Asked this week if there is any basketball precedent to New Orleans’ new frontcourt duo of DeMarcus Cousins (the NBA’s fourth-leading scorer at 27.8 ppg) and Anthony Davis (No. 5 at 27.7), Pelicans Director of Player Personnel David Booth described what may become a frightening scenario for opposing defenses.
“I think it’s totally different than what we’ve seen in the past because of the versatility,” Booth said of the Kentucky products’ inside-outside skills. “Both guys can handle and bring the ball down the floor. After getting a rebound, they can lead the fast break. They can post up, shoot the three, pick-and-pop. The versatility, we haven’t seen it before from two guys on the same team. I think that’s going to be the unique skill that’s exciting to see going forward, how they play off each other. It’s going to be so fun, because they’re not limited to the low block, shooting hook shots, or drop-step layups. These guys can play anywhere on the floor, depending on where the coaches want to put them.”
Indeed, Cousins and Davis personify a new era in the sport. Power forwards and centers once were commonly screamed at by their coaches to “get the ball to a guard!” the second they snared a rebound off the defensive glass, but nowadays 6-foot-11 bigs such as Cousins and Davis can ignite the transition game by themselves. Both players have scored a chunk of their points with end-to-end bursts in transition, with Davis often capping those sequences with a soaring dunk.
Bigs also were once restricted to the paint by coaches, with their shooting options not to extend beyond say 15 feet, but no more. Cousins has already set a career high by launching 268 three-point attempts over 55 games this season, an average of 4.9 a night (he’s also at a career-best 35.4 percent accuracy in 2016-17). Davis is also well on his way to taking more threes than he has in any previous season, going 26/85 so far (30.6 percent), after firing a total of 108 last season.
But just because they’ve taken their offensive games to the perimeter at a larger rate in 2016-17, it doesn’t mean Cousins and Davis aren’t just as feared around the rim. According to CBSSports.com’s dunk statistics, Davis ranks 15th in the league with 82, while the bruising, powerful Cousins is 23rd with 56 slams. For New Orleans opponents, that means having to worry about two elite scoring options, no matter where they are on the court. Teams have game-planned at length to contain Cousins and Davis when they’ve faced the Kings and Pelicans, respectively, but now they’ll need two defenders to try to match up with them.
“You hear so much about Anthony and DeMarcus playing together,” Booth said, referring to non-stop discussion this week. “They are such a mismatch nightmare. Both can play inside or out on any given night. Anthony can get on the block or face up; DeMarcus can do the same. Now you’ve got two guys.
“They’re going to complement each other very well, because they know each other well from playing at Kentucky and they’re both unselfish players and want to win. They both have the same mindset of being dominant on any given night. I think the complement of having those two on the floor, we haven’t seen that in the NBA in a long time. We’re looking forward to seeing it. We know both guys wanted to play together. We’re excited to see how they make each other better.”
“The fact that they can occupy multiple areas of the floor and not run into each other is great,” ESPN analyst Tim Legler said this morning on SportsCenter. “Ultimately, I do believe their skill sets will complement each other and they’re going to present a real challenge for teams trying to match up with them, because nobody has two bigs with this kind of skill set, playing at the same time.”