Be more aggressive in demanding the ball
In no way, shape or form is Anthony Davis passive. Davis is an alpha and he plays like one on a night to night basis, however, Davis could do a better job of getting more touches in the places he wants it.
When you are on a team with LeBron James, it is very easy to defer to one of the greatest players of all time and allow him to create magic. For virtually every team LBJ has been apart of, this has absolutely been the case. With Wade and Bosh in Miami, two superstars relied heavily on LeBron to make things happen and the team worked like a well-oiled machine when this happened.
The same thing with LeBron in Cleveland. Kyrie and Kevin Love both played the role of secondary stars perfectly, with Kyrie stepping up in times of struggle for LeBron James and shouldering the play-making duties at times.
Anthony Davis has done his job to perfection so far. He has taken over when LeBron has rested or if LeBron is not firing on all cylinders and it says a lot that even with one of the best players in the world on his team, Anthony Davis is still in the top 5 of the MVP conversation.
But with the playoffs on the horizon, Davis is going to need to turn it up a level for the playoffs and if the rest of the season or even some of it is to go ahead, Davis is going to have to go into beast mode and show what he can do when balling out.
LeBron James will probably deal with each team’s number one defender on a nightly basis in the playoffs, this leaves room for Davis to attack the opposing team’s next guy in line and punish him repeatedly.
While not an ideal comparison, Davis has physical attributes that will allow him to dominate as Shaq did back in the late 90’s early 2000’s. Davis is physically imposing and can use his strength to hurt opposing big men.
He has the necessary athleticism to do virtually whatever he wants on the court and he has the necessary inside out game that will cause the opposing team endless problems. Not to mention on the defensive end, Davis is the elite of the elite and will dominate his opponent on the defensive end.
If Davis can go full Shaq and average 30/12/5 in a playoff series then the rest of the league is going to need to watch out.
With LeBron James in playoff mode and Anthony Davis in Shaq mode, along with solid play from the supporting cast, this Lakers team could be ideally placed to take home the Larry O’Brien Trophy.