So coach Darvin Ham wants to run through Anthony Davis, eh? That’s a nice thought and it sounds fun but what does it really mean and what would it possibly need to max out it’s effectiveness. The Lakers won a championship with LeBron dominating the ball as our defacto PG. Since moving away from that formula we’ve seen the Laker offense take several steps back and several good players shipped out in the name of the “less handling of the ball” for LeBron crusade. So what, if anything, has really changed to make this possible now?
- Anthony Davis PG? Let’s squish this notion quickly: AD is unlikely to be bringing the ball up the court and initiating the offense. More likely he’ll be one of the first players down the court trying to get his positioning settled against potentially smaller players before the defense has a chance to get set. That makes the most sense from both a basketball 101 standpoint and how Davis deploys his vast array of hooping skills. So, no I do not expect to see a lot more of AD bringing the ball up. He has a handle but it’s not elite and he’s not very fleet of foot, he has a quickness to him but I don’t consider him to be fast or speedy. We’ll want LeBron, Russ or Nunn bringing the ball up and starting possessions off.
- Anthony Davis three point marksman? This is likely going to be a point of contention. Is Anthony Davis good at shooting threes? Is that what you really want to see him doing a lot of in-game? His high point in three point field goal attempts was the banner-winning 2019-2020 season…the one with a three month break due to the COVID shut down. So, in some ways, it’s hard to take both that season and his follow up season as gospel. Look at his career numbers and it’s not all that encouraging: 10 seasons, .5 makes on 1.6 attempts for 30.% for his career. Career high in attempts (3.5) and makes (1.2) is the never-to-be-replicated 2019-2020 season. The season ended in March, there was a three month lag between that and some games ramping up to the playoffs and there wasn’t much travel in the playoffs where Davis shot 23 for 71, 32% which is a slight bump when pitted against his career numbers. His most efficient season shooting the three was his next to last in NOLA (and one of 2 seasons he played in 75 games where he made an even 34% of his treys. So, while I expect that the three pointer will always be a key aspect of Anthony’s game, I don’t expect to see him launching threes off the bounce or things like that. If he shoots threes at a clip of 5/game that’s likely too high as it drags him out of the paint, the area in which he is far more effective and efficient.
- Looking at AD’s shot chart and you’ll see three things: he shoots more accurately from the right side of the floor (makes sense as he organically squares up better from that side) in general, other than the corner three from the right side he’s fairly inaccurate from distance (especially from the left baseline to corner before the top of the key) and he is a beast in the paint. Does this mean a return to back-to-the-basket, bruising post play? Probably not as coach Ham has intimated that we’ll see something akin to Milwaukee’s 4 out set with someone in the dunker spot

Above are some fairly basic sets we can expect to see. Assuming that Davis slots in at the 4 that would have him starting half court possessions in his strongest three point shooting position, right-side corner three. From there he could float in for a lob or back door cuts, the ball could work itself to him where he needs to make better choices in terms of shot selection than the last 2 seasons (too many fadeaway mid range jumpers early in the shot clock and not smart shots, generally speaking). This spot puts him in his most accurate three point shooting area and helps keep him out of the paint where he tends to get injured on contact plays.

Here we see a few other ways coach Ham could use Davis, many of these start with AD in the baseline corner. Ad could also be used as a small ball five with James sliding over to the four. LeBron is also great at shooting from the right side (again, makes sense given his dominant hand) but he’s better from corner arc then AD is. Both are elite at scoring in the paint and at the rim.
4. Interior scoring focus. When I hear “we want to run the offense through AD” I don’t think clear out and let him go to work. I see plays that result in AD taking (and hopefully making) jumpers and scoring in the paint. It is by far his best ability and there are few that can guard him down low. He has size, enough strength and speed and a vast array of moves. I think we’ll see the Lakers look to regain a dominating trait of their banner winning season which was dominating the points in the paint stat on a nightly basis. Paint scoring creates more fouls than perimeter scoring, can help take an elite defender off the court through said fouls, and is the most effective shot in the game. Again, I’m not expecting back-down, drop-step, sweeping hooks to become the norm but I do expect to see us work the ball down low and give AD license to abuse his defender.
5. Anthony Davis point center? AD has never really established himself as a passing big man like The Big Spaniard did, he’s an elite defender, solid rebounder and great scorer but has never really earned the rep as a passing kind of player. He’s never averaged more than 3.9 dimes per game. To be fair, assists require someone else making a shot and Davis is generally one of the better options to take that shot especially when he’s playing with a passer like LeBron. But he needs to be better at making reads. His assist to turnover ratio is poor for a superstar player. Last season he averaged 3.1 assists but coughed it up 2.1 times. That needs to get better. Davis either needs to work on his passing accuracy and read/react skills or be more determined to score. So, while I don’t see AD becoming the lead distributor I do see him becoming our best finisher. After all, not everyone can be this guy:
Basically, I’m rather bored of this Laker off season. So all of this assumes Westbrook is on the roster. Because he still is. So, until that is not the case, I’m not assuming otherwise. With LeBron and Russ you have two elite assist men who can deliver the ball to Davis in his best spots. Coach Ham needs to maximize this aspect of the Lakers in the half court and figure out how to unleash our fast break, again. Davis can be the elite release valve we need in the half court. LeBron is an elite player on the break and Russ needs to figure out how to recapture some of that. If those things happen I think the Lakers will surprise a lot of people next season as currently constructed.