Highlights
Anthony Davis expressed a desire to play more at power forward, but NBA writer Mark Medina doesn’t think head coach Darvin Ham will accommodate his wishes unless in rare circumstances. Davis spent most of last season playing at center and reportedly wants more support in the center position to reduce the physical toll on his body. Medina suggests that Davis will only play power forward when LeBron James is not on the floor or in specific match-up situations when playing two bigs is advantageous.
L.A. Lakers superstar Anthony Davis spent much of last season playing at the center position despite his preference to play the power forward role. After expressing his interest in getting some more minutes at the four, NBA writer Mark Medina doesn’t think head coach Darvin Ham will accommodate his wishes unless in one or two rare circumstances.
L.A. Lakers news – Anthony Davis
Anthony Davis made sure he got paid this summer by agreeing to sign a three-year, $186 million extension, the richest annually in NBA history to date, tying him long-term to the L.A. Lakers organization through 2028, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. However, it was reported that AD had made one request to the Lakers over his position on the court.
According to Dave McMenamin of ESPN, the eight-time All-Star told the Purple and Gold directly that he would like some more support at the center position so that he could spend more time at his preferred power forward spot. This comes after he spent 99% of his playing time last season at the five, which he has reportedly said takes more of a physical toll on his body over the course of the season, per Sports Illustrated.
Whether the Lakers’ choice to go and sign big-men Jaxson Hayes and Christian Wood in free-agency was to accommodate his request or not remains to be seen. Nevertheless, there is depth in the center position, which has been lacking in a LakeShow roster for quite some time.
Will Anthony Davis get his wish?
Medina believes that Davis will only play at his more favorable power forward position when teammate LeBron James is not on the floor or if head-coach Darvin Ham plays a two-big line-up. Otherwise, he will continue to be the team’s primary center despite his request to move to the four. Speaking exclusively to GIVEMESPORT, the journalist said…
“I don’t think Anthony Davis is going to get his wish for the most part. I think that he is going to start games at center if he’s available. Now obviously if he has any injuries, that changes the equation, but I think really the only times that he’s not going to play center is when LeBron James is off the floor, and when there are those rare times when for match-up purposes, it’s good to have two traditional bigs”.
How did Anthony Davis perform last season?
Despite partaking in only 56 regular season games due to injury, when healthy and on-the-court, Davis’ impact for the Lakers was unrivaled, with a 31-25 winning record when AD was playing in the rotation, compared to a losing record of 12-14 when he was unavailable.
Anthony Davis – NBA Career Statistics (2013 – Present)
Minutes Played
34.4
Points
24.0
Assists
2.4
Rebounds
10.4
Steals
1.3
Blocks
2.3
Field-Goal Percentage (%)
.519
Free-Throw Percentage (%)
.793
All statistics courtesy of Basketball Reference.
Per Statmuse, last season Anthony Davis played averaged 25.9 points, 12.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists, as well as 1.1 steals and 2.0 blocks per game during the regular season.
It was in the Lakers playoff run, though, when he put the rest of the league on notice. In 16 playoff games, Davis was a dominant force on the defensive end, averaging 11.7 defensive rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game, to go along with 22.6 points, 2.6 assists and 1.4 steals.
Read more: L.A. Lakers’ Expected Starting Five, Second Unit and Crunch-Time Five for 2023/24
So who will start at the power forward position for the Lakers?
So far, it is difficult to say what the exact Lakers line-up will be for next season, but what is clear is that there is now depth galore to have multiple rotations.
L.A. Lakers – Projected Depth Chart (2023-2024)
Point Guard
Shooting Guard
Small Forward
Power Forward
Center
D’Angelo Russell
Austin Reaves
Rui Hachimura
LeBron James
Anthony Davis
Gabe Vincent
Max Christie
Taurean Prince
Jarred Vanderbilt
Jaxson Hayes
Jalen Hood-Schifino
Cam Reddish
Christian Wood
Maxwell Lewis
All statistics courtesy of Basketball Reference
Darvin Ham now has the problem, albeit a good one, of figuring out which line-ups will be most effective against which teams. Perhaps he chooses to opt for a two-big line-up where AD and newly-acquired Christian Wood share some minutes on the floor, shifting AD to PF while using Wood as a stretch-five.
Perhaps aging superstar, LeBron James can now receive more rest on the sidelines, which would be advantageous to the team if they were to make the post-season and wanted to make a charge at a deep playoff run with the 18x All-Star at the helm.
What Anthony Davis’ primary position on the court will be is unknown, but he will be used in a role that should give the L.A. Lakers the best chance to win basketball games, and that priority is all that should matter.
Source link : https://www.givemesport.com/la-lakers-anthony-davis-role-lebron-james/
Author : GiveMeSport
Publish date : 2023-09-16 12:30:25
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