WRAL Sports Fan highlights some rather pointed and borderline cocky statements from Ed Davis following his working with the Indiana Pacers:
“When it comes to long and athletic big men, I’m the best in the draft,” Davis told the paper. “Whatever team drafts me, I’m going to play up to my potential.”
It’s hard to tell if he’s coming off as confident or cocky without the audio and video. But even if he’s just speaking confidently it’s probably not accurate. Derrick Favors, DeMarcus Cousins, Greg Monroe, Al-Farouq Aminu, and Cole Aldrich might have an argument with that.
Davis is also getting pretty tired of hearing that he isn’t a guy that can come in and contribute right away.
“Those guys, they do their job, they’re not coaches and they do mock drafts for a reason,” Davis said. “If the coaching staff feels I need to wait or I can play right away, that’s what I go by. Their opinion doesn’t mean anything.”
He’s not really a believer that he’s got some work to do before his offensive game is NBA-ready.
If there were PR lessons taught to players at UNC, it is clear Davis did not listen to them. I agree with Tim Hall here that sans the audio/video it is tough tell whether Davis is simply being confident or cocky. Hall is also correct that there are at least five other big men who are considered better prospects than Davis right now. The injury has a factor in that but so does Davis’ inconsistency during his sophomore season at UNC.
Davis is calling out the media for not being high on him and says “they are not coaches.” Fair enough. They are not coaches so they have not seen workouts but what they saw on the court last season was not the same was what they saw from Aminu or Cousins or Favors, etc, etc. That is the only body of work they have to do on. Toss the wrist injury in and from where I sit the criticism is well founded.
My advice to Davis is to keep quiet and let your game do the talking. As the old cliche says “actions speak louder than words.” Or simply do what you said Tyler Hansbrough does. Keep it short. Don’t be that guy who calls out the media for doing their job. Will their be unfair criticisms? Sure. In this case I am not convinced they are that unfair. Even if they were, the motivation should still be to answer them on the court not in an interview.
[UPDATE]: Additional quote from the original article:
Don’t expect a finished product on the offensive end of the court, though.
He played out of position as a back-to-the-basket big man at North Carolina. He’s better suited in a system that allows him to face up to the basket.
Davis spent plenty of time showing off his midrange game to the Pacers. He also needs to get stronger to bang with the power forwards in the NBA.
“People think I can’t shoot,” he said. “I have a nice jump shot and nice touch around the basket; so guys have to respect that . . . I’ll continue to get stronger, but I’m not saying I want to put on 20 pounds.”
I seem to recall Davis having ample opportunities to show a face-up game and it did not end well. The instances I recall of him shooting mid-range jumpers usually resulted in misses. I also sense a hint of a “if Davis’ offensive game is not ready it’s Roy’s fault for not using him correctly” meme here. Not sure if that is media opinion or Davis thinks that too.
Of course we probably should cut Davis some slack here. Obviously he needs to sell himself to get drafted. Ty Lawson did the same thing by calling himself a great defender in 2008 when there was plenty of evidence throughout the prior season that he was disinterested in playing defense far too often. Still, I think Davis should show a little more savvy when making comments to the media.
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Wow….Well, it looks like UNC may have another body to replace the great production of Ed Davis. If James McAdoo decides to stay in high school for his senior year, UNC may have John Fields. John Fields can transfer from UNC-Wilmington under the same rule as Justin Knox. Fields in three seasons has become the all-time leading shot blocker in Seahawks history.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/player/profile?playerId=31728
I noticed last week Fields was leaving but haven’t seen anything regarding his interest in UNC.
No doubt Ed has been coached into talking a good game and I have no problem with that at all.
The weird thing to me is the “face up to the basket” comments. I mean if he were REALLY that good, even Roy would have made some use of that, you think?
regarding ed- i know he averaged almost a double/double, but i don’t remember him be such a dominate, athletic big man with a face up game.
anyone remember that?
and i can’t find any articles linking john fields with unc.
If this attitude on display by Davis right now is indicative of the way he behaved in the locker room and at practice last year I think we have at least a partial answer for what went so wrong with last season. We already know that he didn’t bring it during game time last year, maybe now we have insight in to the rest of his time spent at Chapel Hill last year as well. Let’s face it Ed’s double/double average has to be one of the weakest and least impressive examples of that stat to ever be recorded in the UNC record books. Somebody needs to tell Ed that there is a reason he didn’t make any of the all ACC teams even as a second or third stringer, to say nothing of the All American teams.
