Whomever said Anthony Davis didn’t have a little Kobe Bryant in him was a bald-faced serial liar.
At only 22 years old, with just three NBA season under his belt, having only appeared in four playoff games, Davis is already thinking about his place among the all-time greats—a spot he plans on reserving, and then unflinchingly inhabiting, by way of multiple championship rings.
From Brett Dawson of the Advocate (h/t RotoWorld):
It’s common for former Kentucky greats to remain beloved, and Davis is. But more than any individual accolade — and he won most all of them in his one year at Kentucky — or his trademark unibrow, Davis is best remembered here as a winner.
And now, as his fourth NBA season nears, it seems more important than ever to Davis that he be remembered the same way in New Orleans.
“Winning kind of — I don’t want to say it defines greatness, but it’s, like, 80 percent of it,” Davis said. “At the end of the day, I want to win a ring — multiple rings — and I think that helps you if they do have a debate whether you’re great or not.”
Winning is still a pivotal part of player legacies, albeit a smaller one than before. Most people are smart enough to know that, even if LeBron James doesn’t win another ring, Kobe doesn’t usurp him on the all-time-great scale. Rings matter, NBA Finals records matter, but entire bodies of work are made up of so much more.
Should Davis fail to win even one title, yeah, people will hold debates. They will diminish what he’s done, they will make demands related to what he must still do. They do the same for the ringless Chris Paul right now, even though he’s irrefutably one of the best point guards ever.
But people—smart people—will also talk about Davis’ other individual feats. About how good the New Orleans Pelicans were with him on the floor. About how he set the PER record for players age 23 or younger last season, according to Basketball-Reference. About how he, during his age 21 season, eclipsed a PER of 30 three years before LeBron and Michael Jordan, and five years before Shaquille O’Neal.
They will talk about how he almost single-handedly made New Orleans a destination of choice, or something close to it. About how top-end free agents gave the Pelicans a second look, just because of him. About how he, not Kevin Durant, grabbed the best-player torch from LeBron, an unofficial ceremony that could take place as early as this coming season.
They will talk about so much, not just the number of rings Davis won. His hardware count, whatever it is, will be part of his case.
The rest, multiple championships or not, will be about Davis being Davis.
