Giannis Adetokunbo vs. Anthony Davis

[Phantom255x]

While there's a slim chance AD ever gets traded, there's still a chance (I'd give it a solid 5-10% chance). Pelicans are bad (worse than Bucks, and in a tougher conference), and after this season, AD will have just 2 years left on his deal.

They traded for Cousins last season as sort of a last ditch effort to build something big around Davis, and while there's still time to see if it will work, so far it hasn't and they've been inconsistent. But apparently AD was getting frustrated around the All Star Break last year with the Pelicans, but it got better when they traded for Cousins (pretty interesting to look at).

We can hope Davis gets frustrated and demands out (sort of like how Kyrie did last summer), but I'd say we have a shot if Pelicans are BAD, Cousins leaves (via trade at deadline or walks next summer), and supporting cast continues to play relatively poorly.

Meanwhile, there's just a <1% chance for the Greek Freak. Bucks are looking pretty good (Top-5 team in East), and remember, the Greek Freak just signed an extension for 4 years/100M, and is in just the first year of that right now.

I agree with @footey that it's likely we come away with neither, but if there's hope for any and I had to put my $$$ on it, I would say Davis, and between Giannis or Davis, I mean you can't go wrong with either. 

[crimson_stallion]

There is wide speculation on this blog that Danny's goal is or should be getting Davis, and that ultimately Davis is the biggest prize in the NBA. I have posted that I do not see Davis as this transcendent player. He has not led his team to a deep run in the playoffs so far in his career. I also posted that the Celtics should probably be concerned about the Bucks, this was largely because of Giannis. Why the fascination with Davis and not much talk about Giannis a player that I think is much better?

So what does the blog think. You are starting a team for the future, who do you take first Giannis or Davis?

I will take Giannis. He just plays with more fire and intensity. I remember the All-Star game where all the others were horsing around and he was dunking furiously. This guy has Kobe type intensity.

I would still take Davis, to be honest.

I can totally understand why some people would go the other way, but I just see Giannis as a wing, and I think there are too many good wings in this league (Lebron, Paul George, Kevin Durant, Kawhi, Wiggins, Butler, Derozan, Hayward, etc) such that having a guy like Giannis doesn't necessarily give you as much of an edge over your opponent as Anthony Davis does given the general lack of elite two-way talent in this league at the big positions.

I mean really, as far as elite two-way bigs go, how many are there in this league right now?  You basically have Davis, Cousins and Embiid (if the latter can stay healthy) who are IMHO by far the three best PROPER bigs in this league.  Everybody else IMHO is a clear class or two below.

I'm not sure if AD necessarily has the aggressive mentality that it takes to be THE MAN who carries a team offensively, but if you can put him on a team that already has a guy who is a clear clear alpha-dog, pure scorer and closer (like IT4, Kyrie, Westbrook, Durant) then I think you have the foundation of an elite basketball team. 

I think of Anthony Davis as being a of an Al Horford type (in terms of personality, not game)  in that he's generally a nice guy, a quiet guy, an unselfish guy - not sure he has enough "nasty" in him to be a true leader.

But basketball is all about winning matchups, and if you have Anthony Davis up front then you are going to win the big many matchup on 90% of days pretty much as a given.  On the other hand if you have Giannis, there are still a lot of teams out there who can potentially win that matchup on the wing on any given night.