Anthony Davis vs Joel Embiid?

[bigboi]

Davis all the way: by far the better defender, more productive on offense, more versatile, and Davis is a freak athlete whereas Embiid is merely "agile" for his size.

Davis isn't a freak athlete IMO. Embiid is a similar athlete, he's just more stiff. I would argue that Embiid's agility and footwork is much better though. I haven't seen a freshman, who developed as fast as Embiid like ever. Every week the guy was improving.

[miltk]

i KNOW davis can play. i wouldn't trade em straight up if i was NO

[NO-KG-AI]

Ridiculous really. Embiid has a better chance of never matching what Davis did this year than he does of surpassing what Davis may or may not progress into in the future.

[Tave]

Davis all the way: by far the better defender, more productive on offense, more versatile, and Davis is a freak athlete whereas Embiid is merely "agile" for his size.

Davis isn't a freak athlete IMO. Embiid is a similar athlete, he's just more stiff. I would argue that Embiid's agility and footwork is much better though. I haven't seen a freshman, who developed as fast as Embiid like ever. Every week the guy was improving.

Well you're welcome to your opinion even if it's wrong. Davis is much faster, springier, and stronger.

[jimmy keys]

Cavs wouldn't get Davis for the number 1 + Kyrie. That pretty much sums it up.

Wait until Davis adds the 3 ball to his game in 1 or 2 years. He'll be an MVP before 25 IMO.

[Bakuto]

Can't wait to see this thread bumped next summer if Embiid wins ROY, with people using the ROY excuse for Embiid > Davis.

[eltercero]

Cavs wouldn't get Davis for the number 1 + Kyrie. That pretty much sums it up.

Wait until Davis adds the 3 ball to his game in 1 or 2 years. He'll be an MVP before 25 IMO.

You guys take any opportunity there is to knock the Cavs

[TeaM DimE]

of course its davis now cus of his past 2 seasons, but if its davis after his freshman year and embiid after his freshman both coming into the league.....i would say embiid would be my pick and be the better player

This...IT's easy to say Davis because of his Success in his first 2 years in the NBA. But if they were both coming out of college at the same time it would be very very close. I would go with Davis but it would honestly be a coin flip IMO.

[Greek]

AD and its not even close...production on very young age vs upside, i dont like to gamble, but even if i was a gambler i would still put my money on AD.

[jimmy keys]

Cavs wouldn't get Davis for the number 1 + Kyrie. That pretty much sums it up.

Wait until Davis adds the 3 ball to his game in 1 or 2 years. He'll be an MVP before 25 IMO.

You guys take any opportunity there is to knock the Cavs

Oh man don't take it personally it's not a knock on the Cavs.

I'm just that high on Davis. I think he's the next great NBA player. Best big man since Duncan.

[jimmy keys]

of course its davis now cus of his past 2 seasons, but if its davis after his freshman year and embiid after his freshman both coming into the league.....i would say embiid would be my pick and be the better player

This...IT's easy to say Davis because of his Success in his first 2 years in the NBA. But if they were both coming out of college at the same time it would be very very close. I would go with Davis but it would honestly be a coin flip IMO.

No it's not retrospective. Davis would be still be in his own tier if he was coming out of college as a freshman this year.

The debate would be who would go second. I like Embiid a lot as a prospect and would put him number 1 this year, but I'm not sure he's going to be a better player than Drummond for example, where as Davis is clearly better than both as of today. Basically Embiid needs to become Hakeem to past Davis and I don't see that happening.

[TeaM DimE]

of course its davis now cus of his past 2 seasons, but if its davis after his freshman year and embiid after his freshman both coming into the league.....i would say embiid would be my pick and be the better player

This...IT's easy to say Davis because of his Success in his first 2 years in the NBA. But if they were both coming out of college at the same time it would be very very close. I would go with Davis but it would honestly be a coin flip IMO.

No it's not retrospective. Davis would be still be in his own tier if he was coming out of college as a freshman this year.

The debate would be who would go second. I like Embiid a lot as a prospect and would put him number 1 this year, but I'm not sure he's going to be a better player than Drummond for example, where as Davis is clearly better than both as of today. Basically Embiid needs to become Hakeem to past Davis and I don't see that happening.

Your post is 100% retrospective. Lol @ Drummond being even close to the prospect Embiid is.

[jimmy keys]

This...IT's easy to say Davis because of his Success in his first 2 years in the NBA. But if they were both coming out of college at the same time it would be very very close. I would go with Davis but it would honestly be a coin flip IMO.

No it's not retrospective. Davis would be still be in his own tier if he was coming out of college as a freshman this year.

