Lakers News: Anthony Davis Cooks Up New Approach For New Season
When Media Day kicked off Monday at your Los Angeles Lakers' El Segundo practice facility, UCLA Health Training Center, the big focal points surrounded the longevity of ageless L.A. superstar LeBron James, point guard Russell Westbrook's future with the team or lack thereof, new head coach Darvin Ham, and the team's best offseason acquisition, point guard Patrick Beverley.
One would hope that, sooner rather than later, Beverley will replace Westbrook as the team's starting point guard, given that he is a much, much better fit with the Lakers' starters given his predilections for defense, shooting, and crafty off-ball play.
But we digress.
The Lakers' nominal second All-Star forward, Anthony Davis, has been almost an afterthought amidst the active churn of L.A. offseason drama.
The absences of Davis and James last year were a big factor in the team's lackluster 33-49 record (as was the awkward fit of basically everyone else on that roster). James missed 26 contests, while the Brow was sidelined for a whopping 42 games last season due to knee and ankle issues, and missed the All-Star team for the first time since his 2012-13 rookie season.
When healthy, Davis put up typically excellent counting numbers. The 6'10" Kentucky product averaged 23.2 points, 9.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.3 blocks, and 1.2 steals a night. His defensive mobility and three-point shooting (down to 18.6% last season, a far cry from the 33% he made in the 2020 regular season and 38.3% he connected on in that year's championship run) slipped noticeably, however.
Expectations for the 29-year-old Davis, who has become notorious for missing time due to nagging injuries in recent years, are a bit all over the place. Kendrick Perkins of ESPN thinks Davis could be an MVP candidate this season. At this point, Lakers fans would settle for A.D. being healthy for 55+ games and the postseason.
Part of the health equation could come down to position. It's no secret that Davis loathes playing center. Last year, thanks to the relative ineffectiveness of washed vets Dwight Howard and DeAndre Jordan (Howard was merely semi-washed, to be fair), and the Lakers' interest in cultivating a smaller, faster lineup, Davis played the vast majority of his minutes at the five. According to Cleaning The Glass, the eight-time All-Star served as a center across a whopping 76% of his 1,403 minutes, excluding garbage time during blowouts.
L.A. certainly hopes to have addressed that by signing two young, athletic centers to soak up minutes at the five. Former-Laker-turned-current-Laker Thomas Bryant is somehow still just 25. It appears that Golden State Warriors expat Damian Jones, 27, is expected to start at center. If these two can pull their weight, perhaps Davis can play center in occasional spot minutes this year.
Davis disclosed his interesting approach to the 2022-23 season during a Media Day chat with ESPN's Dave McMenamin.
"We're treating this season like we have a chip on our shoulder," Davis declared. "We're the underdogs." The Lakers certainly look to be closer to the play-in tournament than the title, at least as the roster stands right now.
In terms of Davis's goals for himself this year, he informed McMenamin that he intends to be "more aggressive." "I started getting in my own head a lot last year. I don't think a lot of people know that ... Just knowing how much better I could have been."
We may not have known that Davis was internalizing some of his on-court struggles, but we certainly knew he could have been a whole lot better last year. Here's hoping his preseason mentality translates to regular and postseason success.
