When Anthony Davis entered the league in 2012, there were not many similarities with the rookies of the same class. He was considered to have the opportunity to become the next generation of power forwards in the league. You should know that at that time, many legendary power forwards including Nowitzki , Duncan , Garnett and other legendary power forwards entered the end of their careers, and Anthony Davis, his playing style is very different from those of these predecessors.
does not dominate the basket with back-to-basket skills like Duncan or McHale . In the season when he played for Kentucky , Thick-Brow ranked fourth after Doron Lamb, Terrence Jones , and Marquis Teague . Perhaps the most legendary moment in his college career was in the 2012 NCAA championship game. In midfield, Davis told his teammates that he would control the inside and protect the rebounds, and the heavy responsibility of scoring was left to them.
Finally that night, Kentucky defeated 67-59 at the University of Kansas and successfully won the championship. With only 6 points on 10 shots, Davis contributed 16 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and 6 blocks. After the game, coach Karipari called it " Bill Russell's performance at level."
In fact, he always regarded himself as a defender until Anthony Davis jumped from 6-2 in his sophomore year to 6-10 inches before college. The soft feel, smooth dribbling skills and excellent frame protection make him the first pick for the New Orleans Hornets in the first round in 2012.
"Post Chris Paul " era, Anthony Davis, who landed as the No. 1 pick, immediately became the new favorite of New Orleans . His defensive ability is still very unique even in the NBA level confrontation, becoming one of the 15 players in history who can give out 100+ blocks and 75+ steals in the rookie season. He is also the only one of these 15 players who achieved this achievement in less than 65 games. But compared to defense, it is obvious that Davis's offensive skills still need to be polished. The person who was mainly responsible for improving his offensive skills was Kevin Hansen, who was then the team's assistant coach.
"In his rookie season, we were mainly focused on leveraging his advantage in speed, because he always faced opponents who were stronger and taller than him. But they were not as flexible as Davis. Usually our goal was to move from A to B as quickly as possible. Although it might take him a while to adapt, once he mastered it, it was no longer a stop," Hansen recalled.
Soon, Davis increased his season score from a rookie season average of 13.5 points to 20.8 points in the second year, and got his first chance to play in the All-Star Game in his career. By the 2014-15 season, which is the third year that Davis entered the league, we witnessed the big man's full evolution again, averaging 24.4 points and 10.2 rebounds and a league-high 2.9 blocks. He won the title of blocking for the second consecutive year and led the Pelicans to return to playoffs .
Although he met the Golden State Warriors in his first playoff journey, he was eliminated early with a score of 0-4. But in this slightly short journey, Thick Brow allowed the whole world to witness his talent and potential that is eye-catching. In the entire series, he averaged 31.5 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocks per game, causing the Warriors' inside line to suffer. It was also from this fight that whenever they met the Warriors, although they won less and lost more, Davis could always be crowned as the leader of the group. In just a few years, Anthony Davis has evolved from the franchise guard who was afraid of shooting in the college championship game to the big man with excellent offense and defense in the league.
However, the Pelicans' growth rate failed to match Davis' rapid progress. In the 2015 offseason, the management chose to fire coach Monty Williams , and replaced by Elvin Gentry, the former assistant coach of the Warriors, hoping that a faster pace could bring changes to the team. But the hidden dangers of Thick Eyebrow's injury have gradually been exposed. In the first three seasons of his career, he missed at least 14 games every year due to various injury problems.But despite this, in the face of the unstoppable historical talent, the Pelicans still offered a five-year max salary renewal of $145 million before the start of the 2015-16 season (later reduced by $24 million due to the failure to trigger the " Ross clause ").
However, the team did not move towards the trajectory they expected in the new season. With basically missing the hope of the playoffs, the Pelicans chose to put the Davis, who had suffered a series of problems such as concussion, shoulder injury, knee injury, and back injury in the season on the verge until the end of the season. He missed a total of 21 games this year.
After returning from injury, the thick eyebrows seemed to have evolved quietly again, and averaged 28 points per game and ranked fourth in the league. More importantly, he welcomed his first All-Star teammate in his career - DeMarcus Cousins . This team located in Louisiana is now home to the two best big men in the league. They are close to each other. They are the only teammates in history who averaged at least 25 points and 10 rebounds per game. They played the team's best basketball in the past few years. Although they missed the playoffs again, everything seems to be moving in a good direction.
But the ruthless fate mocked Thick Brow and Cousin. Shortly after 2018 started, Cousins suffered a season reimbursement of the Achilles tendon injury that had a devastating impact on his career. But Davis did not succumb to fate. In the last 31 games of the season, he averaged 30.6 points, 11.7 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 3.1 blocks per game. He even led the team to a 10-game winning streak before the end of the season. He ranked third in the MVP and DPOY voting at the end of the season. However, after sweeping the Trail Blazers in the first round, the Pelicans failed to go further and fell in front of the Warriors again in the Western Conference semi-finals.
This is also the last highlight of Thunder Brows in the Pelicans. With Cousins and Rondo leaving the team one after another in the offseason, rumors about Thunder Brows are also rampant. Finally, after experiencing a bleak season start, Davis finally made a decision and submitted a deal application to the company, agent Rich Paul told the Pelicans that his client would not renew his contract after the end of the season. It has only been less than a year since the fans shouted MVP to the booing of the Thick Brow when she walked towards the player channel.
Of course, due to Ritchie Paul, Davis is closely linked to a man and a team - LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Finally, in the summer of 2019, Davis went to Los Angeles as he wished to join forces with James , and Lakers paid Brandon Ingram , Lonzo Ball , Josh Hart and a series of draft picks. Since then, people's expectations for him have changed from "hopefully he can enter the playoffs" to "champion".
The Lakers' take-off is far beyond people's expectations. In the first 27 games of the 2019-20 season, they achieved an impressive 24 wins and 3 losses, and were established as the biggest favorites of the championship early on. Although the epidemic has postponed the season, it cannot stop the Lakers from competing for the championship. After the reboot of the campus of Orlando in the season, Davis, who had fully rested for four months, beat the crowd. In the second round of the series against the Rockets, Vogel put Davis in the center position to deal with the small lineup of Houston and received a miraculous effect; the Western Conference Finals faced the future MVP Nikola Jokic , and hit a final three-pointer in G2; in the finals, the Heat completed the inside dominance... … 9.7 rebounds per game in the entire playoffs, with a shooting percentage of 57/38/83 in the three events.
Finally, Anthony Davis got his wish and picked up the O'Brien Golden Cup.
Source: NBA official website
