Go back 5 years and Rose was in Anthony Davis' shoe. I'm not saying Anthony Davis will be like Rose but let's not get ahead of ourselves and give it a few more years.
The question should really be will Davis get an MVP award (excluding ESPN player award, cause obviously, that's already been done.) and win a Championship before Harden.
Man, I love Harden and I don't think he's peaked as a player but he's closer to his ceiling than AD is. Let's say Harden has what 5-6 years on top left? ( I could be wrong in either direction) but if AD stays healthy he could be a Tim Duncan - KG guy and be relevant for a very, very long time.
Does he even create his own shot all that well? Can you dump it to him when you need a basket at the end of the game?
Yeah, even years ago Anthony Davis was a college player selected for 2012 Olympic team. And they didnt need to do a token gesture for a college player. I dont remember much people shaking their head about his selection, It was like "Brow's on the team? Alright then." He was just skilled to fit a team need. He was a "no brainer" #1 pick (even when media made up some fake suspense of other possibilities) Davis is just in a lower market team. Not that big markets should matter in mvp consideration
Great potential and talent, but of course a lot of things can go wrong in one's career. Did he ever play a full season?
Yes, and yes. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bYBh5Wls94A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> 4:27 mark <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hZsFk-0dKCM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Whats crazy is before last year started I argued about how to me I thought he was just a great defensive player who could patrol the paint and run the court a little bit but wasn't good offensively. Said he lacked post moves and most his moves came from dunks and putbacks from good positioning on rebounds. WOW was I completely wrong and blind af. I didn't think he would become great enough to be an alpha to build a championship team around and more like a 2nd star ala Dwight howard. and im completely fine with being utterly proven wrong and made look ridiculously stupid. This guy, health permitted, is going to be one of the greats when its all said and done.
I think he does this a bit. He definitely does it in light of today's NBA, which is, fundamentally, harder on big men to be the initiation point offensively as they once were. Anthony Davis will dominate a game in the way someone like Duncan has year after year. It's not always about scoring 35 a night... but it's about being an extremely efficient offense force, a defensive mastermind, a fantastic rebounder, and the leader and winning force on the team. Clearly he has work to do, but he already shows the ability to do that... WHILE being more, potentially MUCH MORE, of that offensive force you want. For one, he's had some mega games in the past. For two, he is diversifying his game in a way Duncan never really did. If AD adds a consistent 3 point shot at 35%+, he'd be crazy good. If he adds more of a face up ballhandling game, he'd be crazy good. If he gets remotely better at both, then clearly a top player in the world. Separately... one has to consider the team around him, and how strange and in many ways badly its been built. Consider the Pelicans purposefully replaced Robin Lopez - who would have been a freaking bargain - with Omer Asik (who is frankly not as good as Lopez, or at least at best the same), for which they traded a first round pick. Consider the Pelicans seem to be better, and Anthony Davis is ridiculously amazing when Asik is OFF the court. Not that they can prevent injuries - or getting lied to/misled by the 76ers - but consider the Pelicans could have had Nerlens Noel (or any number of decent+ rookies from that draft class), but instead traded the pick for Jrue Holiday, who has played all of 74 games total in 2 years with the Pelicans. And the plan there was a backcourt of Holiday, Evans and Eric Gordon... As a Rocket fan... yeah! The Pelican's future could be crazy good right now had management not been so intent on getting good fast and been content to maximize assets even if it didn't maximize record. I mean the Rockets got Ty Lawson basically for free. While the Pelicans trade a #5 draft pick for Jrue Holiday...
Barring any serious health issues, he has the tools and potential to be one of the greatest players of all time when its all said and done.
I do need to watch these, so I will. Still, I am a bit thrown off that such a high % of his shots are assisted while his career high in APG is 2.2 (last year). I know some of that is a function of his position, but I still say his potential is what gets everybody. His production is great, but I don't think he's proven himself as the "alpha" an offense is built around.
