Strong article from Ben Golliver on AD

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For his first six seasons, Anthony Davis was a sympathetic and valiant figure. The all-NBA forward made 40-point, 20-rebound nights look routine while toiling for a New Orleans Pelicans franchise that was rarely in the postseason and far from center stage. Davis’s consistency in the face of circumstances beyond his control — coaching changes, questionable roster moves, and key injuries — was admirable, and his euphoria and relief jumped through the television screen once he finally broke through to win a playoff series last year.

But that Davis is gone, replaced by a man who sounds utterly lost and who lacks control, at least temporarily, over the most fundamental aspects of his career.

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Davis faced the cameras, too, but he stumbled where his colleagues cruised. The Pelicans had just fired GM Dell Demps less than 24 hours earlier, and Davis was bound to be peppered with questions given that his recent trade request had plunged his team into chaos. If the 25-year-old forward and 2020 free agent put in extra time preparing for the gantlet of cameras, it didn’t show. During a group interview with dozens of reporters and a follow-up interview with NBA TV, Davis’s muddled and contradictory answers made him sound like basketball’s answer to Rudy Giuliani.

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