In an Aug. 29 article on the eve of 2014 FIBA World Cup competition, an ESPN.com headline pondered a simple question: “Will it be the year of Anthony Davis?”
While Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans will begin trying to answer that question later this month when training camp opens, there’s little doubt that the NBA offseason has belonged to the 6-foot-10, blossoming star. No matter where you turned during the summer months, someone was writing about Davis’ rapid progression and excellence as a member of USA Basketball.
The 21-year-old did nothing to disprove the constant complimentary discussion, emerging as one of the national team’s most valuable performers. He led Team USA in shot-blocking and was second in rebounding and efficiency rating, as well as fourth in scoring.
Here are a few of the highlights of what the nation’s media wrote about Davis over the past two months, a timeframe that culminated Sunday in a FIBA World Cup gold medal:
ESPN.com writer Tom Haberstroh: “We expected Davis to one day take the basketball world by storm. We just didn’t think it would happen this soon. With increasingly off-the-charts numbers and a Pelicans team on the rise, this is the Year of Anthony Davis. Get on board. The bandwagon is filling up fast.”
ESPN.com writer Bradford Doolittle: “Anthony Davis exploded into the league’s elite tier last year in just his second NBA season and has been the best player on Team USA this summer. He projects as a top-five player in 2014-15, and, at just 21 years old, it's near certain that he’s going to be even better, barring injury.”
ESPN.com: “How good has Davis been? Only Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, David Robinson and Bob Pettit recorded a higher PER in their second seasons. No player in NBA history has ever posted a higher PER (26.5) at a younger age (20)… It’s exciting to think about what Davis can become over the next few months, let alone the next few years.”
New York Times: “Anthony Davis, now on the world stage, is the next superstar... In 2010, Kevin Durant, then 21, led a young United States team to the world championship. That summer, it became clear to the world that Durant would become what he is today: one of the great players of his generation. Davis, next in the line of freakish talents like James and Durant, now has his chance.”
CSNChicago.com: “It's both exciting and scary to think about just how much better Davis can become… (he) holds the potential to be the league’s brightest star.”
Washington Post: “Kobe Bryant. LeBron James. Anthony Davis? According to Kevin Durant, the New Orleans Pelicans’ third-year forward is the next big thing. ‘I know how good he’s going to be,’ Durant said after a USA Basketball practice. ‘I know how good he is now, but I know how good he’s going to be. He’s an MVP-caliber player. So he’s next. He's next in line – a guy that has grown so much in just a year. I’m excited to see what he does from here. He’s definitely on pace.’ ”
Dime Magazine: “Expect (Davis) to use the international stage as a springboard to a dominant 2014-2015 season. And if (Kevin) Durant is to be believed, don’t be shocked when Davis’ performance is good enough to be worthy of unseating KD as league MVP.”
BleacherReport.com: “As his offensive skills grow, he will draw closer and closer to being the total package. This season will likely be another huge step toward the limelight. As Davis develops and the team grows around him, he’ll become more than just a talented player with a weird eyebrow. By the 2015-16 season, Davis will be a dark-horse contender for the MVP. If he can stay healthy and help the Pelicans reach new heights, he really will be ‘next in line,’ as (Kevin) Durant predicted.”
BleacherReport.com: “Often, his high-flying finishes conjure up memories of days from Team USA's past glory. The way he finishes some of those lobs on the break has a tendency to demoralize opponents. It's been a long time – perhaps dating back to the original Dream Team in 1992, when opponents sought autographs and photos with U.S. players before contests – since a player has left international competition so awestruck. Nobody’s seeking any autographs, but you can sense the impression AD's play leaves on the opposing team and spectators alike.”
BleacherReport.com: “You’d have a hard time finding a park bench’s worth of fans who don’t expect the 6-10 Davis – a freakish athlete with a guard’s handle, an ever-deadlier jumper and mid-air defensive instincts of a ravenous pterodactyl – to completely explode.”
Yahoo! Sports: “As Davis, who has taken aim at lofty targets since the earliest days of his career, fills out both his frame (he's looking pretty huge at Team USA workouts in Las Vegas, and has reportedly bulked up to 240 pounds after being listed at 220 last season) and his game (he’s reportedly spent his summer expanding his low-post and face-up repertoire while extending his range out to the short-corner 3-point line), that production only figures to increase ... and the frequency with which you hear his name in that (MVP) conversation will only continue to grow.”
SBNation.com: “With the likes of LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Love and others sitting out the World Cup, this stands as a key opportunity for Davis to prove himself on the international stage. He showed last season with New Orleans that he’s a genuine rising star in the sport.”
USA Today: “Starting with a growth spurt that took him from decent college prospect to a candidate to be a one-and-done at the top basketball school in the country, Anthony Davis has always seemed to take steps at his life in unexpected intervals. This week at USA Basketball training camp, it seems he’s taken another important one: from the kid who always seemed a bit doe-eyed and shy around his teammates during practices for the Olympics in 2012 to someone that is being looked to as a leader of the big players.”
BasketballInsiders.com: “The scary reality is that Davis is simply scratching the surface of his potential. At just 21 years of age, the sky is the limit for this kid… Davis still has plenty left to prove in order to garner increased national attention and respect, but the youngster is well on his way. If he keeps improving at his current exponential rate, he’ll be universally recognized as the game’s next great superstar and potentially regarded as the rightful heir to King James’ as the NBA’s best all-around player.”
SheridanHoops.com: “The 21 year-old version of Davis was good for a 20-10 season along with a league-leading 2.8 blocks a game, fourth overall in PER with 26.5, and countless numbers of plays that had fans wishing they hadn’t blinked. With that in mind, Davis is one of the select few who have the potential to become the world’s best basketball player… As highly-regarded as he was coming into the league, a lock for the number one pick, the scouting report on Davis was that he is still very raw with the ball in his hands compared to what he can become. After two years in the league, Davis is blowing away even the most optimistic of projections.”