Anthony Davis Discussion: Thanks For The Ring AD!!!

I forgive you man.

 

The AD trade was an outstanding move. It brought us a championship. There isn't another player of his caliber likely to be available for at least a couple more years. Everyone witnessed last season, that even a hobbled AD destroyed Phoenix. The guy elevates his game in the playoffs. He is a dominant player during the regular season. At 28 years old, that's a guy I want to keep at all costs. I'm just as frustrated with his recent injuries as anyone, but Abeer has a very valid point. Lebron threw a guy into his legs, and he landed on another player's foot. That's not enough for me to give up on him, and want him moved. I still think that the medical staff made a poor decision last season, and opted for him to play through his Achilles pain to start the season. It cost them their jobs IMO. I also believe that Anthony has to be smarter with his off season training regime. Trying to bulk up in order to play 5, knowing that he wasn't going to be able, to do a lot of lower leg work, due to rehabbing his Achilles, wasn't a great idea. Hopefully this is just a bad streak of luck. Honestly, he only missed a few games for the most part in New Orleans, he was always available for the playoffs, his team just usually sucked and they didn't make it.

 

I agree 100% with this take. This is a problem less than excellent coaches have with guys like LeBron. Love him or hate him, Mr Eleven Rings Forced both Kobe and Shaq to play within a structured system that took them both time to adjust to and to master. You had your superstars and bench warmers all dialed in to playing the same way- like the game is supposed to be played.
Aside from the injuries, over the past two years we’ve had pieces that just don’t fit together. You add on top of that the fact that there is no real offensive system in place other than a few basic sets and we get an inferior product.
Some of our problems come from LeBron and AD spending too much time in street clothes, but I’m placing a lot of blame on poor roster construction.
As for me calling for AD to be traded, that was just blowing of steam. However, I still fear that based on his health track record, moving forward with him as the centerpiece to the Franchise is a big gamble. I’m not sold on him being durable enough to make us relevant again, but I don’t have a path laid to suddenly get there. I think we do have enough assets so that the turnaround doesn’t last nearly a decade.
I will settle for our FO just making smart decisions with building out a winning product.

 

No way! That LT guy is a total jerkwad

 

depends on the injury, but yes, i'd be more inclined to say that there's something special about AD and injuries if he misses another 30 games or whatever.

i just don't get why klay thompson, joel embiid, paul george, and kawhi leonard don't have mr. glass memes and AD does. beal's going to miss as many games this year, too, right?

absolutely. this is why my hope is he opts in. it's probably our only path. bad timing for us.

 

I could see Beal wanting to go to Boston as his preferred destination. They could probably have him for Brown and Smart. I don't know if that makes the C Bags any better though. Why does Golden State even need Bradley Beal? It seems like they could get a better fit for their team with a 4/5 to eventually replace Draymond.

 

We'd still need a solid PG and another decent 4/5. It's a workable framework.

 

Let me ask a question for all you ballers out there that feel / felt you get / got around the floor quickly and well on offense and defense at your level of play. Pull some % figure off top of your head how much that mobility would be diminished if wearing a high quality supportive pair of high tops? With good tape jobs to at least diminish the angle of ankle rolls. Practically none of these guys do so I guess every 1 % at that level counts. But you even see these guys get in some friction on the floor, with others at least I would hope, and step right out of their damn shoes. They're not even tied tightly enough.

 

Well..a little fodder on the subject.

https://runrepeat.com/guides/high-top-low-top-basketball-shoes

 

I honestly couldn’t even do this exercise because every time I play, it’s in high tops.
With shoe technology these days, I just don’t see an excuse for a pro to not wear something that will strengthen their ankles. It’s the most common injury suffered in the game. I just don’t get as to why every pro wouldn’t do everything possible to strengthen one of the most at risk parts of their body. I don’t buy the “they just aren’t comfortable” excuse when a lot of these guys have groups of people designing them custom designed sneaks.

 

The science says that it doesn't make any meaningful difference.

 

Okay, based on this study, they concluded that high tops don’t decrease the likelihood of an ankle sprain. It would be interesting to find out the difference in severity and length of recovery from a sprain between low and highs.

 

Yeah, I just read it after my post. Newer data is definitely better than that from the 1970s.

 

I think Lakers and AD have 2022-2023 to prove to each other whether their marriage can work long term

 

Thank you.

 

I had also forgotten that AD has a player option in his final year.

So say Lebron decides to leave in free agency after next season. At that point, we really only have one more guaranteed year of AD as he’s basically on a 1+1.

So does anyone here have confidence that within that one year, we could properly retool around AD and build a contender that he’d want to stick around with long term? Does anyone have the confidence that AD would even WANT that, to get penciled in as the long term #1 guy for the Lakers, or would he prefer a more comfortable position without all that pressure? Is anyone willing to take the risk that AD plays one year in the post-Bron era and then decides to decline his player option and walk in free agency leaving us with nothing?

I’m staring to convince myself more and more that once the Lebron era is over, so is the AD era.

 

AD opting out of his PO is not a forgone conclusion. He's so injury prone that I wouldn't be surprised if no team offers him another long term max deal at the age 31.

 

Shh... he's the unicorn. You don't question the unicorn.

 

So, injury exception?