The new season has not yet begun, and Anthony Davis has felt the burden on his shoulders as heavy as a mountain.
In July, the Lakers’ new coach Ham said in an interview that Davis would be the core part of the Lakers’ championship lineup, and everything for the Lakers began with him.
In August, famous Chris Haines broke the news. When LeBlanc James interviewed Pelinka and ham, Hamming said that he planned to attack Davis, and James also agreed.
In September, The Athletic reported that The Lakers management believed that Davis’s performance and attendance were The most critical factors for The Lakers to make a difference in The new season.
For three months, the Lakers have been sending a signal to the outside world: James is about to be 38 years old, and Davis should prepare to take over as the team’s attack arrow. For Davis, this is an excellent opportunity to reprove himself and compete with the world’s heroes. The only question is, how can Davis do it and whether he can do it?
Davis wants to be the core of the Lakers attack, not to increase the usage rate of the ball without brain. Under heavy load, Davis can’t hold up. It requires self-discipline and luck. This is what Davis has not had in the past two seasons. It is still unknown whether there is any new season.
At the same time, Davis needs the support of suitable teammates, which Davis did not have last season. Judging from the current lineup of the Lakers, the Lakers still do not have enough suitable players to help Davis unlock the strongest firepower in the new season.
In the 2019-20 season when the Lakers won the championship, Davis helped the Lakers win the championship with an attendance rate of 86%, a real hit rate of player efficiency rating in the playoffs of 29.6 and a real hit rate of 66.5 percent. Although the Lakers lineup at that time had defects, the overall lineup was beneficial to Davis’s play. James took the first position in the town to coordinate the overall situation. Pop, kurzma and so on were able to cast defense. The fifth positions Mackey and Howard served as the meat shield and the end point of the basket. Davis’s attack end could “eat cakes”, you can also use space to attack when playing number five. Just caught up with Davis’s best performance in his career, and Davis was held to the top five of the league at that time.
The performance of the Davis Pelican era and the performance of the first year of the lake era prove that it takes several prerequisites for “full eyebrow” to appear: organizers with attack threats and “feeding cakes, the defender who can defend three points, the meat shield Center (when Davis played the fourth position), and the space Type 4 (when Davis played the fifth position).
After all, Davis needs defensive teammates to join hands with him on the defensive end. No ball on the offensive end requires passer + space, and only space is needed to play the ball.
Last season’s Lakers failed to meet Davis’s needs, and the new season’s Lakers did not have this condition.
Last season, Davis scored 0.99 points per round in the low attack, the highest record in his career. His strong attack at the low level was still extremely destructive, but why did Davis’s overall efficiency decline? In addition to the decline in the hit rate of free throws and the hit rate of the center, another major reason is that “eating bread” is not enough.
Davis’s score plummeted to 1.06 points per round in receive the ball after the split, compared with 1.28 points in 2019-20 and 1.11 points in 2020-21.
After blocking and removing, “eating cake” is Davis’s main attack method. Keweishao is not Yang Shaoxia and Harden who can feed their inner partners to spit, the lack of projection ability directly restricts weishao’s ability to “feed cakes. In the same way, Harden, Yang Shaoxia, etc. can attract the passing after bag clip, so that the inner partner can be empty, and the inner partner can make relieve a garrison, so that the inner partner can go to the basket, misplace, play small, however, what Wei Shao hit the block and split appeared was Qijing. The two block and split defenders all contracted to the basket to attack Davis.
The Lakers signed Schroeder again, which is equivalent to stocking up two nannies to feed Davis. However, judging from the cooperation effect between Schroeder and Davis in the 2020-21 season, schroder’s “feeding cake” is not much better than WEI. His shooting feel falls in Oklahoma City, and his passing vision is insufficient due to his height. That season, not only did Davis’s attack efficiency decline receive the ball after the demolition, but Harrell’s killing was also abolished.
There are also several data that worried Davis and the Lakers: in the 2020-21 season, when Schroder and Davis were present at the same time, Davis’s shooting rate in the basket was 5% lower than Schroder’s absence. In the 2021-22 season, Wei Shao and Davis were present at the same time. Davis’s basketball shooting rate was 3% lower than that of Wei Shao. Simply put, when weishao and Schroeder are present, the end efficiency of Davis’s basket will decrease.
After Monk left the Lakers, the Lakers who could still put two tables of mahjong in the back court were actually the most suitable one to break down with Davis. Last season, he was reimbursed for injuries, however, he passed the ball very well after the last season of the heat. The Shield Shield man who cooperated with him got 1.103 points per round after receive the ball, with a hit rate of as high as%, the error rate is only 4.4%.
In the most ideal situation, the new season naen returned to health and blood. Davis kept healthy and recovered the state of killing God. However, the Lakers still had one condition to help Davis unlock the strongest firepower: the shooters.
During the off-season this year, the Lakers held the special case of mini middle class and the basic salary of a bunch of veterans, with limited recruitment resources. The Lakers focused on those young, athletic and defensive players with excavation space. After signing the contract and trading, the pressure on Davis’s defensive side was reduced a lot, but the pressure on the offensive side did not drop but rose. At present, only James and Beverly hit three points in the Lakers last season higher than the league average, and the shooter resource reserve is seriously insufficient. The Lakers couldn’t open the space. Every time Davis broke down, he would face the contraction defense that brought him much resistance, he can only bet on whether he can get back the hit rate of the forced winning season.
In general, the Lakers are now facing a series of undissolvable sets. The Lakers intend to establish Davis as the core of the attack, but the resource reserve is not conducive to Davis’s play. Heavy load may lead to an increase in Davis’s probability of injury.
Of course, Davis needs to maintain self-discipline, lose weight and recover his body shape, which is one of the prerequisites for his new season. Another premise is that the Lakers quickly set up a team suitable for Davis, which can stimulate its strongest combat capability.
The operation of the Lakers’ off-season is still not over. It is reported that the Lakers are still bargaining with jazz and other teams, but there is not much time left for the Lakers to operate before the start of the season. If the Lakers enter the new season with the current lineup, even if Davis remains healthy, he may not be able to play the production and efficiency that meet the definition of “offensive core.