With a few glaring exceptions usually the best players don’t have to run their mouth about how great they are or about the media not knowing what they are talking about. The best players silence their critics with their game, and speak through their actions on the court or on the field.
The only thing I can imagine is that the praise he garnered during his frosh season coupled with being part of a National Title team all went to his head. Here’s a news flash buddy, they would have won that title with or without you.
One other thing I want to point out here is that Ty Lawson was a poor defender because he chose to be lazy about it at the college level. He always had the talent to be a great defender but he lacked the interest. I’m not convinced that Ed has the talent to be a go to offensive option, a face up player, or a consistent jump shooter, to say nothing of the obvious lack of interest and commitment he has shown so far.
I certainly hope there are mitigating circumstances to these quotes, or that they were taken out of context, distorted or twisted, because the way they read leaves a taste in the mouth that’s so bad that Nyquil would be great by comparison.
I am not a big fan of players yacking while they are in college. Ed Davis is not in that situation any longer. He might believe, or his agent might have told him, that a little bravado was the way to go in his present circumstances.
I never thought Davis’s play merited the certainty that he was a lottery pick, and I think so even less now. That said, he was, overall, our best and most productive player in a down year. With all respect to those who think otherwise, I believe we are a weaker team without him. There are some compensating advantages to giving more responsibility and focus to our other big men (Zeller and Henson), but on the whole, having more talent is better than having less.
Davis is no longer a student, so on the talking-to-the-press front, I guess I’m ready to let a thousand flowers bloom. The professional world is different from the college world.
I have always thought we needed more modesty and less chatter from our players. In turn, to echo a theme sometimes sounded by 52bgj, we could also use more tolerance and less after-the-fact criticism from the fans. This is true even where, as with Davis, the player (or ex-player) did not quite meet expectations. Davis was a contributor. I wish him well.
Apparently McAdoo is no longer coming.
Wilf,
ESPN posted the possibility of Fields going to UNC. Another big man appears in Carolina
12:08
PM ET
North Carolina Tar Heels
UNC already snagged a big body for next year’s interior rotation by picking up former Alabama player Justin Knox, who availed himself of a transfer rule that allows grad students to pursue degree programs at another institution without transfer penalties on the basketball court.
Now they have a chance to do it again, without traveling nearly so far.
Brian Mull of the Wilmington Star-News is reporting that senior big man John Fields, who holds shot-blocking records at UNC-Wilmington, has graduated and is eligible to transfer under the same rule. All he has to do is choose to pursue a graduate degree in a department not offered at Wilmington.
“The kid’s had four coaches in four years and some things that were promised to us at UNC-Wilmington didn’t pan out,? Fields’ father told Mull. “I’m not going to point any fingers or name any names.”
Even after landing Knox, the Heels were still after Kadeem Jack, who opted for another year of seasoning in prep school. Fields would certainly be an attractive stopgap measure for Roy Williams in the meantime. Nobody from either school has commented on this publicly, but the dots almost connect themselves on this one.
Obviously, this post will anger some people. I am just the messenger. lol
Plain and simple, Ed Davis was soft and didnt play anywhere near the hype…He can talk now because hype is what got him where he is…i used to watch the games thinking ” why are these analyst talking about Ed being an early pic” while at the same time being man handled by Pittman from Texas…He may be good in the future but all he will ever be at Carolina was a guy that could have been.
“Apparently McAdoo is no longer coming.”
speculation, or what?
^^Ed may have gotten manhandled by Pittman from Texas, but he was giving up over 50 pounds to him and he actually had one of his better games, at least statistically. He had 21 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 blocks (oops, that should have read 4 blocks) on 9-13 shooting. Your view of it may very well be warranted, but I don’t think the Texas game is the right example to chastise him for.
I agree that Ed saying he’s a face-up 4 is silly at the moment, especially with the implication that Roy misused him. On the other hand, I feel like there’s been a tendency to downplay and disparage Ed’s play based on the season that they had more than how he actually performed. He wasn’t a dominant scorer, but he was a good scorer, and probably the best on the team. As well as that he was a very good rebounder and shot blocker. However people seem to act as if he was Adam Boone and Brian Morrison resurrected.
As for those who keep saying they don’t understand him being a lottery pick, even if he never develops an offensive game, if Ed rebounds and blocks shots in the NBA like he did in college last year, with his length and athleticism he’ll be a very valuable player. There are tons of guys who are great in college who don’t spend a second in the league and there are some guys who perform better in the NBA than college. The two games are different, and you can teach skills, but you can’t teach tall and athletic.
