Alas, this is a topic I never wanted to touch because about the Lakers...
No matter what period, the Lakers have never lacked attention, and this season is even more so, because they have the three best players in the league, James, Davis and Wei Shao, but under their leadership, the Lakers have only achieved a record of 15 wins and 13 losses, temporarily ranking 6th in the West.
In the NBA's latest championship odds list, the Lakers have dropped to no. 6, not as high as the Jazz, it seems that the Lakers this season will have to take a bamboo basket to hit the water empty.
But who should pay for all this? Is it coach Vogel, new signing Wei Shao, or James?
In my opinion, the person who should stand up and take responsibility is Anthony Davis, and I agree with Charles Barkley' statement, in this Lakers team today, Davis is the key, is the real core, he needs to play more actively, more proactively, more aggressively.
In terms of age, Davis is the youngest of the "Big Three", only 28 years old, has not yet reached the golden age of his career, and James, in a few days, he will turn 37 years old, although the latter's data (averaging 26 +6+7 per game) can still maintain a good standard, but in terms of on-court influence, James is indeed declining, and he has been unable to turn the tide of battle on his own.
In terms of ability, Davis also has the qualifications to let James assist, don't look at the 2020 championship, James won the FMVP, but throughout the playoffs, Davis's role is the most critical, the most difficult to be replaced.
On the offensive end, he is an inexplicable sharp knife, which is one of the few inner lines in the league that does not need to hold the ball to obtain a very high finishing effect, with a shooting rate of more than 73% under the basket, a shot in 147 shots, nearly half of the hits, even outside the three-point line, there is a shooting rate of nearly 40%.
Defensively, he is comparable to Gobert's presence, not only competing for rebounds, but also the top frame guard, the defensive area covers the entire half, whether it is the inside line, or the outside line, the opponent's shooting rate will drop by at least 5 percentage points under his defense.
When he was on the floor, the Lakers had 6.8 points per 100 rounds on the offensive end and 10.6 points per 100 rounds on the defensive end, a difference of 17.4 points, which was higher than James's 15.4 points and ranked first on the team.
In fact, James has been changing since he joined forces with Davis, he has played point guard, guest played center, even the worst three-point shooting, but also in the last 2 seasons, averaging at least 7 shots per game, constantly breaking career records, James did this, is to hope that Davis can have the most comfortable output environment, but the result?
Since returning from injury last season, Davis has never been able to find a state, not only can not play an efficient offense, defensive dominance is not as good as before, originally thought that this season, Davis's state will have a little warmer, but now it seems that this is just the wishful thinking of fans.
On offense, Davis lost his shooting skill pack, and several stats ranked last in the league:
Shooting 38.2 percent from the field, it ranks first from the bottom among players who have made at least 100 shots in total;
Shooting 19.2 percent from three-point range, he ranks second from the bottom among players who have averaged at least two shots per game and played in more than 20 games, only better than the Raptors' Chris Boucher;
There is also a jump shot shooting rate, only 35.5%, ranking first from the bottom among players who have made at least 150 shots;
Today's Davis, like a blue-collar center, only has the skill of blocking and eating cakes, don't look at the average of 24 points per game, but in the team, the Lakers are not so dependent on Davis.
The data shows that when he is on the floor, the Lakers can get 106.9 points per 100 rounds on the offensive end, ranking 23rd in the league, and when not on the floor, they will score 111.2 points, ranking 5th in the league.
Defensively, Davis' presence has also weakened dramatically:
Defensive rebounding rate of 20.7%, a new career low,
Defensive plus-minus of 0.2, a new career low;
Defensive contribution value 1.4, a new career low;
The steal rate was 1.7%, a new career low;
There is also a limit to the opponent's shooting rate, under his defense, the opponent's shooting rate will increase from 45.4% to 46.7%, the worst of his career;
The data shows that when he is on the floor, the Lakers will give up 110.1 points per 100 rounds, ranking 22nd in the league, and when not on the floor, they will only lose 105.8 points, ranking 5th in the league.
Can't believe it, can't understand, why Davis will decline so obviously, compared to 2 years ago, completely sentenced to two people, you know, he is back to 5 years 190 million US dollars high salary, shouldering the lakers back to the peak of the heavy responsibility, but in this state, once James leaves, or walks down the peak, not to mention the championship, it is difficult to enter the playoffs.