The New Orleans Pelicans hit the jackpot when former NBA commissioner David Stern announced they’d won the 2012 Draft Lottery.
The prize of that class was Kentucky’s Anthony Davis, who was coming off one of the most successful freshman seasons in college basketball history. Davis led the Wildcats to the NCAA Championship, was named the consensus National Player of the Year, and rewrote the record book in terms of blocks. He was the number one overall recruit coming out of high school, and exceeded any and all of his preseason hype.
The pick was a no brainer.
Fast forward to the 2014-2015 season. The Pelicans hosted the Magic on the season’s opening night, a night that should have been named “This is the NBA reminding America just how damn good Anthony Davis is night.” The Pelicans big man put on a colossal performance against Orlando, outshining some of the other major headlines of the night. On a night in which the Spurs raised their championship banner and Lakers’ rookie Julius Randle broke his leg, the talk of the league was Davis’ performance.
He flirted with a triple-double, dropping 26 points, grabbing 17 rebounds and blocking nine shots. To put it in its simplest form: Davis dominated on both ends of the court and his sheer impact on the game can’t be captured by the numbers.
Two of the next three games for the Pelicans were equally as telling of his limitless potential.
Davis followed up his opening night performance with a 31-point, 15-rebound game against Dallas. He went toe-to-toe with Dirk Nowtizki, limiting the future Hall-of-Famer to 17 points on 8-of-19 shooting. In New Orleans’ fourth game, Davis dropped 24 points on Al Jefferson and the Charlotte Hornets and dominated the glass with 13 rebounds.
Every time he’s caught the ball anywhere around the rim, he’s dunked it, and its usually been on a defender’s head. Every time an opposing player drove the lane, Davis’ either got his hands on the ball or forced the attacking player to throw up an ugly, contested layup. And it’s no surprise he’s currently third in the league in rebounds per game while playing alongside another top-notch rebounder in Omer Asik. Players with Davis’ size and athleticism don’t come around often, and players with that size, athleticism, and rebounding instincts are even rarer.
[RELATED: Anthony Davis Flies Out Of Nowhere For Mind-Bending Tip Dunk]
Davis didn’t exactly shine against Memphis (14 points, 8 rebounds), but that’s merely a blip on the radar of how dominant he’s been early on this season.
*Click here to learn more about Davis’ stunning growth…
Through four games this season, Davis has a plus/minus of +30, which is 21 points higher than the Pelicans’ total plus/minus. For a 2-2 team, a +30 individual rating is just absurd. It goes to show how much of an impact Davis has on both ends of the court for this team. His 33.83 Player Efficiency Rating is also the highest of any player in the league who has played in at least half of his team’s games.
Davis stands at 6-10, weighs in at 240 pounds after another rigorous offseason workout regimen, runs the court like a gazelle, jumps like a grasshopper, has velvety touch around the rim, and his defensive instincts are on par with Spiderman’s “spidey senses.”
The first week of the season hasn’t been a coming out party for Davis. He was a household name at Kentucky and was a vital part of Team USA’s FIBA World Cup run this summer. If someone didn’t know who Davis was before the start of the season, they’re not a real fan – plain and simple.
[RELATED: Anthony Davis Shines Necessarily Bright In Team USA’s Win Over Brazil]
Instead, the first week of the 2014-2015 season has been an opportunity for the Association to show off its youngest superstar, and he’s put on performances that backed up that claim.
The scariest part about Davis is his youth. The Pelicans’ superstar has been legally able to order himself a beer with dinner for a little over six months now, and he won’t turn 22 years-old until March. Davis is dominating in the NBA at 21, and to say his potential is sky-scraper high is an understatement.
There isn’t a landmark or a monument in the world that would accurately describe how much potential he has, so we’ll have to leave this planet to put it into words – the only fair way to describe Anthony Davis’ ceiling to say it’s astronomical. If you were to construct a building tall enough that its top floor left Earth’s atmosphere and scraped the bottom of the Moon, it’d be an accurate representation of how good Davis can be in a few years.
He’s improved his game significantly each offseason he’s been in the NBA, and don’t forget that just five years ago Davis was a 6-3 point guard from Chicago. He’s only been a big man for about a half-decade now, so he’s still learning the little nuances of the post. On top of that, he’s already eliminated his two biggest weaknesses coming out of college: his physicality and his jumper.
NBADraft.net scout Adam Ganeles said:
“The number one drawback on Davis is his overall strength, or lack thereof .. Despite his youth, he is unquestionably thin and the issue remains just how much weight he can add, and how that added weight will affect his speed and agility … His shoulders suggest he can build on his frame, and he’s noticeably chiseled his arms, however a thin waist likely means he won’t be able to bulk up substantially.”
“Doesn’t yet have a feel for his jump shot, often rushing the attempt and shooting a flat shot … There are times where he displays extreme comfort handling the ball, but face-up/dribble-drive maneuvers are few and far between.”
DraftExpress reviewed Davis’ freshman year at Kentucky and concluded that his jumper just wasn’t an effective enough offensive weapon yet.
“Davis attempts just over one jump shot per game on average, but has only made 27% of his attempts.”
Davis has since turned those weaknesses into strengths.
*Click here to learn where Davis ranks among all NBA players…
He’s bulked up significantly since entering the league and it’s most noticeable in his shoulders. He most likely has to walk through skinny doorways sideways now, as his shoulders have gotten so broad. He’s not Dwight Howard, but he looks like a different person now than he did at Kentucky. Someone laying eyes on Davis for the first time would never guess that he was a player criticized for a lack of bulk even just a year ago.
His jumper is the part of his offensive game that he’s clearly worked tirelessly on each offseason, and it’s paying off. Not only does he look comfortable catching and facing at the high post, but he’s converting on those jump shots at a high rate. During his time with Team USA this summer, coach Mike Krzyzewski put Davis in the high post more often than not and let him work from there. The results – 12.3 points per game on 54 percent shooting.
Free throws can be a telling sign of whether or not a player will ever develop a consistent jump-shot, and Davis is currently knocking down 81 percent (25-31) of his attempts from the line. That’s the fifth highest percentage of any power forward in the league that averages at least four free throw attempts per game.
The near triple-double Davis posted in the Pelicans first game of the season is just a taste of the full course meal that’s coming. Davis may have scored 26 points, but he didn’t put his full offensive arsenal on display. He has the ability to score 20-plus on any given night even if his shots aren’t falling based off his athleticism and ability to get easy put-backs alone.
[RELATED: Dime Ranks Davis The Second-Best Power Forward In The NBA]
As his face-up game and ability to break down defenders from the high post continue to improve, Davis will go from being “tough to stop” to “unguardable.” After seeing how much his offensive game has improved already, there’s no telling where it’ll stop. In a few years from now when he’s 24 or 25, Davis could be a dominant back-to-the-basket scorer, a deadly mid-range shooter, a great low post passer, one of the league’s premiere rebounders, and without a doubt the league’s best rim protector.
That’s how good Anthony Davis could be.
LeBron James and a healthy Kevin Durant are still the league’s two best players, but there is a legitimate argument to be heard about Davis being its third. He’s that good, that young, and he’s getting better by the day.
You might as well start watching him play now, because Anthony Davis is a player NBA fans will be talking about for a many, many years to come.
What do you think?
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