Getty Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Phil Handy is one of the most recognizable assistant coaches in the National Basketball Association.
Currently a Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach, Handy is a two time NBA Champion as an assistant coach.
He’s been on the bench during 5 consecutive NBA Finals; four with the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2015-2018 with LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love and one with last year’s NBA Champion, Toronto Raptors.
It is not uncommon to see him working out with Kyle Kuzma, LeBron James and others pre-game and his a voice of reason on head coach, Frank Vogel’s bench.
On this week’s episode of the Scoop B Radio Podcast, Handy and I discussed a myriad of topics including coaching, the Lakers’ season and tons more.
Check out my notes from our dialogue below:
Phil Handy on the similarities of Anthony Davis to Tim Duncan:
“Oh yeah. I see a lot of similarities with that. Obviously Tim was who he was the Big Fundamental that’s who he turned into. Anthony Davis I think, he has all of those skill sets. I don’t think he focuses on being as much as a back-to-the-basket player; I think AD is just one of those guys that floats. He can play anywhere. But yeah, I can see that resemblance.”
Phil Handy on Anthony Davis being this year’s NBA Defensive Player of the Year:
“He definitely has to be in consideration. I think his ability to impact the game, at least I know now – having the ability to coach him, and being on the sidelines and watching how he impacts, and he cleans up a lot of mistakes?…I wasn’t really aware of how sound he was defensively and he uses his length and his athletic ability man, he uses it very well. He’s definitely one of the best defensive players in the NBA.”
Phil Handy on where LeBron James and Anthony Davis’ chemistry before the suspension of the season:
“You could definitely see the chemistry between those two dudes in terms of just having a balance and trying to understand each other’s game. It was definitely moving in another direction and I also say this – they kind of clicked like, early. In the beginning of the season, they were finding a rhythm and really understanding how to play with each other. And on the course on how the season went on, you could see them two figure out on how they could take their on-court relationship into another space. So yes, you see the evolution of those two guys becoming a high level, elite duo that I think would cause problems for any team in this league.”