Anthony Davis Discussion: That's Why They Pay Me The Big Bucks

This is all sadly true. The lack of fire and heart is not fixable.

 

AD is way more talented than these guys on both ends but look where he is right now compared to them #TheLebronEffect

 

he's a better defender than all of them (only a little better than giannis, but better), but all three are more talented offensively, jokic and embiid by a wide margin.

biggest issue is that jokic basically never misses time, and embiid is enjoying his longest stretch of health in his career right now.

 

it's like that every single time. without AD, we're blown out. he had a bad finish to the game. if our guards made any shots, it wouldn't have mattered.

 

His soft mentality of not playing in back 2 back games will exude to the whole organization since he is a franchise type player, If kobe was still with us he would be shaking his head in disgust

 

At this point he just needs to be taken out in situations that you know the other team has to foul. They make sure he gets the ball and immediately foul feeling confident he will only make one. Then to top it off he compounded by fretting missing the free throw and not playing defense.

 

He didn't have a bad finish.

He disappeared in the first half (what was he at 5 FGA and no defense to speak of) and then had 2 Westbrick-level brainfarts to close the game. Had he done only one of those, we'd be sitting tied at 6 - 7 seed, instead of looking to miss the play-ins altogether.

And more importantly, I couldn't give less of an F about this game if it wasn't a pattern that indicates to me and many others that we should NOT, under any circumstances, build around him. But you do you and never admit any wrongdoings on his part.

Gabriel outplayed him and you'd know that if you watched the game. Really. We should get him whacked and have his heart transplanted into AD.

EDIT:

And with you and AD (odd, you are very pragmatic in all other areas), it's never his fault. Now it's the guards.

Let me play a little. Had AD played to his potential, our guards missing shots wouldn't have mattered. If he had an ounce of leadership, which even Kyrie possesses more of, we'd slow down in stretches, dump the ball to him as he demands and let him do damage.

 

Damn... I hoped it was real and the result of Bron putting AD's head through it.

 

i think it wasn't his best, but it was what 95% of nba players would dream they call "not their best". as usual, the reaction here is just completely outsized. it's ridiculous, tbh. maybe we shouldn't have nice things. we'll go back to the kids days.

sorry everyone's in their feelings. take a walk or something. AD's not going anywhere, and if he does, people will just find a new lightning rod (and we'll be much worse, too!).

 

LOL. Deflecting is hard with this one. "Rest of the NBA..." Couldn't give 2 effs about those.

Being a leader in this franchise comes with responsibility. AD isn't suitable, regardless of whether he'd be (and sorta was) an amazing franchise player in some godforsaken place like Oklahoma.

The fact that it's going to "be worse" is because, unfortunately, the FO will take your side, which is a scared one and won't trade him for assets while he still has some value. Each year it's going to diminish. If we get 5 FRPs for him, it's going to be just fine.

I have full trust in our scouting department (who, BTW, know to detect heart as well, apparently), unlike in the rest of the FO morons.

EDIT: but, unfortunately, just like with other things (like Westbrook) time will simply show who was right.

 

The crunch time free throw misses is absolutely a concerning pattern.

But I don’t agree with the idea that he’s shown a consistent pattern of generally crumbling in crunch time.

Those defensive brain farts were very uncharacteristic. He’s had several games this year where he’s made crucial buckets in the last minute. He pretty much has the dagger midrange fadeaway over Luka in the last matchup against Dallas. I believe in the last minute or so he had a similar look this game that narrowly missed. If he hits that, we win the game, he finishes with 28/10, we tie for 7th place, and everyone is absolutely ecstatic and starting to wonder if our ceiling is even higher than it is.

But that didn’t happen. He definitely lost us the game with those final 30 seconds, and this is a huge blow to our playoff aspirations.

But overall I’m still not worried about his on-court performance. Nothing about this game makes me think “see, that’s why we shouldn’t build around him”. The only concern with AD is and always will be availability.

 

Wow. Why is it so hard to understand. He lost the game both by being an idiot at the end (which I don't care about, as I said before) and by being invisible for half-a-game (and that is without going into street cloths discussion).

He is a wuss and not a leader. Period, point, blank. Not one leadership quality, unless being an amazing defender (some times) suddenly counts as such ...

 

The problem I think most people are having is that AD is likely making more than 95% of NBA players. (I haven't looked) We need him to take us home on these games not keep being the reason we lose. Also his lack of consistency is puzzling. He disappears for pretty long stretches. It is like he has lost some love for the game or doesn't want to be here. Part of this is certainly on the coach for having him out there to be fouled. I watched those last sequences over till I couldn't stand it. Fouling on that three point shot was ridiculous and then wandering in no man's land on defense to give up the game winner. I realize he was probably shook from missing the free throw but if we don't lose that isn't as big an issue. He takes up too much of the cap to just be a piece but his injury history and lack of focus make it nearly impossible to build around him.

 

No. Stop. You are a hater. AD is amazing and we are lucky to have him forever.

 

the missing fts late in games is pretty much expected now, thats not what you should expect from your "star"....he said typical cliche bs when he did same thing vs phi n bos, etc etc