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SW Division = SEC West

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This is not exactly a bold prediction: if he avoids a major injury, he'll be a future HOFer and Top-50 player of all time

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He might already be the top power forward in the game right now, or very close.

Who's better?

I don't feel comfortable giving it to him over Love or Aldridge just yet but I'm fairly confident he'll be there by the end of next season. Certainly, he's the top defensive 4 in the world right now. He definitely has Griffin and bosh beat handily.

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This is not exactly a bold prediction: if he avoids a major injury, he'll be a future HOFer and Top-50 player of all time

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He might already be the top power forward in the game right now, or very close.

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There's no might about it.

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I don't feel comfortable giving it to him over Love or Aldridge just yet but I'm fairly confident he'll be there by the end of next season. Certainly, he's the top defensive 4 in the world right now. He definitely has Griffin and bosh beat handily.

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I think Davis is better than all four of these guys, but I think Bosh is better than the other three. Bosh is balling out of control right now.

I guess I just don't feel comfortable calling it just yet, mostly on principle/due diligence. I'm confident that he will prove to be the best 4 in the game soon enough, barring the emergence of someone else.

Really wish that I could make a thread for Joel Embiid.

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Really wish that I could make a thread for Joel Embiid.

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We probably should start a Joel Embiid Twitter thread.. Kid already has an Elite Twitter Game

I think we're splitting hairs, but did we forget about Griffin. He was a 24p-9r-4a guy making ~53% of his shots.

Has Griffin gotten infinitely better at defense since two years ago?

It's only a 4 game sample, but so far this year Davis is OBLITERATING Griffin statistically. Pretty impressive since Griffin is putting up 27.5 ppg on 50% shooting, but Davis at 24 ppg is averaging 5.5 more rebounds, (2 fewer assists), 3.2 more blocks, 1.5 more steals, 2 fewer turnovers, and 2.8 fewer fouls. I'm not a huge fan of ORtg and DRtg, but right now Davis is a +33 (125 to 92) compared to Griffin's +3 (112 to 109).

Kind of a tiny sample size.

No disagreement there. Still, Griffin is average at best on defense while Davis is the most dominant defensive player in the league right now. Looking at offense only it's probably a push or slight edge to Griffin, with Griffin's slightly better shooting percentage and additional points balancing out the higher number of turnovers and offensive fouls and the lower offensive rebounding numbers. Defense is a landslide though.

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Kind of a tiny sample size.

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Doesn't seem to bother you when comparing Ariza to Parsons.

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Kind of a tiny sample size.

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Doesn't seem to bother you when comparing Ariza to Parsons.

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Apples and oranges, yo!

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Kind of a tiny sample size.

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Doesn't seem to bother you when comparing Ariza to Parsons.

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Show me one post where I did that.

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Kind of a tiny sample size.

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Doesn't seem to bother you when comparing Ariza to Parsons.

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Apples and oranges, yo!

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27 points, 14 boards, 4 assists, 4 steals. 3 blocks in an entertaining game against the Cavs.

Lakers

25 points
12 rebounds
6 blocks
1 steals
1 assists
1 foul

His ability to avoid fouls is astounding.

Through 7 games, he's averaging 4.4 blocks, 2.2 steals, 12.9 rebounds (4.0 offensive), and only 1.4 fouls. That is absurd.

Career high 43 points. 14 rebounds to go with it.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/kendrick-perkins-probably-shouldn-t-take-anthony-davis-in-the-post-031904167.html

Thunder

25 points
10 rebounds
4 blocks
6 steals
4 assists
2 foul

Mavs

31 & 11 and hit 9/9 FTA.

10-11. Keep losing. Rox need a high pick.

How is New Orleans defense so bad? They're 27th in defensive efficiency and just allowed 111 points to Utah. Another good game for Davis though. 31 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks.

It takes a team to play defense and Davis can't be everywhere.

I don't think a Dwight D has ever been that bad.

Dwight has been on teams with defensive efficiency of 103 twice that I saw on mobile, Pelicans are 107 23 ish games in.

I didn't go very in-depth, but Howard has played for three teams below league average in DRtg.


I don't watch the Pelicans very much, but I'm going to go with
1. Poor coaching. Defense is 1/3 physical talent, 1/3 knowing where to be, and 1/3 working hard. They have the first one and the second two are coaching.
2. Severe lack of depth. The Pels are basically running with a 7-man lineup. A roster full of really good, well-rounded players can pull that off, but the Pels have too many offense-only players. With endurance being a scarce resource, guys are going to save their energy for what they do best. For the Pelicans, that means offense.
3. Davis and Asik are their only players with a track record of good defense. Anderson has been adequate, everyone else has been pretty bad over the course of their careers. Some of that can probably be blamed on playing for bad teams, but it also means that none of the players know what it is like to be a big part of a high-performing defense.

I forgot about Asik. Davis must be terribly overrated on D if hea paired with a top 7 defensive C can't even be average.

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I forgot about Asik. Davis must be terribly overrated on D if hea paired with a top 7 defensive C can't even be average.

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Only if you are thick enough to not count how completely worthless Ryan Anderson, Tyreke Evans, Eric Gordon and Jrue Holliday are on defense.

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I forgot about Asik. Davis must be terribly overrated on D if hea paired with a top 7 defensive C can't even be average.

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Only if you are thick enough to not count how completely worthless Ryan Anderson, Tyreke Evans, Eric Gordon and Jrue Holliday are on defense.

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I thought you told me how talented that group is once they're all healthy playing together.