Latest / Bleacher Report / Aaliyah Edwards Breaks Down Her Unrivaled Film with Candace Parker for 1v1 Tournament
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Hey everyone, Cannis Parker here. This is ISO IQ presented
- 0:04Speaker 1: by AT and T. I got the one, the only
- 0:06Speaker 1: Alia Edwards here. Aliah, thanks so much for joining me today.
- 0:11Speaker 1: I'm so excited to talk through why your game is
- 0:14Speaker 1: going to translate so well to one B one.
- 0:17Speaker 2: Thanks for having me, CP. Happy to be here.
- 0:19Speaker 1: Okay, we got to get straight to it. Last year
- 0:21Speaker 1: you were runner up. Honestly, you won the first game
- 0:25Speaker 1: against Nafisa Collier. You won your matchup against Brianna Stewart,
- 0:30Speaker 1: that was your first round matchup. Can you tell me
- 0:32Speaker 1: about the confidence you're taking into this year's one v
- 0:34Speaker 1: one tournament having already had that under your belt last year.
- 0:38Speaker 3: I'm taking a lot of confidence going into this one
- 0:41Speaker 3: we one tournament. It's my second time appearing in the tournament,
- 0:45Speaker 3: so I kind of know the ropes a little bit,
- 0:48Speaker 3: so that's a bit of advantage towards my opponents. A
- 0:51Speaker 3: lot of people are chatting about last year, but last
- 0:53Speaker 3: year's in the past, focused on this year, and I
- 0:56Speaker 3: just got to be prepared for anything pretty much.
- 0:58Speaker 2: So I'm excited.
- 0:59Speaker 3: But I'm glad we get this little moment where we
- 1:02Speaker 3: can go over film together because I definitely need the
- 1:05Speaker 3: help for sure.
- 1:07Speaker 1: Well listen, Aliya, you're keeping it very PC and I
- 1:11Speaker 1: love that. I love that about you. But you are dominant,
- 1:14Speaker 1: Let's be honest. You have the size, the physicality, the
- 1:17Speaker 1: lockdown defense to be able to play and guard one
- 1:20Speaker 1: through five. You have the footwork. You know, your jump
- 1:23Speaker 1: shot was flowing last year in one v one, which
- 1:25Speaker 1: I think unlocked other parts of your game. And so
- 1:28Speaker 1: you know on a mock draft by the stud buds,
- 1:30Speaker 1: they actually have you coming away with the victory. So like,
- 1:33Speaker 1: just looking at your bracket, you know, what is your
- 1:36Speaker 1: confidence level? Like other people are picking you to win.
- 1:38Speaker 1: I think last year you more so surprised people. So
- 1:41Speaker 1: what is it like now this year being the hunted
- 1:44Speaker 1: and not necessarily the hunter?
- 1:46Speaker 3: Oh?
- 1:46Speaker 2: I love it. I love it. I want all the smoke.
- 1:48Speaker 3: I've been telling people that since the start of Unrivaled season.
- 1:53Speaker 3: But no, this tournament, I'm just coming in with a
- 1:57Speaker 3: whole new confidence. I think I have a lot more
- 2:00Speaker 3: respect than I did last tournament, which I love. But
- 2:04Speaker 3: don't get it twisted. I'm not gonna gas my head
- 2:06Speaker 3: too much. I know I still have to go in
- 2:09Speaker 3: take it one game at a time put in the work.
- 2:11Speaker 3: But I've been telling sucially my teammates in the locker
- 2:14Speaker 3: room every day, like I'm going for that two hundred K.
- 2:16Speaker 1: All right, well that gets us right. I mean, it's
- 2:19Speaker 1: almost like you're transitioning for me. We're gonna get right
- 2:21Speaker 1: in it.
- 2:21Speaker 3: It's almost like we should spot places you should be
- 2:24Speaker 3: in the league and I should be.
- 2:28Speaker 1: Listen, would Cliff. So I think that that just to
- 2:32Speaker 1: spare you, I'm gonna just have the mic for now.
