The Anthony Davis Thread (2015-16 Pt. 1)

[SideshowBob]

Thoughts on Davis under Gentry? Any word on his summer routine, training regimen, etc.

[BenoUdrihFTL]

Hopefully he can crack 70 games this season

[Ballerhogger]

Needs a whole season of play or close . 75 games to prop him up a tad.

[Marcus]

who on the Pels staff works the defensive strategies?

[TroubleS0me]

is he working on his post game?
i heard hes gonna start taking corner threes

[Prez]

who on the Pels staff works the defensive strategies?

Darren Erman iirc. Some weird stuff about him taping practices or something during his time as assistant to Mark Jackson in GS, but as far as his defensive coaching reputation I've read nothing but great stuff. This could be a monster year for Davis on both ends.

A disciple of ex-Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau, Erman was the architect of a Golden State Warriors defense that developed into one of the league’s juggernauts.

When Erman took over the Golden State defense, he transformed a 26th-ranked unit to 11th in 2012-13, and ultimately third in 2013-14. Erman worked under Thibodeau and later Lawrence Frank with the Boston Celtics as members of coach Doc Rivers’ staff.

Several Golden State players, including Klay Thompson and Harrison Barnes, point to Erman's individual work as a key asset to their development.

Darren Erman emphasizing defensive drills to Anthony Davis, Pelicans

While working for the Boston Celtics from 2007-11, Darren Erman once heard Danny Ainge wonder aloud why one end of the basketball court always takes precedence over the other during the summer months.

“If 50 percent of the game is defense, why doesn’t anyone work on individual defensive drills in workouts?” asked Boston’s president of basketball operations.

Partly with that in mind, Erman began making defense a larger part of his players’ year-round focus, including when he was hired as a Golden State assistant coach. Working closely with Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson – whom Erman calls his “guinea pig” – the coach drew up daily, 45-minute defensive sessions, following Thompson’s rookie year.

“He already could shoot; that wasn’t what he needed to work on,” Erman said of the prolific three-point gunner. “But now he’s one of the best two-way players in the NBA.”

In his first year as the New Orleans Pelicans’ associate head coach under Alvin Gentry, Erman is bringing that same emphasis on stopping opponents. New Orleans is coming off a 45-37 regular season that was capped by its first playoff appearance since 2011, but the Pelicans had to overcome a defense that ranked just 22nd in efficiency (107.3 points allowed per 100 possessions). Despite the presence of the NBA’s premier shot-blocker in Anthony Davis, New Orleans has finished 28th, 27th and 22nd during his three seasons, respectively, according to Basketball-Reference.com.

Per Erman’s advice, Davis, along with several other Pelicans players, are spending a chunk of their offseason workouts going through game-like defensive drills. For example, Davis has been working on a range of defensive situations, including reacting to pick-and-rolls, maintaining a proper defensive stance and closing out to live dribbles, which for Davis often means containing smaller, sometimes quicker players on the perimeter.

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[MyUniBroDavis]

who on the Pels staff works the defensive strategies?

I researched Erman Alot.
Personally, I consider him the best defensive coordinator in the NBA by some distance, with his only rival being Ron Adams

He was really the one that got the Warriors defense clicking. his specialty is teaching pick and roll defense, along with teaching positioning and keeping opponents out of the paint. (the celtics gave up less points in the paint than the Pelicans, will Kelly Olynk)

Davis has said that "he already thinks he is much better" just by listening to Erman.

Defensively, I think they will be a top 15 team, if not better

[thizznation]

The thing in this NBA season I'm looking forward to the most (besides my hometeam) is Anthony Davis. We are witnessing the birth of an All Time Great and I'm excited to see if he is going to take another step this season.

[RxMidnight]

Do you guys think AD will break the PER record this year? His rating last year was 30.8, good for 11th all time.

[MyUniBroDavis]

Do you guys think AD will break the PER record this year? His rating last year was 30.8, good for 11th all time.

probably not tbh. He will average far more turnovers this year due to an increased role in the offense.

