The New Orleans Hornets are taking Anthony Davis first at the NBA Draft in a couple of weeks. They haven’t said it yet, but we know it’s going to happen. The good news is, the Hornets aren’t playing coy with Davis… at all. According to Yahoo!’s Marc Spears, Head Coach Monty Williams is already forming a relationship with Davis and even took him out to dinner Thursday night at the Chicago combine.
“Williams has traded texts with Davis since the Hornets won the NBA’s draft lottery and the chance to take Davis with the No. 1 pick. Williams and Davis planned to eat dinner together and watch the East finals Thursday at the league’s predraft camp.”
This may not seem like much at first read, but if we’ve learned one thing recently it’s how important a coach’s relationship with his superstar. Look at Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan or Tom Thibodeau and Derrick Rose if you want a more recent comparison. Monty Williams’ mentor is Popovich, who went down to the Virgin Islands in the summer of 1997 and spent three or four days hanging out with Duncan, forming a relationship. Obviously this isn’t exactly what Williams is doing, but Davis is obviously someone he believes is going to be someone he coaches for a long time coming and wants to form this bond early. It goes to show that Williams and Demps know what they’re doing in building a team. They also have the tenth pick in the draft, which could bring another key piece to their future. The Western Conference is Oklahoma City’s world for the next couple of years but look out for New Orleans over the next few years. Anthony Davis (assuming he lives up to potential), Eric Gordon, the tenth pick and a ton of cap flexibility over the next couple of years is a Hell of a starting point in rebuilding.