- 2:34Speaker 1: You do all that other stuff or so well, but
- 2:37Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about your lockdown defense, and we're gonna
- 2:40Speaker 1: do it early because I think that you know, your
- 2:44Speaker 1: ability to move your feet, your ability to dictate what
- 2:48Speaker 1: you're going to give the opponent I think has been
- 2:51Speaker 1: on full display at unrivaled and you know, I think
- 2:55Speaker 1: you're gonna be able to carry that forward with five
- 2:57Speaker 1: v five because you know you do have the ability.
- 3:01Speaker 1: We've always talked about your foot speed, We've always talked about,
- 3:04Speaker 1: you know, when we've worked out together, just in terms
- 3:06Speaker 1: of your ability to really like dominate on the defensive end.
- 3:12Speaker 1: You know you have everything in your bag on the
- 3:13Speaker 1: offensive end, but making sure that you understand like you
- 3:16Speaker 1: have the ability to move your feet and really change
- 3:19Speaker 1: the game on that end. So this first play is
- 3:22Speaker 1: against the vinyl. Right here, you're able to not only
- 3:26Speaker 1: guard the guard coming off and what'll pause this?
- 3:30Speaker 2: Wait? Can you go back?
- 3:31Speaker 1: Give me some.
- 3:34Speaker 2: You need to I need to do, Sally.
- 3:38Speaker 1: What what are you talking about?
- 3:40Speaker 2: Golay it? Play it back. I want to hide myself up.
- 3:43Speaker 1: I'm gonna hype you up. I'm saying I want you
- 3:45Speaker 1: to walk.
- 3:47Speaker 2: This. This is there you go.
- 3:49Speaker 1: This is what I'm talking about with you right here,
- 3:51Speaker 1: your ability to guard to you stop the jump shot
- 3:56Speaker 1: and then you come over and you get the block
- 3:58Speaker 1: on deer yourself up. Then hype yourself up. But honestly, Eliah, yeah,
- 4:05Speaker 1: I think being able to guard to Now, if I'm
- 4:07Speaker 1: critiquing you, you should have been up to touch on
- 4:09Speaker 1: the screen. But I don't know what your defensive coverage is.
- 4:11Speaker 1: But I knew here up to touch on the screen.
- 4:14Speaker 1: You knew I was going criticize a little bit. But
- 4:18Speaker 1: right here, being able to not only take away I
- 4:21Speaker 1: don't know what Marina Maybrey doing on that week side,
- 4:23Speaker 1: but to be able to take away obviously Courtney Williams
- 4:27Speaker 1: pull up. Yeah right, Skylar's far far behind the play
- 4:33Speaker 1: and then come back and block the shot one v one.
- 4:38Speaker 1: You're not gonna have to do that. You're gonna just
- 4:39Speaker 1: be able to stay in front of you know, either
- 4:43Speaker 1: a smaller defend or smaller opponent like Courtney Williams, or
- 4:47Speaker 1: be able to use your link to block shots on
- 4:51Speaker 1: that end. So we'll go one more defense. So we're
- 4:55Speaker 1: gonna move to this next play right here, and this
- 4:58Speaker 1: next play is your ability to come over, stunt help,
- 5:02Speaker 1: then recover off of a closeout while still staying down.
- 5:07Speaker 1: There's a part of your game where obviously, as a
- 5:09Speaker 1: big you want to use your length, but usually the
- 5:12Speaker 1: lowest person to the ground, the lowest shoulders always win.
- 5:16Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, So.
- 5:17Speaker 1: Your ability to not only get out on the closeout
- 5:22Speaker 1: and take away this this shot immediately. And what I
- 5:27Speaker 1: love is that you're contesting with your left hand. A
- 5:30Speaker 1: lot of shot blockers one of block shots with their right.
