re: Are we seeing AD's career best statistical performance this year?

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On offense, Davis has seen a dramatic increase in touches to compensate for Cousins’ absence. In particular, he’s getting far more touches in the middle of the floor and more opportunities to create for himself. The trade-deadline addition of Nikola Mirotic has helped as well. Even though he hasn’t been shooting as well in New Orleans, his threat as an outside shooter has at least as much gravity as Cousins’ did, helping make sure there is enough room for Davis to operate.

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Davis is much more mobile than Cousins and so it made sense for the Pelicans to usually have the former match up with the more mobile opposing big man. The issue is that Davis was a superior rim protector but was more likely to be pulled away from the basket while Cousins and his strength patrolled the paint. Davis has been much effective defending the rim with Cousins out, but he’s also been defending more shots around the basket and more disruptive creating blocks and turnovers.



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