Speaking on the ‘KG Certified’ podcast, former NBA coach Doc Rivers spoke a bit about Lakers star Anthony Davis. In an interesting statement, Rivers compared Davis to a modern-day Scottie Pippen due to his defense and well-rounded skill set.
“I’ve been watching him,” Rivers said of Davis. “I look at AD (Davis) now, and I said, ‘AD is more Pippen.’ And we don’t understand that. AD won a national title scoring six points. He dominated defensively. Now he’s playing with a guy that is 1A, and he’s like, ‘You know what? I’m going to do what it takes.’ There are nights you want him to be more aggressive. But it has changed me a little bit on that, just watching him.”
Davis came to the Lakers from New Orleans, where he was unsuccessfully trying to lead a Pelicans team to a deep playoff run. Since coming to the Lakers, his stats and workload have taken a massive dip but he’s arguably a much better player as the sidekick, playing behind LeBron James in a more supportive role.
Inconsistency For Anthony Davis
This season, through 30 games, Davis is averaging 24.9 points, 12.3 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks on 54.8% shooting. It’s impressive numbers for the NBA veteran but he’s still got some room to improve in some areas. Perhaps the biggest problem of all with Davis is the fact that he can never stay consistent on the court. Besides missing games frequently due to injuries, the star big man isn’t always a reliable scorer and his up-and-down play has been a point of major frustration for the franchise.
But even with his flaws, Davis is still one of the best bigs in the game, and the Lakers will need him at his best if they want to make a run. At the very least, we know that he’ll show up defensively, where he ranks among the best in the league. It’s everything else that’s the problem, and fans are still unsure what to expect.
Lakers In The Hunt
Like Michael and Scottie all those years ago, LeBron James and Anthony Davis have the chance to do something special here. After winning the title in 2020, they cemented their place in Lakers history but they are not done yet. This season, at 17-15, the team still has a long way to go before they can compete with the contenders but the presence of the big two means that nobody can count them out entirely.
LeBron, who turned 39 years old on Saturday, is playing some of his best basketball in years and Davis isn’t too far behind with the way he’s been protecting the paint all season long. But for this team to reach its ultimate potential, Davis will have to take another leap, take the reigns of leadership from LeBron, and put the Lakers on his back just like he tried to with the Pelicans.
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