- 5:34Speaker 1: A great shot blocker block shots with their left because
- 5:37Speaker 1: there's a lot of opponents that are shooting with their
- 5:40Speaker 1: right hand. So if you're contesting with your left, then
- 5:42Speaker 1: you're not going across the body. You're on the same side,
- 5:45Speaker 1: which allows you to stay low. There's subtle things to
- 5:48Speaker 1: your game that I really love. So right there, you
- 5:51Speaker 1: left your feet, but we're gonna yeah, you took away,
- 5:56Speaker 1: but your ability to then get back in your stands
- 5:58Speaker 1: right here, be nas hillman to the spot while staying
- 6:03Speaker 1: so Like when you're guarding someone on a closeout and
- 6:06Speaker 1: you're bigger, the smaller opponent wants to get into your body,
- 6:11Speaker 1: but your ability to use your feet and not your
- 6:13Speaker 1: body is super impressive. Like have you done that from
- 6:16Speaker 1: a young age? Did you hit a gross spurt which
- 6:18Speaker 1: allowed you to you know? I know for me it
- 6:21Speaker 1: was soccer, Like I think soccer really improved helping me
- 6:24Speaker 1: move my feet and things like.
- 6:25Speaker 3: That footwork and everything. Yeah, I played soccer as well.
- 6:28Speaker 3: I think when I was younger, I really just took
- 6:31Speaker 3: a lot of pride in defense. I got so hype
- 6:35Speaker 3: over it. I felt like it was like those little
- 6:38Speaker 3: plays that really got my team going and it converted
- 6:41Speaker 3: to how dominant we could be on the offensive end.
- 6:44Speaker 3: But in terms of my clothes though, I've been working
- 6:47Speaker 3: on it because I've had to guard more versatile bigs
- 6:51Speaker 3: and guard like bigs, and I think that we've talked
- 6:53Speaker 3: about as well, so I don't get into foul trouble verticality,
- 6:57Speaker 3: So making sure as you said, like using my my
- 7:00Speaker 3: body and using my chest, but keeping my hands not
- 7:04Speaker 3: breaking the plane.
- 7:06Speaker 2: I think we did a great job there.
- 7:08Speaker 1: I know. I'll let this play play on. You get
- 7:11Speaker 1: back chess, and you're able to contain that dribble right there,
- 7:15Speaker 1: which allows you to then get out and get the shot.
- 7:18Speaker 1: You know, the shot clock violation. So if you're looking
- 7:22Speaker 1: obviously bigs, we've seen your matchup. If you're looking at
- 7:25Speaker 1: a guard right on the other side of the bracket,
- 7:28Speaker 1: what guard do you think you know poses problems. I'm
- 7:32Speaker 1: not gonna say it's gonna give you problems, but poses
- 7:35Speaker 1: problems in trying to defend them.
- 7:37Speaker 3: Someone like Tiff Mitchell. You know she is really quick.
- 7:44Speaker 3: She has a quick first step, so it's gonna be
- 7:47Speaker 3: kind of hard to dictate defensively if you're gonna shade
- 7:53Speaker 3: one side or the other. I know that if I
- 7:55Speaker 3: was guardinger, I'd probably shade her to go to her right.
- 7:59Speaker 2: But still she's very shifty.
- 8:01Speaker 3: So God get them blutes and quads activated, because you're
- 8:06Speaker 3: going to move lateral a lot and usually being a
- 8:11Speaker 3: bigger player, taller player, we kind.
- 8:13Speaker 2: Of struggle moving laterally.
- 8:15Speaker 3: So I would say someone like her, even like point God,
- 8:21Speaker 3: she wants to shift you a lot. It would be
- 8:24Speaker 3: more challenging with shorter guards like Tim Mitchell. But if
- 8:28Speaker 3: it's just a shifty guard like Chelsea, then I just
- 8:30Speaker 3: have to make sure I stay down like you're saying
- 8:31Speaker 3: in this clip, and don't leave my feet.
- 8:34Speaker 1: I think my biggest advice when you're playing someone great
- 8:39Speaker 1: at their craft is the more opportunity you give them
- 8:42Speaker 1: to show their bag, the more at a disadvantage you are,
- 8:46Speaker 1: so like as a defender, you're only allowing them to
- 8:50Speaker 1: beat you one way. With Chelsea, she wants to shift.
- 8:54Speaker 1: So I would make Chelsea go straight line. And I
- 8:56Speaker 1: think when you guard her and you stay up and
- 8:58Speaker 1: in and you don't like her, come back to that cross,
- 9:02Speaker 1: you know, like I think you can utilize your size
- 9:04Speaker 1: and making her do something she doesn't want to do.
