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Anthony Davis

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Davis gets blocks, steals and fills that statsheet pretty nicely, but he is by no means a great defender. Advanced stats seem to back it up. He is definitely an above average defender, but NOWHERE NEAR a DPOY candidate. He's still only 21 years old though, plenty of time to work on that defensive IQ, rotations and positioning.
 
Jstock12 said:
Davis gets blocks, steals and fills that statsheet pretty nicely, but he is by no means a great defender. Advanced stats seem to back it up. He is definitely an above average defender, but NOWHERE NEAR a DPOY candidate. He's still only 21 years old though, plenty of time to work on that defensive IQ, rotations and positioning.
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Could you perhaps elaborate a bit on this train of thought? maybe some context? what do the advanced stats tell us?
 
blommen said:
Could you perhaps elaborate a bit on this train of thought? maybe some context? what do the advanced stats tell us?
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Well despite all the blocked shots his opponents' FG% against him are worse than their season averages only by a very little margin. Which makes him a plus defender, but not a defensive monster how some of the people portray him to be. He also still has to work a lot on his rotations, reading offenses in general and positioning. I do think that he will become a perennial DPOY candidate in the future though.
 
Jstock12 said:
Well despite all the blocked shots his opponents' FG% against him are worse than their season averages only by a very little margin. Which makes him a plus defender, but not a defensive monster how some of the people portray him to be. He also still has to work a lot on his rotations, reading offenses in general and positioning. I do think that he will become a perennial DPOY candidate in the future though.
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When you say, "his opponents'," are you referring to the opposing team's power forward, guys in 1v1 situations against Davis, the entirety of the opposing team, or a combination of all 3?

Davis alters as many shot attempts as anybody in the league. Can he be moved down low? Sure, but so can Serge Ibaka. Don't forget, power forward is arguably the second deepest position when it comes to offensive skill in the entire league.

I also think shot blocking is a mental edge as well as a physical one. Historically, teams took less shots in the paint against Dwight Howard and Serge Ibaka every season because their impact began to be expected. I think the same will happen with Davis.
 
Cassity14 said:
When you say, "his opponents'," are you referring to the opposing team's power forward, guys in 1v1 situations against Davis, the entirety of the opposing team, or a combination of all 3?

Davis alters as many shot attempts as anybody in the league. Can he be moved down low? Sure, but so can Serge Ibaka. Don't forget, power forward is arguably the second deepest position when it comes to offensive skill in the entire league.

I also think shot blocking is a mental edge as well as a physical one. Historically, teams took less shots in the paint against Dwight Howard and Serge Ibaka every season because their impact began to be expected. I think the same will happen with Davis.
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Oh no doubt. Don't get me wrong I agree with you. He does a lot on the defensive side already even if he's 21. For example, I imagine he can intimidate a lot of guards from penetrating to the rim and in turn make them more passive, and opposing team's offense more stagnant. There aren't really any stats for this meta-game Davis is capable of.

HOWEVER, I won't change my opinion that he's not close to a DPOY candidate yet. He needs to improve in a lot of areas (as I said IQ, awareness, positioning, rotations etc.) to become a legit defensive anchor, and I dont expect him to be one for another couple of years.
 
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12007026/anthony-davis-no-1-top-25-players-age-25-nba

1. Anthony Davis | Projected 3-year WARP: 44.0

Kevin Pelton: Davis' 33.2 PER not only leads the league, but it would be the best ever, per Basketball-Reference.com. Wilt Chamberlain had an estimated 31.8 PER in 1962-63 and Michael Jordan (31.7) has the best score since player turnovers have been tracked.
David Thorpe: Simply put, he's currently the best player on Earth and is still getting better. He is a huge impact guy in three phases of the game, offense, defense and the boards. All that is left is to grow into a great leader.
Amin Elhassan: Let's not waste too much ink on this one. He'll be the best player of any age pretty soon.​
 
Douglar said:
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12007026/anthony-davis-no-1-top-25-players-age-25-nba

1. Anthony Davis | Projected 3-year WARP: 44.0

Kevin Pelton: Davis' 33.2 PER not only leads the league, but it would be the best ever, per Basketball-Reference.com. Wilt Chamberlain had an estimated 31.8 PER in 1962-63 and Michael Jordan (31.7) has the best score since player turnovers have been tracked.
David Thorpe: Simply put, he's currently the best player on Earth and is still getting better. He is a huge impact guy in three phases of the game, offense, defense and the boards. All that is left is to grow into a great leader.
Amin Elhassan: Let's not waste too much ink on this one. He'll be the best player of any age pretty soon.​
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Can you post the top 5
 
http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/71465/tale-of-two-cities-to-tank-or-not

Consider Davis' recent game against the Warriors. The Brow drew gasps from the Oracle crowd with play after mind-bending play. He scored 30 points while missing only five shots. He claimed 15 boards and three swats, and snagged two steals. The Pelicans lost by 27.

A dejected Davis said after the game, “You know, it’s frustrating, but we gotta stay together.” The staying together part won’t be a problem from Davis' end. His rookie contract runs through 2017, and he’s overwhelmingly likely to re-sign with the Pelicans for many years after that. Max-level players don't take the qualifying offer that enables unrestricted free agency. Such a decision is just too much cost combined with too much risk. In the next half decade, Davis’ eyebrows are more likely to separate than he and the Pelicans.

He’s incredible, but when he has the rock, he might as well be Sisyphus. New Orleans is choked with bad contracts and shaky shooters. Now, its daunting mission will be to escape the LeBron trap, the situation Cleveland found itself in when young LeBron James had the Cavs winning too many games before they could draft him some running mates.

In trying to win, the Pelicans lost. Their only reason for hope is Davis and players to be added after the cap leaps higher in 2016. The Pels are actually a good advertisement for being the Sixers. Their 21-year-old meal ticket was a reward for quitting, and their fatal flaws stem from trying too hard.

To be clear, New Orleans made mistakes along the way that have nothing to do with trying too hard. Why the Pelicans gave up Robin Lopez, I have no idea. Their signing of Tyreke Evans and re-signing of Eric Gordon were understandable, if ill-fated moves.

While New Orleans certainly could have done a better job building around the Brow, consider the perverse incentives: Its best shot at pairing him with another superstar going forward would have been to make his team as bad as possible. The Pelicans opted for effort and it’s welded them to a future of non-contention.​
 
This was always in their future as soon as they pulled the holiday trade. They don't have enough space to improve via FA and don't such enough to draft high.
 
How long until "Davis to the Lakers" rumors start?
 
Davis's stat line today: 43 points/10 rebounds/6 assists/2 blocks and he shot 17-23 from the field.

This kid's an absolute monster and he's only 21 years old! Post-Lebron's prime, he's going to absolutely own this league.

And to think that we were a coin flip with New Orleans away from pairing him with Kyrie and Lebron once he returned...

We most likely wouldn't have been in the position to draft #1 in 2013 (not that it matters because Bennett sucks) or #1 in 2014 (Wiggins) because Davis would have made our team better and our odds to get each pick wold have changed, however, it really doesn't matter because any team with Kyrie, Davis, and Lebron would've been a dynasty! I guess I can't complain though because our team right now is pretty good, too...

Although let's be honest, we can't be entirely sure if Chris Grant would've taken Anthony Davis #1 even if we did lose (but really "win") the coinflip against New Orleans. :chuckle:
 
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AD's definitely becoming the big man version of LeBron.

He played center last year with a 220 pound frame and still averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds while shooting only 0.1 threes per game. That's insane potential. What happens when he packs 20 pounds of lean mass onto his frame like LeBron did?
 
Guy can't stay healthy.
 
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