I read this morning that the Pelican’s Forward Anthony Davis will be replacing Kobe Bryant in the upcoming NBA All-Star Game which will be played right there in New Orleans on February 16th. Wow, is this kid coming right along or what?
In only his second year in the league, Davis will be playing in his first All-Star Game and filling some pretty big shoes, probably be some pretty spiffy shoes, considering Kobe’s connections with the shoe companies.
Basketball fans in New Orleans, who perhaps were not planning to attend the All-Star game, will now be reconsidering that decision. Now the home team, the Pelicans, will have a representative out on the court with the other NBA greats who are coming to town.
When Davis started playing for New Orleans last season he got pushed around a good bit. He was the number one pick of the Pelicans in the 2012 NBA Draft coming off of a stellar year at the University of Kentucky under head coach John Calipari. Davis led the Wildcats to a 38-2 season and a NCAA National Title.
Whatever happened during the offseason, Anthony Davis managed to beef up a good bit and when he got back on the basketball court, no one was pushing him around anymore. Davis had started to push back.
This season with the Pelicans Davis has averaged 20.5 points per game with 10.5 rebounds. He also had an average of 3.3 blocked shots per game for the 40 games played thus far. In fact, Anthony Davis has garnered quite a reputation in just one season as being a formidable shot blocker.
Looking at those numbers in perspective, his 20-10-3 works out to be leading the entire NBA at this point. If Davis can keep up his current momentum, he will become just the 34th player in the history of the NBA to post such numbers. That will put him into a very exclusive club with the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, David Robinson, Shaquille O’Neal and Hakeem Olajuwon. Pretty heady company.
But then remember whose place Anthony Davis is taking in the All-Star game. Kobe Bryant is still battling injuries, still unable to compete at this time. We will all miss seeing him out on the court with the other great NBA All-Stars, but at the same time, we are all looking to see just how well Anthony Davis will perform when playing basketball with the top players in the business.