The debate would be who would go second. I like Embiid a lot as a prospect and would put him number 1 this year, but I'm not sure he's going to be a better player than Drummond for example, where as Davis is clearly better than both as of today. Basically Embiid needs to become Hakeem to past Davis and I don't see that happening.

Your post is 100% retrospective. Lol @ Drummond being even close to the prospect Embiid is.

Short term memory loss?

Drummond was in the running for the first overall pick in 2012 and was highly touted coming out of high school as the next Dwight Howard.

It's okay dude the internet is a great archive for anyone who confuses their opinion with fact.

[bigboi]

No it's not retrospective. Davis would be still be in his own tier if he was coming out of college as a freshman this year.

The debate would be who would go second. I like Embiid a lot as a prospect and would put him number 1 this year, but I'm not sure he's going to be a better player than Drummond for example, where as Davis is clearly better than both as of today. Basically Embiid needs to become Hakeem to past Davis and I don't see that happening.

Your post is 100% retrospective. Lol @ Drummond being even close to the prospect Embiid is.

Short term memory loss?

Drummond was in the running for the first overall pick in 2012 and was highly touted coming out of high school as the next Dwight Howard.

It's okay dude the internet is a great archive for anyone who confuses their opinion with fact.

I was a huge supporter of Drummond when he was at the draft, but he isn't even close to Embiid as a prospect. He's simply too raw and doesn't have offensive talent that Embiid has. If Davis came out this year, he would go first because of a combination of things: Embiid's back issues, winning a championship, and being really good player. But in terms of impact on the court, I think they were similar in college.

[I_amWEB]

Anthony Davis for sure, he is a freak of an athlete

[Bucks2585]

Davis.

I mean, the fact that after the draft he made the Olympic team(due to injury to Griffin yes, but as a 1st alternate without an NBA minute yet) says enough about how good his peers, the Olympic coaches, and the entire basketball world thought out him.

I like Embid's potential. But right now, its potential. Offensively, he never may be a go to guy, maybe even just an offensive hustle player. Davis was a no-brainer threat on offense simply due to his ability to get offensive rebounds, cut to the basketball, and his sheer athleticism. He was almost guarenteed to be a 10-14 PPG offensive hustle player, and his potential on offense, his mid-range, were apparent despite a small sample size.

[LofJ]

I'd easily take Anthony Davis, even if I was only looking at their freshman year stats. I guess people are forgetting that Davis' advanced metrics for his one year at Kentucky were off the charts rediculous. He passed both the eye test and the analytics test with flying colors and was the unquestioned number one pick. Embiid's freshman season was impressive, but it wasn't in the same ballpark as AD's. AD is on track to be a superstar in this league. Guys like him only come around about once every 5 years.

[Hans Embiid]

When AD was at UK everybody thought he had no offensive game and so...

I like the potential of Embiid from that standpoint. If he pans out he can be Top 5 NBA Player.

[erudite23]

People have such a hard time separating what has happened since AD came into the league with what he was as a prospect coming out. As much as people hyped him up, there were also some very legit doubts about him. A lot of people said he would never average 20ppg as a pro, some even went so far as to call him a "defensive specialist."

Consider that he only averaged 17.7 PP40 in his freshman season. Embiid, as raw and underused as he was averaged 19.4. Noah Vonleh, who is considered a notch or two down from them as a prospect, and also being very raw and under developed, averaged 17.0.

Davis was very, very light coming out and there was concern that maybe he wouldn't be able to hold his ground versus grown men. He also had--and this is still an issue, btw--very little in terms of a post game, meaning that his offense was going to come from face ups and PnR almost exclusively.

Embiid, by contrast, rates very well-to-elite in all of these areas. He has a great frame that will clearly allow for more weight. He's got an emerging arsenal of back-to-the-basket moves that hint at future dominance. And he's got the same type of defensive length/athleticism combination that will allow him to control the paint in the pros.

So Embiid does have some clear advantages.

But, yes this is clearly Davis. He was a much safer pick with a far high floor. Embiid--between the back issue, his lateness to basketball, his age (remember he's older than some of last year's rookies and this year's sophomores) and the vast amount of projection that is going into his evaluation--is a far riskier pick. I think they have similar upside and you could argue that Embiid's massive size (he will be one of the 2 or 3 biggest players in the league that get regular minutes) along with his elite athletic abilities give him a slight edge over Davis in terms of his ceiling....but Davis was so much more of a known quantity than Joel it doesn't even come close.

[tranjSAIC]

Embiid is a franchise center. Davis is a franchise PF.

I'll take the center.

I would typically agree with this, but I think Davis showed more than Embiid did in their 1 college seasons.