Anthony Davis does NOT deserve the Wooden Award

Disclaimer: Before Kentucky fans start freaking out and claiming that either a) I’m biased towards John Calipari, b) I hate Kentucky because I’m jealous of Big Blue Nation, or c) I don’t know anything about basketball, I offer the following rebuttal: a) I think John Calipari is the best recruiter in the country and extremely underrated from a player development standpoint, b) being jealous of Kentucky’s self-promoted “brand” is the reality-TV equivalent of being jealous of The Situation, and c) The Schwab has me on speed-dial (not a joke).

So, about 2-3 weeks ago, Dick Vitale got the great idea that the following declaration would sound “Awesome, Baby”:

“Anthony Davis will complete the grand slam – win the National Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year, and be the No 1 Pick in the NBA Draft.”

Since that time, seemingly every basketball pundit has jumped on the “Anthony Davis for Player of the Year” bandwagon and it’s honestly one of the more bizarre instances of piling on that I have ever witnessed. Let’s get a few things straight: Davis is, hands down, the deserving winner of 3 of these awards. The guy is an incredibly effective defensive presence in the post and has amazing timing and athleticism for somebody his size. He is the best freshman in the country and will undoubtedly be the #1 pick in this year’s draft. He is an amazing talent that will play in many future All-Star games. But National Player of the Year? Give me a break.

Would you vote for a guy for National Player of the Year who was really only average on offense when you took away the rest of the firepower on his team? If you put Anthony Davis on a mid-tier Division 1 Men’s basketball team that wasn’t running the dribble drive offense with the most athletic players in the country at every position on every possession, he would be a slightly above average presence on the offensive end.  Let’s take a look at his offensive repertoire:

·         Post moves: None. Davis gets 75% of his points off of uncontested dunks and offensive rebounds. When he actually gets the ball on the block, which is difficult due to his inability to get position against stronger players, he flails around and generally throws up off-balanced shots.

·         Mid-Range Game: None. Davis has started shooting more jumpers and even attempted two 3’s in last night’s win against Mississippi State. But he can’t make them. He will be able to some day, but the guy is a liability shooting the ball outside of 10 feet right now.

Let me ask you another question: if your team was down 1 point with 30 seconds left and you had time to design a play for one guy and had the option of Davis versus one of these players, who would you want to go through?

·         Thomas Robinson (Kansas)

·         Kevin Jones (WVU)

·         Mike Moser (UNLV)

·         Drew Gordon (New Mexico)

·         Arnett Moultrie (Miss St)

·         Draymond Green (Michigan State)

·         Herb Pope (Seton Hall)

·         John Henson (UNC)

This is a list of notable players that average more rebounds per game than Anthony Davis. And I’d take every one of them vs. Davis (Henson is a push) in that situation.  So, once you take away Davis’s blocks, he’s a worse scorer (for a last shot and overall) and rebounder than at least 8 players in college basketball. Three of these guys are legitimate National Player of the Year candidates (Robinson, Green, and Jones) that play for teams that will make the tournament (Kansas and Michigan State will be 1, 2, or 3 seeds).

I’m tired of writing and don’t feel like doing any more analysis, so I’ll wipe my brow and say that Davis should be sitting in 4^th for the Naismith award. And that’s being generous.