Top 25 trade assets ranked by Anthony Davis contenders

[IDreamCeltics]

When did Minnesota Kevin Love ever make the playoffs and demolish a talented opponent en route to a sweep?  Lets' remember that more or less the same Portland team made the WCF this year.  AD dispatched them in a sweep just a year ago.

AD in 9 playoff games last year:

30.1 pts 13.4 reb 2.0 stl 2.3 blks 7.1 FTA 53.4% EFG

In short, he was awesome.


My concerns re: AD are

- Ability to stay on the court

- Intangibles

- Reliance on other players to get him the ball.


There shouldn't be any question that he's a MVP caliber talent.  He's shown it before.


It's really hard to overstate the paucity of NBA rotation-worthy players on the Pelicans during AD's tenure there.

The guy has played 13 playoff games in 6 years... There absolutely SHOULD be a a question that he's an MVP caliber talent. 

Kawhi Leonard has literally never been on a team that missed the playoffs in his career... Prior to this season Lebron made the playoffs for 13 years in a row... KD has made the playoffs 9 of the last 10 seasons.  James Harden has never missed the playoffs,  Russell Westbrook has missed the playoffs once in his career...

The thing about winning players is that they tend to actually produce this weird stat called wins, which in turn lead to playoff berths.  It's a common theme among them.       

I'm not saying AD sucks.  I'm saying he's more like NBA champion and second/third banana Kevin Love than he is culture creator and NBA champion Kevin Garnett.  He's still a great player and signing him to a max deal makes sense and would be a lot better than making Gordon Hayward the fifth highest paid player in the NBA (that was inexplicable and will never under any circumstances be justifiable), but if you think Tatum projects to be the second or third best player on a championship team than why would you trade him in the 3 point era for the least valuable position in the modern NBA?

And for people who keep arguing that Anthony Davis has never had anyone around him, he just played last season with Jrue Holiday (21pts-5rbs-7.7ast) and Julius Randle (21pts-8.8rbs-3.1ast)... He demanded a trade and the team won 33 games.  If his number 2 or 3 players get much more productive they'll be better than him... Which is exactly my point.  The guy is not the best player on a contender... He'd be Kyrie Irving all over again.

[PhoSita]

Kawhi Leonard has literally never played on a team that wasn't good enough to win 50+ games without him.


I understand that you're arguing AD is more like Kevin Love than Kevin Garnett, but as has been pointed out to you several times in this thread, the basis of your argument for why AD is not MVP caliber would also apply to Garnett at the time that the Celtics traded for him in 08.

I can also point you to the fact that LeBron James, noted multiple time MVP, many-time winner of the Eastern Conference and three time NBA champion, just finished a season where his Western Conference team missed the playoffs.


Maybe, just maybe, team wins are a team stat and winning enough games in the West to make the playoffs is too hard for one really good player to guarantee a playoff berth.

[IDreamCeltics]

I understand that you're arguing AD is more like Kevin Love than Kevin Garnett, but as has been pointed out to you several times in this thread, the basis of your argument for why AD is not MVP caliber would also apply to Garnett at the time that the Celtics traded for him in 08.

No it wouldn't, because KG's teams had made the playoffs for seven years in a row and made a Western Conference finals (which I've already said).

[PhoSita]

I understand that you're arguing AD is more like Kevin Love than Kevin Garnett, but as has been pointed out to you several times in this thread, the basis of your argument for why AD is not MVP caliber would also apply to Garnett at the time that the Celtics traded for him in 08.

No it wouldn't, because KG's teams had made the playoffs for seven years in a row and made a Western Conference finals (which I've already said).

And then they missed the playoffs for three years.


Hm, did KG become not-a-MVP in that time, or were there maybe other factors at work?

[IDreamCeltics]

I understand that you're arguing AD is more like Kevin Love than Kevin Garnett, but as has been pointed out to you several times in this thread, the basis of your argument for why AD is not MVP caliber would also apply to Garnett at the time that the Celtics traded for him in 08.

