Add the reigning Defensive Player of the Year to the long list of stars lauding Anthony Davis. Joakim Noah praised the 21 year-old MVP candidate in advance of tonight’s game between the Chicago Bulls and New Orleans Pelicans, calling The Brow “a hell of a talent.”
Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau had some nice things to say about Davis, too. Via Nick Friedell of ESPN:
“He’s a freak,” Noah said after Saturday morning’s shootaround, in advance of Saturday night’s game between Pelicans and the Chicago Bulls. “He can shoot the ball — there’s not a lot of things he can’t do on a basketball court. He affects the games in a lot of ways. Even though his stats are crazy, there’s a lot of things that he does that you don’t even see on a stat sheet that affect the game. He’s a hell of a talent.”
“You don’t guard a great player in this league individually,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. “That’s impossible. So we’re going to have to have great team awareness. And [Davis is] so good in so many different areas. He’s great in transition, he’s great in the pick and roll. He’s become very effective in the post. He can face you up. His first step is lightning. He’s got great touch, he’s a real active second jumper, you can throw the ball to the top of the backboard, he can go get it. There’s not much he can’t do and he plays for the team. He plays to win.”
The sentiments of Noah and Thibodeau speak to prowess easily overlooked in Davis’ game. As he piles up points, rebounds, and blocks at will while topping the league in a number of advanced metrics, the narrative of his dominance centers more and more around those mind-boggling statistics.
But what makes Davis more than just an otherworldly talent is his disposition: He combines the fire of a player like Noah with the stoic, unrelenting leadership of Tim Duncan. For a guy so frighteningly young and low on his developmental curve, that approach is nearly as encouraging as the soaring dunks, effortless jumpers, and freakish blocks.
Davis will get the chance to show off his ideal blend of tangible and intangible impact against Noah and the Bulls at 8:00 EST tonight. It’s the Chicago native’s first professional game in the Windy City after he missed previous ones the past two seasons due to injury.
What do you think?
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