SAN FRANCISCO – If shooting is an art form, then Chris Hines is a gilded frame sculptor. A basketball craftsman. A manager of strokes.

As an assistant coach with the Minnesota Timberwolves, he watches his latest masterpiece from the sidelines: Anthony Edwards’ shot.

“Now this is a crazy thing and it sucks for me,” Hines said, “I know when it’s not going in. So I watch from the bench and say, ‘Damn!’ as soon as it leaves his hands.”

His student doesn’t have such problems.

“I think I can do it every time. I’m not going to lie,” Edwards said, flashing his lemonade promotional smile from the visitors’ locker room at Chase Center on Sunday.

Embedded in the swagger is evidence of his sophistication. To be clear, Edwards can sense when his form is going awry and failure is likely. But he’s gotten his mechanics to a point where he doesn’t feel it as often.

“Most of the time,” he said, “when it leaves my hand, I’m like, ‘Damn, that felt good.’ Because I worked on it, man. I’m not even funny. I’ve been working on my treyball so much. … I’m happy where it’s at.”

Behind all his flair, Edwards’ hard work is visible in his form. While his appeal suggests it’s easy to become a superstar, his vastly improved shooting underscores an insane work ethic.

This art has functionality. Edwards left the Bay Area this week – after splitting a two-game series with the Golden State Warriors – who made the most 3-pointers in the NBA with 103, and his 241 attempts put him one behind Jayson Tatum’s the Boston Celtics 3 seconds, taken on Tuesday morning. A little over a quarter of the way through the season, Edwards has been one of the league’s best 3-point shooters, a strong counterpoint to his reputation for attacking the rim.

But don’t miss the aesthetic of his polished sweater. Appreciate the artistry of Edwards and the engineering of Hines.

Maybe it’ll get lost because of Edwards’ highlight dunks and viral quotes. But he came up with a pretty picturesque shot.

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

Third player in NBA history to make 100 three-pointers in the first 23 games.

particularly. 🐜 pic.twitter.com/S9JCNRq95s

— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) December 9, 2024

The feathers hidden in his legs are already seductive. He just floats, or so it seems like time slows down when he’s in the air. Edwards rising to jump looks like something cool is about to unfold. He has already developed a classically attractive midrange driver.

The mechanics of his sweater have become much cleaner. It’s an efficient transition from recording to publishing. Smooth. Effortless. As opposed to recording typical jumpers reaching the peak of their jump before unfurling anything chunky. Edwards has worked on his form until it’s a fluid motion, consistently repeated and capped by a portrait-worthy follow-up and snap of the net.

Ant-Man created another path to awe. One of the league’s most compelling players, adding to a ton of brilliance that’s already brimming with personality.

“It’s not the prettiest,” he explained, nodding to Kevin Durant, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. “They have some nice sweaters. I don’t try to have the prettiest sweater. I just want it to come in. Yes, it looks good. But as long as it goes in, it looks better.”

However, beauty comes at a price. For Edwards, it was paid for through a process that was as methodical as it was relentless.

Hines and Edwards put it together as a long-term project. Like so many things about Edwards, his ability to perform was obvious. The talent drips from him like Jheri curl juice. The last four years have been dedicated to harnessing his globe-trotting abilities, and the next decade will continue to do so.

Edwards initially resisted. Some days he despised Hines, the tormenting teacher.

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

Hines gained Edwards’ trust by not altering the canvas but appreciating it. Edwards often heard what he couldn’t do, how he needed to change – people were constantly telling him how he should play his game. Hines instead confirmed that Edwards just needed refinement, not rebuilding. They worked on the structure and adjusted his shot to the play that made him special.

Hines began by cleaning up Edwards’ strengths. His grip. His graduation packages. His footwork. His touch on the edge. These were fundamental elements to build on.

“He already had a pretty good, solid, strong shot,” Hines said. “We just wanted to tighten up everything around his shot. Little things. …How does it get into the bag? Is it clean? How do you find the shoelaces without looking for them? Little things like that. It was really fun to watch the process of tightening all that up.”

The recordings are too incessant to be counted, the hours are too blurry to be recorded. Shooting is a careful craft. It is feeling and form. Technical and creative. It remains true to the uniqueness of the shooter while respecting universal laws.

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

Then they changed his high release. Edwards had a wide range of motion and lifted the ball from his stride to behind his head, providing ample opportunity to disrupt the outcome. The longer the shape, the harder it is to reproduce.

By raising the starting point and moving the release point forward, his movement became more efficient.

Another thing Hines fixed: Edwards’ habit of bringing the ball close to his body, which limited his range of motion. Hines taught him to keep his elbows in an L shape instead of a V shape so as not to lose strength and flow. Hines has ingrained in Edwards the need to hold his elbow above his eyebrows at the level of his character.

Follow-up was another important component. Edwards now has a noticeable snap of his wrist, as if he’s dipping his hand into the rim. It gives his ball an emphatic spin that squirts into the net.

“We’re in the gym four or five times a day just shooting,” Edwards said. “Just shoot. I just shoot. So I tried – tried to perfect it. Because when I came into the league, the main thing was, “He can get downhill, but he can’t shoot.” He can’t shoot. He can’t shoot.’ That’s why I’ve been trying to remove that from my name for a long time. It’s still a bit of a work in progress, but I feel like I’m trending in the right direction.”

Last month, Edwards sent a voice message to Curry trying to glean some off-the-cuff knowledge from his Team USA buddy. This came after a summer of picking the brain of Durant, his favorite player.

The threat of Edwards’ aggressive attacks, which led to a series of highlights, caused defenders to pull him back and allow the jumper to prevent the poster. His emergence as an MVP candidate increased the number of double teams he faces.

Therefore, his next level of growth is to be an off-ball threat. The rhythm of dribbling into a shot is completely different without the stone. Maintaining the same form while catching and shooting requires repetition and precision practice.

Edwards said he wanted to shoot well enough for long enough so that his pump fakes would get defenders in the air and open up lanes for his drives.

“In order for me to score without the ball,” Edwards said, “I have to be able to shoot. Do you know what I’m saying? Make them respect it. … Just being willing to shoot for the catch makes you another threat on offense. Because guys have to respect it now because I want to catch and shoot. So if you throw me off track now, I’ll end up where I really want to go, which is downhill.”

This requires thousands of recordings, hours upon hours, over years. Hines didn’t want to rush the process. He was conscious of not skipping any steps and mastering one skill before moving on to the next.

The pursuit of greatness is at odds with haste. A masterpiece transcends time by being committed to quality.

A player has to want that. I really want it. For this level of improvement, the effort is unavoidable. How much work Edwards puts in becomes clear as he drives up. Floating in the air. Fluid mechanics. Nice rotation. Silky splash. His weakness has become a work of art. You can tell by how it was framed.

(Pictured above: Meech Robinson / The athlete; Photo: Adam Pantozzi / NBAE via Getty Images)