Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers is one of the very best big men in the NBA today. His combination of size, skill, athleticism and body control makes him a truly unique player, not to mention a difficult player to guard.
But he has many critics who feel he is soft, lazy and unmotivated. He does tend to have poor games every now and then, although they do not occur nearly as often as some critics act like they do.
Davis will go up against another incredible center in Joel Embiid when the Lakers visit the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday. Paul Reed, the Sixers’ backup center, took a major shot at Davis.
Via Sixers Wire:
“He’s a big flopper so make sure I don’t get in foul trouble early by any—I can’t be too aggressive with him,” said Reed at shootaround on Monday. “He’s gonna be flailing so I gotta make sure I stay out of foul trouble.”
Backup big men do have a tendency to get into foul trouble, but Davis is averaging only 5.9 foul shots a game this season. By comparison, Embiid averages almost twice as many foul shots at 11.7 per contest.
Both coaches respond
Lakers head coach Darvin Ham was asked about Reed’s comment, and it sounded like he didn’t want to engage.
Darvin Ham when asked for his assessment on Paul Reed's comments: "I really don't have one. He's got to go guard him, I guess…best of luck, Paul." https://t.co/ixIG0oCC2w
— Khobi Price (@khobi_price) November 27, 2023
Philly head coach Nick Nurse claimed he didn’t know about Reed’s comment while offering some praise for Davis and a strategy to contain him.
Nick Nurse was just made aware of Paul Reed’s comments on Anthony Davis today.
“That’s news to me. I’m going to have to go talk to Paul about that immediately after this.”
(He said a lot of very nice things about Anthony Davis after this) pic.twitter.com/mqLy1cP876
— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) November 27, 2023
The last time Davis faced the Sixers, he scored 31 points while going 13-of-14 from the charity stripe and grabbing 12 rebounds.
