Anthony Davis Under Tremendous Pressure to Make 2014-15 NBA Playoffs

Anthony Davis' climb through the NBA superstar ranks has been quick and unparalleled, its rapidity historic enough to demand he power the New Orleans Pelicans toward postseason prominence sooner rather than later.

As in immediately.

We've spent adequate time watching Davis in awe. We've admired his skills, viewing them with mitigating factors—health, team performance, etc.—having little to no impact.

That all changes when the 2014-15 regular season tips off and playoff contention becomes the standard, not a pleasant surprise or happy accident.

Next season is still about Davis' ongoing development, to be sure. At only 21 years old, he's an unfinished—albeit still polished—product. The basketball world at large doesn't fully understand who or what he is because, well, the NBA has never seen anything or anyone like him.

"Like [LeBron] James and [Kevin] Durant, Davis is a player without direct historical reference," Beckley Mason of The New York Times wrote ahead of Team USA's gold-medal run at the 2014 FIBA World Cup. "He had drawn comparisons to Hakeem Olajuwon and other greats, but Davis is not the second coming of anyone."

Comparisons to James and Durant aren't made offhand.

Thought is put into them. Davis has debunked a number of doubts and cleared numerous obstacles—his ability to score at the NBA level, for one—before being attached to such distinguished company.

Many, myself included, already feel comfortable saying he's a top-three player, that only Durant and James rank ahead of him.

Making these assumptions and drawing these conclusions isn't a stretch. Davis has done enough to warrant these arguments.

Last season, he became the quickest player in NBA history to reach 2,200 points, 1,100 rebounds and 300 blocks by age 21. He ranked fourth in player efficiency (26.5) behind only Kevin Love (26.9), James (29.3) and Durant (29.8). He finished in the top 15 of total win shares (10.4), despite playing for a 34-win Pelicans team.

Talk of his continued ascension, then, must start giving way to a different slant: his arrival.

This isn't a player the NBA is waiting for anymore. He is here and, health permitting, isn't going anywhere. Next to James and Durant is right where he belongs and will stay.

With this placement comes responsibility, even in the powerhouse-packed Western Conference.

Superstars are evaluated by both individual and collective success. Having already put himself on the individual map, Davis' next task lies in ending New Orleans' three-year playoff drought.

James' first postseason appearance came in his third year. So, too, did Durant's first playoff junket. Chris Paul—the superstar whose footsteps Davis follows—led this very franchise to a postseason berth in his third season.

If they are the company Davis is to hold, delivering on postseason ambitions is the bar to which he must be held. While he doesn't have a safety net made of James Harden, Serge Ibaka, Russell Westbrook like Durant did in 2009-10, excuses that accompany a botched opportunity won't be accepted as readily.

New Orleans has put talent around Davis. Jrue Holiday is an All-Star point guard. Eric Gordon and Tyreke Evans can still score. Ryan Anderson's shorts catch fire not because he lies, but because he's so lethal from three-point range. Omer Asik is that second interior defensive presence Davis hasn't yet played beside.

There is enough firepower on the Pelicans' roster to make a playoff push. Davis' supporting cast is not incapable. That, coupled with his surging status, should put them in the thick of everything.

None of which makes them perfect.

Unfamiliarity is a legitimate issue with this Pelicans team. Davis hasn't spent much time alongside his most important sidekicks:

The absence of a legitimate superstar partner works against the Pelicans as well. Holiday is the team's second-best player and can only be described as a "fringe star" at best. Anderson is the only one of the aforementioned five to ever surpass seven win shares, and he's done so just once.

Playoff contention starts and finishes with Davis to that end. He represented 30.6 percent of the Pelicans' victories last season and will be expected to shoulder an even heavier workload if his supporting cast is ravaged by injuries or underperforms.

Whatever he does, no matter the size or weight of the cross he bears, Davis must find a way to win more than ever before, as CBSSports.com's Zach Harper recently detailed:

For Davis, entering his third season means he's running out of time for being judged as a remarkable basketball entity who could turn into one of the best players in the league in a very short time and moving toward the eventual criticism of whether or not his skills produce enough wins. It's an unfair distinction to throw at such a young player, but the results in this league always matter more than the results of the individual's stat line.

Think of this as the Kevin Love Paradox.

Collective success takes precedence over individual dominance at some point for every superstar. Davis has reached that point sooner than most—including Love—because he's so darn good.

Though he isn't Love, and while the Pelicans aren't the Minnesota Timberwolves, that's the stigma Davis and friends are trying to avoid.

And it won't be easy.

Sneaking into the playoff conversation will likely require the Pelicans to improve by at least 15 victories next season. The Dallas Mavericks snatched the Western Conference's final postseason spot with 49 wins last year while the Phoenix Suns watched from home after rattling off 48.

Not one of the West's playoff teams ranked outside the top 10 of both offensive and defensive efficiency either. The Pelicans ranked 13th in offense and 26th in defense.

Gaps such as those aren't supposed to be erased in one year. That this is up for discussion speaks to Davis' prowess as well as the pressure that comes with transitioning from promising prospect to ripening superstar.

“Anthony is improving right now (due to) experience,” head coach Monty Williams told reporters about Davis' Team USA stint. “He’s getting more and more experience. He’s understanding that he is a lead dog among a number of alpha dogs."

Being viewed so highly, so soon is a gift.

It's also a curse.

Any and all individual moves—statistical or otherwise—Davis makes from here on out won't be unbelievable leaps as much as they are expected turns.

His next leap must be something different, and we'll know it when we see it because he'll have taken the Pelicans with him.

Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference and NBA.com.

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