Welcome to AD week here at Pelican Debrief. This week, our work will focus on the league’s most peculiar specimen and one of its greatest players, Anthony Davis.
1. Last season was supposed to be the one in which Anthony Davis claimed his rightful throne atop the National Basketball Association, but several hiccups impeded his path to dominance. To what extent (statistical or narrative) will his ascent continue this year?
Preston Ellis (@PelicanBriefNBA): As the resident Negative Nancy here at Pelican Debrief, I can only contribute my worst fears. Anthony Davis is a transcendent talent with all the offensive abilities and athleticism to a be a year-in, year-out First Team All-NBA player. However, AD has failed to play in more than 68 games per any season, at a meager minutes per game average of 33.9.
This season, AD will again manage the highlight reel plays and big game box scores we have become so accustomed too. He will make the All-Star Game as a reserve, and will lead the Pelicans to a 40 win record. But as AD’s injury history continues and the Pelicans again finish out of the playoffs, AD will slip from the minds of most experts as a top-five NBA talent. Players like Karl-Anthony Towns, Klay Thompson, Damian Lillard, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, and perhaps even Demarcus Cousins will pass him along with established greats like Lebron, Durant, Westbrook, CP3, James Harden and Steph Curry.
Rick Stone (@RickStoneNBA): This year may be the hardest to really tell how well Anthony Davis has progressed, mostly due to everything that’s changed this offseason. The supporting cast alongside the superstar has changed. That also means his role will likely change a bit. If Anthony Davis can adjust and do what he has been able to do when healthy, it should be no problem. As far as the progression goes, it depends on the overall health and effectiveness of the team.
The fans know he’s going to be a big impact player and have massive games, like his 59-point, 20-rebound game. It’s a matter of making those kind of games consistent. Statistically, it’s likely his points per game will go up due to the departure of two scoring-focused players. His rebounds could also go up due to Omer Asik’s ineffectiveness and more of a decrease in minutes for him. Still, with a huge learning curve and new surroundings, Davis should be expected to have some struggles this season.
Nathan Heck (@NathanHeck22): For every yin, there is a yang. For every Preston, there is a Nathan. Anthony Davis did not stumble last season in as dramatic a fashion as many in the national media would lead you to believe. After failing to live up to the expectations of an all-time great season and with many putting lesser talents like Karl-Anthony Towns (Oh, I went there) ahead of him, Alvin Gentry and Davis himself will ensure he is back on track.
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The new roster is constructed in a way that should maximize the talents of the Destroyer of Worlds. Demps has put a group of defensive-minded role players around Davis, and his improvement on that end of the floor should be dramatic. If Davis becomes a top 5 defensive player and maintains his offensive output, he is the best player in the NBA. So yeah, still on track.
It is also important to remember that Davis let us all know that he has been playing for the past three seasons with a torn labrum. If that shoulder is completely healthy this season (and the team/Davis did elect for him to undergo surgery), I am a lot less worried about the seemingly endless nagging injuries that have plagued the superstar.
Rory Callais (@Rory_Callais): As our podcast listeners know, I am firmly with Nathan on the “sunshine and puppies” side of optimism/pessimism divide. Last year’s “slump” (despite Davis continuing to put up great numbers- look it up. Seriously.) was largely due to two factors. The first is the obvious and most reported: injuries. The team around Davis was decimated, and Davis himself saw long-term nagging issues finally come to a head. The second factor was that Davis simply outgrew the role players around him. It’s easy to forget that when Dell Demps was putting the previous core together four years ago, no one was quite sure what sort of player Davis would become. The prevailing theory was that Davis would be a lockdown defender, but need some help on the offensive end of the ball. Demps believed this as well and surrounded Davis with scorers. However, the opposite proved to be true. Davis’ offense was far more developed than anyone could have guessed, and as such players like Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon became at best redundant and at worse defensive liabilities.
Obviously, it is hard to say considering we’re a month away from training camp, but the new role players around Davis are better suited — at least on paper — to make him an upper-echelon player again. They will form a better defensive perimeter around him so he doesn’t have to work as hard on that side the ball. They are not the type of players who need the ball in their hands to be effective. Jrue Holiday is more of a distributor than the previous starting point guard (not naming names), and the new additions, while not lights-out scorers, are at least good enough shooters to make defenses respect them. Assuming Buddy Hield develops and Solomon Hill and E’Twaun Moore can help spread the floor, Davis should be unstoppable in the paint, especially without certain players clogging up the lane (fine. It’s Tyreke).
Drew Martin (@DrewMartinASU): With offensive-minded players like Eric Gordon and Ryan Anderson gone, it’s hard for me to say that AD’s season will be anything less than stellar. Sure, Gordon and Anderson were key role players on the offensive end of the court, but they were both liabilities on defense, where the Pelicans were one of the worst squads in the league. Now that they are out of the picture and Tyreke Evans isn’t set to see the floor for quite some time, Davis has all the tools available to absolutely dominate offensively. Not only that, but new additions Solomon Hill, E’Twaun Moore and Buddy Hield will help to spread out the floor and allow Davis all the room he needs to operate inside. The new additions brought in (Galloway, Jones, etc.) are also much stronger on the defensive end than players like Gordon or Anderson ever were, so Davis will have more help. Overall, if he’s able to stay healthy (and that’s a big if),I think Davis will have the best season of his NBA career thus far and firmly supplant himself as a top 5 player in this league.
Brendon Kleen (@BrendonKleen14): Nathan has finally swayed me. I give up. It’s over. Anthony Davis is a SuperDuperMegaMonsterStar, and I love and trust him so damn much. He avoided fighting the restricted free agency battle, re-upped with New Orleans, and got rewarded by the front office with shiny new free agent toys to maximize him on the court. This dude is ready to spring forward, and the team is clearly his on both sides. I mean, he’s got his college buddy, a native Louisianian, and an eager as hell new teammate. I’m so ready for a 35-15-5-2-2 MVP season for Anthony Davis. Fight me.
Next: Ranking AD: in the NBA and in history