Anthony Davis is one of the most talented, capable, and athletic basketball players in the world right now.
What's that, you've never even heard the name before?
Well, if you aren't a big basketball junkie, I'm not surprised. Anthony Davis is an exceptional player, putting up ridiculous stat margins--currently averaging over 30 points and 10 rebounds per game through the first twelve of this season.So then why are you most likely not familiar with him?
To put it bluntly, his team sucks.
The New Orleans Pelicans are currently sitting at the bottom of the barrel in the Western Conference, tied for last place with the Dallas Mavericks who will likely not be there for long after their top two players return from their current injuries.
The Pelicans (who were called the Hornets until 2015) have been bad for a long time. After an abysmal 21-win-season in 2012, the New Orleans club drafted Anthony Davis--a smart choice, as Davis was clearly one of the most talented players with superstar potential that had been seen in a few years. After Davis was drafted, the Pelicans met a moderate amount of success, even making the playoffs in 2015 for the first time in an era. But even then, they just eked out a spot in those playoffs by a single game and went on the get swept in the first round by the Golden State Warriors.
So no rest for the weary, it seems.
The question is, with Anthony Davis at the helm, why has the team struggled as much as they have? To put it simply, the team has virtually no threats to score outside of Davis. After the first 10 games of this season--of which the Pelicans only won one--they average 98.6 points per 100 possessions. In other words, they score less than 50% of the time. And anyone who has watched the Pelicans play recently knows that a huge amount of that scoring comes from Davis.
But without other viable options, opposing team's can focus their attention on Davis: double-teaming, triple-teaming, on rare occasions even quadruple-teaming him. Truly, this a testament to Davis's sheer athletic power, and in a better circumstance, Davis could make points pour in by forcing the defense to collapse, double-teaming him to prevent an easy score. At this point, Davis could kick the ball out to an open shooter. But the Pelicans simply don't have great shooters.
After last season, the Pelicans lost an important big man, Ryan Anderson, to the Houston Rockets. In addition, point guard Jrue Holiday--who is far from an all-star, but the best New Orleans has--is currently out due to injury. And on top of even that, the newly drafted Buddy Hield, a star for Kentucky before coming to New Orleans, has been struggling adjusting to the NBA, putting up notably low shooting percentages.
In the end, some speculate that the young squad in New Orleans has potential to grow on the back of Davis's athleticism and hopefully improve significantly later in this season or at least in future years, but the future is uncertain to say the least. The inevitable early-season trade rumors have started circulating recently, and Davis's name has been popping up in several of them. Whether or not these rumors have any credibility is yet to be seen, but it will be interesting to see if A.D.'s Pelicans can get it together and make a push this season--or if they're just going to suck.
