Darvin Ham made a bold statement a week ago when he told reporters that he’d asked Anthony Davis to attempt six three pointers per game this season.
The Lakers head coach also told ESPN, “I know he won’t do it, but maybe he’ll shock me…I wouldn’t put that on him if I didn’t think he was capable.”
After Lakers’ practice on Tuesday, Ham was surprised to find that everyone took the number so literally.
“People have been going crazy with that number,” Ham said. “I just think it’s me saying: I want him to be aggressive from all three levels. I don’t want him to think ‘OK, man,’ and second-guess his shot. He catches it and no one’s in front of him or his defender is off of him, I want him shooting the ball from three. If he happens to be in the corner, he catches it, I want him to shoot the ball from three. While still being aggressive in the low post and the midrange. So, it’s not like I just want him to become this exclusive stretch big all of a sudden. I just want him to be aggressive from each and every spot on the floor.”
The big man himself shared similar sentiments to Ham and agreed that six won’t be his ultimate goal.
“It’s based on the style of play, the flow of the game,” Davis said. “Some games, I might take one, some I might take none. Some I might take six. I don’t want to come in like ‘I need to shoot six’ and start thinking about that and start shooting bad shots, right? If I’m open, I’ll shoot it. Or if I’m in rhythm, I’ll shoot it, but I don’t want to be hovering around the three-point line too much all game.”
Last season, AD averaged below 2.0 three pointer attempts per game and shot at 25.7 percent from three.
This is down from 38.3 percent from three during the bubble season.
During preseason, AD has hit half of the shots he’s made from deep in four games so far.
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