r/nba • u/PianoJealous307 • 14h ago
Anthony Davis says he asked Lakers to add another big man after feeling 'heavy' playing center: "I've always played weighing like 250 but that year I had got to like 265 because I had to go against Jokic and I didn't like it, I felt heavy. Then I said I wanted another big but it just didn't happen"
Q. You came in, you came in what, like 250, 260? Do you ever feel like adding the muscle really affected your shot or is that what just like placebo, people thinking that.
Anthony Davis: It does, man. Like the strength training I was doing cuz I knew I was playing center like I'm going against Joel Embiid, Jokic… it changes, right? And I never like I've always played like 250, 255. And that year I had got to like 265 and it was like I didn't like it. It actually probably like 268 and I didn't like it. I'm like, bro, I can't play like this. I feel heavy. So I tried to cut during the season but when like when you trying to do that while you playing this it was tough. And then that's when I went and was like hey man I want another big and all this stuff and you know it just didn't happen whatever.
Link of the interview: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pjaLHuX9CoY&t=1385s&pp=2AHpCpACAQ%3D%3D
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u/Aggrokid 14h ago
Isn't center Sarr like close to 225 lb? Plus Duren was asked to lose weight.
I have no idea what's the weight expectation for centers nowadays.
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u/dgvhjiiuyttrrffcvbjj 12h ago edited 12h ago
all this Sarr at Center stuff is just lip service to AD. AD is the center in every practical way. Bigger, stronger, rebounds better, worse shooting, etc. Similar to Chet and Hartenstein, or JJJ and all the centers he has played with.
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u/Troll_Enthusiast Wizards 8h ago
Postionless basketball after all, depends on the matchups
Also kinda similar to Mobley/Allen, but unlike those other duo's Sarr/AD are both great rim protectors
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u/Ilikesporks_ Lakers 13h ago
AD was around the same weight as that when he first got into the league. sarr is like 7'1 so it makes sense that he's not as big as prime AD after 2 seasons
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u/Adorable-Bike-9689 14h ago
Yea that weight clause on Duren's contract threw me off. He looks shredded for a big man. Tf could the Pistons have been after lol
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u/Worluvus NBA 13h ago
duren was slow as hell and still couldn't beat the thin duo of Mobley/Allen
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u/spirit9nueve Lakers 13h ago
For a player that can’t shoot for shit and relies on his quickness and athleticism, adding more muscle isn’t always a good thing
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u/ExpressionAlone5204 Thunder 10h ago
Ok but reducing muscle doesn’t necessarily make you quick.
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u/ripkin05 Hornets 13h ago
every time this gets brought up a piston fan says its because dude got to yorked and it killed all his mobility.
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u/ExpressionAlone5204 Thunder 10h ago
To be fair I can see that. Dub and Lu Dort were both more mobile when they were a bit lighter
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u/YSLAnunoby Raptors 13h ago
The issue is he added size to the point the Pistons think it was inhibitng his mobility. He was always a strong dude but when you get too heavy it can limit your speed and that's what they think happened
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u/PeregrineFaulkner Warriors 13h ago
I think it would be hilarious to find out that Trajan Langdon started sticking weight clauses in all his players’ contracts after dealing with Zion for years, and that Ausar just didn’t comment on his.
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u/MumrikDK 11h ago
Tf could the Pistons have been after lol
Just a lighter player. There's nothing complicated about this.
As far as we know it was a weight clause, not a body fat clause.
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u/YSLAnunoby Raptors 13h ago
Sarr I actually see some similarities with what he can possibly do on D with guys like Jonathan Isaac, Jaren and even AD as a mobile guy who's a rim protector. Bigger than Isaac of course both height and weight wise and a better rebounder than Jaren even if worse than AD. But I definitely think in a way that's not dissimilar to Wemby who has a similar build to Sarr, they are banking on keeping light to rotate more while they have enough length to still contest the rim even if they take the bump in the chest. One thing to note is that Sarr is still heavier than Chet even at a similar height and younger (though Chet plays more at the 4 and is a better shooter to play it)
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u/Asleep_Ground1710 Bulls 14h ago
For spacing purposes I get it, outside of the Bubble AD’s jumper has never been consistent
And like also the center market has been garbage for a while now, so acquiring good center talent is hard since the good ones are pricey or untouchable. And the backups/one avaible on the market have significant flaws to them
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u/Matt_k_Matt 14h ago
This is so true, but i remember AD complaining about the physicality of playing center when he was still on the pelicans. His whole career he was fighting the league telling him to be a center
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u/flashwing19 Lakers 13h ago
This is true. AD at 4 is a cheat code. Look at the bubble or playing with Cousins in NOLA. It unlocks something in him. The NBA is like that stubborn dad that doesn’t give a shit and keeps trying to groom him the way they want lol.
