The Sad Case of Anthony Davis
We can all agree that Anthony Davis is a sure fire top 10 player in the league, and a top 5 player if he stays healthy. However, Davis’s potential is being limited by his situation. Let’s be honest, the Pelicans aren’t good. They improved from last year, adding some pieces, but also lost people and failed to bring in another potential candidate to help Davis make it to the playoffs. They are also missing key pieces to their team due to injury and other issues. Tyreke Evans, Jrue Holiday, and Quincy Pondexter are all out. All of them provide Davis with a lot more firepower. However, reports are saying that it is likely that all three of them will be available is around late November early December.
This will be Davis’s 5th season and he has only made the playoffs once, only to get swept by the NBA Champions, The Golden State Warriors. In his 5 seasons his team has only had one plus .500 season. Every year he has lead his team in rebounds and blocks and has lead the team in points since 2014.
This year Anthony Davis has made a giant leap and will keep growing considering he’s only 23 years old. He is second in points per game with 37.5, and leads in total points in the season with 148. He’s third in rebounds, sixth in steals, and second in block, all per game. All with only committing 6 turnovers total. According to Bleacher Report, Anthony Davis was the first player since 1983 to have 90 points and 30 rebounds in the first two games of the season. Right now he’s in company with Wilt Chamberlain with stats like 148 points and 58 total rebounds in his first 4 games.
Anthony Davis is clearly a special player and desperately wants to win. His team is currently 0–4 and after their recent loss to the Bucks, one that they could have won, he admits that he is frustrated with the team. Davis said, “We can’t get a win. It’s frustrating.”
The Pelicans have a lot to think about and have options. Obviously they need to focus on developing Buddy Hield. I like how he is coming off the bench, but his production is abysmal. He is shooting 29% and 7.1% from the three (1–14). His offensive rating is just 86. Evans and Holiday both have expiring contracts and could be potential trade candidates by February.
The Pelicans need work both on offense and defense. They are fifth worst in offensive rating and 14th in defensive rating which is the 5th worst net rating. They also have the second least amount of three pointers made right in front of Toronto. They also allow a lot of points in the paint, ranking 6th with 49.5 points in the paint per game.
Gentry said this in the post game conference per ESPN’s Justin Verrier, “We just have too many defensive breakdowns. We’re not talking, so we’re not switching where we’re supposed to [and we’re] leaving open 3-point shooters. We’re not talking on back screens, so we end up giving up a layup. These are all things that are very correctable and things that we go over every day that we just got to get better at. There’s no excuse for not talking defensively.”
It is clear Anthony Davis is doing everything, and even then they still can’t get a win. That’s concerning. There was high hopes for this team, but with an 0–4 start there needs to be some sort of change and the team needs to step up. The Pelicans are one Anthony Davis injury from being the worst team in the NBA. The fact that they resold tickets for as low as $3 on opening night is not good at all.