- 9:06Speaker 1: I think my biggest issue would be a Kelsey Mitchell
- 9:10Speaker 1: because Kelsey has all that and she's so quick in
- 9:14Speaker 1: this area and you know she has that step back,
- 9:18Speaker 1: so I know, especially during the WBA season, like that
- 9:21Speaker 1: herky jerky you know, pull it back. That would give
- 9:25Speaker 1: me problems as a defender her. You really, yes, you
- 9:29Speaker 1: really want to make sure that she only goes one
- 9:31Speaker 1: way if she beats you. It's literally like a fade
- 9:34Speaker 1: away to the left baseline. But let's get back to
- 9:38Speaker 1: your game, your paint presence. Obviously, you're known as a
- 9:43Speaker 1: as a player that plays out of the pick and roll,
- 9:45Speaker 1: plays out of the you know, the pocket pass, which
- 9:49Speaker 1: is what I love. And so let's go to this
- 9:51Speaker 1: first play right here, this is the pocket pass. Rachel
- 9:54Speaker 1: hits you, you're able to just I mean, look at that,
- 9:59Speaker 1: look at that right patience, and this is actually someone
- 10:06Speaker 1: that's in your bracket. So we don't see right here
- 10:09Speaker 1: off the switch, Jackie goes over close out. You take
- 10:14Speaker 1: your time, and you come back and hit.
- 10:16Speaker 2: That money records.
- 10:19Speaker 1: But what people don't see in this move is your
- 10:23Speaker 1: bump fade. And we've talked about this when we were
- 10:26Speaker 1: working out this bump fade of creating space to get
- 10:29Speaker 1: to that right shoulder. It's almost like you just did
- 10:34Speaker 1: the move that we worked on.
- 10:35Speaker 3: I was about to say, because this was the exact scenario,
- 10:42Speaker 3: and I think that you always were telling me about
- 10:45Speaker 3: the split game and finding my angles, and I really
- 10:51Speaker 3: think that with playing three on three now it's all
- 10:53Speaker 3: coming together. So it's almost like sometimes when we actually
- 10:56Speaker 3: work out or talk about these things, I'm like, Wow,
- 10:58Speaker 3: she actually knows what she's doing. And it isn't until that.
- 11:04Speaker 3: It isn't until I actually do the move. Like a
- 11:07Speaker 3: game like scenario, I'm like, yeah, it's flowing, it's coming.
- 11:11Speaker 1: We're gonna get your back. Oh make your bag ridiculous,
- 11:17Speaker 1: but right there because guess what if she recovers, you
- 11:21Speaker 1: step through right right and you're able to get to
- 11:24Speaker 1: that layup. So I think it's like I used to
- 11:27Speaker 1: roll my eyes a little bit when I would hear
- 11:31Speaker 1: Kobe say you need to move in a counter move,
- 11:34Speaker 1: But it's really that right. It's patience in that it's
- 11:37Speaker 1: patience and purpose and for you to be able to
- 11:39Speaker 1: take your time, not take a runner, body up, left
- 11:43Speaker 1: hand layup. You take your time, and especially in three
- 11:46Speaker 1: v three there's no double one v one you know
- 11:49Speaker 1: there's no double, and you're able to then read the
- 11:52Speaker 1: defense right here and use your size and your footwork.
- 11:55Speaker 1: I love that. I love your bump fade. I really do.
- 11:58Speaker 2: Thank you. No working on it.
- 12:00Speaker 1: It does something to my soul. Your bump face.
- 12:03Speaker 3: A CP cepe.
- 12:07Speaker 1: There we go. We're gonna give you the CP bag. Okay.
- 12:10Speaker 1: So your size advantage, which we've talked about this as well,
- 12:18Speaker 1: you're able to get to this in one on one,
- 12:20Speaker 1: especially against bigger players. Where you go and you get
- 12:23Speaker 1: into that mid post. You know what I'm talking about.