No it wouldn't, because KG's teams had made the playoffs for seven years in a row and made a Western Conference finals (which I've already said).

And then they missed the playoffs for three years.

Hm, did KG become not-a-MVP in that time, or were there maybe other factors at work?

No, I think by that point in his career he had to be paired with two other superstars to win a championship (Hey much like Minnesota Kevin Love!).

My second point is that by age 25 KG had already made the playoffs for six consecutive seasons.  In seven years in the NBA he played 80 games or more in the REGULAR season five times averaging close to 40 minutes a game in all but his rookie year. It was CLEAR AS DAY you could build a winning franchise around KG. 

At 25 Anthony Davis has spent the majority of his career on 30 win teams and has played on average about 66 games a season and 34 minutes a game. See the difference? 

I like AD, I think comparing him to KG is blasphemous and wrong, but to each their own I guess.  I think he should rightfully be put in the category of Boogie Cousins, Kevin Love, or Chris Bosh.  All great players -none of them on competitive teams before being traded.  It's possible at the end of this season all three will have won championships,  but I don't think any of them would have been worth giving up Klay Thompson for in the 3 point era.

[BitterJim]

When did Minnesota Kevin Love ever make the playoffs and demolish a talented opponent en route to a sweep?  Lets' remember that more or less the same Portland team made the WCF this year.  AD dispatched them in a sweep just a year ago.

AD in 9 playoff games last year:

30.1 pts 13.4 reb 2.0 stl 2.3 blks 7.1 FTA 53.4% EFG

In short, he was awesome.


My concerns re: AD are

- Ability to stay on the court

- Intangibles

- Reliance on other players to get him the ball.


There shouldn't be any question that he's a MVP caliber talent.  He's shown it before.


It's really hard to overstate the paucity of NBA rotation-worthy players on the Pelicans during AD's tenure there.

The guy has played 13 playoff games in 6 years... There absolutely SHOULD be a a question that he's an MVP caliber talent. 

Kawhi Leonard has literally never been on a team that missed the playoffs in his career... Prior to this season Lebron made the playoffs for 13 years in a row... KD has made the playoffs 9 of the last 10 seasons.  James Harden has never missed the playoffs,  Russell Westbrook has missed the playoffs once in his career...

The thing about winning players is that they tend to actually produce this weird stat called wins, which in turn lead to playoff berths.  It's a common theme among them.       

I'm not saying AD sucks.  I'm saying he's more like NBA champion and second/third banana Kevin Love than he is culture creator and NBA champion Kevin Garnett.  He's still a great player and signing him to a max deal makes sense and would be a lot better than making Gordon Hayward the fifth highest paid player in the NBA (that was inexplicable and will never under any circumstances be justifiable), but if you think Tatum projects to be the second or third best player on a championship team than why would you trade him in the 3 point era for the least valuable position in the modern NBA?

And for people who keep arguing that Anthony Davis has never had anyone around him, he just played last season with Jrue Holiday (21pts-5rbs-7.7ast) and Julius Randle (21pts-8.8rbs-3.1ast)... He demanded a trade and the team won 33 games.  If his number 2 or 3 players get much more productive they'll be better than him... Which is exactly my point.  The guy is not the best player on a contender... He'd be Kyrie Irving all over again.

Kawhi Leonard never missed the playoffs because he started as part of the Spur's dynasty. Take him off of the team and they still make the playoffs (like they did in 2017-18 when Kawhi played only 9 games). He's a great player and is the reason the Raptors are where they are, but let's not act like he ever dragged a team to the playoffs

Edit: and just look at the Pelicans roster from last year. They had a good top 3, but after that the best player was... Mirotic for 32 games? Elfrid Payton for 42 games? E'twaun Moore for 53? Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline., the 4th most minutes played was Darius Miller

That team had 4 guys that were starter quality (if you count Mirotic during his 32 games), and you couldn't even start them all together because Mirotic, Randle, and Davis are all bigs. That team was an embarrassment of roster construction (and the lack of wings wasn't anything new, either)

[jambr380]

No, I think by that point in his career he had to be paired with two other superstars to win a championship (Hey much like Minnesota Kevin Love!).

