Anthony Davis: What Is And Is Not Working

Humor me, as I embark us on a journey through a severely premature episode of Small Sample Size theater with the universally heralded Anthony Davis.

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Davis is averaging 18.5 field goal attempts through two games. Of those 18.5 attempts, an average of six come when he has touched the ball for a range of two to six seconds, per nba.com. He has yet to make a shot when this happens.

Why? Well, take this possession for example:

Davis gets the ball with 6:42 on the clock. He takes a few seconds to size up his man (in this case Festus Ezeli) and attempts a choreographed post move that he obviously had been working on all summer. By the time the shot goes up, there is 6:36 on the clock and Davis is flailing up an out of control left-handed hook that never really had a chance of falling. Give credit to Ezeli for playing good defense, but yikes.

Possessions such as these have been all too regular for a player that is being dubbed the “next great player.” For a player will such rich and oozing talents, he has never been able to string together a consistent one on one game. Thus far into his career, the Pelicans have never been able to throw the ball into Davis and say, “hey, go get me a bucket.”

Instead, he relishes when others (specifically Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday) create for him. According to nba.com, Davis shot 61 percent of his shots last season without taking a dribble, with a remarkable 27 percent of those attempts being catch and shoot opportunities. Don’t get me wrong, he is damn good at making those shots at a high clip; I guess I am just greedy. I want more. I wish we could at least start to see the formation of a Kevin Durant spin floater, a Tim Duncan bank shot or even a vintage Kevin Garnett turnaround jumper.

Most of Davis’ shots are either lobs, catch and shoot jumpers or free throws. Everything else in between mostly looks rushed and awkward like this:

Man do those plays infuriate me. Not because they don’t go in or result in foul calls (they often do because he is starting to get the “star player” treatment) but because he could make things so much easier on himself. He’s like a potentially brilliant speaker who practices a big speech all week with a controlled, relaxed tempo and then all of the sudden he is in the middle of the speech and just wants to race through it. He doesn’t seem to have a feel for scoring yet, he simply is just so active that he is able to average 23-25 points a night.

Alright, let’s get to some positives here. There have been flashes of excellence from both Davis and the Pelicans alike that make me giddy for what could come when they are actually fielding a full NBA roster. Take this sequence from the other night for instance:

This is what I refer to as Peak Pellies.

Ish Smith is a true point guard that understands how to pace out his dribbles to set up his teammates, which is exactly what he does here. Noah Vonleh also helps matters by unwisely jumping out on Smith as if he were Chris Paul. Ryan Anderson circles around the Davis-Smith pick and roll to the arc, causing a gravitational pull effect on help defender Ed Davis. This leaves poor Allen Crabbe to stray away from Eric Gordon — possibly relinquishing a wide-open three in the corner — to contend with the rising Davis. But it’s too late.

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There is so much going on here. If (Ed) Davis fails to follow Anderson to the arc, there’s a three-point chance. If Crabbe somehow gets to (Anthony) Davis before the lob, then Gordon has a corner three. The proper way to defend this would probably be allowing Ish Smith to beat you with a mid-range jumper, which is why I can’t wait for Holiday to be the one spearheading the whole operation without restriction. Defenses will be relegated to picking their poison.

Speaking of defense, Davis has been sloppier on that end than one would hope allowing ball handlers to wiggle past him for lay-ins or too aggressively going for blocks/swipes when a simple shuffling of the feet would have done the job. But holy hell, does he just jump off of the screen sometimes.

In less than a second, Davis was able to follow the pass, turn his hips, take a big step, gather his feet and swat his alien arm at the swift Steph Curry lay in.

I mean… is there anyone else in the league that could make that play right now?

Those kinds of plays are what make the possibilities for Davis infinite as a player and make me some damn nit-picky with my critiques of him.

The dude is limitless.