Anthony Davis’ desire to play power forward instead of center is the only thing that could prevent him from joining Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Wilt Chamberlain and becoming the next great Lakers’ center.
Anthony Davis is a enigma in that he’s a basketball player who does not want to play center, the position at which he’s arguably the best at in the world. He believes playing power forward is better for his game and career. The truth is center is Davis’ best position and more that he plays center, the better the Lakers become as a team. AD always said he would play center when needed and did so for 50% of his minutes in last year’s playoffs.
Since signing Davis, the Lakers have worked hard to accommodate their superstar’s preference not to play the five. They’ve tweaked their roster so he’s only had to play center 7% of the time this season versus 25% last year. The Lakers also signed 27-year old center Andre Drummond from the buyout market to play big minutes in these playoffs and protect Davis from having to spend half his time at center like he did in the playoffs last year.
Coming off a calf injury that cost 2 months and 30 games, Davis and the Lakers will both be looking for ways to continue limiting his minutes at center in the playoffs, though that might not be the smartest thing to do.
THE MODERN PROTOTYPE CENTER
Anthony Davis is the prototype modern NBA center, a gifted physical big with the skills and tool set of a guard. He’s a superstar who can score and defend buckets at all three levels: at the rim, from midrange, or from three
A modern center trapped in a world where positionless basketball has made traditional low post centers obsolete, Anthony Davis’ unprecedented skillset on offense and defense have freed him up to redefine what centers can do. Not limited to scoring and defending in the paint, Anthony’s range enables him to extend his skill set to the full court, making and blocking shots at the rim or taking and challenging jumpers from midrange and three.
While Davis is the ultimate unicorn in game of basketball, his preference to play power forward rather than deal with the physicality and banging of playing center full time has dominated the Lakers’ roster building efforts. From last year’s tandem of JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard to this year’s hybrid duo of Marc Gasol and Montrezl Harrell and recent signing of Andre Drummond, the Lakers have struggled to find a center to pair with Davis.
Rather than trying to accommodate his preference to play power forward, maybe the Lakers should focus on figuring out how to optimize Anthony Davis superstar potential by empowering him to play center all of the time.
EMPOWERING DAVIS TO PLAY CENTER
Is Davis not wanting to play center blasphemous or simply recognition centers in the modern NBA have evolved into a multi-positional players who have to be versatile enough to able to play and defend the four and the five?
Let’s be honest. It’s not that Anthony Davis doesn’t want to play the five. He just doesn’t want to be tied down to playing ‘old school,’ low post basketball where he doesn’t have freedom to utilize his full skill set as a modern center. He just doesn’t want to have to bang in the paint and defend bigger physical centers, which is something the Lakers could address like they did in the playoffs last year when Davis played the five and Markieff Morris the four.
If center is Davis’ best position and the Lakers are at their best when he plays center, shouldn’t the priority then be to figure out how to make that work rather than futilely chasing different options to replace him at center? Traditional centers who clog the paint on offense and lack the mobility to switch and rotate on defense are not the answer as the Lakers found with McGee and Howard last year and Drummond, Gasol, and Harrell this year.
The Lakers’ goal should be to free Anthony Davis to play the five. The only ways to unleash his potential is to go small and pair him with a stretch 4 power forward who can defend like Markieff Morris or even LeBron James.
AD MUST PLAY CENTER IN PLAYOFFS
Regardless of the addition of Andre Drummond and the desire to limit AD’s minutes at the five, the Lakers are going to need Anthony Davis to play the center close to half of the time if they hope to repeat as NBA champions.
The Lakers’ likely playoff opponents are the Denver Nuggets, Utah Jazz, LA Clippers, and Brooklyn Nets, which means Anthony Davis’ likely center opponents are Nikola Jokic, Rudy Gobert, Ivica Zubac, and Blake Griffin. None of these are centers whose physicality and banging in the post should deter Anthony Davis from defending them and all of them are centers who’ll struggle mightily to defend Davis outside of the paint or from deep.
Anthony Davis and the Lakers need to realize that limiting the minutes that he plays center is the last thing they should be doing in the playoffs. They need to be strategizing how to get Davis more minutes at center not less. Playing Davis at the four with Drummond, Gasol, or Harrell at the five only weakens the Lakers defensively as none of their three centers are elite rim protectors and Drummond and Harrell lack the ability to space the floor.
Going big doesn’t work when none of your bigs can protect the rim or rotate quickly enough to play the aggressive defense Vogel prefers. The Lakers need to change gears and look to go small in the playoffs with AD at the five.
The Lakers efforts to accommodate Anthony Davis’ desire to play the four are threatening to undermine the Los Angeles Lakers’ chances to repeat as NBA champions because none of the centers on the roster complement AD.
If the Lakers are going to win the championship, they need to abandon the mistaken idea that Andre Drummond, Marc Gasol, or Montrezl Harrell will be capable of giving them what they need from the center position to win. Anybody watching this team can tell you right now that Drummond, Gasol, and Harrell don’t have the defensive mind set or skill sets the Lakers need. Anthony Davis is going to have to play center if the Lakers want to win.