Draft Express has Ed at #9 right now, going AHEAD of guys like Udoh, Patterson, X Henry, Aldrich. So it’s hard to say that Ed is underrated by these guys he’s dissing. There are guys with MUCH higher upside going lower.
IMO, Ed is actually a safe pick, not an upside pick: he has the body and athleticism to be an above-average defensive 4 in the NBA, who can get you transition/garbage points and will eventually develop his post game to a certain extent. That’s an average NBA starter. Getting an average NBA starter with the #2 pick for Marvin Williams is a disaster; getting an average NBA starter around #10–not bad at all…..
The Duke board is gloating that McAdoo isn’t coming early. Anyone know anything?
^Could you provide the link? This is all I found:
http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16397
Someone on IC premium dropped the rumor. Not sure if said person knows anything or not. There are a few posters over there who claim to know stuff ahead time. Some do, some are full of it. Not sure which this.
So far IC main page is quiet as is Twitter.
It says something that Dook is so insecure that their fans have to gloat over a RUMOR that we will not be getting a quality player that, up until very recently, no one thought we’d be getting next season anyway.
A pretty sorry performance from a school that just won the NC and that will be favored to win it next year too.
@Marcus…I wish Pittman was the only case that Ed looked like a non factor…Look the simple fact is we can all talk about how he was the best we had but in all honesty we were bad last year, and im not sure the idea that he was the best on a really bad Carolina team isnt good enough for me…the guy played well below the hype he was given, so to speak as if there were these hidden talents that he had( face up shooting) is really lame on his part…as far as him being a good scorer, i dont agree, he just happen to be the best option out of four other bad options…12 points a game says to me that he could get a few scrap points but by no means makes him a scorer.
I’ll say again, it’s hurts your argument to say he was a nonfactor in a game in which he had 21 and 9 with 4 blocks. At least by the statistics he was a factor in that game. If your example of him being soft, a nonfactor, or not living up to the hype is the Texas game I don’t feel like you’re doing a good job of justifying your opinion.
We may just have to disagree about the scoring thing. I think someone who averages in double figures is a good scorer. I’m using the term scorer just as actually getting points, I’m not making any statement about how he got them. Ed averaged 13.4 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per last year. If you told me we would get that from Zeller or Henson next year I’d be ecstatic because to me those are good numbers for a big man. Not necessarily dominant but very good.
i am saying that his numbers had more to do with the team being bad than him being good…there were no other options…can you really argue that Ed davis was any better than average at best…maybe i am hard on him but at no point during the season did i feel that he was playing good ball or even stand out for that matter.
Yes I can because I actually think that he was better than average. I’ve said before that your view may be correct, but it’s not very persuasive on it’s on. The average player doesn’t get 13 points a game, nor 10 rebounds per game, nor 3 blocks per game. He got scoring average while taking only 8.3 shots per game and shooting 58% from the field. My whole point is that you are not doing a great job backing up your position.
i remember conversation here after ed got hurt that the team actually played better. maybe ed was a detriment to chemistry?
and yes, he was the best player on a bad team so he should have averaged more than he did.
I agree he should have averaged more points, because he should have gotten more than 8 shots a game.
Ed Davis averaged a double-double last season, had they won a few more games we would be singing a different tune now. Unfortunately we had pathetic wing players, a PG who was learning how to handle the ball on the job, a coach who would not change his strategy to fit the team, a decent post player who was wasted in the wings and of course there was Deon Thompson. Could Davis have played better? Sure, but the team does not live or die with one post player.
14.0 ppg 50 FG% 64.6 FT% 6.0 RPG 1.3 BPG 0.8 SPG
Anyone want to guess which former Tar Heel belongs to these numbers?
How about these numbers?
15.6 ppg 42.7 FG% 31% 3PT% 82.4 FT% 8.6 RPG 3.0 APG 1.2 SPG
Ed Davis was a detriment to chemistry. I heard that from at least two different sources through the course of the season. Roy Williams himself said he was a poor practice players and it was known he did not meet his conditioning goals during the preseason. I held the opinion for a long time that if he did not return for his junior season the team would be better off because of the chemistry issues alone.
Bottom line is Davis did not seize on the opportunity to be a dominant force on the team. He can try to sell himself now but when he had his chance to produce at a high level he simply did not on a consistent basis.
