As great as LeBron James is and no matter what happens at the trade deadline, the Los Angeles Lakers need the ‘real’ Anthony Davis to return if they hope to dominate the second half and repeat as NBA champions.
The single biggest major difference for the Los Angeles Lakers between the halfway point of this season versus last season hasn’t been rim protection or 3-point shooting but the play at both ends of the court by Anthony Davis. The issue for Davis this season has been injuries, which have not only had him miss 14 games, during which the Lakers went 7–7, but also led to fewer points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks than halfway through last year.
After 37 games this season, Anthony is averaging 22.5 points, 8.4 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.8 blocks in 32.8 minutes per game with the Lakers winning 17 while losing 6 of the 23 games he was healthy to play. After 37 games last season, Davis averaged 27.1 points, 9.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.5 steals, and 2.6 blocks in 35.2 minutes per game with the Lakers winning 29 games while losing 6 of the 35 games he was able to play.
Not only did Davis’ numbers for the first half of this season fail to match his productivity for the first half of last season, his points per game were 3rd lowest, his rebounds 2nd lowest, and his blocks lowest in his 9-year career. But the heart of Anthony’s problems this season have been the decline in his free throw, midrange, and 3-point shooting percentages from their playoff highs of 57.1% from the field, 83.2% from the line, and 38.3% from deep.
Struggling with injuries and short time off after the playoffs, Davis has seen his proficient playoff shooting falter. So far this season, he’s only shooting 53.3%from the field, 71.5% from the line, and 29.5% from 3-point range. Besides not shooting well, Anthony is not getting to the line. This season, he has averaged only 5.7 free throws per games versus 8.5 last season, despite reducing his attempts from deep from 15% to just 10% of his shots.
Anybody who’s watched the Lakers this season can see that Anthony Davis is not playing or shooting at the level he did in last year’s playoffs, which is why it’s important the Lakers don’t bring him back until he’s 100% healthy. The Lakers don’t need to be the top seed in the West to repeat as champs. They need the ‘real’ Anthony Davis playing like he did in last year’s playoffs. He may not yet be the best player on the team but he’s the key to winning.
Unfortunately for the Lakers, this season’s championship quest is going to be even tougher than last season’s battle in the bubble. The Clippers, Jazz, and Nets will present a more challenging gauntlet for the Lakers to repeat. The Lakers as a team are going to have shoot the three ball a lot better and would be wise to to add anther rim protecting center and one or two high percentage, high volume 3-point shooters to stay ahead of the competition.
The Lakers have made changes to accommodate Anthony Davis’ desire to play power forward instead of center. He’s played the five less the 5% this season versus more than 25% last season and close to 50% in the playoffs. Unless the Lakers make a surprise big move at the trade deadline, this may be the year when Anthony Davis is forced to play the five if the purple and gold are going to have a realistic chance to repeat at NBA champions.
The Lakers are going to need the ‘real’ Anthony Davis to show up and take his rightful place alongside great Lakers centers like Kareem, Wilt, and Shaq if this team is going to win their league best 18th NBA championship.
The big question is when will AD return. If you study his stats for the regular season and playoffs, there’s some reason for concern about his decline in shooting percentages from the line, midrange, and deep since his breakout in the playoffs when he shot 57%/83%/38%. Was that a breakout or just an outlier. We all thought it was a breakout and I guess we’ll find out the second half of the season.
I still believe it was a breakout and that it was injuries that have caused the decline so far this season because it’s not just his shot. His average points, rebounds, asssists, steals, and blocks have all declined from Playoff AD. And the eyetest is telling me that the shots he’s missing are not heavily contested. They’re the same wide open shots he drained over and over in the playoffs. Count me as one who believes AD belongs in that legends picture at the top of the article besides Kareem, Wilt, and Shaq. He just might have to play a lot of center this season to get there.
This bus ain’t goin far in the playoffs without a healthy AD.
Nope. And the hope is his shooting performance in the playoffs was for real and not a fluke. Otherwise, we’re in trouble.
As a biased, avid life-long fan of him, I believe he will. He still hasn’t been on the court yet. I think it’ll be a little while longer.