- 12:26Speaker 1: Where you go and then you face your butt to
- 12:27Speaker 1: the baseline. You get to the mid post. Excuse me,
- 12:33Speaker 1: when things are kind of going maybe a different way,
- 12:35Speaker 1: you need a bucket. I would love for you to
- 12:38Speaker 1: get to the spot on the court, okay, and right
- 12:41Speaker 1: here you're able to then turn face. You're using your
- 12:44Speaker 1: right pivot. This is another thing that I don't even
- 12:47Speaker 1: think you understand. We talked about the ability for a
- 12:50Speaker 1: right hand player to use a right pivot as a defender.
- 12:54Speaker 1: Messes up everything that you have been programmed to do.
- 12:57Speaker 1: You were using this as your right pivot. She's thinking
- 13:04Speaker 1: your left pivot is where it's at, So she's thinking
- 13:07Speaker 1: she's gonna have time for your open up, or she's
- 13:10Speaker 1: gonna have time for your cross. Right here, you're able
- 13:13Speaker 1: to use your right pivot, which allows you to get
- 13:16Speaker 1: to that area. Now you get the rebound, you're to
- 13:19Speaker 1: put it back.
- 13:20Speaker 2: This is a foul or not?
- 13:22Speaker 1: Not? In one v one. This ain't no foul. You
- 13:25Speaker 1: call this in one v one on your own, you
- 13:27Speaker 1: call a foul. I'm throwing the ball at you and
- 13:29Speaker 1: telling you to get to No, bo, you don't have
- 13:33Speaker 1: to play through that. It's not it's not a foul. Nope, nope.
- 13:38Speaker 1: You know what I want you to do right here? Yes,
- 13:40Speaker 1: you know what I want you to do right here, spend.
- 13:42Speaker 1: I want you to bump and I want you to
- 13:44Speaker 1: play off two.
- 13:46Speaker 2: Yeah, so bop.
- 13:47Speaker 1: You have the step through, you have the right shoulder
- 13:51Speaker 1: turn fade, you have the step step through with your
- 13:55Speaker 1: right hand on the left side. You have all that.
- 13:58Speaker 1: But in one v one, if they're able to contest
- 14:02Speaker 1: a shot, you have the advantage because they're not gonna
- 14:04Speaker 1: be able to turn around and block you out right.
- 14:07Speaker 1: And so with this right here, you're able to then
- 14:09Speaker 1: go get the rebound and put it back in which
- 14:11Speaker 1: I love. I think it's a balance approach. Right, How
- 14:14Speaker 1: are you going to survey whether to take your outside
- 14:16Speaker 1: jump shot or whether to get to the hoop.
- 14:18Speaker 3: Well, it's interesting because the one we want set up.
- 14:20Speaker 3: We start at the half court line, and you don't
- 14:24Speaker 3: check the ball.
- 14:24Speaker 2: You wait until the ref blows the whistle.
- 14:27Speaker 3: So I want to see where my opponent's positioning is defensively.
- 14:33Speaker 3: If they're backing up and giving me the three, yes,
- 14:37Speaker 3: I'm going to try and make a couple because obviously
- 14:40Speaker 3: less work, less tiring, get the game over quick. Because
- 14:44Speaker 3: we all saw in the finals I was definitely gassed.
- 14:48Speaker 1: So that you played a lot of rounds.
- 14:51Speaker 2: I feel like.
- 14:52Speaker 3: I've done a lot of great work of working on
- 14:54Speaker 3: my ball handling that I can get to my spots.
- 14:56Speaker 3: Like you're saying the mid posts, but my I used
- 15:00Speaker 3: to do my work in the paint, not be on
- 15:05Speaker 3: the three point line because you're just gonna tire me out.
- 15:07Speaker 3: I feel like, at.
- 15:10Speaker 1: Okay, it's time for winning connection. And the question that
- 15:14Speaker 1: I have for you is what player WNBA, NBA, unrivaled,
- 15:21Speaker 1: whatever most reminds you of your game or do you
- 15:25Speaker 1: aspire to play like and add pieces hearing.
- 15:29Speaker 2: I mean, I think it's a no brainer. I think
- 15:30Speaker 2: it's you for sure.
