LAS VEGAS — JD Davison’s drafting at No. 53 carried some of the least pressure imaginable from a prospect falling that far in the draft. Players picked at that range normally face a tall climb just to make the NBA and while Davison still needs to surmount that hurdle, Brad Stevens assured that time’s on the 19-year-old’s side upon selecting him.
“It’s about making it so that he gets accustomed to the NBA game,” Stevens said on draft night. “He’s not going to have, barring anything crazy here, a ton of pressure to come in and impact us right away or move the needle for us right away. He’ll be able to come in and compete for minutes just like everybody else, but at the same time he can grow, develop and focus his attention on improving and that’s a really important place to be for a young player.”
Davison nonetheless played with some of the most urgency of any Celtics player in their 88-78 loss to the Heat on Saturday to open the Summer League slate. He scored 10 points on 3-for-11 shooting in a game where nearly every Celtic struggled to shoot, but made up for it with six rebounds, six assists and three blocks while only turning the ball over once in over 28 minutes.
Two of his first plays of the afternoon included alley-oops to Trevion Williams and Mfiondu Kabengele, while he finished the afternoon shaking off an injury to his right leg after hitting a pair of shots in the final minutes. He converted 2-for-5 from three and hit a pair of free throws, showing poise as the Celtics’ lead ball-handler by getting deep into the interior of Miami’s defense and firing out passes.
“I thought for such a young kid playing in his first game, he had a really nice floor game to him,” head coach Ben Sullivan told CLNS Media. “He moved the ball well, he was able to get downhill, find his teammates and I thought he had a nice pace and control to his game offensively.”
Davison, who started the afternoon signing a two-way contract with the team with the ability to earn a full roster spot, took more pride in his defensive exploits, including a clean strip of Kyle Allman Jr. in transition after a Juhann Begarin turnover on the other end. Davison held a solid base after allowing some early dribble penetration, utilizing his size and strength to prevent baskets inside even without rim protection.
Boston stayed competitive through halftime behind Matt Ryan, who converted a trio of three-pointers and hit three shots at the free throw line to quickly reach 12 points early in the second quarter. Elsewhere, Davison and his teammates struggled to convert shots, and those woes only escalated into the third quarter when Marcus Garrett, Jamaree Bouyea and Mychal Mulder ratcheted up the defensive intensity and sent the Heat regulars led by Tyler Herro into a frenzy along the sideline when Miami forced a ball out off Brodric Thomas.
“(I showed) a lot of my defense, being a dog, just being a dog on the defensive end, getting my team involved and also being that leader on the court as the point guard,” Davison told CLNS Media. “I think, moving on, I can get get better, moving my team better, putting them in certain spots.”
Davison opened the second half looking for his own shot in the lane, missing twice inside and generating free throws on the third. He landed an alley-oop to Begarin and another to Kabengele, then found Trevion Williams in the pocket for a hook shot inside.
The Celtics stayed within eight points of Miami when he exited late in the quarter, then the game slipped away in his absence, Davison returning to feed Kabengele for one more alley-oop, hit a three and make his first layup before running off the floor holding his right leg. He escaped without major harm, and even through an uneven debut with teammates he’d only learned for days Davison proved an adept floor general.
Sullivan didn’t instill anything significant for the guard to follow other than showing film of some of the Heat’s over-helping tendencies. Davison absorbed it and gave the staff something to work with, Sullivan emphasizing this is the team’s time to grow and advance their own careers given how low they’re starting on the organizational depth chart.
Davison, who told CLNS Media he left Alabama after one year because he believed in his fit in the modern NBA, made an immediate mark in from of 15 family members celebrating the first draft pick from Letohatchee.
“He’s got some quickness to him, some burst, but he also has a nice control to his pick-and-roll game, a very sophisticated feel for such a young player,” Sullivan said. “He’s just kind of out there figuring it out for himself and at times it looks really good.”
