. @coachthorpe has four TVs in his office; he has been watching hoops hundreds of nights a year for decades. Almost nothing surprises him. But bubble Anthony Davis blew his mind. https://t.co/MUFpwzm2o2
— Henry Abbott (@TrueHoop) October 21, 2020
What did we just see from Anthony Davis?
Davis’ skillset is cutting-edge new, quite literally incomparable. If I told you he dominated the paint at both ends throughout a title run, averaging 28 and 10, we’d put him in the top 100 bigs of all time. If I added that he has rare athleticism for his size with great hands, power, speed, skill, and agility, we’d nudge him up among the NBA’s star centers like Kareem, Hakeem, Shaq, or Tim. But wait, there’s more:
Davis made 61 percent of his field goals this postseason inside the 3-point line, on par with Shaq’s best-ever playoff run. Rare.
Rarer: he made 30 of 32 free throws in the Finals.
And … where it really gets mind-bending … Davis made eight of 19 3-pointers in the Finals.
David Robinson, Moses Malone, Robert Parish, Bill Walton—nobody has ever done all this at once. Davis is simply an offensive weapon that no NBA defense has ever faced before.
The best two months of big man play I’ve ever seen
New things feel weird. When the Spurs routed the Heat in 2014, the offense dazzled and surprised me, one amazing moment after another. When it was all done, I told Henry Abbott, “I think the Spurs just played the best basketball ever.” Before long, Jackie MacMullan wrote my favorite basketball article with incredible insight from Gregg Popovich.
These two months of Anthony Davis felt similar. I settled into the couch for each Laker game with almost no idea what we’d see next.
The game’s best players make their presence known consistently when their teams need them. I just didn’t know if Davis would be able to be that guy. Before this year, the Blazers were the only team he had ever beaten in a playoff series. Not being a primary ball handler or the focal point of most Lakers possessions, I wasn’t sure how much impact he could have.
Two months later, I have to consider the possibility that Anthony Davis may be the best big man of all time.
Fabulous article by David Thorpe for True Hoop. I posted a couple of excerpt but please take the time to read the entire article. Well written and highlights why AD may be the best big man to ever play the game when all is said and done.
Let’s not jump that Shark yet, lol!
I was about to say the same thing…
Depends on what we’re voting on. Best big man of all time? Like I said, can’t judge that until Davis’ career is done and that’s a very high mountain to climb and we won’t know that answer for another 10 to 15 years.
Best big man in the game today? That’s a different story. Is there another big man in the game today for whom you would trade Anthony Davis? I don’t think so and AD still is a few years away from his prime. I do think he will become the odds on favorite for DPOY next season as a result of how his play in the Finals. So yes, I do believe AD is the best big man in the game today.
Pretty sure that the article’s title is “Davis May be the Best Big Man of All Time”…
Yep, yep it is. #clickbait
Last sentence of the article:
“Two months later, I have to consider the possibility that Anthony Davis may be the best big man of all time.”
Then make the title reflect the content. If you’re telling me that we’re going to talk now about something we might agree on in 10-15 years then I’ll counter with that’s the sort of vapid and insipid editorializing that has corroded our every day news cycle. Useless discussion at this point. There are easily 10 big men ahead of AD on the All Time list (most of them Lakers at one point or another so he’s on the right team to get in on this) and to be honest AD hasn’t even won an NBA MVP in the era he’s in. Not selling AD short but the accolades are what drives conversations like this. 7 clips from the NBA playoffs in the Bubble isn’t worth the time it took to read this article.
Come on, Jamie. Be serious. The title of the article was “There is no context for Anthony Davis,’ which implicates that AD is something special we have never seen before.
The title of the post was my interpretation of theme of the article: “Anthony Davis May Be The Best Big Man Of All Time.”
A direct quote from the article: “Two months later, I have to consider the possibility that Anthony Davis may be the best big man of all time.”
The last words in the article: “If I told you there was a player who could shoot like Dirk, finish inside like Wilt, and defend like Robinson in the paint and like Kawhi on the perimeter, would you agree this big man has a chance to be the best ever at his position?”
Ah. True, that makes it your title I take umbrage with sir!