In looking at these players it is difficult to figure out which one could be the best of the group. Each is someone that you can win with if they have good players around them. However, I think it is safe to say that Cousins would be number 3 on anyone's list due to his problems in Sacramento and the franchise turmoil that he was allegedly responsible for. I put him at number 3 simply because I feel that Davis and Towns are so much more versatile and long and athletic as compared to the bulldozer that Cousins is on the court. Davis and Towns can become absolutely devastating defensive players in the paint and on the perimeter, I don't see that from Cousins. So, with that settled, who's number one, Anthony Davis or Karl-Anthony Towns?
Looking at their careers up to this point Karl-Anthony Towns had an amazing second season in the league and his first season was pretty good too. Coming into the league he was immediately thrown into the fire with the Timberwolves playing almost 32 minutes per game as a rookie and being the second leading scorer on the team at over 18 points per game. Towns is a great scorer and he gets a lot of his action in the post. He is one of the most efficient scorers in the post, according to NBA.com/stats he scored 1.03 points per possession in the post, which was good enough to be in the 86th percentile in the league. He upped his scoring big time in his 2nd season from 18 to 25, while only taking 4 more shots per game. The big addition for Towns this past season was in his three point shooting. He went from shooting one per game in his rookie season to almost three and a half per game in his second season. He is a good shooter, shooting over 36% from three. He is a very good NBA player right now and he is only 21.
Anthony Davis came into the NBA after leading Kentucky to a national championship and was pretty good out of the gate for the Pelicans. He had a good rookie season averaging 13 points per game in 28 minutes a night. He had a much better second season and in his third season at 21 years of age, he led the Pelicans to the playoffs on a team that had no business in the playoffs. That season he averaged 24 points along with 10 rebounds and almost 3 blocks per game. He made first team All-NBA and despite being swept by the Warriors, he averaged almost 32 points per game to go along with 11 rebounds and 3 blocks per game. He was unstoppable in that series, but he could not steal one from the eventual NBA champions. Since that season Anthony Davis has continued to be great, but he has not changed his game much. He has started to shoot the three a little bit more, going from 12 attempts in his first All-NBA season 2014-15 to 134 attempts this past season. Davis is not a great shooter from deep, shooting at just under 30% for the season. He averaged a career high in points at 28 per game to go along with 12 rebounds and 2 blocks. He made All-NBA first team for the second time in his career.
Well, after comparing the two I would love to have both of them on my team. If we are ranking them, to me Towns has to be number one and Davis number two. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is how good Towns is at his age. He is a better offensive player than Davis at 21. His ability to score in the post plus his ability to shoot from the outside give him a major advantage to me. While Davis gets the nod over Towns defensively, Towns is getting better defensively, but the Timberwolves from last year were a team full of terrible defenders and Anthony Davis has not had to deal with that lack of other good defensive players on the team. The second reason is that while Davis is an out of this world talent, he has missed an average of 15 games per season since coming into the NBA. This past season was his most healthy missing only 7 games, but Towns looks to be pretty dependable in that regard not missing a single game in his first two seasons. Towns is not as athletic as Davis, but because of his ground based style, I feel that it is safe to say that he is going to age more gracefully than Davis. Towns is a skilled post player with a nice three point stroke. Davis is also a skilled post player, but I am not sure he can become the shooter that Towns is already.
It's amazing to think that all three of the best big men in the NBA came from Kentucky. The thing with all three is that they are all so skilled and able to do so many things on the court. Unfortunately, their lack of playing for good teams has hurt their ability to win. Towns has a great chance this upcoming season with the additions that Minnesota made to the roster. Playing with great veteran players like Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson, and Jeff Teague should help Minnesota win, but I hope that Towns will still get the opportunity to score because he is their second best player and it will not be long before he overtakes Butler. Davis and Cousins are on the same team in New Orleans, but the rest of their team is a mess due to bad management decisions and injuries. Cousins is a free agent after this year so it is hard to say what will happen to the Pelicans. Both of these players are too good to continue playing for bad teams.