2022-23 Team Developments: News / Trades / Free Agents / Rumors

but that doesn't stop condemnations of our offseason centering on him.

and i respect svtzr very much, but we disagree on how much one should value a guy who balled out and then didn't play for two years.

 

I liked TJ too, but Nash says he won't be reassessed until November. That would have caused another mini meltdown around these parts.

 

Strongly disagree with the thought that guys can’t be critical of moves made, staff, or players. It’s a forum. There should always be a mix of thoughts. As long as it’s basketball and Lakers related, pointing our pros and cons of the team should be fair game.

Could the team overcome the issues and do well? Yes and I feel confident saying most posters want to see that happen. Doesn’t make the concerns any less valid.

 

Warren was way too tall for us to sign.

 

Who were these tall guys we could have signed though? Give me a few examples of guys that we missed out on.

 

On a positive note, I am glad to see Nunn out there. I liked the signing last year and can see him helping us if he’s healthy

 

#sarcasm

 

Melo still available

 

I think someone will bring him in. He can still score in limited minutes.

 

https://www-silverscreenandroll-com...anthony-davis-pace-thomas-bryant-damian-jones

 

You have to copy and paste this.

What's wrong with you? I can't afford a subscription.

 

Our roster was so bad last year.

 

Yeah, Nunn can help, a lot.

Hope he stays healthy.

 

EL SEGUNDO, Calf. – The biggest adjustment for Anthony Davis over the first two days of Lakers training camp has been learning to do less, not more, defensively.

As one of the game’s premier defenders and a perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate, Davis’ instinct is to help his teammates when opponents drive and to try to block any and every shot attempt in his vicinity. But the 29-year-old center is discovering that’s not his responsibility in new coach Darvin Ham’s defensive system.

“It’s more of a Milwaukee system how they have the bigs back in the paint,” Davis said at practice Tuesday. “For me, I’m more up on the ball, ‘Let me affect the play.’ So that’s the biggest difference for me. It’s something that I’m trying to transition to. … Not helping as much. Letting the guys on the ball do their thing. … Staying out of plays when it’s not my assignment.”

Ham is implementing a similar scheme to the one that helped the Milwaukee Bucks become of the league’s best defenses over the past few years and, ultimately, win the 2021 championship. The coverage calls for Davis to drop back against pick-and-rolls, playing what Ham dubs “centerfield” defense. The Lakers are looking to force contested 2-point jump shots – the least efficient shots in the game – and limit points allowed in the paint, as well as control 3-point looks.

Ham is still figuring out how best to build his defense around Davis, who will be its centerpiece. Davis’ length, athleticism, instincts and IQ allow Ham to shapeshift his coverages in ways most coaches can only dream.

“I mean, just his ability to be back,” Ham said. “… He can do that, protect the rim. He can also get up and move his feet. We’ll definitely have a package in our pick-and-roll defense where it requires us to ‘red’ – you know, switch. And we’re more than comfortable with him switching onto smaller players.”

go-deeper
GO DEEPER

Lakers slide into training camp with film sessions, focus on defense

Ham’s system uses different terminology than former coach Frank Vogel’s to call out coverages on the floor, which has been another adjustment for Davis after he grew used to the communication the Lakers used the past three seasons. Davis has been curious in his conversations with Ham, constantly asking his coach questions to better grasp the new scheme.

“Just the terminology, just different scenarios where he’s been asking questions,” Ham said. “He’s great about that. Like, you can see the eagerness in his eyes. Like, he wants to learn. He wants to be on the same page with everyone else in terms of how we communicate those coverages.”

Davis, like the rest of the team, wants the 2022-23 Lakers to be better than their 2021-22 predecessors, who ranked 21st in points allowed per 100 possessions.

Anthony Davis contests a 3-pointer
Anthony Davis expects to play in a deeper drop this season. Photo: Meg Oliphant / Getty Images Sports
For that to happen, Davis needs to play in more than 40 of the 82 games. Davis’ goal this season is to play all 82, which would top his career-high of 75 games played, which he accomplished in back-to-back seasons in New Orleans (2016-17 and 2017-18).

