WWE champ Jade Cargill very hopeful to meet ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin at Hall of Fame ceremony

Published

6 hours ago

April 16, 2026

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WWE champ Jade Cargill very hopeful to meet ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin at Hall of Fame ceremony

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LAS VEGAS – WrestleMania 42 is the big-ticket item on pro wrestling fans’ checklist this weekend in Las Vegas, but before the bell rings, WWE will enshrine its 2026 class into the Hall of Fame.

AJ Styles, Stephanie McMahon, Sycho Sid, Bad News Brown, Dennis Rodman, the tag team duo known as Demolition and Hulk Hogan’s match with Andre the Giant from WrestleMania 3 are included this year.

Jade Cargill enters the arena before competing against Iyo Sky during SmackDown at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on April 10, 2026. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)

Jade Cargill, the current WWE women’s champion, is also excited for the Hall of Fame festivities. She told Fox News Digital she was a big fan of the Attitude Era of the WWE and was hopeful to be able to meet be able to meet “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

“I hope he is there because I want to meet him,” she told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. “He’s one of the people, other than Paul Heyman and Booker T, Paul Heyman I was like I have to meet him. How did this guy survive this long? He’s bigger than life. He’s just natural with it. I have to meet him, have to take a picture with him, talk to him, I have to do that.

WRESTLEMANIA 42 CARD REVEALED AS MAIN EVENTS AND MAJOR MATCHES ARE SET

Stone Cold Steve Austin speaks during WrestleMania 41 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 20, 2025. (WWE/WWE/Getty Images)

“And Stone Cold is the other person. I’m very hopeful that he’s gonna be there at the Hall of Fame. He was there last year. But I couldn’t like, there was so many people crowding him. And just to see Stephanie (McMahon) get her flowers is one-of-one. I love that for her.”

Austin was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009 as a wrestler. Last year, he was inducted as part of the immortal moment wing. His match with Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13 was inducted last year. He’s one of eight wrestlers who are in the Hall of Fame multiple times.

WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill performs in the ring during SmackDown at Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, Ariz., on March 13, 2026. (Bradlee Rutledge/WWE)

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The WWE Hall of Fame ceremony will take place at Dolby Live at Park MGM on Friday night at midnight ET.

Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.

Sports

UCLA gymnastics focused on delivering Bruins’ next national title

Published

6 hours ago

April 16, 2026

Press Room

UCLA gymnastics focused on delivering Bruins’ next national title

UCLA could earn another national title this weekend.

Led by Olympic gold medalist Jordan Chiles, the Bruins’ gymnastics squad is having its best season since 2018 and will compete in Fort Worth in an NCAA national semifinal on Thursday for a spot in Saturday’s championship meet.

The Bruins haven’t won an NCAA gymnastics championship in eight years, a long gap for the seven-time champions known for developing Olympic talent.

UCLA will compete in a semifinal against Oklahoma, Arkansas and Minnesota. The Bruins will start on the bars, then go to the beam, floor and vault.

The top two teams advance to the finals Saturday against the top two teams from the other semifinal featuring Louisiana State University, Stanford, Florida and Georgia.

“There’s no defense in gymnastics, and so you really need to just focus on what we need to do to go out and put out the best competition possible,” UCLA coach Janelle McDonald said. “We’ve prepared the team all season long to have that mentality when we go out into competition.”

UCLA placed second in the finals last season, with Chiles and Brooklyn Moors capturing the NCAA uneven bars and floor exercise titles.

The Bruins won their first NCAA Regional title since 2019, leaping from third place into first after finishing with a 49.625 team total on floor in the final rotation at 197.725, one-tenth ahead of second-place Minnesota and .225 ahead of third-place Utah.

UCLA senior gymnast Ciena Alipio leaps in the air after her dismount on the balance beam on Jan. 17.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

“I thought regionals were just such, such an amazing competition for our freshmen that were being thrown in some big pressure situations, and they just really stepped up to the plate and handled it with so much confidence and that was really great to see,” McDonald said. “And I think that really bodes well for us heading into the NCAA [championships.]”

Chiles is also one perfect 10 on beam away from a senior-season grand slam. The two-time Olympic medalist has already won three individual NCAA titles, but this is her last chance to get a shot at the all-around title in addition to the team championship.

Her perfect 10 on floor in the regional, which was her eighth perfect mark this season, helped the Bruins win their semifinal.

“Having Jordan has just been so amazing,” McDonald said. “Just her energy and the passion that she brings to our team each and every day. Obviously, her gymnastics skill level is incredible, but she just really has become such a leader for us. She leads by example. She leads with her energy, but she really leads with her passion and with her heart.”

But Chiles isn’t the only athlete powering the Bruins run to the NCAA championships. She is one of six UCLA athletes who competed on this stage last year.

“Having all of that depth really has been so helpful all year, especially in those meets where we had girls that were down because they were sick, or little things flared up here and there,” senior All-American Ciena Alipio said. “But we had people who could step up and really fill those positions. So it’s been really awesome to have a lot of people on every event.”