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u/TippyTripod1040 Lakers 13h ago
It’s only a cheat code if he hits his shots though
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u/NotADeadTurtle Lakers 13h ago
You are only thinking offensively, defensively unlocks him more. Him as a roaming rim defender, he would usually just guard a non shooter and disrupt every drive. AD as help 4 was a cheat code, having Dwight and McGee have their sole focus as bothering bigs like Jokic frees up AD.
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u/TippyTripod1040 Lakers 12h ago
Right but the way that those teams struggled to score in the half court with two of the five best players in the league was criminal
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u/va1us_taaurc Supersonics 12h ago
The Lakers won with AD at the 4. You have Lakers flair. What are you arguing about lol.
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u/TippyTripod1040 Lakers 9h ago
Yes and what happened with AD’s shot during the title run? Was he shooting sub 40% on jump shots in the bubble like he did the next year?
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u/bigmikeabrahams Wizards 6h ago
AD may have started at the 4 during the final run, but he played the majority of his minutes at the 5. For instance, Dwight played just 71 minutes across 6 games in the NBA finals
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u/Mdgcj1421 12h ago
That was when AD had a jump shot. The whole point is if he can shoot, he’s best at the 4. But since the bubble he hasn’t been able to shoot. It’s like you’re not even reading the comments you’re replying to
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u/Bobbith_The_Chosen [POR] Damian Lillard 8h ago
What made you think he’s arguing lol he’s just pointing out why that couldn’t work forever. Lol
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u/MstrNixx Raptors 13h ago
If he’s leaner his shot is more fluid, so it all tracks
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u/TippyTripod1040 Lakers 13h ago
I just mentioned this in another comment but in the season right after the bubble we had plenty of centers and he couldn’t hit a shot to save his life
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u/MstrNixx Raptors 13h ago
Honestly, for teams that made deep playoff runs in 2020, that 2021 season was always gonna be a wash. I chalk it up to just pure exhaustion. And I did at the time too. No way that turnaround was sustainable. It’s a reasonable bad variance season in my humble opinion.
I think the lakers saw that version of AD on short rest, and proceeded to mould him into a centre going forward making it so that shot would always be a little botched with that extra weight. Barkley also talks about having that ideal playing weight and the different feeling it brings to your game.
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u/MddlingAges Knicks 12h ago
Same with Jokic, the shot making dried up last season and they went nowhere. This is true of every superstar, but centers have a wider range.
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u/Zaza1019 13h ago
I mean he did hit his shots until he was forced to play center and his body started to take a toll on him both physically and mentally. I think a lot of people forget that sports are a mental game too and when you ask someone to do something they aren't comfortable with it can in fact mess up their entire game. He's been lucky enough to still be a great player in the post and mid range.
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u/TippyTripod1040 Lakers 13h ago
In 2021 we had Gasol and Drummond and his EFG on jump shots was 38%
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u/WhoreyMatthews Spurs 9h ago
To me AD's shooting is like Draymond's.
Draymond had a couple of seasons where he shot in the high 30s from 3 but everyone agrees that those two are fluky.
AD has had a couple of good shooting seasons but for some reason people act like his couple of good ones are the norm and not the outlier.
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u/YSLAnunoby Raptors 13h ago
AD at the 5 is the cheat code, he's so much quicker than the vast majority of 5s and bigger than guys like Bam who are quicker to keep up with him. His most ridiculous stretches when he was younger were at the 5. It's just that of course it takes more physicality to bang with them and especially for a full season it's harder for him so you at least want an innings eater there even if you close games with him at C
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u/ShotgunStyles Kings 13h ago
AD got killed in transition a lot by skilled centers who could dribble and score the ball. Saw it happen with Jokic in the playoffs, even saw it happen against Sabonis in the regular season. They'd just grab a rebound and press the gas and AD couldn't keep up.
