Ed Davis - the Next Jermaine O'Neal?

Or at least, “potentially” on the other side of the Granger situation

He just gives the appearance of a real good player but with consistancy. And that I think will be what sets him out from Derozen and Weems. Consistant.
The down side for him will be if the idea is to have him play the center spot. Just not big enough. 6-10 and 230 , so he puts on another 30 pounds ,,still pretty light weight for the big boys. I think he can do the job that Horace Grant did for the Bulls in those championship years at power forward.

Starters vs Dallas
Kleiza – 25
Johnson – 23
Dorsey – 26
DeRozan – 21 (6/10 jump shots) unlimited potential, 14.4 ppg for DEC
Bayless – 22
bench
Davis 21 (14th NBA game) a defensive player (3stls/3blks) -unlimited potential
Wright – 23
Barbosa – 28 ( the old man)

he needs to bulk up , get a back to the basket game and develop a shoot. He’s very young tho, he’ll have time to work on it.
Even more interesting, falling at 13 means he’ll be earning close to peanuts for several years.

BTW, how is Paul George doing?

Ed Davis was my “best case scenario” pick and couldn’t believe it when he fell. And I think Golden State picking Udoh was the first domino to fall that dropped Davis in the Raptor’s lap. He went WAY too high.

The big difference between O’Neal and Davis is that O’Neal didn’t have Davis’ basketball IQ coming into the league. They were both raw offensively, but Davis sees the floor better, knows where to go and what to do on both ends of the court, and has had more of an impact immediately than O’Neal did. Obviously O’Neal came straight out of high school, which certainly was a big reason for the difference.

And notice that on my wish list Paul George was second, so you guys aren’t alone, there. He’s only 20, so I still think he’s got a good chance to become the player I thought he might. Still, the Raptors definitely lucked out with Davis. I had him as the 5th best player in the draft. Getting him at 13th is a huge steal.

I was very excited when we got him in the draft but its hard to tell how players will adjust to the pros. One positive aspect of Ed’s upbringing is that his father was a pro and that might help. He grew up always wanting to play Bball and he has talent.

Davis is one of the pleasant surprises, no pleasant realities of this years team.

Keep playing Andrea and Jose and get their stats up…so we can use them effectively in a couple of trade scenarios. I have always supported Andrea, but it’s more to develop him as a tradeable asset, not because I can ignore his defensive liability. He would fit better in Phoenix or Golden State than he does in Toronto. But we gotta get something good back and the better his stats, the better trade we can expect to be able to make.

Triple doubles; there is no one on the team that is likely to get one this year. That’s the guy we are currently missing. We need a bonafide all star to lead the team…the role players are already on the roster. A trade exception, Peja, Jose and Andrea should be able to give BC some room to make an amazing trade. Too bad Nash isn’t 27.

Go Raps

I think this trio could be a nice combination, if managed properly. Both Davis & Amir have better (or potentially better) defense than AB – not much of a revelation, I know. In the right combination though, and depending who’s on the floor, this group could average 32 minutes apiece (or close enough to being equal).

Of course, injuries will adjust for a 4th Big (and maybe a 5th who doesn’t mind playing much – Where is PB these days?). Fouls could hamper AJ’s minutes, but for the most part, these 3 guys could be the basis for a decent Front Court.
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In a Front Court combination of Davis & Bargs, Ed would be the more mobile, while AB posts up. Or Andrea could pull his Big out, so Davis can make a move in. This could be a developmental thing between these two, while Raptors fill in their “team”. As Davis improves his long range (and defenses adjust for this), Andrea can spend more time posting up, encountering less resistance.

For the situation as it was with Evans, and his penchant for quality long range shooting, it wasn’t hard for Defenders to realize it was okay to migrate more towards Bargnani.
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With Amir, Bargs can hang out more often near the perimeter, and give our limp 3pt shooting a boost. Not too much though. On defense, Amir would combine his blocking abilities with Bargnani (off somewhat this year), as well as be the more agile defender. This would have to be the time (within a game) that Andrea needs to make a greater sacrifice for defense. Unlike when he’s with Davis, who I believe will be an even better defender than Amir.
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Johnson & Davis would obviously be the more lock down combination (amongst these 3 defenders), more in the paint scorers, with decent bursts of such scoring, and greater opportunity for the Wings and long range shooters to make their mark.
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When Bargs is on the floor, you add a greater dose of SF-like Wrights (or guards with same mentality). In essence, it’s all about balance. With Amir/Davis combo, you have the ability to add a Kapono-type wing ….. yikes, did I just say his name. Fact is, a true R.O.I. Kapono would be perfect with this particular Big combination.
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In 2011-12 .. these 3 Bigs will make 16.5 million … just slightly above Mr. CB’s 2011-12 future pay stub. Add the 4th & 5th Bigs to Toronto payroll, and you have JO’s one season Toronto salary. Spending 20 mil (or less) on the Front Court, gives a lot of room to fill in the 1 to 3 ….. 40-50 million. More – if as I believe – Toronto (Canada) needs to be in luxury tax land (if it still exists), to find that elusive star. We can get them, and keep them, if Raps handle the next couple years well. We have a pretty decent Bench. Just need to find someone from the draft/free-agent/trade routes, and/or have someone current – really shine – and we could have a pretty decent team. That might even mean absorbing a 2011-12 (or even 12-13) Expiring, that shouts out “stupid contract – wtf”. Those tend to be the ones where BC can find his little gems stuck in the rear end of that big ass contract.
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Balance may be a law of physics, and alive in relationships, but it also has importance in sports.
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He’s posting the 5th best PER among rookies, and in my analysis of picks 11-20 of the 2010 NBA Draft he’s contributed as much as any of the others to his team. He and Derrick Favors are the only qualifying rookies in the top 20 picks to post positive Offensive/Defensive Rating differentials.