Los Angeles Lakers: Should Lakers Re-Sign Ed Davis?

Heading into one of the biggest summers in recent memory, the Los Angeles Lakers will be faced with many crucial decisions that will shape the direction of the franchise. Of the priorities regarding talent already on the team, Ed Davis may have confirmed his spot at front of the line with the unsurprising news that he will be opting out of his contract to test free agency.

Ed Davis was scheduled to make $1.1 million next season, a figure that he had outplayed this campaign with averages of 8.3 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks in 23.3 minutes per game.

While the entirety of the 2014-15 Los Angeles Lakers season can be classified as a disappointment, Davis supplied a few bright spots, mainly his ability to provide the team with a bit of rim protection via the blocked shot.

While the 25-year-old will enter free agency this summer, he has stated that he wants to be back with the Lakers next season, and it appears that the feeling is mutual.

So, armed with a load of cap space, should the Lakers make re-signing Ed Davis a top priority?

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Offensive Efficiency & Deficiencies

Offensively, Ed Davis is an efficient scorer. He shot 60.1 perfect from the floor for the Lakers this season, and is a career 55.6 percent shooter.

The downside is that he’s not a skilled shooter. He’s not a go-to option offensively. Most of his points come off of assists (65.2 percent), and 71.4 percentof his field goal attempts came within 0-3 feet of the basket.

The average distance of an Ed Davis field goal attempt in 2014-15 was 2.7 feet.

It works for Davis because he’s not relied upon to make a difference with his scoring. It also helps that he was able to grab 2.9 offensive rebounds this season to put himself in position to get some easy buckets.

An area that is a definite “Needs Improvement” for Ed Davis is his free-throw shooting. He is a career 56.6 percent shooter from the charity stripe, but that number fell to 48.7 percent this season. With the popularity of the “Hack-A-Shaq” strategy, it is more important than ever to field players who can shoot a respectable percentage at the very least.

Of course, working on that facet of his game would help his scoring numbers as well.

Thankfully, Ed Davis is a smart guy, and he’s already stated his focus for this summer to Lakers.com reporter Mike Trudell.

Defending For The Defenseless?

In 2014-15, the Los Angeles Lakers were a horrendous defensive team. They ranked 29th in defensive rating and 29th in points per game allowed.

Ed Davis was one player who showed a bit of promise in that area, specifically with his highlight plays.

By the counting stats, Davis was a fairly good defensive rebounder. His defensive rebound rate checked in at 23.4 percent on the season. This figure is not elite (think guys like DeAndre Jordan or Andre Drummond), but was good enough to be along the lines of players like Anthony Davis (24 percent) or Marc Gasol (22.4 percent).

In terms of defending the rim and paint, the results are mixed for Ed Davis.

Opposing players shot 60.7 percent against him in the restricted area, 40.9 percent in the paint, and 39.7 percent from mid-range. Compare this to Defensive Player of the Year candidates Andrew Bogut (51.6/38.1/40) and DeAndre Jordan (59/39/39.9), and it’s clear that he’s not an elite level rim protector either.

While that is some stiff competition to be placed up against, it’s a decent frame of reference to understand just what Davis was able to accomplish this season on a terrible defensive team. His mid-range defense was solid, but as players got into the restricted area there was a massive spike in his field goal percentage allowed.

One piece that will improve his ability to protect the paint is adding strength, another thing that Ed Davis says he plans to do over the summer.

Re-Sign Ed Davis?

The free-agent marketplace will largely dictate how aggressively the Los Angeles Lakers pursue Ed Davis.

Given the numbers, and how he was utilized this season, it’s likely that the team views him as a quality bench piece that can play both power forward and center at a competitive level. Looking at the list of potential free agent centers, the likelihood that a buyer’s market emerges is more than plausible.

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In that scenario, bringing Davis back on a team-friendly contract would be a fantastic move.

Alternatively, one option would be to decline the option on Jordan Hill‘s contract (worth $9 million), and re-sign Ed Davis to a cheaper, long-term deal.

However, with players like Hill, Tarik Black, and Julius Randle on the roster, the aforementioned pool of free agent centers, and a potential shot at Karl-Anthony Towns or Jahlil Okafor in the draft, it’s possible that spending on Davis will not be a priority for the Los Angeles Lakers. In that case, he could see opportunity elsewhere, and flee regardless of the money.

All things being equal, Ed Davis was a quality role player for the Lakers last season. And, if he’s willing to be paid like one, the team should have no trouble re-signing him.

All statistical support via www.basketball-reference.com and nba.com/stats

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