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u/trimble197 13h ago
He got killed by Jokic, but at the same time, he was killing Jokic too
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u/YSLAnunoby Raptors 12h ago
Yeah that's why I said vast majority, Jokic is big and skilled enough to use his size advantage plus be a shooter to score on AD. AD is also way quicker on O to beat Jokic like I mentioned. Both teams would want to flip the matchup to be successful defensively
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u/Dopeez Spurs 13h ago
The opposite is true. AD at the 5 was the cheat code. Look at the numbers throughout his career, the teams were always better with him at the 5 than at the 4.
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u/Saucy_Totchie Knicks 13h ago
AD at the 5 is the bigger cheat code imo. His size and strength at the 4 is great but his spacing is terrible at best. However move it to the 5 and it's far better. He's just being a baby about the physicality over a few superstar match ups when he dominates most others.
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u/Patekchrono917 13h ago edited 13h ago
His game fits being a C. He just refuses to accept it and can’t adjust his game to a PF.
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u/indoninjah 76ers 13h ago
Yeah and I don't even think he necessarily has to bulk up to play center these days. If you look at a guy like Bam, he's effective because he's more mobile than the bulky centers. In an ideal world, Jokic might be hitting jumpers over AD or bullying him in the post, but AD should also be beating him down the floor and losing him on cuts.
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u/EngineQuick6169 Heat 13h ago
And in terms of cap, it was lightning in a bottle being able to get Dwight and McGee on contracts that low while they were aging but still productive.
They couldn't really duplicate that magic with Gasol's final season in 2020-21.
2021 onwards, they were sitting with Russ's 44M alongside AD and Lebron so realistically there was no way to get a C that actually commands minutes.
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u/Southern_Clerk8697 13h ago
Well in 2020-21 it felt like the whole team was riddled with injuries due to the quick turnaround they had. That team was still really good too. It's ashame they overreacted to the Suns loss and the Brooklyn big 3
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u/lialialia20 Timberwolves 13h ago
he was just asking for a jokic stopper, no big deal. lakers were very unreasonable. why would they expect their best defender to actually defend jokic?
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u/Asleep_Ground1710 Bulls 13h ago
If you watch AD vs Jokic, a lot of the time AD forces Jokic to highly contested long 2s or 3s, which Jokic makes anyway. Only so much you can do on defense lol
Sometimes you got to tip your cap in the nba
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u/lialialia20 Timberwolves 13h ago
he was good defending jokic, and he was even better playing in the help position essentially closing the basket for anyone else.
problem is he doesn't want to play the position he is best at. and it's not a defense thing, it's on offense because his go-to midrange is not good enough to be a valuable shot and his 3 shot is disgusting. tremendous near the rim, doesn't want to play near the rim.
feels wrong to defend pelinka.
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u/MiopTop Lakers 7h ago
What? This is completely wrong. AD led the league in points in the paint one of those years and was consistenly among the top 3-4 in the league.
The problem is that AD trying to score at the rim often meant the other team would push in transition because a 4-on-4 semi break with no AD back was food.
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u/BritzBeef 13h ago
He guarded Jokic fine in true 1 on 1s, it was his teammates being back cut and blown by that he had to cover for that was killing the team.
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u/Nobody7713 Raptors 13h ago
For most of the last decade there’s been fewer true starting quality centers than there have been teams that want one. And if you need a stretch 5 it’s been even more limited.
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u/TrashDonut 13h ago
You get what? Why we played him at center? I agree, your wording is very confusing though.
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u/ShotgunStyles Kings 14h ago
In AD's case, they just didn't prioritize that and used their assets for other things instead. And obviously they up and traded for a center anyways.
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u/gedbybee Spurs 13h ago
What spacing center could they have added? Brook Lopez was untouchable. Porzingis looked really really bad in Dallas. That’s it pretty much.
