Coach Darvin Ham of the Los Angeles Lakers is relying heavily on Anthony Davis’ 3-point shooting this year.
“I want him, if he can — I know he won’t do it, but maybe he’ll shock me — but I’ve requested to see six 3-point attempts a game,” Darvin Ham stated following Tuesday’s practice. “At least three times per half. If I didn’t think he could handle it, I wouldn’t ask it of him.
The big man has followed his coach’s instructions thus far in the preseason, making three of six 3-point attempts in a total of twenty-seven minutes of action against the Golden State Warriors and the Brooklyn Nets.
This would be a huge improvement for Anthony Davis, who shot 3’s at a rate of only 1.3% on average previous year. His 2019-20 season with the Lakers was the only time he averaged more than 3.5 per game.
Last season, only Julius Randle (8.3) and Lauri Markkanen (7.7) averaged double-digit minutes at power forward or center while also shooting at least that many threes. All-Star guards Darius Garland and Devin Booker both averaged 6.0 attempts from deep.
After shooting 25.7% from outside the arc in the regular season of 2022-23 and 33.3% in the postseason, Anthony Davis spent the offseason working on his outside shot with Lakers assistant coach Chris Jent.
On the topic of his 3-point shot, Anthony Davis remarked, “Just getting back to being a threat at all three levels,” at the team’s media day last week. We won’t know where we stand until we start playing games and having practices. Anyone can make shots in practice because there is no pressure.
Davis has had a lot of trouble with his jump shooting ever since the Lakers’ 2020 championship run, so any improvement there would be greatly appreciated. Davis’s effective field goal percentage of 53 on 162 jump shots during the postseason run in the lottery was higher than the league average for the 2020 playoffs.
Since then, however, Davis has shot only 38.2% from beyond the arc in the regular season and postseason combined. According to ESPN Stats & Information, he has the worst percentage on jump shots among the 245 players who have attempted at least 500 in the last three seasons. Davis’s squad has struggled for a few of seasons due to his poor long-range accuracy. Los Angeles’ team 3-point percentage was 25th (34.6) in 2019-20, 22nd (34.7) in 2020-21, and 21st (35.4) in 2021-22.
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L.A. has shot better from outside the arc as a team so far in preseason, making 35 of 93 attempts (37.6%).
Davis told reporters after the Brooklyn game, “We talk about getting more 3s up.” There have been a lot of 3-pointers because of the way the league has evolved. But they arrived in sync with one another… We want to feel secure in our attempts and fire away.
When the regular season begins on October 24 against the Denver Nuggets, who are coming off a championship last year, Ham expects to keep pushing Davis to take shots from deep.
“That’s something that he’s worked on — being a more consistent shooter and not just more consistent in his [normal] areas but consistent from deep range,” said Ham. “And without hesitation. I’m not going to give it too much thought. We’ve all told him to “put it up” if he’s got a decent look.
Anthony Davis
Anthony Davis is a professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). As of my last knowledge update in September 2021, he was playing for the Los Angeles Lakers. Davis was born on March 11, 1993, in Chicago, Illinois.
He played college basketball for the University of Kentucky before entering the NBA. Anthony Davis was the first overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, selected by the New Orleans Hornets (now the New Orleans Pelicans). He quickly established himself as one of the league’s top young talents, known for his shot-blocking, rebounding, and scoring ability.
Throughout his career, Davis has been selected to multiple NBA All-Star Games, has been named to the All-NBA First Team, and has won an NBA Championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020. He is widely regarded as one of the best power forwards/centers in the NBA due to his versatile skills, athleticism, and defensive prowess.
Please note that my knowledge is based on information available up to September 2021, and there may have been developments in Anthony Davis’s career since that time.
