“My mom told me it’s time to grow up, time to go out and do what I need to do,” Davis mentioned.
Mama was once proper. No Washington Wizards participant had a larger year of growth — or extra rising pains — than Davis, the now 21-year-old guard who was once decided on tenth general in closing year’s draft. At the time, the Wizards desperately wanted a participant who may are available an make a right away have an effect on. It was once transparent in July, when Davis made a shaky summer-league debut, that wasn’t going to occur.
But during the season, Davis advanced from an not sure participant who seemed like he may’ve used that junior year at Wisconsin right into a assured contributor with doable. The child who seemed like Bambi on curler stakes when he performed garbage-time mins in October was once dunking on Jrue Holiday by means of April. His rookie-season averages weren’t shocking — 5.8 issues in keeping with sport on 38.6 p.c capturing from the sphere to head alongside with 2.3 rebounds in keeping with sport — however Washington’s entrance place of work was once happy with his construction.
“Definitely a lot of ups and downs,” Davis mentioned.
The Wizards have a greater sense of the 6-foot-4 guard’s talents because of an late-season run through which Coach Wes Unseld Jr. performed his younger guys for important stretches with the playoffs out of succeed in. Whether Davis turns into a constant rotation participant is still observed, however Unseld mentioned he “plays the right way,” likes his aggressiveness and sees a precious defender.
“We saw the defensive piece from day one; I think he can continue to lean in on that,” Unseld mentioned.
Davis desires to position on weight and paintings on his capturing over the summer season, and he expects to play in summer season league once more in July.
His offense was once at all times the weaker facet of his sport. But his greatest problem in acclimating to the NBA came from off the court docket.
Davis’s daughter was once born Sept. 20, within the heart of coaching camp, which supposed the Wisconsin local wasn’t putting across the gymnasium all day, getting to understand his training group of workers, choosing his older teammates’ brains and absorbing the NBA way of life. It was once a double whammy: He was once the amateur at paintings who neglected part of orientation, then retreated house to the confidence-building workout this is being a brand new father or mother.
“I’d be the first one out of here. Guys would be like, ‘Oh, where’s Johnny at?’ Five, 10 minutes after practice I flew home,” Davis mentioned, describing how briefly he fled the Wizards’ facility. “I wanted to be there for my daughter and my girlfriend; I knew it was going to be even harder on her because she had to be at home the whole time.”
Davis spent the majority of his season within the G League, the place Coach Mike Williams’s process was once twofold: instill self assurance by means of keeping apart motion from end result — “just telling him to go, don’t worry about the outcome,” Williams mentioned — and educate Davis the nuances of an NBA offense.
Williams mentioned Davis made essentially the most growth in capturing open photographs, growth evidenced within the Wizards’ ultimate video games of the season. The guard shot 7 for 20 for 16 issues within the penultimate sport of the season and went 4 for 20 within the ultimate sport in opposition to Houston for 13 issues. Not the most productive performances the Wizards noticed this season, however potency wasn’t precisely the purpose.
“An open shot at this level is probably different than it is at the college level. To be in the NBA, you’re probably looking at less space, but it’s still open,” Williams mentioned. “And part of it is being prepared to shoot. Sometimes he would get caught being not ready to shoot. His preparation is much improved; we’ve worked on it; he’s worked on it with the Wizards.”
The turning level in Davis’s season was once over the all-star destroy, when the rookie were given to go back house to Wisconsin for the primary time since arriving in D.C.
“Being able to see them and see my friends and all the people that I know for a fact believe in me kind of allowed me to just settle down a little bit, settle in and realize that I was drafted for a reason and I’m an NBA player for a reason,” Davis mentioned.
Davis’s emotional reset made a right away distinction at the court docket. The sort of mins he noticed had been other, to make sure — he performed longer, extra significant stretches towards the tip of the year. But he seemed like a brand new participant.
In the 13 video games Davis performed sooner than the all-star destroy, he averaged 1.2 issues and tried 1.4 box objectives in a mean of 4.7 mins. In the 15 video games he performed after the all-star destroy, he averaged 9.8 issues and tried 10.2 box objectives in 24.1 mins, capturing 39.2 p.c from the sphere and pulling in 3.8 rebounds.
That spurt emulated the soar Davis took between freshman and sophomore season at Wisconsin. It’s what provides Washington’s entrance place of work, Unseld and Williams religion that the most productive is but to come back.
“I can’t put a ceiling on him. … What’s in his favor is he’s shown the ability to drastically improve, and we’ve seen the same thing this year on a shorter time frame,” Williams mentioned. “I see a contributing, effective NBA player in him, and it starts with his defense. Really, his one-on-one defense is excellent. He’s able to stay in front of most guys, and that will always find you a place on the floor. If he can balance that out with a little bit of production on the offensive end, get into the paint, get to open threes, make plays, I think you have a very, very solid NBA player.”