It’s not much of a stretch at all to say that Johnny Davis’ rookie campaign was a complete and utter failure. He under performed in both the NBA with the Washington Wizards and the G-League with the Capital City Go-Go.
After being drafted tenth overall just over a year ago, Davis went on to average a disheartening 5.8 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal per game with the Wizards. He picked up most of his total stats in the season when he saw a huge increase in games played and minutes following a slew of injuries and the decision to shut down the starters.
To really emphasize how impressively bad he was last season, he averaged 11.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 1.1 steals per game with the Go-Go. At one point during the year he was coming off the bench in the G-League.
On top of his poor stats, outside of good perimeter defense, he failed the eye test as he just was not anywhere near an NBA level on offense last season. His abysmal efficiency further proves this point as he made 38.6 percent of his field goals, 24.3 percent of his three-point attempts, and a disgusting 51.9 percent of his free throw attempts.
While there is some hope that he may grow into a solid role player, there are a few aspects of his game that could hold him back.
Johnny Davis has really struggled to move the ball with the Washington Wizards
One of the key aspects for every role player, even defensive specialists is the ability to get the ball to stars. Johnny Davis has shown through every game of his professional career from the summer league to the G-League, and even in the NBA that he really isn’t that talented at moving the ball.
He may be able to get away with this someday if he becomes one of the best shooters in the league like Corey Kispert, Duncan Robinson, or Luke Kennard, all of whom are also not great at moving the ball. Players like this often are tasked with shooting whenever they get a pass.
However, Davis is one of the worst shooters in the league and has no history of being even an above average shooter in the past. It’s difficult to imagine that changing any time soon.
While it is possible for him to learn a greater feel for the game, it’s unlikely. Most players who add the ability to facilitate the offense later in their careers tend to leverage their already great scoring gravity to create open looks for teammates. This was the case with Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant.
With Davis’ complete lack of scoring gravity, he can’t leverage any defensive attention into creating shots for other players.
For a player who stands at only six-foot-five to have almost no ability to either shoot the basketball or find his teammates, there isn’t much of a role in the modern NBA for him.
Speaking of shooting…