In a video for ESPN, Anthony Davis says he’s going “back to my high school days” this season by shooting three-pointers, bringing the ball up the floor, and generally playing like he once did. It speaks volumes of his incredible strides over the past three years that the growth for what he used to be most well-known has become something close to an afterthought. Davis, remember, sprouted over 10 inches from the time his prep career began in 2007 to when it was finished four years later.
And in 2015-16, the New Orleans Pelicans superstar is intent on reminding the basketball world of this mind-boggling reality: It was just a short time ago that he played on the perimeter full-time.
Now 6’11, 253 pounds, Davis represents one of the most drastic physical anomalies in NBA history. New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry plays a free-flowing, breakneck style of offense uniquely suited to maximizing those otherworldly physical gifts, and seems ready to afford the former No. 1 pick all-court playmaking autonomy that Monty Williams never did – an extra frightening prospect considering Davis’ laughably dominant third professional season.
Will there be bumps along the way as he embraces his past? Of course. Davis will misfire on far more triples than he makes, and look woefully ill-equipped as a ball-screen creator on occasion, too. But there will also be many, many times when he looks like something this game has never seen before, as he did on this mind-bending coast-to-coast take against the Chicago Bulls on Monday night.
Get your popcorn, NBA fans. Davis has begun to scratch the surface of his best-ever potential – and it’s only the beginning.
