Anthony Davis Discussion: That's Why They Pay Me The Big Bucks

#hurtful

 

where was the Def on Jokic?

 

love it when the scrubs talk. look up bruce brown's production when he's not playing off jokic.

also, watch jokic try to defend AD without help. goes even worse than the other way.

 

It's not like AD stopped Jokic but Nikola scored less than 25 in 2 of the 4 games

The only mistake AD did was to not say to the coaching staff : don't double I'm fine.

The series was over as soon as the Lakers coaching staff decided to double Jokic one pass away , which was in Q1 of Game 1

Bruce Brown and KCP had their best playoffs series offensively against us in this postseason , something was definetely wrong when it comes to defending these 2 on our side

 

How as AD's defense the problem against Denver? The problem was not Jokic scoring on AD but when AD was on Jokic the Lakers couldn't have AD roam and protect the rim.

Defensively the issues were caused by offensive problems (can't play Vando because he's atrocious on offense, Dlo not doing well enough on offense to make up for his bad, AD missing bunnies in game 2) and Schroeder being too small for Murray. Reaves and Lebron actually did well on Murray but it was a two way problem - those two also had to be great on offense

 

Our game plan was bad and so was our execution. I also think our team exhaled too soon after beating the Warriors. On top of that Denver played their best ball possible. We have awhile now to figure out our strategy for Jokic and adjust our roster. We need one big defender that is agile enough to stay between Jokic and the basket. Harass him and block out. No crazy doubles and leave AD free to do what he does better than anyone. As it stands now Denver will be our only real challenge and the odds of them putting together two series like that against isn't good. We will be better. The east is a disaster built for the regular season. The teams there are all seriously flawed for seven game series. The heat doing what they did shows just how bad the east is.

 

AD had to cover for our weak guard defense. How did you guys miss that? It was pretty evident from the Memphis series.

 

The West is overrated..I said that a month into the season. I don't have Conference loyalty of any kind. A bunch of mediocre teams in the West this season. That's great for us, might not last long though.

 

Just long enough to win a championship or two...lol.

 

I think you're being too cocky. We were 13th in the West for most than half of the season. We definitely have the tools to be the best in the West, but that's because we stroke gold in the Russ trade. It's not easy to have such a complete team as we have. But I agree with you that we should capitalize next year

 

I don't know Ham was not good against Denver but the Lakers just seemed a piece or two away. One more reliable big and put KCP on the Lakers and it would have been a sweep the other way.

Frustrating as the Lakers seemed to have an answer 95% of the time and just could finish the deal.

 

wrong thread, but if denver shot like they did against miami in game 1, we'd have swept them.

anyway, AD wasn't the problem, and bruce brown is pat beverley.

 

Too many people to quote everyone but I do agree AD is asked to do too much. As good a defender as he is (in my opinion the best defender in the league) he can't cover the entire court and make up for everything. It has to be exhausting which may explain the up and down efforts on offense. That is why I always advocate for complete players. If you have guys really good on defense but suck so bad on offense they can't play. What good is that? Or you can turn that around. Vando and Dlo are both regular season players until they prove otherwise. There is some situational value in that but if your not having to change your roster for every situation it is hard to build continuity and chemistry. If you have the right guys coaches are changing strategies for different teams but not always switching rosters. I know we have a lot of pecking order and paying your dues people on her but I'm not one of them. I want the three most complete players out there giving support to Lebron and AD while our window is still open. For me that is picking from Austin, Max, Rui, Dlo fits most of the time. I kind of throw Wenyen in there too. Not a great three point shooter but he is active and can't be ignored completely. DS is in my undecided folder still.

 

Not sure what I'm being too cocky about...lol. The only team better than us right now is Denver. Credit to them but I still think they played over their heads and we definitely underperformed. I am very confident in our core but I am expecting some roster turnover. If you look deeper it was pretty good but not as deep as it first seemed. Vando is very limited, Dlo you can't count on, Malik fell off the map, DS comes and goes, Mo was too injured to really know what we have. It was great and deep compared to our original roster which made it look better than it was. Still comes down to us putting the right support players around Lebron, AD and Austin. Austin will be a driving force for us next season while we try to walk the line of getting a top four or five seed while keeping Lebron and AD healthy. I'm putting a lot of faith in Rui and Max being part of that core. I also think AD's bad luck is over and he will have a relatively healthy season. I got renewed respect for Lebron playing the way he did while being injured. Maybe I am being cocky but I prefer saying confident...lol.

 

i doubt AD's injuries are behind him. he's just a guy who gets hurt, like a lot of other star players. we just have to hope we get him for 60 games-ish and the playoffs. same with lebron. we should be able to build a team that can comfortably make the playoffs under those circumstances and again be a threat for a title next year.

that said, we should be looking for durable players for the 3-6 slots on the roster.

 

I'm hoping that AD managing to stay healthy from February through the end of the playoffs helps him for next season. Based on absolutely no scientific or medical knowledge at all, I feel like part of the problem over the last couple of years was that he was getting hurt so frequently that he couldn't ever get himself to "mid-season form". He'd tweak something, miss like 10 games, play 15 games then hurt something else, miss 15 games, etc. He finally got some extended time on the court and now some real rest, so hopefully he'll be in a good spot physically to start next year.

 

i didn't like what i read about his foot. just seems like something that's never going away. but i do agree that at least he was able to stay on the floor for a few months, and that if he can pick it up again when the season starts, we might see some of that rhythm that helps him get his jumper to fall.

 

One of these will be true

 

it's going to be very interesting. i feel like we'll try to lock him up to something short of the full years, maybe three with a player option on the third or something. but tbh, i think a lot depends on how next season goes and what lebron's thinking. if he's going to hang them up, AD may choose to go elsewhere, too.