If he has proven that he can be one of the best healthy players in the league, Anthony Davis is not yet unanimous. A former executive believes, for example, that he needs a specific teammate to shine.
His 7-season stint in New Orleans showed everyone that he had the individual qualities to join the league. His first season with the Lakers illustrated that he could evolve alongside another superstar, and be successful. But all these good signs concerning him have gradually given way to the worries of the past.
Appeared just 36 times last year, Anthony Davis has lost in some observers, some of the credibility that he had obtained following his title. His fragile physical condition is still the source of many doubts, and has caused a significant statistical decline in him in recent months. But the Unibrow isn’t just blaming it on its poor health.
According to the latest reports, he also experienced frustration in the direction of a teammate, which would not have served him under sufficiently good conditions according to him. A very specific criticism, which in a way validated a former executive of the league in the columns of Bleacher Report. Asked by Eric Pincus, the latter indeed compared the effectiveness of AD to the presence of a player in particular.
AD is special, but he needs a fullback like Rondo to be good. And if you take out LeBron and AD, it’s unpredictable.
Certainly, the season that saw Davis crowned champion matches the one he spent with Rajon Rondo at the Lakers. Likewise, his most prolific scoring exercise was signed in 2017-18, alongside him, at the Pelicans.
However, in the case of their joint campaign in Los Angeles, the veteran point guard was hardly ever in the starting five with The Brow, and posted a relatively low playing time (20.5 minutes per game). For the former executive, all this would not have prevented him from feeding his star interior in a very nice way. The latter therefore has reason to rejoice at the dawn of the recovery.
He will thus find from the training camp Rondo, who recently agreed to return to the ranks of Angelinos via a minimum wage contract. So we have to believe that the opposite statement also works, and that the double R needs Davis to feel useful and at ease in the environment around him. In the end, the big winner in this reunion could well be Frank Vogel.
Never as good individually, then collectively as with Rajon Rondo, Anthony Davis will therefore have no more excuses if he signs a season far from expectations!
