9. Anthony Davis, PF/C, Los Angeles Lakers – 3-point shooting
As was the case for a number of star players last season, the season ended in injury and disappointment for Anthony Davis. The Lakers’ title defense went sideways when both Anthony Davis and LeBron James missed significant time during the season, and it breathed its last when Davis suffered a groin injury in the playoffs.
This year James and Davis appear to be back healthy, but nearly the entire roster is different around them. Russell Westbrook is now running the point, and for all of Dennis Schroder’s foibles, he was at least a 33.5 percent 3-point shooter. Westbrook hit just 31.5 percent last year and was under 30 percent five of six seasons before that.
With the Lakers likely to start a center alongside Davis for most games, that means two non-shooters at the 1 and the 5, and two limited shooters in James and Davis. Even if the Lakers start an elite shooter at their final spot (presumably Wayne Ellington) their starting lineup will be starved for spacing.
The Lakers won a title when Davis confidently began launching and hitting 3-pointers in the NBA Bubble, with his most famous shot sinking the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals. He hit 38.3 percent of his triples during that postseason. Last year he hit just 26 percent, and his career mark is just 31.2 percent. If Davis can work on hitting from outside consistently it will help make these Lakers lineup tenable offensively. If he can’t, they may find the path to scoring goes through a crowded bog.