Will Anthony Davis Have A Rookie Of The Year Type Season?
The question is asked with every single lottery pick in every single NBA Draft: Will this draft pick have the type of season that is worthy of receiving the Rookie of the Year award? Most would think that after the freshman season that Anthony Davis had at the University of Kentucky, with all of the season accolades that he accumulated, and the summer he has had with being the number 1 overall draft pick in this year’s NBA Draft, being selected as a member of Team USA for the London Olympics, and ultimately winning the gold medal with Team USA, that he would be a shoe in for the 2012-2013 Rookie of the Year award. Well, others have a far different opinion about how Anthony Davis’ rookie season will pan out. In order for Anthony Davis to win the Rookie of the Year award he will need to have better seasons than any other player out of a very, very talented draft class that includes former Kentucky Wildcat Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Thomas Robinson, Bradley Beal, and Damian Lillard who all have the talent to go for Rookie of the Year.
The argument can be made that Anthony Davis’ offensive game still needs to become polished and made NBA-ready. His defensive skills are there, no body questions that. But the question does remain of whether or not his offensive game will be able to stand up to the bigger and more talented post players in the NBA. Anthony Davis could lose his offensive dominance in the NBA as the other big men in the league realize that he can be pushed around due to his lack of weight and his skinny build. It will take some adjusting to for Davis to make his offensive game be a legit threat as a professional. That’s not to say that Davis won’t come out blazing and scoring 15-20 points per game. But as for any NBA player in his first year in the league, it is natural to have some growing pains when adjusting to life in the NBA.
But regardless of how long it takes for his offensive abilities to adjust to NBA play, the New Orleans Hornets are not short of any offensive options, which the other top draft picks do not have to worry about. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Thomas Robinson, Bradley Beal, and Damian Lillard all have established themselves as having the ability to score at a very high rate and they all will be essentially the main focus of their respective offenses once this season starts. So, it may not be that Anthony Davis doesn’t have a Rookie of the Year type season, but that another lottery pick may have the opportunity to have higher stats due to the skill level surrounding them.
In my opinion, I think that Davis is the absolute frontrunner for the Rookie of the Year award despite any shortcomings that some critics claim that he has. Despite having low averages in the Olympics, Davis showed flashes of instant offense of the bench which leads people to think that if he actually played more than 5 minutes per game, that he would be able to develop into a prolific scorer, especially using the pick and roll offense. So yes, I do believe that Anthony Davis will have a Rookie of the Year type season. Do you?
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