Lakers: Should Los Angeles Capitalize On Anthony Davis Having The Season Of His Life?
Los Angeles Lakers All-NBA center Anthony Davis may just have some juice left in the tank after all.
AD has been on fire of late, laying down double-doubles and helping lead L.A. to more wins than losses as he finally emerged as 37-year-old LeBron James's successor as the de facto best player on the team.
In a fascinating new piece, Michael Pina of The Ringer unpacks how great Davis has been, and how his team can effectively build around him to succeed.
As Pina notes (and as we have noted before), Davis has fascinatingly not fixed his stalled-out jump shot, but has instead totally rewired his game to focus on feasting mostly from the post. AD is pulling down a remarkable amount of rebounds (he's currently averaging 12.4 boards).
Offensively, Pina singles out Davis's picks, his clever fake-out dribble hand-offs, and his shot diet. On defense, Pina observes that the Brow has thrived as a Defensive Player of the Year-contending rim protector, one of the game's great shot blockers, and covering pick-and-roll actions.
And all this might not even be enough.
Basketball Reference right now lists the Lakers as having just a 21.5% chance of even making the play-in tournament this season. The 11-15 team's current projected record for the end of 2022-23 is listed at 36-46, good for 13th in the West.
Pina (and this writer) believe that the Lakers' front office, led by vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka, needs to make some kind of move to help improve this club. As Pina notes, the clock is ticking a bit, as Davis can become an unrestricted free agent in 2024, when he will be just 31. If the team can't surround Davis will high-caliber talent this season, Pina contends that it needs to do so pretty darn soon.
