Many people believe that Anthony Davis should be the Lakers’ top offensive option over LeBron James, but Doc Rivers has encouraged AD to embrace his Scottie Pippen-like role as LeBron’s right-hand man.
“I’ve been watching him,” Rivers said of Davis on Showtime’s KG Certified. “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.”
Rivers went on to explain that he has changed the way he sees the Lakers big man, after spending the last 12 NBA seasons coaching against him.
“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,’” Rivers continued. “There are nights you want him to be more aggressive. But it has changed me a little bit on that, just watching him.”
No doubt Davis has been a solid contributor offensively for the Lakers, exampled by his crazy 41 points and 20 rebounds during the In-Season Tournament Finals.
But his impact on the defensive end is immense.
The 30-year-old is averaging 12.3 rebounds per night, the second best in the league, only 0.1 behind Nikola Jokic.
He is also in the top five for blocks as he averages 2.5 per game.
Lakers coach Darvin Ham said of Anthony Davis on Saturday, “He’s everything. He’s been elite. I don’t think it’s appreciated enough or highlighted enough. We’re nothing defensively without him.”
The new Lakers lineup has LeBron as the main ball-handler, which is how the team won their 2020 Championship and Davis himself thinks LeBron at the helm is the best option for the team.
“It’s always good things that happen when the ball is in his hands,” Davis said. “Obviously he’s an excellent, excellent passer. He can score the ball as well. He makes great reads. He’s a student of the game.
“He’s dissected this game for a long time so he’s seen every coverage and made a lot of great reads throughout his career. So every time we can get the ball in his hands and have him making those plays and those reads, it works out good for us.”
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