Ability to Dominate Without the Ball
Anthony Davis is one of the NBA’s most impressive scorers. The eye-test and analytics combine to back this up. But the way in which he dominates the scoreboard is without the ball in his hand. As an offensive superstar, he’s the anti-James Harden. This isn’t to suggest either Harden or Davis’ method of approach is better or worse (they placed 1st and 2nd in the 2018 MVP race), but rather that they are both incredibly different players on that end of the court and need to be surrounded by certain complimentary players accordingly. For instance, Harden and the Daryl Morey Houston Rockets run an iso-heavy offense revolving around Harden dribbling at the top of the key flanked by two or three shooters and having a big man to sets screens in the pick-and-roll. It’s an open, three-happy offense that Harden has mastered. The beard peaked this year scoring a whopping 36 points-per-game in the Rockets’ system. For Davis, he’s at his best next to a smart, clever point guard who can throw lobs and hit him on the roll with pinpoint accuracy. In 2018, Rajon Rondo filled that role and he operated the Pelican offense at maestro level, generating an awe-striking yin-yang connection with Anthony Davis. Davis is a 99th percentile player in practically every scoring method around the basket, and he can step out to hit a deep jumper or rumble to the rim off the dribble with his seismic combination of fluidity and length.
Anthony Davis has never needed constant ball control which makes him a perfect fit next to virtually any superstar. He’s the Klay Thompson of big men except he’s been stuck wasting away some of his prime years with hopeless New Orleans instead of playing next to superstar peers. Now, he has his chance. And with the recent report that LeBron is going to play some point guard next season, Davis is going to explode. He won’t have primary defensive attention so scoring will come even easier and within one of the best offenses in the NBA next season. Davis will be capable of scoring 30 per-game without even dribbling. There’s only a handful of human beings possessing such a unique yet powerful scoring skill set.