So, I know it's only been 3 games, but Davis has been off the charts good so far. Now, some people might say this is too small of a sample size, and I would agree with that, but let's think for a second here.
Premise - Most rookies have a rough start to the season and get better as the season goes because they need time to adjust to the NBA. These are Davis' stats before he even got to "adjust," so in actuality, these stats should be lower than what he does for the rest of the season - works against him to do it this early. See where I'm going with this?
Anyway, I decided to use Advanced Metrics to compare the 5 players because it accounts for things like difference in minutes, pace of play, etc... I chose these 4 guys to compare Davis to because I think they are all similar players. Here are the guys I will be comparing him to in their rookie seasons: D. Howard, K. Garnett, D. Robinson, and T. Duncan:
Players/Categories PER TS% TRB% Stl% BLK% TOV% ORtg DRtg WS/48 K. Garnett - 19 15.8 0.522 13.1 1.9 4.4 12.1 107 107 0.092 D. Howard - 19 17.2 0.571 17.3 1.5 3.6 16.1 111 104 0.131 T. Duncan - 21 22.6 0.577 17.6 0.9 4.5 15.7 108 95 0.192 D. Robinson - 24 26.3 0.597 18.5 2.2 6.5 13.3 116 97 0.241 A. Davis - 19 33.8 0.592 16.8 2.7 7.7 4.4 124 91 0.346
http://www.basketball-reference.com/...garneke01.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/...howardw01.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/...duncati01.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/...robinda01.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/...davisan02.html
The numbers speak for themselves. Davis is totally dominating the HOF competition from the jump, and he is only going to get better. Also, keep in mind that Davis is only 19, and he has only been playing in the post for less than 3 years (this year will be his 3rd). What is really striking to me is how low his TO% is to the other players. Best ORtg and DRtg of the group, his PER is off the charts, and he has over 0.1 full win share on everyone - that is HUGE. I see no reason why Davis can't keep these numbers up, and he should become even more efficient as time goes on and when Gordon comes back to attract opposing defense's attention.
Am I jumping the gun? Perhaps, but like I said, Davis is only going to get better, and the first games of your career are supposed to be some of your worst. Not for Davis....