NBA Draft 2012: Detroit Pistons and Anthony Davis Are a Perfect Fit

The NBA draft lottery is a few weeks away, and the team that wins the first overall selection will likely select former Kentucky Wildcats star Anthony Davis. His combination of length, athleticism, shooting touch, and defensive prowess gives him all of the tools to become an NBA superstar.

However, Davis is still a raw talent and needs to be selected by a team who has offensive weapons to surround him with. Davis does have the potential to become a nightmare on offense, but he needs time to develop those skills and could struggle if he lands on a team who relies on him to anchor their scoring attack.

Therefore, the lottery team with the best scenario for Anthony Davis would be the Detroit Pistons. They finished the season with a losing record and have a chance at landing the first overall draft selection.

Detroit is in flux with some of their contracted players, with veterans such as Charlie Villanueva, Tayshaun Prince, and Rodney Stuckey bogging down the team’s salary cap and not leading the team to success on the court.

At the same time, the Pistons do have a dynamic young duo that appear to be future NBA All-Stars in guard Brandon Knight and center Greg Monroe. If the Pistons land the first overall pick, then drafting Anthony Davis would form a potent young trio who could lead the Pistons back to the top of the Eastern Conference sooner rather than later.

Knight just completed his rookie season and averaged over 12 points per game. He finished second among NBA rookies in scoring and in made three-point field goals, showing off his scoring prowess. Knight projects to become an excellent combo guard with elite athleticism, good court vision, and a deadly shooting stroke. In fact, he plays similar to former Piston great Chauncey Billups.

As for Greg Monroe, he has solidified his reputation as one of the up-and-coming big men in the NBA. He completed his second season and averaged over 15 points and nine rebounds per game, along with dishing out two assists per game. Monroe also shot 52 percent from the field, showing promise as a dominant scorer in the near future.

However, Greg Monroe is not as effective on defense. He is not a liability, but his career average of 0.6 blocks per game does not suggest that Monroe will become a dominant enforcer on the low block. Finding a frontcourt teammate who can take over the defensive duties would benefit Monroe’s development and success as a player.

Insert Anthony Davis into the equation. He instantly becomes a modern-day version of Ben Wallace and would form an excellent frontcourt duo with Monroe. Both players would complement the other, with Davis altering shots and running the fast break while Monroe would anchor the scoring load and set up Davis for easy lobs down low.

Brandon Knight also factors into the equation and complements Davis’ game tremendously well. Knight is a scoring point guard who can fill it up from all over the court, so he will carry the scoring load for the team.

This takes pressure off of Davis and allows him to play in a similar manner that he did at Kentucky: shoot high percentage shots that only come from within the flow of the offense. If Anthony Davis can focus on putback dunks, alley-oops, and hook shots, then there will not be immediate pressure on Davis to develop into a dominant jump shooter. Rather, he could take his time and slowly develop that part of his game and integrate it as he becomes more comfortable with his emerging skill set.

Knight is also an extremely quick and athletic point guard who can run the floor and lob the ball successfully in transition, which plays into another strength of Davis’ game. Add in the fact that both players were groomed under John Calipari, which should help each other in terms of chemistry, spacing, and positioning on both offense and defense.

Best of all, Knight and Monroe have been nothing but class acts and high-character players during their tenure in the NBA. This blue-collar attitude fits right in with the culture in Detroit, and Anthony Davis displayed the same kind of attitude during his lone season at the University of Kentucky.

By joining forces with Detroit and growing alongside Brandon Knight and Greg Monroe, Anthony Davis would be the centerpiece of the league’s most exciting young trio if the Pistons end up with the first overall draft choice in the 2012 NBA draft. Teaming up with an exciting scoring point guard and a dominant low post presence would give Davis the perfect opportunity to slowly develop his skills and play to his strengths in order to develop into a future NBA superstar.