You have been flogging this theory for a long time without naming your sources. Davis could have been a high first round pick after his freshman year, he did not have to come back and be a part of this pathetic team led by “seniors” who could not play. One could say, based on similar rumors and innuendos that Larry Drew is bad for team chemistry, so why is he around? And yet who transfers? The Wear twins. The fact is we don’t know much about team chemistry other than making irresponsible internet speculations.
If you don’t want to believe me, that’s fine. However, I almost NEVER play the “I have source who told me X” card on this blog. I only have done it here because the information is reliable IMO. If have about 50 other things I heard this season which I did not push out there b/c it lacked corroboration or it was ultimately irrelevant. As for the Ed Davis rumors, I heard it from one source which was more hearsay in nature. Then heard it from another source who I consider absolutely reliable and the chain was far more direct. In fact I had both sources who as far as I know have zero connection with each other tell me the exact same thing about Davis. As for the last individual, there have been various items he has discussed with me that panned out. Regardless, I am comfortable with the standards I have set for this blog, I stand by the information I have been given and disseminated and really don’t give a crap whether anyone believes it or not.
As for Larry Drew the issues surrounding him had less to do with his interaction with the team and more his relationship with Roy. Guess what? If you pay any attention to body language, Drew doing or not doing what Roy says on the court and how Roy talks about Drew to the press you’d know they don’t get along. I didn’t need any inside info to know that, it is painfully obvious via observation. The stuff I heard about Drew merely filled in any blanks left open which were not many.
The Wears leaving was a surprise to everyone and it had more to do with Papa and Mama Wear than it did the Wear Twins being unhappy at UNC or what not. Then again, the fact no one on the team knew what they were thinking probably indicates they were not real close with their teammates.
Sometimes you can hint at sources; most of the time it’s better not to reveal anything in that area. I usually trust the veracity of the source on this format and the accuracy of the information they provide on a ongoing basis. I to know without being able to reveal how that Ed Davis played a major roll in the disfuctional team that we were last year. A locker room divided against itself leads to a lot of the things we saw on the court. These kids spend a great deal of time around each other and when there is friction it can’t be a fun place to be. I suspect, without a source, that this may have played a role in the Wears leaving. You can watch a team play and tell if they are together on (and off) the court. After the Charleston game (that’s a hint)the same team never took the floor again until after Ed Davis was hurt and we finally had some fun on the court in the NIT. I say this willing for all of you to take it as my own pure speculation and opinion if you so choose.
I really don’t care what sources say, if Davis had a problem he would not be putting up numbers like he had. He would have taken the expedient route like Deon Thompson, got his points without banging his body and without getting his wrist broken (maybe to your sources that was made up). Much of the friction can be frustration of playing with players who are there solely due to their seniority. Davis got injured during the Duke game at Dean Dome, after that the team still lost 5 very crucial games including the debacle at Duke. So maybe the team chemistry was out of whack then too. They played better at the NIT, as they should, because it was the frickin’ NIT and a team that was pegged to reach the sweet sixteen was playing with other tournament rejects.
CarolinaBlue74
Herb Pope and Derrick Character put up similar numbers and it would be foolish to say they didn’t have issues.
Whatever the case may have been with Davis (and the Seniors, and the Wears, and…), I’m just looking forward to a fresh start.
No one said we were a more talented team without Ed Davis. Of course we could not replace him. As far as his numbers go, if you play for yourself (NBA) or the team I don’t think his stats would have been much different. Once you have the team friction it just doesn’t go away like magic. Ed Davis was still there just not playing. And, nobody said that it was ALL Ed Davis’s fault. Besides that, breaking a wrist has more to do with being put in a bad physical position and not simply because you were trying so hard a bone broke. Jeez!
“Ed Davis averaged a double-double last season,”
Without taking sides in this debate, I would like to point out that Ed did not average a double-double, but 9.6 rpg and 13.4 ppg. I prefer to look at conference numbers and Ed’s average dropped over 3 points per game within conference. In conference, his average was 10.1 ppg and 8.4 rpg.
In either case, we could probably pull statistics to support either argument and talk a lot about perceptions; OR, we can talk about the perception of statistics and the statistics of perceptions …. I think that’s the definition of hype …otherwise known as pre-draft chatter.
^ thankyou for pointing that out…i didnt even realize that his numbers dropped that much.
