Anthony Davis: How the Lakers can fix The Brow

To the surprise of many - and expectation of many others - the 1-seed Los Angeles Lakers fell down zero games to one against the 8-seed Portland Trailblazers. LeBron James was dazzling, putting up 23 points, 17 rebounds, and 16 assists. Anthony Davis struggled. He shot just 8-24 from the field (in honor of Kobe), including 0-5 from three. The rest of the Lakers were bad, but given his prominence and ability, Davis underwhelmed most.

The Lakers are misusing Davis. They have been all season. The career 31.9% three-point shooter is chucking up a career-high number of threes. He stands around the arc and stands still. He doesn’t dominate the post the way he has in the past, whether it’s scoring, defense, or rebounding. His unwillingness to play center in favor of power forward has handcuffed his play style and success.

The best basketball Anthony Davis has ever played came in 2018 for the New Orleans Pelicans, after All-NBA center DeMarcus Cousins went down for the season. The Pelicans acquired three-point bombing power forward Nikola Mirotic. Davis became the de facto center, and his offense and defense improved.

Additionally, the Pelicans’ second best player and primary playmaker, Jrue Holiday, improved. As good as Cousins was - he was the best center in the NBA that season - two big men is just not sustainable minutes in today’s NBA, unless they have ample mobility, perimeter, and playmaking skills. Nikola Jokic and Paul Millsap get away with it in Denver, but most teams cannot. Teams like the Nuggets are exceptions that prove the rule.

JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard are microcosms of the traditional, clunky big: tethered to the rim and unable to pass or handle the ball. Portland’s Jusuf Nurkic overmatches them both. Cousins was much better than either of these Lakers, but the sentiment remains: a center next to Davis clogs the lane, adds an opposing rim protector, and takes away the spacing of an additional guard or wing. The Pelicans swapped out the Association’s best center for Mirotic’s 15 and 8 and got better.

Pelicans record with Cousins/before Mirotic: 27-23

Pelicans record after: 21-11

They also went on to sweep these same Portland Trailblazers as the 6-seed. No other 6-seed (or lower) has swept their opponent since the first round went to seven games in 2003. And the Pelicans did it without arguably their best player.

Fast forward to this season with the Lakers.

Davis plays 35 minutes per game. 14.4 of those are with JaVale McGee on the court. 7.3 are with Dwight Howard on the court. The trio have never played at the same time (thankfully), which means Davis plays 63% of his minutes with a true center on the floor. The 37% without, when he’s the center, are when he plays his best.

Davis’ numbers without a center on the floor:

14 minutes: 12.0 points, 4.3 FTA, 54.5 FG%, 37.1 3PT%, 58.3 eFG%, 66.5 TS%, 1.3 blocks

With a center on the floor:

21 minutes: 14.1 points, 4.2 FTA, 48.2 FG%, 31.8 3PT%, 50.5 eFG%, 56.9 TS%, 1.0 blocks

-That True Shooting percentage would lead the entire NBA.

-That eFG% would be fifth in the NBA among 20 PPG scorers.

-If he kept that block rate, he would put up 5.65 blocks a game. That’s more than all but four teams in the NBA.

-He shoots 50% more free throws.

-His usage increases by 3% without McGee or Howard, but his turnover rate actually decreases by the tiniest of margins.

This difference matters so much because Davis plays almost a third of his minutes with LeBron off the court. The Lakers’ net rating drops a staggering 11 points when AD has LeBron on the court with him vs when he doesn’t (+8.0 to -3.0).

Davis is far and away the Lakers’ best player with LeBron resting. He has to improve that -3.0. The Lakers have to play around him the way the Pelicans did. Taking a center off the floor and unleashing him down low is the way to do it.

The Lakers as a team are currently 11th in the NBA in pace. Davis at center lineups play at a 106.8 pace. That would lead the NBA. Those Pelicans I talked about earlier? They led the NBA in pace.

The Jrue Holiday bit I mentioned earlier holds up with LeBron as well. LeBron gets better and the duo - as well as the team - become more successful without a center.

When LeBron and AD play at the same time WITH Dwight or JaVale, the Lakers’ net rating is +5.8. When LeBron and AD play at the same time WITHOUT Dwight or JaVale, the Lakers’ net rating is +12.6. The first place net rating in the NBA is Milwaukee’s +9.4. Second place is half of +12.6: a +6.3.

Obviously neither of them can play all 48 minutes. But if their supporting cast, which is very bad, continues to be very bad, then they need to do as much damage as possible with their superstars.

LeBron is plenty successful with both centers, and the Lakers need that rebounding when Davis is off the floor. But the playoffs shrink rotations, and put more of the load on your go-to guys. Anthony Davis is more than just a standard star; he’s a top ten player on the planet. Coach Frank Vogel needs to recognize what maximizes him so that he can carry the load.