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u/FlyChigga Spurs 13h ago
Weren’t they in trade negotiations for Myles Turner? And they literally had Brook Lopez and let him walk lol
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u/ShotgunStyles Kings 13h ago
A floor spacing 5 would be ideal but I think the idea is to make AD space the floor instead. Obviously his jumper stinks so who knows how good that would've been. But the alternative was to have AD get sonned by every skilled center in the league. Just straight up passed around by Jokic, Embiid, Wemby, Sabonis, etc.
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u/RspectMyAuthoritah Lakers 13h ago
AD spacing the floor would be a great idea, except for the fact that he can't shoot.
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u/Spierre3 13h ago
They didn’t need a spacing center though. The year they won the championship they had McGee, Howard. LeBron and AD would’ve figured out the rest plus playing AD at the 4 would’ve reduced his injuries
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u/YSLAnunoby Raptors 13h ago
AD shot way better from midrange when they won to be able to play the 4, it was harder when his shot disappeared after the bubble
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u/dvasquez93 Warriors 13h ago
The thing is, in the bubble year AD was actually capable of shooting from midrange and from 3. He was shooting 38% from 3 in the playoffs. He hasn't even sniffed that shooting ability since.
Pairing 2020 AD with Howard or Mcgee was fantastic, because AD could actually operate away from the basket and preserve the spacing. That same strategy doesn't work when he's shooting 23% from 3. At that point you're inviting teams to put 2 big guys in the paint, which then inhibits Lebron who wants to be driving into the paint to score.
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u/gedbybee Spurs 13h ago
Yeah everyone’s forgetting it’s what’s best for LeBron and not what’s best for AD. That’s why they traded AD lol.
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u/Tr0janSword Lakers 13h ago
The Lakers problem was and remains perimeter defense. Our roster was a complete clusterfuck after the disastrous Westbrook trade.
Spacing is too valuable to run multiple centers in one lineup as AD prefers, and there really aren’t that many competent rim protecting centers.
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u/Southern_Clerk8697 13h ago
Well it might be that gaining the extra weight also messed with his jumper
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u/Dat_Boi_John Slovenia 13h ago
Realistically, they needed the Bucks Brook Lopez archetype, but those are hard to find and pricey unfortunately. Aka a big who can protect the paint, allowing AD to roam which is the way to optimize him defensively, while providing spacing on offense, so as not to have to play with two players who can't shoot threes.
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u/hausitron Lakers 13h ago
Myles Turner and Buddy Hield were on the table for the 2022 season, but Indiana was asking for two 1st from the Lakers to take on Westbrook, which the Lakers ultimately didn't do. What could've been.
If AD had Myles Turner next to him, the Lakers would've been able to realistically contend.
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u/blindexhibitionist Supersonics 13h ago
It’s an interesting timeline to think about if they had actually kept him instead of letting him go to Milwaukee. I think they also could have had him before he went to Brooklyn but I may be misremembering
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u/Prestigious-Elk6959 14h ago
Makes sense, our biggest flub is seeing him play amazing at PF next to a true center who could take those beatings, winning a ring, and still somehow deciding we never needed to invest in a center again. Rob dropped that ball
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u/thegreatprofessor Raptors 13h ago
Problem is he lost his shot. 2 non shooting bigs isn’t a good recipe in the modern NBA.
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u/wxnfx 13h ago
I mean how hard is it to find a 7 foot 300 lb dude with a great outside shot and filthy rebounding? Like are they even trying?
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u/thegreatprofessor Raptors 13h ago
Lol yeah that’s the other side of it. There’s like 2 players in the whole league that fit the mold of what AD wanted.
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u/Prestigious-Elk6959 13h ago
Well he says part of that was having to add weight, which can be true
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u/thegreatprofessor Raptors 13h ago edited 13h ago
Maybe, but he was listed at 253 going into the 2024 season and shot 27% from deep that year. Combined like 26% (rounded up) in the 6 seasons since 2020. Feels like 2020 was the outlier year.
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u/Neemzeh Timberwolves 13h ago
This is why I think people are sleeping on the Wizards big time. That front court of Sarr and AD is going to be absolutelt disgusting defensively. If AD can keep defenses honest by hitting a 3 or two, that Wizards team will be very good imo.