- 15:33Speaker 3: I mean before I even met you, the first time
- 15:37Speaker 3: that even reached out to me, I was like screaming
- 15:39Speaker 3: and hollering down the hallways. I think I was either
- 15:42Speaker 3: at school or something. I was screaming, like, oh my gosh,
- 15:45Speaker 3: it's like she finally reached out to me. We got
- 15:48Speaker 3: that finally, not finally, No, I knew it was coming
- 15:54Speaker 3: because I was bawling. Bro, I'm like, I have to,
- 15:56Speaker 3: I have to get the respect someway from the goat.
- 15:58Speaker 3: But yeah, I've told you this. I've grown up watching you.
- 16:03Speaker 3: I think you really changed the game from us as
- 16:05Speaker 3: forwards just being back to the basket posts. But now
- 16:09Speaker 3: we're more dynamic, more versatile. That's what everyone loves. So
- 16:13Speaker 3: I think you were definitely at the forefront of that,
- 16:16Speaker 3: and we saw the moves in there. Most of those
- 16:19Speaker 3: moves are either you did.
- 16:21Speaker 1: Or All I know is I can't wait. Just give me,
- 16:26Speaker 1: like I said, give me two weeks, and we're about
- 16:30Speaker 1: to We're about to add a bag to the bag.
- 16:32Speaker 1: You're about to have a bag inside of a bag
- 16:34Speaker 1: inside of a bag. I can't wait.
- 16:35Speaker 2: I have a question for you.
- 16:37Speaker 3: If you were to play me one b one, what
- 16:40Speaker 3: would be the score and what would be your strategy
- 16:43Speaker 3: against me?
- 16:45Speaker 1: Okay, I love I love your uh your question I'm
- 16:48Speaker 1: gonna go with I'm gonna do a lot of jabbing,
- 16:52Speaker 1: so I'm gonna make you think. I'm not gonna let
- 16:54Speaker 1: you get into my body. So the way that I
- 16:56Speaker 1: would play you would be obviously I would take away
- 16:59Speaker 1: to catch and shoot off the first initial dribble, but
- 17:02Speaker 1: then I would force you to go downhill like away right,
- 17:07Speaker 1: so I wouldn't let you come back over your right shoulder,
- 17:12Speaker 1: and I would make you go up and out. So
- 17:14Speaker 1: I would do a lot of jabs, a lot of guesswork,
- 17:17Speaker 1: making you guess wrong. I mean, right now, you will
- 17:21Speaker 1: whoop my ass. I'm not even gonna lie right now.
- 17:24Speaker 2: That's all I really wanted to hear.
- 17:25Speaker 1: Right now, you want my ass, man, we talk about
- 17:28Speaker 1: right now. That's as good as you know, as good
- 17:30Speaker 1: as you'll ever be. Is is right at this moment.
- 17:33Speaker 1: And my athleticism was left back in twenty twenty two,
- 17:36Speaker 1: so we're going on four years with no athleticism. So
- 17:40Speaker 1: I'll give you. I'll give you that, but I give
- 17:42Speaker 1: you the nod I think you have.
- 17:46Speaker 2: The score would be it makes some noise.
- 17:49Speaker 1: What are we going to? We're going to eleven eleven? Yeah,
- 17:53Speaker 1: we going to eleven. I mean, I just fought myself
- 17:56Speaker 1: at least get just off a slow play.
- 17:58Speaker 2: I get at least five five six.
- 18:01Speaker 1: So I'll say eleven eight. Now you're talking about kid,
- 18:06Speaker 1: You talking about Knus at your age, chill out, chill out, yeah, eleven,
- 18:13Speaker 1: I love them. It was if it was like Prime
- 18:15Speaker 1: versus Prime. Oh no, Oliah, I'd tell you what move
- 18:19Speaker 1: I was going to do, and still doing the move
- 18:22Speaker 1: I was going to do it.
- 18:23Speaker 2: That's some Kobe type mentalities, I'm.
- 18:25Speaker 1: Telling you, man, I would tell you listen, going over
- 18:28Speaker 1: my right shoulder, I'd be like, what, Eliah, fill You're
- 18:33Speaker 1: the best. I really really really appreciate you and really
- 18:36Speaker 1: rooting for you, man,