New Lakers coach Darvin Ham was blunt in his introductory press conference: How far the Lakers go next season will start with Anthony Davis.
“We’ve all seen what can happen when he’s healthy, when he’s playing at a high level, when he’s in a good rhythm,” Ham said. “We saw it in the bubble. His skill set, size, versatility, defensive acumen, his relentlessness. His ability to give multiple efforts defensively is key.... but we need consistency out of Anthony Davis. We need him to be healthy, we need him to be in a good mental space, and we need him to be as consistent as possible.”
On Friday, Davis was honest on the “Nuke Squad” YouTube vlog and said he hadn’t shot a basketball since April 5.
Anthony Davis: "I haven't shot a basketball since probably April 5th." pic.twitter.com/5V7hzptXf8
— 𝘾𝙤𝙖𝙘𝙝 𝙎𝙝𝙪𝙗𝙝 ⁶𓅓 (@OVOLakeShow) June 12, 2022
This isn’t a big deal. At all. Davis has said that after the season he takes four weeks off, then spends six weeks just working on weight training and health, then he gets back into basketball skills heading into the season.
Of course, that’s not how segments of Laker Twitter saw it after a season where Davis played in just 40 games and the Lakers missed the playoffs. Some fans think the only path to success is some kind of Kobe “I’m very public about the grind” way. That’s not the only path to success (ask Tim Duncan, whose resume stacks up nicely with Kobe’s).
As Ham said, what matters is Davis is healthy and in a good mental space, and time away from the grind of the game helps with that for a lot of players. Some players are built to take almost no time off, they can’t wait to get back to the grind, and others need to step away for a while and recharge so they can come back hard in the fall. What matters is Davis’ conditioning, health and focus when he shows up to training camp and the games get going in October.
Until then, everyone should chill.
