CHICAGO — Like the crazy, true-blue Kentucky fans who flocked to cheer him last season, Anthony Davis wore a T-shirt with a catchy little slogan when he met reporters at the NBA’s annual Chicago draft combine this month.
Those fans last winter wore apparel that read “Bow to the Brow,” a playful reference to the Thursday night draft’s guaranteed No. 1 overall pick and his singular eyebrow.
Davis himself wore a shirt in Chicago with three big words emblazoned on it: “Check My Stats.”
“If you wanted to check the stats, then I’d be the No. 1 pick easily,” Kansas forward Thomas Robinson responded later in the same hotel ballroom. “I should get one of those shirts.”
Robinson is biased.
He also might be the only one alive who’d argue that Davis won’t be the first player selected in this year’s draft Thursday night.
“It’s a great feeling,” Davis said that day, “but it’s not set in stone.”
Oh, yeah?
Davis’ selection first overall is about the only thing set in a draft in which Robinson, Florida’s Bradley Beal, North Carolina’s Harrison Barnes and Davis’ Kentucky teammate Michael Kidd-Gilchrist will be taken in some unknown order after he goes No. 1 to New Orleans, the city where he won an NCAA national championship in April.
“I won one championship there,” Davis said. “Now I want to win another one there.”
When his name is called, he will become the first player since a guy named Lew Alcindor — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to you whippersnappers — to win an NCAA title, be college player of the year and be taken first overall in the NBA draft. (Alcindor did so in 1969.)
Davis also will become the second Chicago-raised player in four years — Derrick Rose, by the Bulls in 2008 — to be drafted first.
Timberwolves all-star Kevin Love might quibble otherwise, but Davis is considered a potential “franchise” player because of his 6-foot-10 height, 7-5 wingspan, 9-foot standing reach and an above-the-rim athleticism that has inspired old-timers to compare him to Bill Russell or a young Tim Duncan.
One night before a game at Golden State in March, Love refuted the notion that Davis will be an instant NBA superstar, mostly because he’ll play the same power-forward position as guys such as Love, Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol, LaMarcus Aldridge, Blake Griffin, Kevin Garnett, Amar’e Stoudemire, Chris Bosh, Josh Smith, etc.
“That’s a lot of guys,” Love said. “It’s not easy every night. He’s going to find that out.”
But just four years ago, Davis was a 6-2 point guard at a small private school in Chicago who first attracted the attention of college recruiters when Cleveland State coaches got interested after Davis started to grow.
He retained those guard skills but grew to 6-6, then 6-8 and finally 6-10 in a sudden spurt that required his parents to buy him not only new clothes and shoes every few months but eventually a new bed as well.
The real intrigue in the Hornets’ draft surrounds their 10th overall choice.
New Orleans could use another big body to bolster their inside play behind Davis, particularly after last week’s trade that sent center Emeka Okafor to Washington. But general manager Dell Demps and coach Monty Williams suggest their options remain open to pursue some needs through trades or free agency.
“You trade Emeka, you feel like you need a big,” Williams said. “But if the best player available is not a big, that doesn’t mean we didn’t have a good draft. We may be able to fill a need in free agency.”
Footnotes. The Bucks acquired center Samuel Dalembert, the 14th overall pick in Thursday’s draft, a future second-round pick and cash considerations from the Rockets in exchange for forwards Jon Brockman and Jon Leuer, guard Shaun Livingston and the 12th pick. … Two-time MVP Steve Nash said he plans to start meeting with teams when he becomes a free agent Sunday.
