Monty Williams Says Anthony Davis “Could Easily Go For 40 and 20”

At this point, tempering expectations for Anthony Davis is futile. Very few players in history have ever averaged 25.5 points, 11.4 rebounds, 3.9 blocks, and 2.3 steals per game while shooting 57.9 percent from the field, and none have done so as 21 year-olds. It’s too early to say whether or not Davis will sustain those mind-boggling statistics – not to mention a would-be record 36.1 PER – over the full season, but it doesn’t even really matter. The New Orleans Pelicans’ superstar is on his way to a legendary career, and has the basketball world re-thinking the limits of potential in the process.

Just how good could Davis be? His coach, Monty Williams, would know better than anyone, and recently suggested that The Brow could put up box score-breaking numbers.

USA Today’s excellent NBA writer, Sam Amick, scribed a sweeping feature on New Orleans’ prodigy that deserves a full read. What stuck out most to us in the story, though, was this small quote from Williams:

“Once we figure out how to get him the ball every single night, he could easily go for 40 (points) and 20 (rebounds),” Williams said.

This fun prediction lacks context – we don’t know if Williams meant that Davis could score 40 points and grab 20 rebounds in a single contest or average those stats over a full season. That we’re even considering the latter as a possibility might be the best indicator of Davis’ sky-high ceiling.

Williams’ take is important either way, though, as much for the sake of Davis’ numbers as how the Pelicans are featuring him offensively. Could the league’s third-leading scorer really be better utilized? Yes, actually.

Davis is only taking basketball’s seventh-most shots per game. Given his vast improvements as a jump-shooter and individual scorer, of course New Orleans would be better served by finding ways to get him a few extra field attempts each contest. But Davis’ supreme efficiency would likely suffer somewhat in the process.

What would be just as prudent a strategy is re-shuffling the spots from where those shots not only come, but originate. Think about this – Davis gets just 4.9 touches per game inside of 12 feet. 25 big men in the NBA touch the ball close to the basket more than Davis, which makes even less sense considering that dribble-drives aren’t accounted for in the compilation of this statistic.

Consider the below, too:

There simply isn’t a better shooter or finisher inside the paint than Davis. He’s an absolute monster near the rim, and has even begun to master the tricky portion of the the floor in between mid-range and the restricted area. Just imagine the damage Davis could do if he more frequently got the ball rolling to the rim after ball-screens or even received additional post-up opportunities. Terrifying.

The Pelicans really do need to do a better job of finding Davis more efficient scoring opportunities. Despite his still-burgeoning perimeter skills, he’s a big man, after all.

Could Davis really go for 40 points and 20 rebounds a game, though? Doubtful. But with a few more years of muscle and understanding plus evolved shot selection, who really knows? That’s how great Davis already is, and how much greater he’ll become in the future.

What do you think?

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