Blue74 you are as stubborn as an idealogue arguing political position. Nothing short of Roy Williams writing you personally to tell you that Ed Davis was a locker room cancer would convince you, and I’m not so sure you wouldn’t argue with him too. Nobody is saying Ed doesn’t have talent, and that he didn’t contribute to last years team. Nobody is saying he wasn’t one of the most talented players on last years team. That’s great but it’s kind of like being the most intelligent kid in a classroom full of children with downs syndrome (props to the Movie waiting for my paraphrased quote). And frankly it’s insulting to the blog owner to call in to question his sources in the manner you have done. If he had so little integrity as to post every rumor about Tar Heel basketball as fact on this blog then none of us would be here reading it. The boy(and I’m basing that description on his lack of maturity that has been on display so far) was clearly a locker room cancer. Roy has implied it by word and actions, THF has confirmed it through two different independent sources, and now Ed Davis has shown it in the way he is running his mouth and implying that he performed poorly at Chapel Hill because his talents weren’t used properly by the coaching staff. All this latest news does is confirm a continuing trend. Have we already forgotten the agent fiasco in the middle of the conference season last year?
He might turn out to be a great NBA player, that likely won’t change the fact that he is a problem in the locker room. Professional sports history is positively littered with players that had great physical skills that were unable to get along with their teammates and coaches, as well as players with loads of natural talent and poor work ethics. Most of them ended up going nowhere because they didn’t understand the simple fact that it takes more then one player to form a team, and once you get to the Pro level everybody has talent, those that work to improve are the ones that excel by and large.
Larry Drew may be just as big a locker room cancer as Ed Davis was. I doubt he will get the opportunity to be as disruptive without Ed sitting in the same locker room though. I’m sure it will help that Will Graves is a much stronger senior personality(team leader type) then either Marcus or Deon were. And all the reports are that the incoming class are hard workers and leaders in their own right. What’s more this year he has a legitimate point guard competing with him for playing time instead of a shooting guard project backing him up. From one year to the next we will replace a starting five that consisted of two malcontents, to nonentities, and one character rehab project to possibly one malcontent, at least 3 hard workers and leaders, with a probable frosh starter that by all appearances will be a leader and hustler as well.
None of that guarantees a thing. I thought we would be fine last year with the team we had. Obviously I was wrong and so was almost everyone else in the world of sports. Maybe I’m wrong again but in this case I believe strongly that this team has improved by subtraction as well as addition, and Ed Davis’ mouth has done nothing to change my opinion.
^ nice summary/comment.
850inExile aka UNC RAJ
Fresh starts are one of the important factors in what team sports are about. The sad thing about this BBall situation at UNC is that Men’s Basketball brings in huge financial support for the entire sports program and has been instrumental in defining the reputation of the institution.
Like it or not, athletics is how most schools are perceived.
So regardless of who plays next year, at least keep it positive. Look at the World cup debacle that is France this year. Put a bunch of prima donna athletes in the right situation and implosion results. A memorable one at that.
THF,
I think it is great that you are developing more contacts and inside edge at UNC. Hopefully some of the staff in varsity sports will recognize your hard work and honest effort to comment on things and elucidate what you can.
When I was an undergraduate, I was a sports reporter. It just is not easy. Probably 90 per cent of what you learn is not for public consumption. Attributing to sources is sometimes not possible. You are around players and, especially if you are a student as well, things happen and are said that cannot translate.
So being responsible isn’t easy. But it is the right thing to do.
THF –
You have said from time to time that we’d be better advised to bring down the curtain on criticism of Thompson and Ginyard. Notwithstanding that neither of those players lived up to the hopes/expectations many of us had for them this last year, I agree with your view and have refrained from such criticism. With all respect, I think you should consider applying the same generous attitude toward Davis, who was more productive than either of the other two.
If Davis had a hand in bad locker room chemistry, we should let it go. He is no longer a college player, and it is unfair to evaluate his current bravado/mouthing off as if he were. (Plus it’s not that egregious as these things go).
In addition, good locker room chemistry is not a goal unto itself. It is a tool for winning games on the floor. As much as anyone last year, Davis helped us do that. He was a disappointment measured against his recruiting hype and against his apparent potential. He may well have had a poor attitude, but we have had (and may still have) players with worse ones.
An active Carolina player is fairly held to one set of standards, while an ex-player angling for a good spot in the NBA draft is properly held to another. I wish Davis would talk less, just as I wish almost the entire world would talk less rather than continuously surrender to the mysterious (to me) temptation to let universal cyberspace know how you’re feeling right now (and then five minutes from now). But in a world awash with aimless “self-expression,” I just don’t think Davis is, relatively, all that bad.