re: Anthony Davis' ceiling?

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Mutumbo?

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he's way more fluid than Mutombo could even dream of being right now. he just needs to put in the work to develop offensively, and hopefully get a good teacher.

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Will he develop an offensive game worthy of the number one pick?

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see my last comment. if I'm the Hornets, I'm looking into a dedicated big man coach today. Kareem would be the pipe dream (maybe you send him to Kareem during the summer), but Clifford Ray would be good too.

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At worst he is Tyson Chandler.

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I'd be happy taking him #1 if this is the case.

0% chance Davis will be as good of an on ball defender as Mutombo. Davis strength will be help defense like Theo Ratliff

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0% chance Davis will be as good of an on ball defender as Mutombo.

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it will be almost impossible to judge b/c he'll have to be compared to guys like duncan, kg, etc

yeah, I'm really thinking Palm Beach either didn't see much of Davis at all, or probably doesn't remember Mutombo (which is what I'm guessing). Deke was the definition of mechanical. his body moved in stages on offense.

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it will be almost impossible to judge b/c he'll have to be compared to guys like duncan, kg, etc

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Won't be as good as them when it comes to on ball defense either. He is a supreme help defender/rim protector like Theo Ratliff though.

Why does most everyone say he is limited on offense? If you watched a hand full of UK games, towards the end of the season he developed a nice mid range jumper and even hit a few 3's. And he's only 18 y/o. What some don't realize is that he was a point guard 2 years ago before his growth spurt. He's very athletic, can run the floor, handle the ball extremely well for a guy his size and can already hit open shots from outside the paint. Once he gets to the Hornets and works on his game full time, his shot will only get better. I think he shot over 75% from the FT line as well. That tells you right there that he has a nice shooting touch.

I'm telling you, this guy will be a stud in the league (all-star) in 2-3 years once he adds bulk and gets braces.

If you watched the difference between Davis at the beginning of the year versus the end of the year it was leaps and bounds different.

In the beginning he was a putback and ally oop specialist with nothing else to do on offense. He was always able to play defense and is stronger than you would expect for someone as frail looking as he.

Near the end of the season he showed me a ton of things. For one, he played PG early in high school as he ended his freshman year at only 6'0". He has ball handling skills like very few big men. He has really nice touch on three's as well as midrange and he gained teh confidence to take them near the end of the season. Any big guy who can bring his defenser to the 3 point like already contributes a great deal to the offense. He has the ability to drive past a defenser and finishes very strong around the rim.

He also has a remarkable knack for understanding not only where the ball is, but where it is going to go. This is why he was so great at blocking shots and why he was only in foul trouble in 2 games his entire college season. It will greatly help him getting rebounds on both ends of the court when he gets to the NBA.

Overall, he is a player really like no other. I see KG as being the most reasonable upside but I think Davis will be a hybrid type player that is the new ceiling for the new age centers. NBA has gone away from the big Shaq esque types to these high flier types that are athletic. I think Davis is the class of these type of 5's.