Former Kentucky Wildcats in the NBA: Just how good is Anthony Davis?

Apr 4, 2014; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Utah Jazz center Derrick Favors (15) defends against New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis (23) during the first quarter at EnergySolutions Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

Just who is Anthony Davis? You know, that guy for the Pelicans who’s really good? A 6’10” shot-blocking menace, who also has a 7’8″ wingspan. Arguably the best player to ever play for Kentucky, Davis broke the NCAA freshman record for blocks in a season, with over 200 and averaging over 4 per game. Davis was also just the second freshman ever to win the Naismith Award given to the best player in the nation, the other was some guy named Kevin Durant.

If you didn’t know about Davis then, you definitely know about him now. Coming off a season where he averaged 20 points 10 rebounds and 3 blocks per game, young Anthony is now dominating foreign opponents in the FIBA World Cup, set to make a historic season.

To many, Davis is already a top five power forward in the NBA. I tend to agree with that opinion, personally I think Davis is gonna be an MVP somewhere in the next five years. However, there are some people that for some reason think Davis isn’t there yet. Maybe they’re just Louisville fans, I’m not sure.

For those people, I’m taking the liberty of making detailed comparisons between Davis and the other four four-men that I consider to be the top five power forwards. I’m even taking the challenge of squaring off Davis with the greatest power forward of all time. Just to note, the order I put each player at is not the order of who I think’s better.

For each comparison, I’ll be using a scale that reflects each player by two different and simple categories. It’ll go simply like Offensive then Defensive. Obviously there is more to a good player than just offense and defense, but that’s just what I chose to go with.