Anthony Davis gets green light on the perimeter

by ojwolfe on Feb 16, 2012 1:08 PM EST

"Cal said that he told Davis if he could make 45 three-pointers in five minutes, he could start taking them in games.

Davis made 49."

If the NCAA's best player can take his game onto the perimeter and burn players after setting screens, then Kentucky has become just that much more unstoppable. If he can actually consistently make his shots then I don't want to ever play this team again. Ever.

Granted, this entire factoid comes from a UK fan on Reddit. But I have no reason to doubt him.

http://www.reddit.com/r/CollegeBasketball/comments/pryov/anthony_davis_has_the_green_light_to_shoot_3s/

FanPosts are most often submitted by users. The views and opinions expressed in FanPosts do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions held by the editorial staff of The Anchor of Gold or SB Nation.

Tweet Comment 9 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Essentially

Cal realized how vulnerable his team is when they aren’t making shots from outside. Frankly, I’m surprised he’s just now implementing this.

Davis making threes is a frightening prospect. You hope he gets into a game where he’s having a tough time inside (easier said than done) and that he settles for outside shots and they aren’t falling.

If he’s lighting it up from outside, yikes.

Anchor of Gold
Facebook: AOG
Follow @AnchorOfGold
Follow @JAWiv

by KingJamesIV on Feb 16, 2012 6:28 PM EST reply actions

I hope

When we play UK that Davis takes a bunch of threes. If he makes them, more power to him, but I’m all for their all-american 6-10 center shooting from 22 feet away from the basket.

Now maybe he’s going to shoot 40% from three. But given that he’s shooting 67% from two, he’s going to have to shoot about as well as John Jenkins to equal that number from three. Davis is the most efficient player in all of college basketball – it is very unlikely that shooting threes will make him more so.

by Jason Fukuda on Feb 17, 2012 12:26 AM EST up reply actions

I don't think this means Davis is going to start hanging out on the perimeter more

Davis still basically occupies the block on offense, this won’t change that. However, he does occasionally find himself open on the top when they’re trying to run the pick and roll, so when the screened defender starts chasing the ball into the paint, if Davis can’t make his break, he’s still wide open at the top of the key. He’s not a great shooter, but if you’re open, might as well take the chance.

Highly unlikely he shifts his focus offensively out of the paint.

The problem with quotations on the internet is, you don't know whether they're accurate. - Abraham Lincoln

by Anything but Gatorade on Feb 17, 2012 2:06 PM EST reply actions

Still interesting.

Given how efficient UK’s offense is at the moment, he’d have to hit a very high percentage (for a center) for it to be more effective than the offense already is, plus it pulls him from the basket, where he is an excellent offensive rebounder. I’m guessing that he’ll take some where the clock is winding down and he’s open from behind the line. He’s already taken 6 threes to this point though, so it may be more than that.

But this isn’t going to affect his stock, which can’t get higher, so it would seem to distract from what he excels at, which is drawing fouls and hitting his FT’s at a good rate, grabbing offensive boards and being as close to automatic from within10’ as anybody can be.

by Jason Fukuda on Feb 17, 2012 2:50 PM EST up reply actions

Hello

I’m an A Sea of Blue reader and lifelong Kentucky fan, but I appreciate ya’lls blog when Kentucky gets ready to play Vandy. I think what you’re seeing is a tendency for Anthony Davis to shoot more, as opposed to him moving his shots from the interior to the perimeter. My guess is we’ll see less perimeter shots from Terrence Jones and even Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, thereby hopefully improving our efficiency.

Also, if he his his shots it will open up the opposing defenses more, because currently opponents are really slagging off him.

Anyway, that’s just my two cents. Enjoying the conversation!

by UKFanStuckInDC on Feb 23, 2012 11:18 PM EST up reply actions

I suppose.

But the offense is really efficient at the moment – the shots are distributed with amazing equality, and Davis is the 1st or 2nd most efficient player in all of college basketball as it is – I just don’t see how his taking more outside shots will improve his efficiency, given that the entire team is ridiculously efficient as it is.

Not saying that getting Davis more shots is a bad idea, but you guys generally don’t take a ton of threes, because you hit such a high percentage of your twos and get fouled a lot, and have a bunch of guys who can hit their free throws. The formula is clearly working, so messing with it is certainly a risk.

And if I were a coach, and Davis was going to take more outside shots, honestly I’d just let him beat me that way. If the 6’-10" center is going to beat you from three, there just isn’t anything you can do about it. But I’d also be happy to get that offensive rebounding and two point making machine as far away from the basket as possible. Isn’t the shots you want from UK basically outside jumpers from either Davis or Teague (and possibly Jones)? Especially compared to the alternatives?

You guys are really good this season – and have been significantly better than most everybody as well. Seems to me that having Davis take more outside shots has more downside potential than upside. Probably won’t make a huge difference however.

by Jason Fukuda on Feb 24, 2012 11:33 PM EST up reply actions

Great Game

Ya’ll played a great game today, and I have to say at 10-11 shooting I sometimes wish AD took all my team’s shots ;)

But in all seriousness, I hope we don’t have to play ya’ll in the SEC Tourney…or the Elite 8.

GO SEC!

by UKFanStuckInDC on Feb 25, 2012 3:06 PM EST up reply actions

He did hit the one jumper he attempted

I sure wish he had taken a lot more threes yesterday, the way he shot the ball from everywhere else.

by Jason Fukuda on Feb 26, 2012 8:26 AM EST up reply actions

And that was what I meant.

He took three threes, and missed them all yesterday – not saying that was the game, but all three of those attempts were a victory in my mind for the defense. That was 1/3 of his total attempts, and 3 possessions where he purposely took himself out of offensive rebounding position (which was great considering his 4 offensive boards).

by Jason Fukuda on Mar 12, 2012 2:27 PM EDT reply actions