The Official Johnny Davis Thread!

[willbcocks]

That film session footage does not inspire confidence.

Dug up my first reaction. Imo he is the worst pick I've ever seen the wizards make. I have never seen anything out of him, either before or since we've drafted him -- including skills, stats, highlight, or measurements -- that indicated he could be an NBA player.

Vesley had length and a certain feel for the game. Kwame had the quickness, athleticism and size. O-face had size and defense. Singleton seemed to have size and defense. Rui athleticism size and shot making.

I look at Davis and I've never been able to pinpoint any single reason why one would draft him. Troy Brown also seemed like a track of all trades, but at least he has quickness and a little more size.

[closg00]

:noway:

https://gleague.nba.com/game/ccg-vs-ima-2022300164?view=box-score

21 minutes, 2-11 (FG) (0-4 from 3), 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 foul, 2 Turnovers, 4 points

By contrast, Jared Butler had 30 points on 11-16 from the field including 3-4 from 3.

Oof!! Classic “good college player"

[nate33]

That film session footage does not inspire confidence.

Dug up my first reaction. Imo he is the worst pick I've ever seen the wizards make. I have never seen anything out of him, either before or since we've drafted him -- including skills, stats, highlight, or measurements -- that indicated he could be an NBA player.

Vesley had length and a certain feel for the game. Kwame had the quickness, athleticism and size. O-face had size and defense. Singleton seemed to have size and defense. Rui athleticism size and shot making.

I look at Davis and I've never been able to pinpoint any single reason why one would draft him. Troy Brown also seemed like a track of all trades, but at least he has quickness and a little more size.

I compared him to Troy Brown when we drafted him: jack of all trades, master of none, and can't hit the 3-ball. I thought Davis was a bit better defensively, but ultimately, the only way either guy could fit in an NBA rotation is if they massively improved their 3 point shooting. It doesn't look like it's gonna happen.

[pcbothwel]

Agreed. I hated the pick/value, but was hopeful that his toughness and IQ would allow him to be a guy that could defend, rebound, and score just enough.
Oh well. He needs to be getting up 12-15 FGA/game over the next 20 games in the G-League. Make or Break

[payitforward]

Fortunately, he will have several million dollars to ease the pain.

[mhd]

At least he showed some defensive work in his latest game.

https://gleague.nba.com/game/lak-vs-ccg-2022300190?view=box-score

28 min, 3-9 FG (0-1 from 3), 1 rebound, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 block, 6 points.

[pcbothwel]

At least he showed some defensive work in his latest game.

https://gleague.nba.com/game/lak-vs-ccg-2022300190?view=box-score

28 min, 3-9 FG (0-1 from 3), 1 rebound, 1 assist, 3 steals, 1 block, 6 points.

8 FGA inside the 3-point line and not a single foul drawn. Esshh

[AFM]

Jesus. Stats are just brutal. Safe to say his NBA career is over. I don't see anyone taking a flyer on him, but it's pretty well documented that high draft picks stay in the league way longer than they should based on performance. Kev/TSW wrote something on the topic.

[NatP4]

Agreed. I hated the pick/value, but was hopeful that his toughness and IQ would allow him to be a guy that could defend, rebound, and score just enough.
Oh well. He needs to be getting up 12-15 FGA/game over the next 20 games in the G-League. Make or Break

I give the wizards zero benefit of the doubt here. WUJ is an incompetent bottom tier coach, got fired for good reason. They are running an entire system around and have handed 200 mill to a couple of clowns in Kuzma and Poole. They’ve been nothing short of horrendous/incompetent in the handling of the development of Avdija and Coulibaly. It’s a franchise that gets nothing right ever.

Davis was coming off of a good finish to last year, a solid offseason/summer league/training camp. Checked all the boxes of a potential comeback type of season in year 2, and they have proceeded to play him 165 total minutes (all garbage time) in the NBA, and 129 G-league minutes. That is completely bizarre. Horrific mismanagement of your top 10 pick.

The fanbase consistently displaces frustration with the organization onto Johnny Davis. It’s very strange and ugly behavior. Guy hasn’t even played 300 minutes of basketball this year. Now we’re freaking out because his shot hasn’t fallen in 4 games after sitting out for 3 months. It’s completely asinine.

[NatP4]

Tonight with the Go-Go:

19 points 9 rebounds 5 assists 7 steals on 11 total shots. 2-4 from 3.

[mhd]

Tonight with the Go-Go:

19 points 9 rebounds 5 assists 7 steals on 11 total shots. 2-4 from 3.

The game before that he went (in 35 minutes) 4-11 (1-5 from 3), 3 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 TO for 11 points

In garbage time against the Suns on Sunday, he went (in 18 minutes), 1-7 (1-3 from 3), 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 TO for 3 points.

I know you're by far his biggest fan on the board, but you were chastising Jaylen Williams from OKC's play from end of last year trying to prop Davis up after some us were wishing we took him instead. Maybe you're right and he proves of all of us doubters wrong, but I was initially meh on the pick on draft day and was pretty quick on declaring him a bust after watching him. If the new FO thought anything of him, he would get PT in this rebuild season.