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u/Terrible_Shelter_345 12h ago
and its funny because even though sarr will have " - C" next to his name, AD will truly be the center and it will work pretty good if Sarr his healthy because Sarr can step out and help on the wing better even than AD right now
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u/TrashDonut 13h ago
Predictably lazy, incorrect Laker fan take. That worked because it was the one time in his career his jumper was a threat. When he couldn’t shoot, he was a center. Not hard to understand. It’s not Rob’s fault he couldn’t knock down jumpers.
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u/ColdBeing Wizards 13h ago
Why do you think he's happy with the Wizards? He can finally play the 4 like he's been asking lol
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u/SunKing210 Spurs 13h ago
I get it. After seeing Wemby have to log a lot more minutes in the post season due to the Spurs not having reliable back up bigs, you can see the fatigue starting to set in quickly as the games went on, especially since he had to do so much on both offense and defense like AD
I do recall seeing a lot of talk about AD whining too much about him not being a true center and needing more help or something, but then you look at the other 'bigs' on those Lakers teams and you'd be complaining too haha
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u/jfrodriguez1983 Mavericks 11h ago
Bro came in to play the 4 for us with 2 centers and showed up in horrible shape
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u/Zlasher8 13h ago
Where were they going to get a starting caliber 270+ center and with what pieces during that season? Someone please entertain me some ideas because everybody wants a center. The warriors fan base has been complaining about it for like 8 years now as well.
Starting centers cost a fucking lot of capital.
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u/PuntyMcBunty [LAL] James Worthy 13h ago
And then the Lakers go out and acquire a good young center and everyone criticizes them for giving up too much
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u/Shepher27 Timberwolves 13h ago
But almost everyone said he bulked up too much and he didn’t need to be that big, even to play center.
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u/killersky99 12h ago
Worst kept secret bro been begging for a center and the lakers get a proper one after lebron and ad leave
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u/needcalculatorubc 14h ago
Good centers are hard to find nowadays
Just look at what it cost to get kessler, whos not even an elite center yet
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u/Adorable-Bike-9689 13h ago
Who didn't even play last season lol. He's actually played less games every season since his rookie year. I don't understand the market the last two seasons.
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u/TippyTripod1040 Lakers 13h ago
I think part of that is that people don’t take Kessler’s missed games seriously because Utah didn’t want to put winning players on the floor. We’ll see, though
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u/mas1108 Lakers 13h ago
You do know Utah has been tanking his entire career right?
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u/throwaway__rnd 4h ago
If you want another big you have to be able to stretch the floor. You can’t be a non-shooting brick layer averaging like 25% from 3 and play next to another big
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u/Zoulogist Lakers 4h ago
AD probably thought he could return to his 2020 shooting numbers if he was able to play the 4
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u/BillKennedyEnjoyer Nets 13h ago
He didn't like it, but the team was always gonna be at it's best with him as the defensive center who could switch on anyone.
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u/SwizzGod Lakers 14h ago
Makes sense. We failed him in that regard
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u/Shepher27 Timberwolves 13h ago
You had the best defensive center in the league. AD has always been wrong, he should be a center. He just shouldn’t have been that big.
He doesn’t shoot well enough to be a power forward.
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u/NotADeadTurtle Lakers 13h ago edited 13h ago
The year before they literally had Dwight Howard, and Javale McGee sharing center duties. He freed up AD to playing roaming rim defense while centers locked down lob threats and bigs. Also having Howard and McGee just bother Jokic all game long was a winning formula. They hacked the shit out him. So what he is saying makes perfect sense, they won a championship with him in the 4 man role. They decided to not bring back Dwight, McGee, or Caruso for cheap when they had every opportunity to run it back.
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u/space9610 [CLE] J.R. Smith 14h ago
I told my company the same thing. I was sick of being the guy in the office that always had to drink the most lunch beers and eat the most slices of pizza at the pizza parties. They needed to hire another big man to take that load off of me. It never happened though.
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u/Complete_Chocolate_2 Clippers 14h ago
I hate all the buttery lobsters, juicy steaks, and thick torta sandos. Sometimes I just want an avocado on toast.
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u/Decent_Management449 13h ago
they had a couple centers Dwight and Javale, then just let them both go.