My second point is that by age 25 KG had already made the playoffs for six consecutive seasons.  In seven years in the NBA he played 80 games or more in the REGULAR season five times averaging close to 40 minutes a game in all but his rookie year. It was CLEAR AS DAY you could build a winning franchise around KG. 

At 25 Anthony Davis has spent the majority of his career on 30 win teams and has played on average about 66 games a season and 34 minutes a game. See the difference? 

I like AD, I think comparing him to KG is blasphemous and wrong, but to each their own I guess.  I think he should rightfully be put in the category of Boogie Cousins, Kevin Love, or Chris Bosh.  All great players -none of them on competitive teams before being traded.  It's possible at the end of this season all three will have won championships,  but I don't think any of them would have been worth giving up Klay Thompson for in the 3 point era.

My goodness, you wouldn't trade Klay Thompson for AD?? Either you are greatly overrating Klay Thompson or greatly underrating AD. Going by the Love/AD comparisons, I would guess it's the latter.

[gouki88]

No, I think by that point in his career he had to be paired with two other superstars to win a championship (Hey much like Minnesota Kevin Love!).

My second point is that by age 25 KG had already made the playoffs for six consecutive seasons.  In seven years in the NBA he played 80 games or more in the REGULAR season five times averaging close to 40 minutes a game in all but his rookie year. It was CLEAR AS DAY you could build a winning franchise around KG. 

At 25 Anthony Davis has spent the majority of his career on 30 win teams and has played on average about 66 games a season and 34 minutes a game. See the difference? 

I like AD, I think comparing him to KG is blasphemous and wrong, but to each their own I guess.  I think he should rightfully be put in the category of Boogie Cousins, Kevin Love, or Chris Bosh.  All great players -none of them on competitive teams before being traded.  It's possible at the end of this season all three will have won championships,  but I don't think any of them would have been worth giving up Klay Thompson for in the 3 point era.

My goodness, you wouldn't trade Klay Thompson for AD?? Either you are greatly overrating Klay Thompson or greatly underrating AD. Going by the Love/AD comparisons, I would guess it's the latter.

There’s really no point. It’s better for your health to not bother

[Fierce1]

AD in Boston will result in AD becoming the best big man in the NBA.

The Pelicans just didn't do a good job surrounding AD with quality players.

[Big333223]

I understand that you're arguing AD is more like Kevin Love than Kevin Garnett, but as has been pointed out to you several times in this thread, the basis of your argument for why AD is not MVP caliber would also apply to Garnett at the time that the Celtics traded for him in 08.

No it wouldn't, because KG's teams had made the playoffs for seven years in a row and made a Western Conference finals (which I've already said).

And then they missed the playoffs for three years.

Hm, did KG become not-a-MVP in that time, or were there maybe other factors at work?

No, I think by that point in his career he had to be paired with two other superstars to win a championship (Hey much like Minnesota Kevin Love!).

My second point is that by age 25 KG had already made the playoffs for six consecutive seasons.  In seven years in the NBA he played 80 games or more in the REGULAR season five times averaging close to 40 minutes a game in all but his rookie year. It was CLEAR AS DAY you could build a winning franchise around KG. 

At 25 Anthony Davis has spent the majority of his career on 30 win teams and has played on average about 66 games a season and 34 minutes a game. See the difference? 

I like AD, I think comparing him to KG is blasphemous and wrong, but to each their own I guess.  I think he should rightfully be put in the category of Boogie Cousins, Kevin Love, or Chris Bosh.  All great players -none of them on competitive teams before being traded.  It's possible at the end of this season all three will have won championships,  but I don't think any of them would have been worth giving up Klay Thompson for in the 3 point era.

One could also say that, in KG's first 7 seasons, he never won a playoff series and Anthony Davis has.

Whether thinking about team achievements, statistics, or style of play on the court, the KG comparison makes more sense than the Love comparison.