Anthony Davis is a power forward who plays for the New Orleans Pelicans. Standing at 6’10, 250 lbs, Anthony Davis is a physical specimen that has made multiple all-star appearances, all-NBA teams, and all-defense teams, thus allowing him to earn his mark as one of the game’s best players. Along the way, Davis has climbed up so high that many have called him a top 5 – or even top 3 player in the league.
That’s an absolute joke. Those people are silly.
What’s actually so great about Anthony Davis? That he should be called a top 5 player? That he is worth gambling your future over in a trade?
Anthony Davis is the quintessential weapon player: as we talked about before (or will talk about when that article gets published), a weapon player is one that puts up big numbers, but does not have a good enough impact on their teams’ success. Davis is perfect to elevate your team, but not to carry it. On first thought, it is easy to say that Anthony Davis’s teammates aren’t that great, and that you can’t blame him for not winning more in New Orleans. But when you look at what Nikola Jokic is doing in Denver, there’s not much of an excuse for Davis.
Julius Randle, Nikola Mirotic, and Jrue Holiday are a solid enough supporting cast to where if Davis is truly a top 3 or 4 player, the Pelicans would be better. I don’t mind if players score 40 points and lose. I do mind if players score 40 points seem silent. There’s a reason why Davis can score 40 points and it goes unnoticed. The reason? He can’t create his own shot, and he has no control over the game’s tempo.
Anthony Davis is not a top 5 player. He can’t consistently create, and lacks the ability to control tempo. He’s not worth gambling your talent for. He’s not a transcendent player.
Here’s an example.
Davis is playing within the offense too much here. Look at the time left on the shot clock when he scores. There’s only 11 seconds left. That’s 13 seconds to set up a score from your supposed top 3 player in the league, while down 10 pts on the road in the 3rd quarter.
As you can see, Davis makes no effort to speed up the game, score quickly, and raise the intensity and momentum in his favor the way Curry and LeBron do. This is why Davis often finds himself scoring slowly throughout the game, failing to spark an actual run.h
Stephen Curry has an arsenal of moves that he can go to immediately once his team reaches halfcourt. LeBron can score quickly with tempo. These are important factors for a top 5 player. This is what allows players to “carry” their teams; they are able to change the nature of the game. Davis doesn’t do this. He merely acts a passive recipient.
First of all, my eyes are right here. Don’t look to the right buddy. Second of all, being a big man is no excuse.
These videos actually show a crucial flaw Anthony Davis has; his inability to create his own shots consistently, and his overall lack of go-to moves. He doesn’t have an arsenal of scoring moves he can rely on. Joel Embiid can post you up, draw fouls, face jump shoot, euro-step, and pass out of doubles in a very consistent and efficient manner. This is why, as shown above, he’s able to get the ball immediately at the beginning of a possession and score, which helps save time in the game for his team to comeback (if need be), and it helps swing momentum in his team’s favor.
I don’t need to bring up the brilliance of Nikola Jokic and his passing for why he is able to carry Murray and whoever else is on that team.
Davis on the other hand is too slow and passive and reactionary; he doesn’t establish pace, momentum, and offense the way a big man should be able to. Davis isn’t a special passer either to make up for hit. That’s why the Joker in Denver is able to carry his team – whose talent isn’t much better than the Pelicans’ talent.
It’s just sad too. Too many people just blindly go along with the narrative that Anthony Davis is a top 5 player just because everyone else says so.
The odd thing is, the logic that’s used to defend him is actually very sound; his talent isn’t that great. That’s something that I like. I respect it, because it is based in tangible, solid reasoning. The people against him also bring up solid arguments. They don’t say empty non-descriptive tripe like “oh he needs to will his team to victory” or “he sucks because he hasn’t won that many playoff series yet”. Those are very non-specific points that don’t tell us anything about his failures as a player. People do a good job of bringing up how his roster is actually decent enough that a player of Davis’s supposed caliber should be winning a lot more. And I’m here to bring up his own specific, individual faults as a player.
Buy in. Stop listening to the manufactured, sheep sports media. Spread the word. You got any legitimate argument? Counter below.
I just had this debate with someone on IG. I said Dame is the best player from that draft class. If you look at it Davis has more talent than Dame has but the teams are never as good outside of last year but that could be playoff Rondo/Holiday combo being to much for the smaller backcourt of Portland. Just like Booker and Towns they all put up empty stats because their games are limited to a street ball type feel than an organized team game feel.
Agreed. Great point about Booker and Towns, they are also great examples.
Thanks for commenting!