Lakers’ Anthony Davis Is Defensive Player of the Year, Says TJ Kidd

Getty Lakers star Anthony Davis

Anthony Davis is balling out of control for the Los Angeles Lakers.

In LA’s 112-107 win over Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday, Davis had a superfluous stat line.

For those keeping score at home: 34 points (13/24 FG), 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 blocks.

Yikes!

Davis has goals for the season. Championship or bust!

“Do whatever I can to help this team win a championship,” Davis told me this summer.

“That’s the main goal. That’s our goal and we are going to come in with the mindset that we’re all thinking. This is the year.”

Sitting at 12-2 LA has pulled out all stops this season. They got Davis this summer, signed LeBron James the summer before and added pieces like Danny Green, Dwight Howard, DeMarcus Cousins and others to make it work.

LA also added Frank Vogel as their head coach and names Jason Kidd as a lead assistant.

Speaking of Jason Kidd, these days his son, TJ Kidd has an opinion on much. Kidd, 21 a college student in the Los Angeles-area has been going to college by day and has been working in hoops in his off time as a high school basketball coach in the Beverly Hills-area. TJ Kidd has also been checking out the Lakers at Staples Center in his free time. He likes what he sees from Anthony Davis.

“AD is so special,” TJ Kidd tells me by phone.

“AD can give you 40 and 20 through three quarters when he’s on fire. Which is a lot. He’s Defensive Player of the Year in my books this year.”

That’s high praise.

Anthony Davis began the season stating that Defensive Player of the Year is one of his goals. Currently, Davis is the NBA’s league leader in blocks. He currently swats 3.1 blocks per game. The Orlando Magic’s Jonathan Isaac is third with 2.8 and the Milwaukee Bucks’ Brook Lopez is in third with an average of 2.5 blocks per game.

“I know it’s early in the season, but man he’s so much fun to watch,” TJ Kidd said of Anthony Davis.

“He can dominate the game doing pretty much anything. He’s 6-10 and can shoot the 3. I think he just is a superstar times infinity. He complements LeBron James so well. It’s so fun to watch them on the floor together. He’s an old school big man in today’s game.”

That sound familiar. On the Scoop B Radio Podcast, former Clipper Tim Thomas compared Anthony Davis to retired San Antonio Spur, Tim Duncan.

“He can just kill you in the paint. But he also has such a nice jump shot for a 6-10 big in today’s league which you need. He’s the complete big man in every sense of the phrase. Even when he has off games he still a force to be reckoned with. He impacts the game in so many ways. To simply put it he’s a threat as long as he’s on the floor. He seems to host regularly scheduled block partys any time he’s on the floor as well. I like that he lets his play do the talking. It’s cool to see that. As a basketball nerd it’s just so fun to get to watch. Excited for what’s to come with these Lakers. Lot of fun basketball left to play.”