Brooklyn Nets: Appreciating the underrated Ed Davis

The Brooklyn Nets have a lot of priorities this summer, but they shouldn’t forget about the underrated Ed Davis.

The Brooklyn Nets will have a lot of attention on free agency this summer. Along with the pursuits of blockbuster free agents like Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, the Nets have five free agents of their own: DeMarre Carroll, Jared Dudley, D’Angelo Russell, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Ed Davis.

The 29-year-old Davis knows he won’t be the team’s priority this offseason, telling Nets Daily:

"“Me personally, I would love to be back. But y’all know how free agency works. Sean [Marks], they’re going to go after the top free agents as they should, and then however it goes, if everybody else falls in line, that’s just how it works and we’ll see what happens.”"

At 6’10”, Davis might not be a superstar, but he’s arguably the most underrated player on Brooklyn’s roster, and the front office should be wary of just letting another team snatch him up. His basic statistics don’t stand out, as he only averaged 5.8 points in 17.9 minutes per game this past season, but the advanced statistics reveal Davis’s true value.

Net Rating

NBA.com provides a statistic called “Net Rating,” which “measures a team’s point differential per 100 possessions. On player level this statistic is the team’s point differential per 100 possessions while he is on court.”

“Offensive Rating” reflects the number of points per 100 possessions a team scores when a given player is on the court, while “Defensive Rating” reflects the number of points per 100 possessions a team allows when a given player is on the court. Net Rating is the difference between these two metrics, with a positive rating being preferable.

These statistics aren’t perfect, so the players with the best Net Ratings often aren’t the “best” players. However, there seems to be a consensus that these measures have a place in evaluating player performance.

The below chart reflects the Net Ratings of every Brooklyn player that played at least 20 games in the 2018-19 season. Davis posted the team’s best Net Rating at +3.9, driven by his team-best 101.3 Defensive Rating.

Some players, like D’Angelo Russell or Spencer Dinwiddie, posted better Offensive Ratings than Davis, but had worse Net Ratings due to the team’s defensive performance when they were on the court. Again, these are imperfect stats, but they provide evidence for the value Davis adds.

Rebounding Percentage

Davis’s 8.6 rebounds per game suggest he’s a strong rebounder, but his offensive and defensive rebounding percentages make him look even better. “Rebounding percentage” reflects the percentage of a team’s offensive or defensive rebounds a player grabs when they are on the court.

Among NBA players that appeared in at least 20 games in 2018-19, Davis ranked sixth in offensive rebounding percentage and fourth in defensive rebounding percentage. Andre Drummond and Hassan Whiteside were the only other players in the top 10 in both categories.

Davis earned $4.4 million this past season, and he will almost certainly earn more than that next season, regardless of where he signs. If Brooklyn and Davis eventually part ways, this would leave the Nets thinner on the interior than they already are. The 20-year-old Jarrett Allen has developed fairly well, but he’s the team’s only big man besides Davis. This is another reason Davis has been so valuable.

Overall, there’s a lot up in the air for the Brooklyn Nets this summer. Certain players will understandably take priority, but the Nets shouldn’t forget about, nor underestimate, the value of Ed Davis.