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u/brainspl0ad Clippers 13h ago
Kinda crazy how much 15 lbs can make a difference in different ways. It doesn't sound like much in most cases but when it comes to things like this it could be some sort of deciding factor.
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u/Realhtown 13h ago
You can get stronger without gaining weight.
He just didn’t want to play center, but that was best for the team.
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u/bonzai76 13h ago
Not a Lakers fan but wow I can’t believe you guys would wanna see him at PF. He was slow as hell and always limping around. He would have gotten destroyed playing PF. I know he hates playing C but there’s good reason his coaches and GM pushed him towards that.
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u/PrizePreset 13h ago
You can’t be a 7 footer on a max contract asking for another big so you don’t have to defend centers
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u/Low_Beyond8134 Lakers 14h ago
We failed him in that regard but he also forget how to shoot these last couple of years which means he more than likely has to play C
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u/Dscherb24 14h ago
Yeah, you’d have basically needed a big dude to play center on defense but then they also needed to be able to shoot so that AD could play the 5 within the offense. For the championship they could do AD at the 4 because his jumper was great, but once he stopped shooting that well you’d then need the center to be the shooter of the two.
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u/Tr0janSword Lakers 13h ago
That 2020 team was built on defense at all levels and offensively played above the rim and in transition. It’s a lot easier to win basketball games when you force a ton of turn overs and get layups.
AD’s shooting was insane, but really, we didn’t need that much offensively because we still had Prime LeBron to run the half-court.
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u/HippiesBeGoneInc Lakers 11h ago
Pelinka cost the Lakers at least one additional title with his insistance on a small roster over relying on AD.
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u/mangoribbean 13h ago
Get WHO though? This era isn't exactly flush with starter quality centers. He would have had to pay significant minutes at center regardless of if they tried to get one because of the sheer lack for true big men today
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u/djkhan23 5h ago
Especially with the Lakers roster and salaries.
He wanted an all star centre but none were available for whatever garbage package the 2021 Lakers were offering.
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u/Veggiedelite90 [SAS] Derrick White 14h ago
I get AD feeling this way but from like a roster construction standpoint he isn’t fast or mobile enough to play out to the 3 against most forwards playing these combo forward spots these days. So if he can’t play the middle against centers his value goes down. He just needs to find a way to stay healthy though at this point whatever weight that is needed to be is better than the alternative
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u/Southern_Clerk8697 13h ago
Could it be that the extra weight has also been making him more prone to injury?
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u/stanquevisch 13h ago
This feels like a chicken egg kinda situation. AD was amazing at the four in 2019-20 and 2020-21. Did he lose his jump shot and mobility because he was playing the 5 too much, or did he play the 5 too much because he lost his jumpshot?
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u/fake-tall-man 11h ago
I think the lakers, if they pushed for him to add weight, fucked up badly. Just because he can’t guard Jokic 1 on 1 doesn’t mean he can’t play center. Keep him light, make it harder for Jokic to guard him on the other end and piece together your defense with different schemes. If he is a 15% worse defender against one guy in the league but is more fluid, healthier, & faster it’s a huge win. It’s not like Jokic is going to all of a sudden average 60 on the guy. He’s going to go from unstoppable to slightly more unstoppable. Make him pay on the other end and make your defense more mobile so you can stop the rest of the team easier.
whether it was the lakers or by choice, AD got too big for his frame which kills your cardio and you can’t use your strength when you have no wind. plus you become blocky (relative to your athleticism) and injury prone. Core strength and flexibility as you age.
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u/markmyredd Minneapolis Lakers 4h ago
Plus it was not Jokic that kills the Lakers. Its the other guys getting open shots and making it. Jamal Murray turning into Steph in 4th quarters. You can beat the Nuggets if Jokic is dropping 40 or 50 with just like 5 assist. It means he didnt playmake as much.
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u/Paranoides Lakers 13h ago
Yes big portion of his worth is being able to play center with that skillset
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u/Embarrassed-Slide781 Bucks 12h ago
They did win the championship when they had actual centers to play alongside him.
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u/peopleperson31 13h ago
Part of the reason why they won a chip was because they put AD as 4 and put either mcgee or howard as 5. AD became better than lebron in some of their games.
