Lakers: Anthony Davis, Stealth MVP Candidate?
In the latest edition of ESPN scribe Zach Lowe's essential podcast The Lowe Post, Lowe spoke with colleague Kevin Pelton, picking their early favorites for league MVP. A surprising name surfaced among the duo's list of also-rans, beyond their top five selections.
Lowe first floated the possibility of All-Star Los Angeles Lakers center Anthony Davis as a potential fringe contender for the honor, provided he can keep up his recent play and the Lakers can keep winning (two big caveats).
"I feel like we should kind of talk about how Anthony Davis's numbers are kind of what they were when he was with New Orleans, and everyone thought he was greatest thing since sliced bread, and it was going to be the most important trade in the NBA since Kareem-Abdul Jabbar," Lowe floated. "Should we talk about that? Is Anthony Davis amazing again?"
"I mean he's kept them afloat during this stretch with LeBron James out of the lineup, so it's going to be interesting to see how well that sustains when LeBron comes back," Pelton replied. "Obviously he's not going to have the same amount of touches but if he can produce like that, it kind of starts to change the conversation a little bit about what's their ceiling this season."
So how adversely could LeBron James, whenever he does return, impact AD's hypothetical run for late-season honors? Does James actually even positively impact winning anymore?
"His jump shot still stinks, he can't make a jump shot from two or three. It's all shots in the restricted area. And he's making enough of them. His defense has been outstanding the entire year. They're +1... with Anthony Davis on the floor this season, which is amazing 'cause they're 5-10 and they've spent most of the season stinking up the whole greater Los Angeles area. They're -48 with him on the bench. LeBron is a team-worst -61 for the season."
"He still doesn't look like Anthony Davis to me, in terms of his quickness and his sort of 'slitheriness' [not a word] with the ball. But the numbers, both traditional and advanced, are identical to what he was doing with New Orleans."
Across his past three games -- wins against three teams with below-.500 records in the Brooklyn Nets, Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs -- Davis is averaging 35 points on 61.7% field goal shooting (!), 17.3 rebounds, two assists, 1.7 blocks, and 0.8 steals a night. For the year, The Brow is averaging 25.6 points on a career-best 55.4% shooting from the floor, 12 boards, 2.4 dimes, 1.9 blocks and 1.4 steals per. Those would be MVP numbers... if his team had a slightly (okay, okay, significantly) better record than 5-10. Maybe it will soon.
