It seems like some people didn’t even think Anthony Davis should have been on the All-Defense team the previous season, despite the fact that he has shown himself to be possibly the finest defensive player in the NBA when healthy and self-assured. Regretfully, JJ Redick, his new head coach, is one of those individuals.
During a recent interview on SiriusXM NBA Radio, Redick was asked why he didn’t think Davis was among the NBA’s top 10 defenders and why he didn’t include the player on his roster for the All-Defense teams. Upon learning that Anthony was deeply disappointed with his choice at the moment, the forty-year-old tried to make his intentions clear.
JJ Redick speaks about Anthony Davis
When J.J. first stated his opinion, AD was ranked among the top three NBA defenders at the time. But he went on to say that there is a whole other procedure involved in choosing the All-NBA teams. He said,
“There’s a big difference in being a top ten defender and making an All-Defense team… Anthony Davis is one of the two or three best defensive players in the NBA… You certainly have to factor in the stats, the advanced stats, and of course, the team performance on defense. And in both years [that I voted], I weighed heavily on how the team performed defensively.”
“Anthony Davis is one of the two or three best defensive players in the NBA”
JJ Redick responds to @termineradio’s question about his decision to leave the #Lakers star center off his media All-Defensive ballot with @jumpshot8 and Ryan McDonough at #NBA2KSummerLeague pic.twitter.com/finX38WRBm
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) July 13, 2024
Redick’s case isn’t entirely convincing in this instance, especially in light of the reasoning behind his claims. The composition of the All-Defensive teams used to have to be determined by the players’ positions. But picks from the previous season were to be made without regard to position. Even with this modification to the regulations, AD was not selected for either the first or second team. Rather, Redick selected Bam Adebayo, Rudy Gobert, Herb Jones, Victor Wembanyama, and Alex Caruso for the first team.
JJ selected Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Derrick White, Jarett Allen, Jalen Suggs, and Kentavios Caldwell-Pope for the second team. He obviously selected all excellent defenders. But it seems so hard to choose someone else over Anthony except Victor Wembanyama.
Even still, Wemby’s squad’s overall defensive statistics were dismal. Naturally, it seems unlikely that someone with Redick’s level of basketball expertise would just forget about “The Brow.” It is likely that he just choose who he thought would be better by looking beyond him.
Nevertheless, it makes sense why AD is upset that the head coach did not select him at any of the ten slots. Luckily for him, he was selected to the NBA’s official All-Defensive team’s first team.
