What made Davis special was what he did with the ball in his hands facing a defense focused on stopping him. He had a great handle and an ability juke a defender with quickness that left his defender out of position. Unlike today, hand checking was permitted unless it impended offensive movement. A foul was seldom called. Davis often backed into his defender using his body to protect the ball and the hand of a defender on his hip. A turnaround fall away jumper was SOP. He often backed in with a little bounce side to side until the defender bit on a fake. He would then bounce in the opposite direction, spin around his defender and drive to the hoop for a lay up. Eventually the big guys down low would knock him on his ass. Today those fouls would be called intentional but in his day it was the price of doing business. He was automatic from the line so the opponent paid a price as well. He also put quality bigs on the bench with foul trouble going to the hoop. Strategy. He also spun and released a quick midrange jumper. Sometimes he'd spin, be met by a defender and spin on him as well. Watching him back in and spin through an entire defense was not uncommon. The fact he was accurate with either hand around the basket made for some truly remarkable shots. That's why you had to see him in action to believe his creativity. I'm probably missing something but I'll leave it to others to describe. The only player who I can compare him with is Earl Monroe. They never knew what they would do until they did it.
Final thought. The worst of the hand checkers was Bobby Cremins of the USC Gamecocks. He would hook the top of his fingers into the top of Charlie's shorts for as long he got away with it. Spent entire games screaming at the reffs to no avail. IIRC, it ended when Cremins couldn't release his grip on a Davis spin move, the elastic on the waist band stretched to the max and released from Cremin's fingers with a loud, very noticeable snap on CD's hip. The call was made. The abuse the reff received was obscene and warranted. The next time Cremins hand checked another foul was called immediately. I believe a third call was made shortly thereafter. Frank McGuire and the USC bench went ballistic. What they caught from the stands was mayhem. Of course my memory might be faulty or this could be an instance of wishful thinking. The Wake-USC games were wars that always ended poorly and the vitriol was vicious. A fun part of the game, back in the day.