The Next Generation: Anthony Davis
Every season the draft brings a fresh infusion of talent to the NBA. In theory this is an even, steady process. In practice, hindsight and historical perspective show that there are borders and boundaries — talent doesn’t just arrive in the NBA, it arrives in generational waves. Sometimes we can’t see these aesthetic dividing lines for decades, sometimes you simply can’t miss them.
The present day NBA appears to be on the cusp of welcoming a remarkable new generation to its forefront — players who are not just incredible but incredibly unique. Players who will not just excel but transform the roles and responsibilities of basketball players as we understand them. Over the course of this week, The Step Back will be examining many of the players who could figure prominently in The Next Generation. Not every player we turn our attention to is destined to be a star, but all could play a role in defining the future of the NBA. Read the whole series here.
The Next Generation: Anthony Davis
The Pelicans are playing again — 7:00 p.m. in New Orleans. A shot is missed, and Anthony Davis snares the rebound. Then he dribbles the ball down the court, something you wouldn’t necessarily have seen from him before this season. He surveys the defense, his inner calculator diagnosing the coverage and ticking between a drop-of-the-hat pull-up jump shot, a drive into the lane or a pass to teammate Jrue Holiday, who will run the set called from the baseline by New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry.
Davis senses the defender accelerating behind him and to his left, so he stops, twists and shovels the ball to Holiday, whose arms are already stretched out to receive it. Davis follows the ball toward Holiday to set a squirmy screen — all hips and arms — and pop out behind the play. The defenders are struck with an instantaneous Catch 22: How do you defend both the driving ability of Holiday and the triple-threat terror of Davis’ offense at once?
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Davis receives the pass and again faces a scrambled defense. He settles into a half-squat in the high post. Shooters dot the arc, and his effectiveness on difficult shots around the rim means even all hands on deck in the middle of the floor won’t be enough to stop him from scoring.
snapshot from 3ball.io
Over the last two seasons, Davis has made 77.3 percent of his floaters. Though 62.6 percent of his baskets have come when a defender is within four feet of him, his field goal percentage is back up above .500 after a slight dip last season. Most importantly, Davis has only missed five games this season, and health has brought his quick, bouncy best out. The calculator keeps ticking.
The defenders, crouched inward toward the paint, know they can’t bite too hard in that direction, else a variety of catch-and-drive teammates will pounce on open space. Davis is ready to whip a pass wherever one makes a mistake. He’s assisted on almost 12 percent of the baskets while he’s on the floor, the best mark of his career. His head is up, and he’s ready to capitalize.
As the defense slinks back into a more balanced position, Davis settles into a more traditional high post-up. The defense might as well give up. They’ve forced him into a position that would usually yield them the greatest advantage, and yet they have failed. This was New Orleans’ end game — Davis has already cycled through several possibilities on this single possession, but will settle for his finishing move.
At the elbow, Davis is a killer. Out of the five players averaging the most elbow touches per game, he shoots the best percentage out of these looks by a full three percentage points. That’s not for a lack of quantity — he also shoots almost an entire extra shot from the elbow per game compared with the next highest player.
Any time this guy gets the ball in his spot with legitimate NBA players forming a lineup around him, it’s deadly:
New Orleans is nearly three points better than their 28th-ranked average on offense when Davis is on the court. He has been about the only positive in the offense for a team scoring only one point per possession since the All-Star break, a number that would rank last by a mile over a full season.
That brings us to the elephant in the room: DeMarcus Cousins. This year’s All-Star break was a fruitful one for New Orleans, which hosted the events while also working a trade for Cousins that Sunday evening. Now, when Davis backs his man down, things look a little different. The ball is moving more, but they’ve made only 41.5 percent of their field goal attempts in the seven games since the break. Cousins has taken to dropping back as the designated “stretch” big and surveying the floor from there. That’s where he’s most comfortable, but doing so with less time on the clock and another big man clogging the paint has required an adjustment period New Orleans couldn’t afford to wait for.
Yet tune in to a New Orleans game any time since the All-Star break, and there was Davis, scoring as ever. Here’s here, dropping 38 points and 4 assists in a loss to the Thunder; there, with 33 points and 14 rebounds in a Boogie-less blowout home win over the Pistons last Wednesday. In those two games, a 57.7 percent field goal percentage. When Cousins is occupying the big man down low, there’s still not much to be done.
Close your eyes after watching one of these performances, let yourself dream a little and imagine the best version of this. Davis rebounds and tosses to Cousins. Boogie jogs the ball up before crossing over around a Davis screen. Davis flares back toward the arc, already glancing downhill the court toward his next move. Cousins rushes straight toward the basket, sucking the entire defense inward in his wake. Davis is now wide open. The defense is playing a zero-sum game.
Sometimes, the rich get richer. Other times, rich people have no idea what to do with their riches. Davis is the league’s top offensive big man. The season he’s putting together is one of six of its kind among big men in NBA history. Yet he is on the outside of the playoff picture looking in for the second straight season. Eventually, something will give. Until then, enjoy the show.