The 2012 NBA draft class is starting to come into its own with Andre Drummond doing big things in Detroit; Jae Crowder becoming a cheap knock off version of a young Kawhi Leonard in Boston; and Harrison Barnes, Draymond Green and Festus Ezeli all helping bring the title back to Oakland. The duo that sits at the head of the class though are first overall pick Anthony “The Brow” Davis and Damian Lillard, the 2013 Rookie of the Year.
The Brow and Dame have set the interwebs ablaze recently with some amazing performances. Davis had a game for the ages with his 59/20 game at Detroit, a feat which hasn’t been matched since the Big Aristotle/ Big Cactus/Superman/Shaq Fu/Shaq Diesel/ Shaquille O’Neal got 61/23 on his birthday in 2000, and Chris Webber notched 51/23 in 2001. On the other end, Lillard has been on a tear since getting snubbed at All-Star break; he went off on the reigning champs for a career-high 51 points and piled up 30 points in a win against the Utah Jazz the very next game. Dame currently has Portland over .500 and in the seventh seed in the Western Conference.
It would be silly to expect these two to keep reaching new career-highs night in and night out (we can all hope and pray to sweet baby jesus for it though), but you can definitely anticipate seeing more highlight packages featuring these two for the rest of the season for a couple of reasons. They’re ascending talents, their teams need them to play well to win, and most importantly, they have millions of dollars on the line thanks to a unique set of contractual circumstances in which the two finds themselves.
In the intro I highlighted a few of the players who are beginning to become “names” in the league— it’s natural that year three is supposed to be the year a player makes the so-called “jump”, where they are finally grown physically, mentally, emotionally and “basketball IQ”-ly. Davis and Lillard most definitely fit the mold as they both made All-NBA teams last year. Both players helped their franchises make the playoffs in 2014-15 but came up against a superior opponent. Davis’ Pelicans ran up against the eventual champs Golden State, while Lillard’s Blazers were dispatched by Memphis 4-1. These early playoff reps are vital to every player’s career, and the sooner they can get them, the better. Their stat lines are improving , which for these two is impressive, and they are still adding more to their games. Brow is increasing his range, which is terrifying, and Lillard is creating more for others and getting to the line more often than in seasons past.
And the great thing about their continued growth is that it’s resulting in W’s! The Pelicans have feasted on some cupcakes as of late, winning four of their last five, which with an injury riddled and poorly constructed roster is nothing to sneeze at in what will be a lost season. The Trail Blazers (throwback) have lost 6 games in 2016, three of those coming in about the first week of January. Neither of these teams were expected to be very good this year, but Portland has exceeded expectations by a long shot thanks in large part to Lillard (and the emergence of off-guard C.J. McCollum).
The season isn’t over yet though and both Davis and Lillard have a lot to play for— and by a lot I mean upwards of $20 million dollars thanks to what has been labeled “The Rose Rule”. The rule which was installed in the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement gives teams the option to extend their rookies to an “early bird” max deal that can be up to 30% of a team’s salary cap if certain criteria are met before the extension kicks in. This means that if a player agrees to the contract extension and meets one of the following criteria before the completion of their fourth year in the NBA, they are going to get PAID. The criteria are:
• Player wins the MVP award
• Player is named to an All-NBA team twice
• Player is voted an NBA All-Star Starter twice
Neither Davis nor Lillard have been the MVP and they certainly won’t win that award this year. Davis made his 3rd straight trip to the All-Star Game but wasn’t voted a starter, while Lillard was possibly the biggest snub. Their last chance to force their teams to back up a dump truck full of money to their respective houses is to once again be named to an All-NBA team. The year-end honor recognizes a total of 15 players between three “teams” (first, second, third). Last year, Davis made First Team with Steph Curry, Marc Gasol, James Harden and LeBron James. Dame made the All-NBA Third Team in the 2013-14 season with then teammate LaMarcus Aldridge, Al Jefferson, future Heat Goran Dragic and future miracle of medical science Paul George.
The only way that Davis and Lillard can take advantage of this rule is to continue to ball so hard for the remainder of the schedule, and I fully expect them to do so. With the dwindling number of quality big men in the league, I would imagine that Davis has the inside track on at least the All-NBA Third Team. Lillard will have to show out, especially against the other premier guards in the league nightly, which is a tough task except if the team is from New York ironically. But the Bay Area native is creating a strong argument for himself of late, and we all know how recency bias comes into play over such a lengthy NBA season.
Good luck to both of these players as they chase glory on the court and dollars off of it because no matter what, the #LeaguePassAlert crowd wins.