[NatP4]

Williams is a year older and has played 3700 minutes in the NBA compared to 600 for Davis.

My argument is simple: the wizards are an incompetent organization that has completely mishandled the development of Davis, and this is a miserable fanbase that has displaced frustration onto Davis. 99% of this fanbase would’ve picked Scoot Henderson, Jaden Ivey, Jalen Green, and Jonathan Kuminga, but you’ll never read ANY reflecting about that.

This board was dead set on selling the farm to move up and take Ivey in this draft, but all you see now is about Jalen Williams

[DCZards]

Nat, you know I’m with you regarding Davis. Although I’ve been disappointed in what I’ve seen from him thus far I’m still hopeful and agree that the Zards have mishandled his development in many respects.

But the guys you’ve named are already proving that they have real potential and upside, especially Kuminga. I would take all of them over Davis. Even the youngest of them, Henderson, is showing enough to convince me that he’ll eventually justify his draft position.

[NatP4]

Mentioned those guys relative to their draft position, not Davis.

[nate33]

Williams is a year older and has played 3700 minutes in the NBA compared to 600 for Davis.

My argument is simple: the wizards are an incompetent organization that has completely mishandled the development of Davis, and this is a miserable fanbase that has displaced frustration onto Davis. 99% of this fanbase would’ve picked Scoot Henderson, Jaden Ivey, Jalen Green, and Jonathan Kuminga, but you’ll never read ANY reflecting about that.

This board was dead set on selling the farm to move up and take Ivey in this draft, but all you see now is about Jalen Williams

I'm not sure how much longer you will be able to use Ivey as your whipping boy. Over the last 22 games, Ivey has averaged 22, 6 and 5 per 36 minutes on a not-awful TS% of .571. Over the last 10 games, his TS% is up to .583 and his 3-ball is .440.

And I don't see any evidence that Davis' failures are due to mishandled development. The same team, at the same time, did a fine job developing Deni Avdija, Corey Kispert and Daniel Gafford. And Coulibaly is on pace to play well over 2000 minutes as a 19-year-old rookie.

People love to blame player development when their guy doesn't pan out, but how many examples do we have of guys who improved dramatically after leaving the Wizards? Rui is the same player. Oubre is the same player. Troy Brown Jr. is worse. Garrison Matthews is worse. Jordan Goodwin is worse. Bonga is worse. Otto Porter Jr. was worse. Thomas Bryant worse. Nick Young. Javale McGee. I could go on and on.

On the other hand, many of the players we've obtained via trade/free agency have improved after coming here: Gafford, Bagley, Porzingis, Neto, Harrell, Kuzma, etc. About the only guy I can think of that was dramatically worse here was Dinwiddie.

[NatP4]

I won’t fully take the bait, but with including that cherry-picked 20 game sample, Ivey is a 22 year old that has posted a 54% TS and 5.6 assists to 3.5 turnovers in over 3500 minutes and is one of the 5 worst defensive guards in the league. A good portion of this board wanted to trade the 2024 1st(turned into Coulibaly)+10th overall for Ivey.

First 2 seasons:

Kispert: 4000 minutes
Gafford: 1400 minutes (2nd round pick)
Avdija: 3000 minutes
Coulibaly: 1300 minutes (rookie year alone)

Davis: 600 minutes

It’s delusional to suggest that 300 minutes of basketball across the G league/NBA is proper/quality development.

[tontoz]

Martell Webster and Trevor Ariza arguably had their best years here.

[NatP4]

Martell Webster and Trevor Ariza arguably had their best years here.

How about Jordan Poole?

[tontoz]

Martell Webster and Trevor Ariza arguably had their best years here.

How about Jordan Poole?

He is playing worse than he did in the regular season last year, but better than he did in the playoffs. No Steph Curry here to take defensive attention away from him.

[mhd]

Williams is a year older and has played 3700 minutes in the NBA compared to 600 for Davis.

My argument is simple: the wizards are an incompetent organization that has completely mishandled the development of Davis, and this is a miserable fanbase that has displaced frustration onto Davis. 99% of this fanbase would’ve picked Scoot Henderson, Jaden Ivey, Jalen Green, and Jonathan Kuminga, but you’ll never read ANY reflecting about that.

This board was dead set on selling the farm to move up and take Ivey in this draft, but all you see now is about Jalen Williams

Not me, I'm on record as saying I would have done the trade that the Knicks did with OKC which resulted in 3 future 1sts coming back for the 10th pick (including our own). I said it on draft night and the days afterwards. How did they mishandle Davis when he wasn't even playable as a rookie starting out? We already have one young wing to develop and get PT in Bilal. I'm giving all the developmental time to Bilal vs Davis easily.

The same execs of Winger, Dawkins, and Travis Schlenk seemed OK with development in their previous spots. Shamet has been pretty impressive and athletic out there this year. He can also shoot. He's got a contract that is easily tradeable and also helps us reach the cap floor for the next couple of years if need be.

They see Davis every day in practice. If he was this amazing talent that needs to break out, they would play him.