[Dr Spaceman]

Only caught the first half. First shot attempt was a 3 off of a baseline screen . It looks like in age try's offense he's going to spend a lot more time as an initiator from the post. It was a little sloppy, and at times you could tell Robinson and Gordon just went long stretches without giving him touches and that has to be worked on. Davis' post game looked workable, but I didn't see enough to get excited about it yet. He's looking good about passing out though. Not a ton of pick and roll action last night, which I was surprised by, although I suppose Holiday and Evans are the main PNR handlers.

Davis didn't look at all comfortable with the way he's being used yet, hence the terrible shooting game. That's something to keep an eye on.

This team is resilient. Experience is helping; last year they would have folded when GSW took that first Q lead and Curry was bombing. They played a really strong first half on the road against the best team with a slew of injuries. They are going to be dangerous when all their guards come back.

[Purch]

The analytics guys want every big moving out to the three point line. I don't like this change for AD

[tsherkin]

The analytics guys want every big moving out to the three point line. I don't like this change for AD

2 of his 20 shots were 3s. Of the rest, 7 were inside of the paint, 2 more were from 20+ feet. Everything else was 18 feet and in... and he drew 15 FTA.

There's nothing to see here, nothing to complain about...

[Dr Spaceman]

The analytics guys want every big moving out to the three point line. I don't like this change for AD

There was no change. He attempted two threes last night. If anything, Gentry is moving him closer to the basket and he got more post touches last night than any game I've seen in his career.

He's going to come out to the three point line because NOP has a bunch of tiny guards who can win foot races to the rim off of his screens. As the year goes on and Holiday and Evans come back I imagine the elbow/baseline pick and roll will predominate again.

The only thing I didn't like last night was that he looked horribly uncomfortable handling the ball and driving off a pump fake from the arc. But that's an issue with Davis specifically, and one I imagine he'll fix; there's no systemic issue going on here.

[Purch]

There definitely was, just because he only shot 2 threes doesn't mean he wasn't spending more time at the 3 point line because of the emphasis on the 3. I remember multiple times he caught the ball at the 3 point line, pump faked and made some akward drive because defenders had more than enough time to cut him off in the paint. Those same drives from the mid range area are really efficient for AD.

[bondom34]

Yeah, looking at shot charts and watching he definitely spent more time outside. 4 of his 20 shots were in the paint. Last year he averaged over half his shots in the paint.

[RSCD3_]

Yeah, looking at shot charts and watching he definitely spent more time outside. 4 of his 20 shots were in the paint. Last year he averaged over half his shots in the paint.

That doesn't include the shots that he was fouled in though. Thought tsherkin said he had 15 Ft's

[tsherkin]

Yeah, looking at shot charts and watching he definitely spent more time outside. 4 of his 20 shots were in the paint. Last year he averaged over half his shots in the paint.

Hmm. ESPN's shot chart had seven of his shots in the key, and those were recorded FGAs, not including shots on the 15 FTAs he had.

[bondom34]

Yeah, looking at shot charts and watching he definitely spent more time outside. 4 of his 20 shots were in the paint. Last year he averaged over half his shots in the paint.

That doesn't include the shots that he was fouled in though. Thought tsherkin said he had 15 Ft's

True, still, I know one of the FTs was a tech, so 14, and he shot 4 of his other 20 shots in the paint. So even if you assume all 7 2 shot fouls were in the paint, its under half his shots from there (11/27). And watching, I'd bet a few weren't.

[bondom34]

Yeah, looking at shot charts and watching he definitely spent more time outside. 4 of his 20 shots were in the paint. Last year he averaged over half his shots in the paint.

Hmm. ESPN's shot chart had seven of his shots in the key, and those were recorded FGAs, not including shots on the 15 FTAs he had.

Using nba.com:

http://on.nba.com/209rbaE

4 in the paint, 3 at the top of the key.