UCLA is one of the most consistent teams on beam in the nation, led by Alipio and Katelyn Rosen. Alipio had a fall during the Big Ten championship and she bobbled during the first round of regionals, but she posted an excellent 9.925 in the regional final to help the Bruins to a narrow lead going into their winning floor routine.

They’ve been up and down on vault, but Chiles took that regional title to help the Bruins, while sophomore Riley Jenkins has also had some success in the event.

Bars might be the x-factor for all the teams in the tournament. In the regional semifinal, UCLA’s 49.225 was its season low. LSU and Oklahoma have also struggled on the variable bars routine during the tournament.

Top-seeded Oklahoma is the defending champion, claiming its seventh U.S. national collegiate title last April.

The semifinals also serve as individual finals, with the national champions being determined in the all-around and on all four events after the two semifinal sessions on Thursday.

The Bruins have a good chance to win a few individual titles, and Chiles is a favorite for the all-around, but a team title would be huge for a program that came so close last season.

“We got to nationals, and that is the top eight out of the entire country, like we’re there,” Alipio said. “Getting to Day 2 is gonna be our goal for Day 1. But if we go out there and do what we’ve been doing all season, there should be no doubt in our heads that we’ll make it to Day 2.”

Sports

Sherrone Moore’s alleged mistress rips sentence that kept former Michigan coach out of jail

Published

18 hours ago

April 15, 2026

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Sherrone Moore’s alleged mistress rips sentence that kept former Michigan coach out of jail

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The former Michigan staffer with whom Sherrone Moore allegedly had an inappropriate relationship that led to his firing and subsequent arrest is not thrilled that Moore seemingly got off easy.

Moore was fired for his relationship with Paige Shiver on Dec. 10. Soon after the firing, he was jailed after allegedly breaking into her house and threatening to kill himself.

Moore was sentenced to 18 months probation and ordered to pay just over $1,000 in fines, which was not enough for Shiver.

Sherrone Moore of the Michigan Wolverines during the second half against the Maryland Terrapins at SECU Stadium Nov. 22, 2025, in College Park, Md. (Chris Bernacchi/Diamond Images)

“December 10th was the most terrifying day of my life,” Shiver said in a statement after Moore’s sentencing Tuesday, via the New York Post.

“The criminal acts he committed were extremely frightening and violent. He broke into my apartment, crying, yelling, enraged and came at me with knives. I was threatened, and I feared for my life.

“Today’s sentence does not reflect the harm done to me or the objective evidence in this case.”

An Action Injury Law Group statement obtained by Fox News Channel last month claimed Shiver endured “years of manipulation, harassment and exploitation by a man who held enormous power over her professional life as the head football coach of one of the nation’s most prominent college football programs.”

Shiver’s attorneys questioned Michigan’s entire athletic program after the incident, adding their client believes “she may not be the only person who experienced inappropriate, coercive or predatory behavior from this individual.”

Former University of Michigan head football coach Sherrone Moore is sworn in with his attorney, Ellen Michaels, before he takes a plea in front of Judge J. Cedric Simpson at the 14A-1 District Court in Ann Arbor March 6, 2026. (Mandi Wright/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

MICHIGAN PLAYERS FEEL ‘VERY BETRAYED’ BY SHERRONE MOORE SCANDAL, INTERIM COACH REVEALS

Moore and the alleged victim had an “intimate relationship for a number of years,” a prosecutor said during an initial hearing shortly after his arrest.

In an Ann Arbor courtroom, Moore thanked his wife, Kelli, for her support while saying he took the process “very seriously.” The judge in the case told Moore that he “take[s] her for granted.”

Prosecutors accused Moore of contacting the staffer via phone calls and texts after the breakup, prompting the woman to contact the University of Michigan and cooperate in its investigation. Moore was subsequently fired from his position as head football coach, which prosecutors said prompted him to show up at her home.

Moore then allegedly “barged” his way into the residence, grabbed a butter knife and a pair of kitchen scissors and began threatening his own life. According to prosecutors, Moore allegedly told the staffer, “My blood is on your hands” and “You ruined my life.”

Moore pleaded no contest to two misdemeanors to resolve the felony criminal case.

Moore went 16-8 as Michigan’s head coach — 8-5 in his first season and 7-3 last season. He missed a pair of games due to a suspension from a sign-stealing investigation.

Former University of Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore listens to attorney Ellen K. Michaels during an appearance in front of Judge J. Cedric Simpson at a probable cause hearing at 14A-1 District Court in Ann Arbor Jan. 22, 2026 (Eric Seals/USA Today Network)

Moore replaced Jim Harbaugh after the team completed a 15-0 season en route to a national championship. Moore was the offensive coordinator of that squad.

Fox News’ Scott Thompson, Paulina Dedaj, and Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.

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