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

list of players you'd trade AD for:

lebron
kawhi?
giannis?

not harden, luka, lillard, curry, or any other top-level star.

it's a silly statement.

 

Bron, Jokic, KD, Luka.

 

That has nothing to do with being able to lead a team so that's where the huge disconnect is coming from. AD can't carry a bad team and turn them into a great team. Provide any single piece of evidence you have stating he can. You keep saying he can be a 1st option player but when given the opportunity to be one, he has come short. Problem with homer fans, you guys can't have an objective discussion so no one even wants to bring it up.

 

If your definition of a 1st option is a player who can carry a bad team and turn them into a great team, I've got news for you, there have been maybe 2 or 3 players in NBA history who could. It could be argued there was never a player capable of doing that.

 

Considering age, mileage/health issues, versatility (in that order), I would seriously not even trade him for any of those players.

 

Ah the old “you’re all homers” when people disagree.

Objectively speaking, please name 1 player that took a bad team and made them great? Not bad to good. Not pretty good to great. Bad to great. Shouldn’t take long, it’s a pretty short list. The non-existent kind of short.

 

kd? after a torn achilles? not even sure before, tbh. he played with two mvps and didn't win until he joined a team that...already won a title without him. if that was AD, he'd be crucified here.

i think luka and jokic are great, but they're average defenders at best (good team defenders, both bad man defenders, which presents problems for their teams). tough call on those. both are more durable than AD, so if it's a long-haul situation, ok. but for one year right now...think i take AD.

others already eviscerated this ridiculous argument (see below), but "homerism" can apply to specific players, too.

it has been. successfully. hence my original eye roll.

yeah, it's literally zero. not a single one. not even wilt.

 

Some of you are starting to turn into LG yappers. Better to just let the season finish before you start back up the #1 and #2 BS. AD is a stud. He is soft but so is this entire p**** a** generation. So, it evens out, I guess.

 

If you could assure me that AD would have a relatively clean bill of health for the duration of his contract, there is not a single player in the league I would currently trade him for.

I do kinda get BangBoomPow’s point though, in the sense that I think AD fits in better as a 1B. For a team to be successful, I think they need a 1A next to AD, or at least a second star that is aggressive and can playmake, even if AD is still considered the “best” player on the team. It’s pointless semantics to argue whether that means AD is a “1st option” or not, it’s just a comment on the nature of what a roster constructed around someone of AD’s skills would need to compliment him and achieve high levels of success.

Like let’s put it this way, while I would scoff at a AD for Luka trade, I think Dallas would too. That would be a lose-lose scenario that I think would make both teams worse in the short-term. We have a bigger need for a defensive anchor, Dallas has a bigger need for an offensive engine.

So if I had to pick one player to build a team around, and the scenario was that the options to build out the rest of the roster was limited and you couldn’t have another “star”, I think I MIGHT pick Luka or Jokic over AD.

 

There isn't a single player right now that is overwhelming in the "start a franchise" department. I'd say the closest would be Zion.

Jokic is a good player, Luka is a good player, but they aren't shift changers.

 

Luka is a definite franchise player. He's only what 22 and you're basically guaranteed a playoff spot with him.
He's a mediocre defender but so where magic and bird and like them he lifts some pretty mediocre talent up.

Honestly look at the Mavs roster, how many players would take that to the brink of the 5 seed in a brutal west. Outside of Lebron can't think of anyone for certain. Their second best player barely ever plays and they have no else who would even sniff All star votes let alone get into the All star game

 

Luka is a b****. Whining, euro, girl. Whining stars rarely win consistently.

 

Euros have been doing pretty well: Dirk, Gasol bros, Giniboli (technically S. American)
Yeah he's whiny too much so but man Lebron, Pierce, Wallace, Draymond, Laimbeer, etc all b****ed and moaned and they all won multiple titles.

When it comes to actual production and not mood affiliation, Luka is a definite franchise player.

 

Don't judge AD after 4 games ... As Mike Trudell said it's more mental than anything else with AD . He doesn't trust his body yet to go hard on the defensive end cause of the fear of getting re-injured

 

luka's a hall of famer and perennial mvp candidate for a decade unless he has major injuries. really rare kind of player. i'd trade AD for him (dallas wouldn't), but it's mostly because he's younger and (so far) more durable. if it's just value-for-value right now, it's pretty even, imo.

the whiny discussion on this forum sort of sidesteps the point: whining isn't part of the game upon which one should be evaluated. you can say you don't like luka because he whines, but you can't say he's not great because he whines. kobe did a lot of whining, too--same as luka--occasionally missing defensive plays due to ref lobbying. chris paul is that way. none of this impacts their value as players.

anyway, back to AD: the whole "#1" thing seems entirely too focused on creating shots for yourself and others off the dribble, when that's actually a skill that a lot of folks (including non-allstars) have. AD is one of the very best players in the league. it that's not a #1, you either have a poorly managed team (see: New Orleans, forever) or a definition of a #1 that includes exactly one current nba player.

 

Yeah, I don't quite understand the #1 or #2 categorization. As abeer mentions above, if playmaking is what makes a #1, then I guess Rondo is more of a #1 than AD, Duncan or Shaq. Was Kobe our #1 when Shaq was quite possibly the MDE in our 3-peat? I don't think so. This discussion is a bit silly, imo... superstar bigs are every bit as valuable as superstar playmakers.

 

when he can handle double teams, ad still cant do much when hes doubled

 

He looked good for stretches.

This is encouraging.

Slowly but surely.

 

I think it’s more how they change the game, not necessarily just playmaking. Shaq doesn’t make plays but he changes everything. Most argue that he and Kobe were both co #1’s.

I think it’s hard for some of us to see AD as a #1 because we haven’t seen him much on his own while not playing hurt or recovering. We haven’t seen him casually explode for 35 on a handful of nights while opposing defenses scramble in vain to defend him all game.

He’s also being compared to LeBron and no one is like LeBron. We forget AD just turned 28, so hopefully he’s learning and will grow more and more of a vocal leader over time.