Right now there isn’t an NBA player more intriguing than Anthony Davis.
At 22 years old, 6-10 and 253 lbs. the Kentucky alum has all the necessary attributes to meet the small ball revolution head on.
That is after all the way the game seems to be going, as teams place less emphasis on the role of the archetypal paint-dwelling big man in favor of more athletic, versatile forwards who can spread the floor and who, most importantly, can do a bit of everything.
And Davis can do a bit of everything.
Well he can now, as he’s spent the summer working on a three-point shot and adding bulk to his previously wiry frame.
That’s got to be a scary thought for opposing teams, especially as Davis averaged 24.4 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game for the Pelicans last season en route to the post season.
Getting there was a fantastic achievement, one few could have foreseen given the strength of the Western Conference.
The Russell Westbrook-led Oklahoma City Thunder took the race down to the wire but it was the Pelicans that ultimately prevailed, earning the right to get swept by the Golden State Warriors in the first round, providing Davis with some invaluable experience along the way.
This offseason the Pelicans rewarded him with a five-year, $154 million dollar extension. They also fired head coach Monty Williams in order to hire the more experienced Alvin Gentry – a sign, perhaps, that the club is already responding to the pressure of having a star like Davis on its roster.
It did after all fail to make the most of Chris Paul’s talents before eventually trading the All-Star point guard to the L.A. Clippers in 2011, shortly after a deal involving the Lakers was shut down by the league.
During Paul’s six-year tenure the franchise made the playoffs three times but never got further than the Conference semis, a feat they achieved off the back of a 56-win campaign in 2007-08. After two successive trips to the first round in 2009 and 2010 Paul announced that he wouldn’t be re-signing, leaving GM Del Demps little choice but to seek a trade.
Although it’s early to be making such associations, it’s already clear that over the course of the next five years the Pelicans’ brass must do everything in its power to put Davis in a position to compete.
That won’t be easy, but then building a contender never is.
If Demps and his staff need an example of how not to go about it they should cast their collective mind back over the ‘Dwightmare’ scenario that played out in Orlando. Dwight Howard, after all, experienced a meteoric rise to ascension after (like Davis) being drafted first overall in 2004, one that in turn propelled the Magic to the NBA Finals in 2009. After losing out to the Lakers in five games, the gradual decline of the roster Magic GM Otis Smith had constructed around Howard resulted in one of the most awkward NBA interviews ever, an opt-in decision the big man allegedly regretted and a trade request that forced the team to salvage what it could from the situation.
It should be noted that although the ‘Dwightmare’ is undoubtedly the messiest such example it is by no means an isolated incident, as in recent years stars like Carmello Anthony, Kevin Love and Goran Dragic have all given their respective teams little choice but to trade them to a more illustrious destination or risk losing them to free agency.
While it’s too early to draw parallels between Davis and any of the above, the Pelicans will need to do plenty of forward planning if they are to avoid a fate similar to that encountered by the Magic, Nuggets, Timberwolves and Suns.
Of course, finding the right personnel is key.
Additions like Chris Douglas-Roberts, Alonzo Gee, Kendrick Perkins and Sean Kilpatrick should offer a degree of depth the team hasn’t had since drafting Davis. But the responsibility of addding to last year’s 45-win total once again falls to the likes of Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans, Eric Gordon, Omer Asik and Dante Cunningham.
Aside from Evans, who averaged 16.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game last season, each of these players has plenty of room for improvement and some (if not all) of them will need to step up to the plate or risk being traded.
Holiday, who’s been limited to just 77 appearances for NOLA due to various injuries, is reportedly going to play limited minutes to start off the season, while Eric Gordon, who averaged an underwhelming 13.4 points per game last year, will be hoping new head coach Alvin Gentry can help him rediscover the kind of scoring form that saw him knock down 20.6 points per game in his first season with the franchise.
Omer Asik, meanwhile, should feel more at home in an up-tempo offensive system not dissimilar to that which resulted in him averaging 10.1 points and 11.7 rebounds per game for Houston during the 2012-13 campaign, while Dante Cunningham is expected to start at the three, at least until Quincy Pondexter’s declared fit to play.
With Gordon ($15.5 million), Ryan Anderson ($8.5 million), Norris Cole ($3 million), Perkins ($1.5 million) and Jeff Adrien ($1.1 million) all entering the final year of their respective deals the Pelicans have a fair bit of financial flexibility on the horizon. For now though they’ll be relying heavily on Alvin Gentry to build on the success of last season.
On the court Anthony Davis will lead the way, but for another year or two it’ll be his supporting cast that determines just how far he and his new coach can take this team.