“For me, I just want to be on the floor,” Davis said. “I want to be able to play all 82. And if I’m not, I don’t want it to be injury-based where I can’t play. That’s my goal. The more I’m on the floor, the more I can help my team and its chance of winning when I’m playing.”

Davis’ injuries have affected his play on both sides of the ball, as it has been difficult for him to get into a rhythm when he’s in and out of the lineup so frequently.

Additionally, Davis disclosed that his shooting struggles last season were exacerbated by a wrist injury he suffered in Philadelphia in January, though he said that didn’t excuse his 18.6-percent mark on 3s and career-low 71.3-percent performance at the free throw line.

“A lot of people don’t know this, but since January I was battling a wrist injury the whole year,” Davis said. “So it was affecting my shot and everything. That’s not an excuse but it was tough for me to shoot how I wanted to shoot. I couldn’t really follow through.”

Davis said he’s “100 percent healthy” now and has been shooting the ball well in practice from all three levels.

“I feel great,” Davis said. “You can ask guys around here, I’m really shooting the ball. So I think that was just the biggest thing. So I’ll be ready. Wherever coach puts me on the floor, mid-range, post, perimeter, if I’ve got a shot, I’m gonna shoot it.”

Even with all that went wrong for the Lakers last season, Davis believes the team could have given a better and more consistent effort defensively. The early focus in camp has been on a variety of defensive drills, with Ham even bringing in Ben Wallace, his close friend, former teammate and onetime Laker nemesis, to watch practice and impart some wisdom on the group.

The early feedback is encouraging. Patrick Beverley, who will be one of the unofficial defensive captions alongside Davis, said Tuesday that the team’s defense is ahead of its offense. Ham is still tinkering with his practice lineups, trying to find three-to-four lineup configurations that he can trust in the regular season.

With the additions of Beverley, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Troy Brown Jr., Dennis Schroder and Damian Jones, as well as the return of Davis, James and Austin Reaves, the Lakers have much better defensive talent than they had last season. But for them to make substantial defensive improvement, they need Davis healthy, manning the backline and helping when needed.

“I think in every defensive category we were in the bottom half, like 22 or lower,” Davis said. “And that’s something we can control every night. We can’t control the ball going in the basket. We can’t control winning or losses, but we can control ourselves competing every night on the defensive end. And that’s the one thing we want to get better at, it’s the one thing the coach is stressing more than ever – defense.”

“That’s why we have all these defensive stations in, really locking in defensively. We have enough guys on this team to be able to score the basketball. But, that doesn’t mean anything if you can’t get a stop.”

(Top photo: Petre Thomas / USA TODAY)

 

Never has a less true statement been said. If you hit that circle of air between the rim dead center every time when you shoot a 3 AD, the ball goes in every single time.

 

Offence is results based, defence is effort based. So they’re referring to the stoic principle that you can’t control the results but you can control your effort.

I really like the emphasis on defence. I honestly didn’t expect us to go in that direction again after Vogel but I’m happy we did. I think everyone enjoys watching a well drilled defensive team.

 

the most interesting things here to me were a) AD admitting that the role players' energy affects the stars (it's almost like...it matters who these guys are?) and b) the fact that ham's foci aren't much different than vogel's, he just has a better situation. to me, vogel's general plan was right: defend and get out in transition (our half court offense is doomed with russ as the third big piece). we just did neither of those last year because nobody cared and everyone was old.

maybe this year we get to see what last year was supposed to be.

 

2 things:

1. wasn't vogel a big preacher of drop coverage on pick and rolls and didn't the internet guys kill him about it?
2. curious to see how AD shoots it this year. if he can actually regain his form from a couple years ago, it will help in the planned offense.

 

I agree. But I also think Ham is a better communicator. Vogel seemed a bit passive sometimes and he got bended from players and the FO all the time.
Ham seems to be have a more alpha personality and his voice echoes more leadership and a clear path to success. It does help to have a better context, but the individual traits of each one also play a part