The debut of the Boston Celtics entry into the Las Vegas Summer League is hours away from tipping off on Saturday evening. And much of the attention will be on 2022 second round pick, JD Davison.
The idea behind selecting Davison makes sense. Players selected that late in the draft rarely make the NBA. So Boston took a prospect with a high ceiling, despite his uneven, lone season at Alabama. But after being two games away from winning an NBA championship, wouldn’t it make sense to try and find a player that could contribute in an area of need?
Still available with the 53rd selection was Jabari Walker, a power forward from Colorado known as a solid defender and rebounder. Considering how the Celtics struggled on the glass at times against the Golden State Warriors, a switchable big man defender that could help on the boards was exactly what Boston could use.
Why J.D. Davidson was so intriguing for the Boston Celtics
But Davison’s potential was too appealing to pass up. His athleticism as a point guard is impressive. He has the ability to operate a pick-and-roll smoothly. He likes to play up-tempo. If Davison’s poor shooting for the Crimson Tide was just an aberration, he could be a great addition to the roster in a year or two.
The best thing for Davison is that there will be plenty of minutes available to him. Yam Madar is playing for the Israeli national team, so he won’t play in the Summer League. This will be Davison’s stage to give us a taste of what he is capable of. Along the way, I hope to see a few specific skills from him:
Boston Celtics need to improve JD Davison’s shooting from deep
JD Davison believes the floor spacing in the NBA will be a better fit for his game with the Boston Celtics. Maybe he’s right, but it won’t work if he can’t space the floor as well. In today’s game, you have to be a respectable three-point shooter. The 30 percent clip Davison shot while at Alabama is nowhere close to good enough.
If you’re looking for a glimmer of hope, you’ve got your work cut out for you. Davison missed all of his three-point attempts in 16 games last season. That’s more times than games where he hit at least one three (14). The good news: Davison shot 51 percent on threes in the games where he did hit at least one. The bad news: we can’t even say Davison is a streaky shooter.
Only twice did Davison have consecutive games where he hit a 3-pointer: 1-of-2 against Miami on November 28th and 4-of-6 against Gonzaga on December 4th. And Davison had a three-game streak: 1-of-3 against Kentucky on February 5th, 2-of-2 against Ole Miss February 9th, and 1-3 against Arkansas on February 12th. That’s .500 over three games. That’s the best I can do.
We know Davison is a developmental selection. The good news is players can become dramatically better shooters if they work hard at it. Grant Williams is a prime example.
Davison probably won’t become that good during the Summer League. But if he at least shows good judgement when he takes threes and doesn’t force it, he will take the first step towards improving one of his biggest weaknesses.
Boston Celtics need JD Davison to improve his ball control
The last thing the Boston Celtics need is a player that likes to turn the ball over. So JD Davison must improve significantly in this area. The turnovers per game sounds bad on the surface (2.9), but turning it over at that frequency in just 25.8 minutes per game sounds worse.
Davison had just two games at Alabama where he didn’t commit a turnover, which is, well, not good. To put that in perspective, Davison’s per 40 minutes for turnovers is 4.5 according to Basketball Reference. That’s unacceptable.
The worst of Davison happened early in the season. He had seven giveaways in just 20 minutes against Drake and eight in 23 minutes against Tennessee. Those were career highs. He didn’t get better over time either. Through his first 16 games, Davison had equal or more turnovers than assists six times. That became 10 times over the remaining 17 games.
Want your voice heard? Join the Chowder And Champions team!
Many of Davison’s turnovers come from poor decision-making. And apparently he can be pressured because his ball handling isn’t tight. It will be interesting to see if teams apply full court pressures and traps on Davison regularly in Vegas to test him. And what will Boston’s coaching staff do if Davison can’t handle the pressure? Will they take the ball out of his hands, or potentially even pull him from a game?
Thankfully, the Celtics can take their time with Davison. Summer League is the place for Davison to screw up. It will hurt, and it will be frustrating. But better now than in a year or two. Because if Davison can’t clean this up, he won’t get much of a chance to play in Boston. Hopefully Davison learns from his mistakes, because on paper it looks like he will make plenty of them.
The Boston Celtics need to get JD Davison involved in a lot of lob passes
Let’s imagine the worst case scenario happens for JD Davison and the Boston Celtics. Let’s say he looks like an athlete trying to play basketball. He spends five days bricking shot after shot and gives more balls away than St. Nick.
But maybe Davison can make it entertaining. With his athleticism, and having Juhann Begarin and Mfiondu Kabengele as teammates, they can turn the games into Harlem Globetrotters auditions. Davison likes to run. Begarin and Kabengele can keep up with Davison. If they get loose on a fast break, it should end with an aerial, thunderous dunk.
Opportunities could also be generated in half court sets. Davison can suck defenders in as he and Kabengele work the pick-and-roll. All Davison has to do is put the ball up there and Ka-bang-gele gets to hammer it down. Similar chances can be created for Begarin. Set screens or perfectly time some back door cuts and Air France can take off.
And why can’t Davison get in on the fun? We’ve seen the highlights. Nothing gets fans out of their chairs more than a little dude getting serious air for a flush. With Davison’s hair, it will look even better.
At the end of the day, Summer League is just televised scrimmages. The teams want to get a good look at their draft picks and players. To fans, this is just entertainment. I can live with Davison looking overwhelmed. He won’t be the only one. Certainly the coaches will have a lot of skills they’ll want Davison to work on during Summer League and beyond. But there’s nothing at stake here. Just come out of this healthy and have some fun.