Anthony Davis “Feels Like Superman,” But Does Not Yet Consider Himself An NBA Player

He’s yet to celebrate his 20th birthday, but Anthony Davis has already put together a remarkable resume.  With an NCAA Title, an Olympic Gold Medal, a Nike endorsement contract, a clever trademark, and an NBA deal under his belt, it’s pretty easy to understand why the first overall pick of the 2012 draft “feels like Superman.”

I suppose it would also be pretty easy to understand why the young man would consider himself an NBA player… but Davis, despite his impressive list of accomplishments, isn’t willing to go there just yet.  Not until he pumps a bit more iron, and suits up for an actual game in what he likes to call the “grown man’s league.”  From the AP, via Yahoo (click the link to read the entire story, or scroll down for the excerpts I’ve selected)…

With training camp opening next Tuesday, Davis stopped by the Saints’ training headquarters, which is now in the process of becoming the headquarters for the Hornets under new owner Tom Benson.

Davis brought his gold medal with him, and acknowledged his experience playing for the U.S. at the London Games should put him ahead of the NBA rookie curve.

Davis said he has already added weight to the 220-pound build he had while winning a national title with Kentucky last spring.

”I’m not sure how much. Just feel it,” Davis said, cracking a playful grin. ”Feel like I’m Superman.”

”I just feel like a guy who’s just playing basketball right now,” the Hornets rookie and top overall draft choice said. ”Until I play an NBA game, then I (can’t) consider myself an NBA player.”

”It’s a physical game. Very physical. I definitely got to stay in the weight room.”

Being a top overall pick generally brings with it pressure to perform right away, but Davis said he is not worried about that, partly because of Williams’ philosophy that the job of young players is to learn and develop, not carry the team.

”Coach Williams does a great job of taking that pressure off of me and putting it on the team and organization,” Davis said. ”We’re all young guys. I’m 19 years old going into a grown man’s league. I think he does a great job taking that pressure off of one player, not just me. Eric, Austin, Robin, everybody on the team and just trying to put it on the organization and team as one.”

Starting four days from now, Anthony Davis will face the biggest challenge of his basketball career.  Based on these recent comments, it seems that his head is in the right place.  While the defensive end—where Davis really thrives—is a tough place to adjust to the NBA, I think athleticism and instinct alone will help him make immediate contributions for Monty Williams’ Hornets.  Eric Gordon, who will be the focal point of the offense, is a fantastic play maker and will be sure to help bring Davis along as well.

You can catch Davis’s first preseason game on Sunday, October 7th, when New Orleans hosts Orlando (2:30 Eastern is the time, and NBAtv is the place).  As confident as he appears, I imagine that Davis is relieved to know he’ll be the only Superman in attendance.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Anthony Davis “Feels Like Superman,” But Does Not Yet Consider Himself An NBA Player

  1. jayleno says:

    stupid uni brow

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>