While Anthony Davis may not want to play big minutes at center, the Lakers are going to need him to do that in the playoffs this year just like last year. The sooner they realize this and make the needed adjustments, the better. Should that mean that the Lakers go small with Davis at the five and James, Morris, and/or Kuzma at the four, then so be it. The Lakers are not going to win the championship with Drummond, Gasol, or Harrell at the five.
Anthony Davis playing center is the key to the Lakers winning their 18th NBA championship and Davis joining Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Wilt Chamberlain and becoming the next great Lakers’ center.
My biggest concern as the Lakers enter the stretch run for the regular season and prepare for the playoffs is not Anthony Davis’ or LeBron James’ health. It’s the Lakers apparent plans to minimize the minutes Anthony Davis plays at the five.
Frankly, I’m worried that the Lakers are so dead set on not having Davis play center they’re going to put the team’s championship hopes on some combination of Andre Drummond, Marc Gasol, and Montrezl Harrell being able to hold down the center position so Anthony Davis does not have to play the five.
Anybody who understands the game can see via the simple eye test that Drummond at the five is not going to be a winning move in the playoffs. Regardless of who else the Lakers put on the floor, Drummond is like a fish out of the water trying to play D. He’s always out of position, unable to protect the rim, and a step late. And Gasol and Harrell are not that much better.
The sooner the Lakers realize this, the better their chances of making the right adjustments, which would be playing Davis at the five with Markieff Morris or even LeBron James at the four. That’s they only way the Lakers are going to repeat as champs.
I’m hoping Frank sees this already and once we get into the playoffs, we’ll see a repeat of last year when first McGee and then Howard got benched and we went with AD at the five. Drummond, Gasol, and Harrell will get minutes when there’s a good matchup but generally the Lakers need to go small in the playoffs with Anthony Davis at the five.
If that means abandoning the idea of Drummond being a difference maker or benching Harrell entirely, then so be it. If that mean AD plays 50% of his time at the five like last year, then so be it. That’s the only way the Lakers are going to win this year.
If the Lakers want to find a center who can complement Davis, they need to trade for a player like Myles Turner, Christian Wood, or Chris Boucher and stop the stupid annual Rent-a-Center campaigns that only screw up the defense and clog the paint for LeBron and AD. Time to get smart and find a modern stretch center who complements Anthony Davis.
I am with there LT!
I think that regular season issues are not necessarily post-season issues. Rotations shrink in order to better match up rather than find guys minutes so that they feel like they’re a part of the team. This was proved beyond a doubt last season. I think Frank will play the matchup game.
Add ‘Kieff to the tilt-a-whirl at center. Or rather the roulette wheel. Could be a different combo of guys every round to get it done. I take Frank at his word that he intends to use all three guys, he used all his centers in various rounds of the playoffs last time around and I haven’t seen or heard anything that alters that perception for me.
Lastly Davis is already “great”. He’s won NBA accolades, made big time NBA money and has the ring of a champion to prove it. Few sport the resume’ he has already amassed and no amount of fans critiquing or the media denigrating the team based on injury will change his greatness. Because he is unwilling to play a label does not reduce what he has done already and what he has yet to do.
Let us remember the extraordinary circumstances under which this season is being played, specifically by the Lakers and Heat. 71 days between the last game of the NBA Finals and the first game of this season. 3 or 4 day stays in cities because of the schedule. Compressed to the point of breaking. If it weren’t for the injuries we’ve suffered we would be sitting at 1-3 and be nitpicking the role-players who let us down in close games. Had it not been for Hill rolling into LeBron we would still be a top 4 team.
So I don’t think this season has any more affect on Davis and his greatness than Kawhi missing a season plus with a torn quad or forcing his way out of San Antonio, or Shaq’s “rehabbing on company time” or Magic’s bum hamstring against Detroit or any number of players who came up with injuries that greatly affected their team. Great players are great because of what they accomplish on the court, not because of what fans decide off of it.
I agree with Jamie. Frank will use AD at 5 based on matchups…just like last year. AD signed long term with the Lakers because of their commitment to playing him at the 4 during the regular season and adjusting accordingly in the playoffs. The Lakers have a long history of taking care of their players especially superstars. It would be very concerning for them to tell AD one thing to get him to sign and then flip the script. As far as Kareem, Wilt, Shaq…those are totally different players. All were very durable. That’s not how I would describe AD. It doesn’t take away from his greatness it just means he’s a different type of player.
Chiming in to agree with Jamie. Saving Davis from the long haul pounding of playing 5 during the regular season is a luxury the Lakers enjoy and smartly utilize. Versatility is also a strength of this team and I expect Vogel will adjust lineups according to match ups in the playoffs, with Davis shifting to 5 as needed. I look forward to watching this team at full strength. Cheers!