Anthony Davis is currently sitting on the greatest PER of all time

Right now what I see is Kevin Garnett.

Superstar individual player, great defensive impact, but cannot be the man on a champion because you can't count on him to close game. He scores within the offense, he can't dominate.

He's young, so he still may develop that, but he can't do that right now. PER isn't a number I have ever cared about because it's strictly a box score number. Hakeem and Kevin Love put up a similar PER, so that tells me all I need to know about that stat.

 

For the record, Anthony Davis' block per game this years (2.9) is under Hakeem's career average (3.1).

 

Davis is amazing but I feel like good big men in the league, especially defensive ones are not as common anymore which inflates his stats a bit.

 

I'd take Davis over Westbrook every day and twice on Sunday.

 

Hakeem averaged 4.6 blocks per game one year and he 3 seasons where he averaged over 4

 

Some players just will never be "the man" on a championship team where you can depend on them to score in clutch and some just need proper coaching and mentoring. I'd roll the dice on the latter any day of the week.

 

A. Davis is 21 years old and his scoring average of 24.5 ppg is higher than any average KG hit in his whole career. Pretty sure A. Davis hasn't reached his peak yet. He is absolutely a better talent than KG. He just needs to stay healthy.

 

For some reason, a lot of people consider Dikembe as the greatest shot-blocker of all time, despite Olajuwon having him covered. Deke's best season he averaged 4.5 blocks per game, and he had only 2 seasons of averaging more than 4 per game.

Mark Eaton is probably the guy that deserves the credit as all-time best (average 3.5 per game - career best 5.6 per). But he's a dirty jazz, so he doesn't count....

 

You cannot win MVP without making the playoffs, that shouldn't even be questionable

If anything, this only further shows that PER is a pretty worthless statistic. In basketball, one player can make a big enough difference to the point that a top 5 player should be able to get his team into the playoffs under any circumstance. Davis just ins't there yet. He probably will be in a few years but he just isn't there right now

 

It's hard for me to say PER is worthless. There are always outliers and I don't use it as the be all end all, but from year to year you consistently find most of the best players at the top of the PER list and that list is generally in a pretty reasonable order for ranking the best players.

It definitely gets a little wonky when you look at career PER leaders, but I think it has more to do with how PER values efficiency and with how much the game has changed to gear toward that, the older generation is somewhat misrepresented by the stat.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I don't think he is what Kevin Love appears to have been for most of his career, a PER monster that just doesn't win. Davis' team might not be winning yet, but I think the talent on that team is more name than substance.

 

And he blocked most of his shots inadvertently, with his forehead.

 

If you had asked me before the season started I would have agreed with you.

But he's already improved so much on offense yet is still so raw. No one can deny that he has the tools to improve and take command of an offense. Especially in this modern era where the rules are making it more difficult to score in the post.

I think an athletic guy who can face up is more dangerous than the traditional post players who get whistled for a foul everytime they exert force and their opponent flops to the ground.

At this point in his career I definitely think he needs an alpha scorer alongside him if that team is going to succeed early on. But over time who knows. I felt the same way about Dirk halfway through his career. He let the game come to him. Didn't command the ball. Didn't dominate. Then out of nowhere that changed.

 

The pieces are good enough for them to have a better record if he was as dominant as his PER indicates, or as folks try to sell him as being. And I'm not saying he isn't very good.

 

Me too. My point was him having the greatest PER ever doesn't equate to him being or playing like one of the greatest ever. I have seen guys get wins surrounded by total garbage.

 

Would trade Harden and D-Mo for him without even blinking. IMO there is no doubt he will be the best player in the league next season and most of the 10 years after that. He is not so much Garnett as he is an athletic Tim Duncan.

Would love to see Hakeem work with him at least 3-4 times. This guy can be an all-time great if inuries don't plague him.

 

On a per minute basis Bol has him beat (there were a few years where he averaged 7 blocks per 36).

 

Well, considering that half of the centers he played against were P.E. coaches for High Schools in their spare time, I'm sure it would be pretty high.

 

His team is is a developing team and is a few years early from making the playoffs, and yet they are 24-22 and only 2.5 games out of the tough west.

What NO is doing is remarkable considering their mix of talent, esp. in the back court.

NO is on the fast lane to being an elite team.

I don't know where people have the notion that his team sucks. He's just stuck in the West.

He's definitely in my top 3 for MVP. Beast.

 

And he's only 21! Not even near his prime yet. Holy @Q$%