Anthony Davis Discussion: Thanks For The Ring AD!!!

Will he be ready for the playoffs? Will they take our expiring sand picks?

Sorry, but him ending up back here would be pretty funny.

the net transaction would be we got Luka and AD for Rui, Kleiber, Knecht, etc, picks, etc

hilarious

 

lol, i actually thought of this and was like...we could probably make a competitive offer...

rui/gabe/kleber/ayton/knecht/1st actually gets you there salary-wise and gives dallas probably more than has been offered elsewhere.

obviously would never happen (also 5 for 1 requires outside assistance), but funny.

 

I feel nothing, but sadness for him. I know everyone likes to make jokes and I’ve always found that rather pathetic to make fun of a guy’s injuries. I just feel sadness for a guy who was once a truly great player that helped us win a ring.

 

But... do you think at least some of it was self-inflicted? That is - showing to the training camp out of shape (not Shaq level, but still)?

I always thought that AD doesn't invest enough in his body. Just a vibe though...

 

Hard to feel sad for guys getting lazy, then injured all while making hundreds of millions of dollars.
If NBA got rid of guaranteed contracts, we would have a much better product. It is what it is though, im still pissed i was born white and 5'11.75"

 

i lost some sympathy for him when he started whining about his position in the press like his mentor. before that, i always felt a little bad for him. both because he just seemed to be injury-prone (and got zero grace from the media from it while others who were just as fragile escaped scrutiny) and because he had to spend his prime as lebron's caddy (we never even attempted to build a team to complement his strengths, imo).

i do feel bad that he's become a punchline, first about the injuries, then about being traded for luka. like, it's not his fault harrison made a terrible choice.

i hope he and young both get some redemption in washington, even if i think it's pretty unlikely.

 

I'm glad he got traded, he didn't deserve to be the face of the Luka trade. If he played all 82 and averaged 26/10/3/3 and had them in the second round, fans would still not be ok with that because Nico gave away their generational talent.

He gets a fresh start. Wiz could be interesting. They have a few young, good defenders that can make his life easier. I'm intrigued by the AD/Sarr frontcourt.

Curious to see what the Wizards do in the draft. Half of the top 8 are PGs and two of the others are PFs. They really need to luck into Peterson or Dybantsa for that roster to make sense.

AD sitting for that long though...they better have good training/meal plan lined up for him.

 

yeah, you'd think maybe becoming a laughing stock would motivate him to get in better shape. well, that, and one last shot at a big extension. we'll see...

 

I think what’s most disappointing about AD is when he came into the league he had a chance to be the best player in the NBA. When he was in New Orleans at his peak he was on that trajectory. He was pretty much the co best player on our championship team in 2020, but AD just was never able to overcome that injury label that followed him his entire career. Ever since the 2023 playoffs and the WCF run you kept waiting for him to just take over like everyone knew he was capable of, but you just never saw it consistently from AD.

 

Lost his touch on mid range Js. How does that happen with good mechanics and being so tall with hops? Can get those any time you want.

 

my theory was that he focused too much on developing the three. he didn't need it, imo. he could have continued being a top-10 nba player just demanding a double any time he caught the ball within 18 ft of the hoop.

to me the thing that really limited him (aside from health, of course) was the very slow development as a passer. duncan was similar--took him a while to be able to make the right pass on doubles, quickly.

i was actually watching a college game today when a post player directed traffic and made a low post touch only to immediately swing it to their best shooter on the opposite 45 angle and was like...draft that guy!

 

Feels like this is more a refusal to get back on the court in a situation he doesn't want to be in. No way to know that of course, but when your agent is leaking "unhappiness" and he wasn't in the loop, hard to rule it out. And with guaranteed contracts there isn't a thing you can do about it.

1. He's helping them tank, but I'm sure he could care less about the quality of any draft pick. Unlikely to be another Coop.
2. He's either a quitter or broken down.
3. Anyone who gives him max money is desperate or crazy. Washington might be desperate enough to do just that.

 

i didn't read that he was unhappy, but if he is, it's 100% about washington not indicating willingness to do an extension without some proof of life. which is the right choice. someone needs to let rich paul and AD know that NOBODY was giving that extension until AD played 70 games at an all-nba level.

 

Washington is in a great position, they have leverage. They can let him walk if needed be and their future is still untouched. They made a bet to be quite good next couple years, if it pays out great, if not they continue building around their young core

From AD perspective, he needs to accept that it's hard for a contender team to pay him big money right now and still compete considering his injuries. He's unlikely to get another ring unless he chases it via vet min.
Washington is actually one of the few teams that can pay him above what he can get from most of the league because they have cap space to burn. He can play some meaningful basket and make an interesting pairing with Trae for a couple years, he should take it

 

2016-18 AD was one of the most dominant players in the league. even his first season in LA he was playing like he did in his last few seasons in NO

after the title, he was never that same dominant player again. at least not on a consistent basis. injuries mostly obviously, but also his shot disappearing

if kyrie hadn't gotten hurt, the mavs still end up making the playoffs last season and wouldn't be tanking this year. but they also wouldn't have picked up flagg either

 

He’s beta

 

https://x.com/brickcenter_/status/2042024626637897910?s=46

Weird to come out and say this now.

 

Not weird at all. Luka expressed similar disapointment when the trade happened as well. We're just now hearing about how it happened from Ludabrow's side.

 

The only thing I have to say about his comments: he should have known his Laker history regarding trades and just how screwed we got from the CPDirty trade fallout.
Nobody should feel that they are untradeable.