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u/Difficult_Tackle9505 12h ago
FO really fd up not keeping Dwight and javale for at least one more season
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u/ihavehalitosis Jazz 13h ago
Makes a lot of sense. If you look at those Lakers-Denver series in 23’ and 24’, AD is getting beat by Jokic in the transition game constantly.
Part of that is Jokic tiring out AD and part of it is Jokic’s unspoken ability to actually run the break when he deems it most necessary and proper.
As a sole rim protector and the 5, AD was more focused on namely defending the rim on defense, trying to grab boards. Jokic was not. So when eventually Nuggets grabbed the defensive board, Jokic would sprint ahead knowing it was a 5 on 4.
This leads to easy and efficient conversions with the only way to stop it is either AD runs back or another power forward is played to take care of the glass on the defensive end while AD is going back on defense.
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u/Southern_Clerk8697 13h ago
Yeah AD had a lot of burden in those lakers years. He was in charge of cleaning up mistakes from his weak perimeter defenders + guarding jokic + grabbing boards, then on the offensive end he was expected to get 25-30 every night lol. Whenever he didn't he would get disrespected like crazy
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u/betadonkey 13h ago
AD just looked fat during some those Lakers seasons. It was definitely bad weight.
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u/SpiritFantastic4835 Lakers 13h ago
If AD could shoot 3s then finding a center would’ve been easy.. unfortunately, that 2020 season was an outlier year
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u/GoodyFridgebrain Celtics 14h ago
Is he the only person to ever win the nba championship, ncaa championship, nba cup and Olympic gold medal?
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u/IzzaPizza22 Nuggets 13h ago
Including the NBA cup makes the answer yes.
Of the 8 players to have won a triple crown (ncaa chip, nba chip, gold medal), only AD ever played in a time that even had an NBA cup.
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u/TopsSoccer Spurs 12h ago
AD has never wanted to play the 5 anywhere he’s been. Problem is his jumper isn’t consistent enough to space the floor with a true 5 next to him
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u/Flamadin Heat 10h ago
I always felt the best affordable use of AD was to get some big body next to him for the regular season and slide him to the 5 in the playoffs only.
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u/midcartographer Lakers 9h ago
Lakers were in a tough spot with aging LBJ and AD. If you put AD at the 4, LBJ has to play the 3 and was getting cooked. LBJ was defending the 4 and AD the 5. Not saying it’s ideal but I understand why they wanted AD at the 5.
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u/Minute_Elephant_3218 7h ago
He was the perfect 5 for this nba and seems to be the only one who doesn’t realize it.
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u/JMadFour Wizards 5h ago
Anthony Davis historically has never liked playing Center, AFAIK. He’s always preferred playing PF.
It was a whole thing while he was in New Orleans if I recall correctly.
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u/MLOwashington 4h ago
This whole thread and reddit in general is lonely males just choking on dick theyve never met lol its so sad and pathetic
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u/cromulent_weasel [SAS] David Robinson 2h ago
If your big needs another good big next to him, he's not a good big.
There's only so much salary cap to go around, and if your two best players are bigs, you will have really bad perimeter talent.
A better team is centered around two wings and a big.
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u/th1sd3ka1ntfr33 Pelicans 13h ago
Hey i know you guys hired me to do this thing but can you get somebody else to do it instead? I'm hurt again. No, I'm not pranking you.
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u/More_Region5898 13h ago
Bigger isn’t always better. AD had his best season/most games played weighing 238lbs from an article I saw. Your star player is telling you he prefers PF and you refuse to get a center is wild.
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u/CanalVillainy Pelicans 11h ago
He never wanted to play C. Mental strength is not a familiar trait to him.
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u/TraffyZii Lakers 13h ago
I'm pretty sure Lakers organization was willing to have a center to complement AD just like their championship run but it was hard to move him into PF position when we had an aging LeBron. Bron can't play SF no more, if you actually watched the games he's struggling against quick wings post ankle injury
Also as others have mentioned his shooting disappeared after the bubble
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u/Aromatic-Bit-1425 14h ago
In 23-24, he played 76 games and in round 1 had to play Jokic with rui hachimura as his PF.
I wouldn't like playing either