MVP Case No. 4: Anthony “The Brow” Davis

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Everyday this week, the society members have been making individual cases for the top players deserving MVP consideration. If you want to see the other cases click on the links below:

1.  Chris Paul done by Aram Cannuscio (@ACannus)

2. James Harden done by Martin Soaries (@marley_mcfly)

3.  Stephen Curry done by Chris St. Jean (@CSaint3)

Today I’ll be making the case of why Anthony Davis should be in the conversation for MVP.

Davis has improved in every statistical category since coming into the league in 2012. Let’s take a closer look:

Season Averages:

2012-13: 13.5 points, 8.2 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 1.2 steals, 1.8 blocks

2013-14: 20.8 points, 10.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.3 steals, 2.8 blocks

2014-15: 24.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.5 steals, 2.9 blocks

As you can see, Anthony Davis has definitely lived up to the expectations and has the potential to be a superstar. I know a lot of people, like myself, have either Stephen Curry or James Harden as the frontrunner to win MVP. However, Davis had an MVP-type season and should definitely be considered into the mix.

One underrated statistic to look at is player efficiency rating, or PER for short. PER is a all in one basketball rating, combining every statusing a formula made by John Hollinger to make up one single number. This year Davis led the league with a 30.9 PER (next highest was 28.8). Tom Haberstroh of ESPN mentioned something about Davis that caught my attention

“He towers over the league in PER, with a 30.9 rating (next highest is 28.8). Want to know how good that is, historically? Only Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Wilt Chamberlain have beaten the Brow.”

PER might not be the first stat that comes to every one’s mind, but to be mentioned in the same sentence with those guys stated above means you are doing something right.

To be honest I did have Davis winning the MVP after he had a monstrous first month of the season. Heck I had him as my vote after his first game in which he had 26 points, 17 rebounds and 9 BLOCKS in a win against Orlando. The only problem that I see Davis not getting any votes this year would be his health.

While his stats are eye-popping he has had his fair share of injuries and missed some time. In his rookie year he missed 18 games, 15 his second year, and 14 this year. Now it hasn’t been one specific body part that he keeps injuring, the list ranges from MCL sprain, concussions, and a broken pinky finger. Is this something to worry about? No. Should the amount of games missed affect him being in the MVP consideration? Absolutely not. Injuries and fatigue happen, its a long season but when Davis is healthy, he has dominated and to think this guy is only 22 years old is mind boggling.

Davis is also rated the best clutch player in the NBA right now. According to ESPN Insider, Anthony Davis during the 2014-2015 season was best player in crunch time by a long shot against other possible MVP candidates.

One more thing to mention here about AD. He single-handedly led New Orleans to the playoffs in a tough Western Conference. The Pelicans had to play these teams in their division for the majority of the season: the Spurs, Mavericks, Rockets and Grizzlies. That is a pretty tough division especially when you look at the power forwards Davis has to play against (Tim Duncan, Zach Randolph, Dirk Nowitzki) but Anthony Davis held his own. Before this year, the Pelicans have not made the playoffs since 2011.

Like I said earlier, Harden and Curry are the possible frontrunners for the league MVP, but Davis should be getting heavy consideration. If he continues to stay healthy and keeps having eye-popping stats like I mentioned above, the unibrow will have himself an MVP in no time.

@FonzyDeFalco

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