Why NBA Fans Are Wrong About Anthony Davis, Draymond Green and Michael Porter Jr.

With the NBA’s remodeling month having officially begun and trade wind blowing so hard it’s making wannabe GM’s dizzy, this seems like the perfect time to take a quick survey:

Anthony Davis, Draymond Green and Michael Porter Jr. … If you could add one to your contender, rank them in order of preference.

OK, done. Exactly what I thought:

Porter.

No interest in the other two.

If I had to … Davis.

I refuse to acknowledge that third guy.

Thanks for your input, and now I have a question for you: Do you want to join my fantasy football league next season? Your player perceptions are truly misguided.

For the life of me, I don’t understand the fascination with …

* Laughing at Anthony Davis

Sure, the former All-Star gets hurt so often, the Mavericks save time by using a rubber-stamp to enter his name onto the daily injury report. But why does that bother you?

NBA basketball is all about being healthy in April, May and, hopefully, into a couple of days of June. Teams go out of their way – even making stuff up – to rest star players in the first five months in an attempt to assure top physical form as soon as the standings are put to bed.

No doubt, Davis is the king of time off.

But in six trips to the postseason over his first 11 seasons, Davis has shown up for 60 of his team’s 61 games, averaging 26.1 points and 11.8 rebounds. That’s Hall of Fame stuff.

Do you think it bothered the Lakers that Davis missed about 13% of their games before taking center stage for all 21 in their run to the 2020 championship?

Mavericks fans have issues with Davis. It’s understandable. Every time they see him, it’s like seeing a ghost … of Luka Doncic.

But that’s no reason to give him away.

I understand most internet trade proposals are amateurish attempts to get someone to say: Hey, I saw you got rid of Davis. Good job. But this is Anthony Davis, the best two-way center in the NBA. A guy the Mavericks thought so highly of a year ago, they basically dealt for him straight up for their beloved Doncic.

How he got to Dallas isn’t Davis’ fault. And are we even sure it was a mistake? Give the human rim protector a playoff series with a healthy Kyrie Irving and Cooper Flagg and let’s see what happens.

Give him away for anything less than a Doncic-level haul and I know what would happen. It might be popular, but it would be a terrible mistake.

* Gushing over Michael Porter Jr.

Seemingly every NBA fan wants their team to acquire Porter. Or maybe it’s just Nets fans disguising themselves with creative chat-room monikers in hopes of transforming their “star” player into the foundation of a contender.

Two proven players and a couple of first-round picks for this guy? Were you hit in the head by an errant LaMelo Ball pass?

Porter is a legitimate NBA starter. He’s got size; he’s a decent rebounder; and he can certainly shoot. And now there’s a perception that he’s become a superstar, based on a scoring average that’s far and away his career-best.

But that’s what happens when you go from a contender, who needed Porter to be a complementary piece, to a team that won’t play a meaningful minute all season.

Porter hasn’t turned into Anthony Edwards overnight. More likely, he’s become Jordan Poole or what Trae Young will soon be – the equivalent of a guy who just left Duke for an NAIA program where he can lead the nation in scoring.

That doesn’t mean he can return to Durham and be a superstar. Rather, he’d still be his same old pretty-good self, but probably with an even-worse attitude.

The Nuggets basically flipped Porter for Cam Johnson, who would lose every event of a decathlon to the high-flyer. And you know what? Even with Porter’s statistical explosion, Denver would do it again.

Because Johnson knows how to stay out of the way of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon, how to feed them the ball and how to help them defensively.

Porter doesn’t have to do that in Brooklyn, and likely once again wouldn’t enjoy doing it if traded to a contender. So why in the world would anyone sell the farm to acquire him?

* Hating Draymond Green

No team in its right mind would trade for Green’s deteriorating skills and contagious headache, but that doesn’t mean the Warriors should try extra-hard to ship him out.

Green is an acquired taste.

To the average fan – including many in San Francisco – he’s a limited offensive player who has an uncanny ability to go to the bench and watch his team get better.

But that’s why these critics are just average fans. Because those who know basketball understand what Green truly is and how indispensable he is to the Warriors.

Classic example: Green played 29 minutes the other night against the Bucks. If Giannis Antetokounmpo was on the court, Green shadowed him. If Giannis was on the bench, out went Green.

The final boxscore said Giannis scored 34 points and Green had a negative plus/minus (minus-10). The uneducated conclusion: The Warriors won despite Green.

That couldn’t be farther from the truth, and maybe only Steve Kerr sees that. Why else would Green be given such an important responsibility when many in the stands would rather he be selling them souvenirs?

He remains a bull of a defender, even when giving up about half-a-foot and at least a dozen pounds to his rival. He not only made Giannis work for each point and rebound, but drew an offensive foul that helped send the Milwaukee star to the bench late in the second quarter in a four-point game.

Next thing you knew – with Green also sitting – a well rested Al Horford, who at age 39 has no energy left to deal with Giannis – buried a 3-pointer in a 10-point run that broke the game open. All while Green’s plus/minus went farther into the negative.

The four-time All-Star and four-time champ is not only the Warriors’ best interior defender, but also their best ball distributor. It's a rare combination.

Warriors fans don’t recognize his contribution, and that’s fine. Because maybe it’s their ignorance that’s convincing rivals to stand clear.

The best offer Golden State could get for Green these days is a bag of used basketball, half of them flat.

Trade him? Bench him?

Like Davis and his disloyal Mavericks fans, Warriors faithful would be better off applauding his effort and praying he’s kept around.

Even if the Nets offer Porter.