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It’s been the brewing NBA controversy in Lakerland going back to the hiring of new coach JJ Redick last month. And this week, in an interview with the team’s website, Redick gave the controversy a wink and moved on.
The kerfuffle, you’ll remember, stems from the fact that Redick did not include star big an Anthony Davis on his ballot of the Defensive Player of the Year award, an award Davis felt he should have won. The award is handed out based on media voting, and since Redick was a member of the media, he can pretty much be held directly responsible for Davis missing out on the trophy.
Of, course it is not all Redick’s fault. Davis finished fourth in the voting and got only four first-place votes. Rudy Gobert, the winner of the award, got a total of 72 first-place votes and 433 total points. Davis had just 83 points, and also finished behind Victor Wembanyama and Bam Adebayo.
There has been speculation that Redick’s decision to leave AD off his award ballot would be a point of contention between the two this season. It might be, but Redick, at least, is looking ahead to the future.
“He’s to me one of the five best defensive players in the NBA, full stop. I’d love to coach him when he gets a Defensive Player of the Year. I think he’s that level of defender,” Redick said.
Anthony Davis Has Never Won Defensive Player of the Year
Davis is a five-time NBA All-Defensive team recipient, and has led the NBA in blocked shots three times in his career. He averaged 2.3 blocks last season, as he was as engaged and motivated on the defensive end as he has been in recent memory.
The fourth-place finish for the DPOY was the third time he has been a Top 4 contender for the award. The closest he’s come to winning it was in 2019-20, when he finished second behind Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Bucks.
For Redick, the key to getting Davis over the top is for the Lakers to play better overall defense, while keeping him heavily involved in the offense, too.
“He’s going to be featured on offense no matter what,” Redick said. “He’s going to be featured, he’s going to have the ball. We’ve talked about him being an offensive hub for us. To me, everybody says, ‘Oh, Anthony Davis is great on offense but his real value is defensively.’ His real value is just being Anthony Davis, and the fact that he’s an elite two-way player.”
Lakers Can Put Issue Aside With ‘Little Fuss’
As for the notion of Redick and Davis carrying a beef into the 2024-25 season, that is a longshot. It might bother Davis that Redick overlooked him as a voter last season, but it would be counterproductive to allow that to linger into the coming season, now that Redick is his coach.
Still, Davis claimed that though he is the best defensive player, he would not win DPOY because “the league doesn’t like me.” It could be extrapolated that he thus thinks Redick doesn’t like him.
However, Davis, Redick and the Lakers as a whole are focused on pushing the team back into championship contention. Earlier in the offseason, veteran NBA reporter Marc Stein wrote that it was not expected that the Lakers would have a Davis-Redick problem.
“One source close to the process insists that JJ Redick’s refusal to place Anthony Davis on his All-Defense ballot this season is a topic both parties can set aside with little fuss now that Redick is Davis’ coach in Lakerland,” Stein noted.
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