Big Easy Believer
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Anthony Davis Injury Nothing Serious at Team USA Minicamp

By Johnny Louisiana

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It’s been an eventful few hours.

First — let’s get the serious stuff out of the way.

NOLA.com Pelicans Beat Writer Jimmy Smith published an article yesterday which was titled “Pelicans’ Anthony Davis sits out Team USA minicamp work with apparent injury” which first of all, was pretty vague for an injury headline, but lets give him the benefit of the doubt.

Personally, I would have written “Anthony Davis sits out team USA minicamp with slight ankle sprain” but that’s a minor detail. The Problem is that Jimmy Smith started his article by including the phrase:

"As the light workout proceeded, Davis sat on the bench with his left foot and ankle wrapped in ice, positioned in the area of the Achilles tendon, watching his teammates do non-contact drills on the floor. – Jimmy Smith"

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There’s the problem:

I would have probably wrote “As the light workout proceeded, Davis sat on the bench with a very minor ankle sprain, and remarked multiple times he would be perfectly fine in a matter of days” while instead Jimmy Smith, for no reason other than to scare people, included “In the area of the Achilles tendon” when describing an injury which had absolutely nothing to do with the Achilles tendon…

Does he look like someone who has anything remotely wrong with his “Achilles area?”

Aug 11, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Team USA guard Stephen Curry (49) touches the head of center Anthony Davis during the USA men’s basketball national team minicamp at Mendenhall Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

Athletes have had entire seasons ruined because of Achilles issues, it’s not a light subject. So there’s no reason to add a connotation that alarming to something as common as an ankle sprain. He made a lot of Pelicans fans, including me, squint at the screen in a state of fear, desperate trying to find out just how worried we needed to be.

It’s just manipulative. If you’re a kid and you bump your head do you tell you mom “I bumped my head” or do you say “I was hit by a sudden jolt near my cerebral cortex?” which one sounds like it needs a band-aid and which one sounds like it needs an ambulance?

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Here’s what you need to know, Davis is fine. Every other beat writer has confirmed he has nothing more than a typical sprain, and he will be back to being AD in just a few days.

Moving on to the good stuff.

First of all, AD is a complete lock to start on Team USA, if not be their most vital player. Michael Pina of Fox Sports clarified Davis was a “Lock” in his breakdown piece right here, which states Lebron, Curry, Harden and AD are the only “sure things” as of today.

Now this part is the most fun, so I saved it for last. Basically, Anthony Davis is still growing…

Look at him! If Paul George is 6’10” Demar Derozan is 6’7″ and James Harden is 6’5″, then AD is at least a legit seven footer now.

He looks like he weighs 300 pounds, he looks like he’s their bodyguard, he looks like he could be Mike Conley’s Dad for gosh’s sake.

So that’s what you need to know.

Three things: AD is absolutely fine, He’s a lock to start on Team USA, and he has clearly grown even more this summer.

So sit tight, grab a banana blast from Smoothie King, and remember that there’s a very good chance AD is using his patriotic basketball commitments as a time to let Kevin Durant know how good the gumbo is down in NOLA……..

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