I watched Ed Davis in Toronto playing against the Spurs back in November during that double overtime game. The Spurs don’t exactly have athletic big men who can find the bouncy Davis when the ball goes up. Still, I was amazed when I looked at the scoreboard in the 3rd quarter and saw 15 points and 14 rebounds next to his name. The guy had hardly played and yet was putting up Duncan-esque numbers.
It seemed like I hadn’t heard his name once from the PA announcer. The only time he was mentioned was when some of the die-hard Raptors fans sitting near me got giddy as he checked in. It’s a testament to a player’s productivity when local fans go nuts upon seeing their guy at the scorer’s table (Davis is averaging 14 and 12 per-36). Nevertheless, I remember thinking “why do these Canadians like this guy so much?” That 3rd quarter glance at the box score provided the answer.
More important than all this is that Andrea Bargnani has just gone down with a torn ligament in his shooting elbow. That sounds bad, and there is no timetable for his return. This means starter’s minutes for Ed Davis.
In his first start last night Davis put in 24 and 12 in 44 minutes. These types of numbers will not be far from the norm while Bargnani is out, although his minutes will take a hit when Amir Johnson is back in the rotation following his one game suspension. An Ed Davis fantasy pickup is in order in any format and any depth league, especially if you’re punting assists and threes.
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