Ed Davis

Ed Davis
PF/C, 6’10, 240lbs, 28 years old, 7 years of experience

A career-worst year from the usually very solid Davis, who for some reason fouled at an enormous rate this season. Hampered by injury and playing only 406 minutes, Davis’s usual hustling, boarding, blocking, dunking combination was hugely tempered this season, from 6.3 and 6.7 win shares in the two years prior to only 1.7 in 2016/17. The healthy, pre-2016 Ed Davis is a hell of a useful reserve. And that player is probably still in there with good health.

Player Plan: One year at $6,352,431 remaining. It is very good value for the healthy and productive Ed Davis, assuming that player returns next season. But given the overall cap picture and the part-emergence of Vonleh, it is unclear as to whether he could be re-signed afterwards, thus perhaps any value there is ought be cashed in on.

Memphis are by and large capped out. With Lee now in the fold, they already have $69 million committed to next season, the only three not fully guaranteed contracts being Kosta Koufos ($500,000 of $3 million guaranteed), Nick Calathes ($816,482, fully unguaranteed) and Zach Randolph (a $16,938,333 player option). Koufos surely will not be waived, while Calathes's deal is too small to make much difference either way. And if Randolph opts out, it is more than likely to re-sign for a slightly smaller price on a longer deal.

That leaves Memphis not a whole lot of wriggle room under a luxury tax threshold most recently estimated to be at $75.7 million. They are not in imminent danger of paying it, yet they are in sufficient proximity to prevent spending all their assets. Ideally, they would be able to retain Ed Davis and James Johnson, whilst beng able to utilise their MLE and their six traded player exceptions. In reality, they now cannot. Lee may have cost them Davis. This seems like the wrong choice to make.

Other than the rebounding, defense and lack of passing, Bargnani played well. So did his future replacement, Ed Davis, who was active, under control, and productive. For the Nets, Deron Williams controlled the game, while Damion James worked hard on either end and was rewarded. Lopez put forward about 25 times more effort on offense than he did on defense, and Kris Humphries continued his year-long impression of a poor man's Blake Griffin with the kind of effort, strength, shot selection and athleticism that will see him inevitably corral a full MLE deal in the offseason.

Ed Davis had a great weekend, recording 24 points and 23 rebounds in 53 minutes on 10-12 shooting. He has had a great rookie season overall, and is amazingly far long in his learning curve for a 21 year old. Amar'e Stoudemire comparisons are unnecessarily ambitious, but slightly-smaller-Tyson-Chandler ones may not be. Reggie Evans's injury was a blessing in disguise, because it's allowed Davis to become the salvation to a terrible season. I can't prove the idea that Triano would have stolen Davis's minutes with Evans, of course, but it's a common coaching mistake to default to the old guy. So it's possible.

Ed Davis

If he wants to be, Davis should become what Tyrus Thomas should have been but never wanted to become. Did that makes sense? Probably not. What I'm trying to say is, he won't be Amare, and it might take a while, but he should be a good player. More in-depth analysis later.

Pick 13: Needing to change their entire roster, their entire philosophy and their entire future, the Raptors make a start by picking Ed Davis out of North Carolina.

It's a good pick. Davis hasn't really done anything yet, which is why drafting him in the top 10 would have been excessive. However, once he slipped out of it, Davis became a desirable pick. He needs to bulk up and develop counter-moves in the post, as well as a mid range jumper, but he rebounds and he blocks shots, exactly what Toronto's non-existent interior defense needs. It'll be a while before Ed Davis becomes a starter, but he will do one day.

Bye Bosh.