Smiles and Cries

Two years ago, during the lockout, I wrote a piece entitled "The Importance of Andre Drummond and Anthony Davis" for a now-defunct NBA website. The first paragraph concluded with "...together they could be saviors of the low post for both the college and pro game."

I say this not to toot my own horn, but because, on a day when Drummond recorded his best game as a pro to date and tragedy struck Davis in the form of a broken hand, it seems relevant.

To be perfectly honest, when I wrote it I'm not sure I truly believed it, but it seemed like a reasonable narrative. I went on to remark on the overwhelming percentage of highly drafted big men to flame out of the league in the past decade and a half and presented my reasons these two would be exceptions to that trend, namely unreal size and athleticism.

Neither has done much to prove me wrong. Good news first.

Sunday, Drummond recorded a stat line not seen since Hakeem Olajuwon in 1990, 31 points, 19 rebounds and six steals. Throw in a couple blocks for good measure, and some casual Sportscenter watchers will be taking notice of the Pistons big man tomorrow morning for more than his typical thunderous alley oops. Although, the performance wasn't lacking in those either.

Surely, First Take or some other joke of a sports media outlet will dwell on the facts that Drummond made just seven of 18 free-throw attempts and that those numbers actually bolstered the season percentage of one of the worst foul shooters in league history. He now sits at 32.1 percent.

As long as his woes from the charity stripe continue, he will be a late-game casualty and one of the more prominent members of the Dwight Howard Players Who Force an Opposing Coach to Make the Game Unwatchable by Repeatedly Fouling Because Even Though Everyone Hates It the Numbers are Undeniable club. I will not point out that he is on pace to join a very exclusive club of players who have attempted 50 or more free throws in a season and shot twice as high from the field than from the line. Instead, to counter those who will focus on the negative numbers, I must present the positive.

Through 17 games, Drummond is averaging 12 points and 11.8 rebounds, as well as 3.2 stocks (a Bill Simmons-coined combination of steals and blocks) per game on 65 percent from the field, tops in the league among qualifying players by a significant margin (LeBron is second. How insane is that?). At the moment, he's the perfect catcher of Brandon Jennings' lobs, but it's impossible not to see that with a little hard work on his most glaring weakness and some minor defensive tutelage, the guy will be posting even gaudier stat lines in the near future.

If Drummond could hit a couple more throws a game he would suddenly be approaching the numbers of the man the NBA world shed a tear for last night. Anthony Davis was one of the most pleasant surprises of this young season. After a very raw offensive and very overeager defensive rookie campaign, the 2012 No. 1 pick was on pace to be the first player since Shaq in 1999-2000 to average 19 points, nine boards and three blocks per.

Last week, a friend and fellow NBA nut posed the question "Is Davis the best big man in the league right now?" After a dismissive chuckle, the thought permeated my brain, and I found myself half-heartedly responding "Kevin Love...."

After a number of days to think on it, I will still contend that Love is a slightly better player (honorable mention: Boogie, I see you), but it is much easier to see Davis as the second-best player on a championship team sooner than Love or any other post player in the league, sans Roy Hibbert and Dwight Howard's narrow chances in their respective situations. Which made it all the more disheartening to hear of the fractured hand that will sideline The Brow indefinitely.

Davis and his incredible 28.4 PER were almost little secrets that us in the NBA Twitterverse and blogosphere (Twitogospherse?) were hiding down in Pierre's cage. Everyone knows the lanky arm of the law, but I bet even many of you reading this were unaware of just how impressive the numbers were that he was posting.

All things considered, the news is as encouraging as it could be. It's his non-shooting hand. It's a non-displaced fracture (meaning the bone didn't break all the way through). It's, obviously, completely unrelated to the MCL sprain that cost him 18 games last season. But we're a selfish bunch. We don't like losing one of our crown jewels for a day, a week or a month. And we really don't like seeing a potential Hall of Fame talent showing any signs of being injury prone at such an early stage of his career.

Two years ago, I took a wild guess that Andre Drummond and Anthony Davis would be the future of the NBA low-post game. I can't call that prediction safe yet, as both face very different forms of adversity, but the stats and, more importantly, the eyes of any League Pass subscriber can attest that they're on the right path.