5 Ways Anthony Davis Can Improve Next Season
1. Strength:
Mar 25, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) drives between New Orleans Pelicans center Omer Asik (3) and forward Anthony Davis (23) during the second quarter of a game at the Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
I want to get this one out of the way quickly. Strength has been an issue for Davis since middle school, and it has its place as a valid area for him to improve upon.
Anyone with eyes can see that the league is moving away from bulldozing big men types, and encouraging a more swift and versatile style of play. On offense, I agree. I’m not interested in Davis devoting himself to becoming a strong post oriented scorer, but I think he needs strength on the defensive end.
AD is fantastic as a “free safety” type who covers the entire floor, but his rim protection numbers and low post defense aren’t elite quite yet. AD allowed 48.6% at the rim last season, and that’s largely due to getting bullied down low.
If Darren Erman wants to implement a complex rotation scheme, Davis needs to protect the floor and the rim. Right now Omer Asik can handle that area of the court, but as Davis ages and transitions into playing more and more center he will need to assume those responsibilities.
Davis is also a less than elite one-on-one post defender. He can murder you if you try to fade away or drive past him, but slowly backing him down until you can power-dribble to the basket is more effective than it should be.
Even more important, is pick and roll defense. Davis can switch and cover anyone from Demarcus Cousins to Steph Curry, but only when he gets past the screen. Occasionally, Davis can get caught on a screen from a bigger more bruising center and be forced to recover instead of preemptively shutting the play down.
Offseason reports have Davis reaching 253 lbs this summer, though the regular season and training camp always take 5-7 pounds off an NBA players body. Ideally, when Davis transitions into becoming a full-time center he should be 260-265 pounds during the season in order to fully maximize his defensive potential.
He’s on his way there though, once upon a time he looked like this…
Next: Passing