Richard Jefferson on Anthony Davis: “AD is in his prime. If he ends his career, in my opinion, he will be the most talented player to end his career without an MVP or a Defensive Player of the Year.”
by Goosedukee
@National Basketball Association
32 Comments
Which fanbase will cry more this year when their center doesn’t win DPOY, Miami or LA?
Dwayne Wade and Jerry West would like a word
There’s definitely players better than AD who haven’t won an MVP
AD without a DPOY still blows my mind
>he will be the most talented bigman~~player~~ to end his career without an MVP or a Defensive Player of the Year
A lot more accurate, a lot less controversial. a whole lot more boring without the ESPN filter.
AD is one of my favorite players, but the list of players who have neither award is really strong. West, CP3, Stockton, Wade, Pippen and Baylor. I’m not sure I’d take AD over many of those.
AD in the bubble was one of the greatest peaks ever, you won’t find many players that have a higher peak than that who haven’t won an MVP or DPOY(definitely not DPOY lol)
I may get some hate, but Chris Paul was an integral part of teams where he could have been MVP.
The obvious answer is Dwayne Wade and Jerry West for MVP.
Patrick Ewing never won a DPOY and I’d put him higher all time than AD. As far as MVP you can pick multiple guys over AD cmon now
There are definitely better players that haven’t won MVP like West, Wade, Luka, CP3, and Baylor
The DPOY one is absolutely a fair comment to make aside from the fact that Tim Duncan not having a DPOY is more egregious
AD has never been consistently healthy or motivated enough to win a DPOY or MVP, even in his prime.
AD is really a perfect example of how just being in LA playing on the Ls, can boost the general population’s opinion of you.
I don’t remember anyone talking like this about AD when he was in New Orleans.
A good example I like to give is: if Tim Duncan had his exact same Career achievements with the Ls instead of the Spurs, people would be calling him the GOAT.
He’s carrying Lebron so nephews will never give him his due
Nah
D Wade and Jerry West but yeah
A lot are misconstruing the argument. RJ isn’t saying AD is the BEST player to not have won those awards, he’s saying AD is the most talented. (Patrick Ewing certainly has an argument)
AD’s combination of size, athleticism and skills is certainly one of the best to have not won those awards.
It’s common to have players with great athleticism and skill, especially those 6″9 and under. But exceedingly rare to have that in someone 6 “10 or taller.
That’s why guys like that (Duncan, Shaq, Hakeem, DROB, Giannis, Garnett, Dirk, etc) have all usually MVP &/or DPOY.
Then there’s cases like AD, Yao, Sampson, Derrick Coleman and others who didn’t due to injuries or motivation or other reasons.
I don’t think he’s the greatest player to not win either one by far, but he did say most talented, I think he’s in that discussion, I think the bubble year is the only year where you can really say he’s had a chance to be the MVP and I don’t think he deserved it, but in terms of defensive player of the year, there’s an argument that he can have a couple
If not for injuries he probably would have a DPOY. Since 2018 he’s only had two seasons where he played most of the games. The other seasons he couldn’t even be considered due to missing half the year.
It’s a semi accurate take but also ignores context. Early in his career he played in New Orleans where he lacked visibility and overall team success before the injuries hit.
Do people not understand the difference between being a greater player and being more talented? AD is EASILY more talented than Giannis doesn’t mean he’s a better player.
They love to over rate this dude. He hasn’t done shit since the bubble I guess
I don’t know how he can say that when he was literally teammates with [Matt Bonner.](https://media.gettyimages.com/id/111515447/photo/san-antonio-tx-richard-jefferson-of-the-san-antonio-spurs-goes-up-for-a-rebound-with-matt.jpg?s=612×612&w=gi&k=20&c=oXYjeX3FyCVYd79WMXsBdFS1PPo9NuFYdTPw5Vem4BE=)
I feel like if AD played for Boston he would’ve gotten DPOY at least once already
Jerry West. Enough said
Whoa RJ sucking off someone on the Lakers? What a weird take for him to have!
This is a stupid take. AD is great. Lots of great players never win those awards
Chill this is Bam’s year
RJ: is it true
Uhhh no… no it’s not.
Don’t forget about the most underrated player in NBA history, John Stockton.
Who cares about what richard jefferson has to say. The dude sucks off the refs every broadcast hes on. The definition of a sellout.
Rudy has ADs trophies
this is why Rudy gets hate — people believe in the individual years he won he was never the BEST defender, just always highly impactful in the reg season. Players in those years were ranking either AD, Draymond or Kawhi as more deserving
I can see the argument. It’s not accolades (which is hard to use when accolades are a disqualified), it’s not output, but potential.
AD has more upside potential ceiling for his career than almost anyone ever. It’s basically Shaq size and strength, with KD scoring tools.
For that not to end up as a MVP/DPOY guy feels like a waste – but injuries explain why he topped out at all-NBA/HOF. Which is still a great place to end up, but the best possible version is somewhere around rich-mans version of KD fused with MJ and Shaq. And that’s just unfair, but we never got to see that version of AD, perhaps because big and agile don’t really mix great for a long time.