JJ Redick Defends Leaving Anthony Davis Off His 2024 All Defensive Teams

Tonoy Sengupta | 13/07/2024
JJ Redick Defends Leaving Anthony Davis Off His 2024 All Defensive Teams

When healthy and confident, Anthony Davis has proven himself to be arguably the best defensive player in the NBA, it appears as though some people believed he didn’t even deserve to make an All-Defense team last season. And unfortunately for him, his new head coach, JJ Redick is one of those people. In his recent appearance on SiriusXM NBA Radio, Redick was quizzed on why he felt Davis wasn’t one of the Top-10 defenders in the NBA, and would then leave out the player from his ballot for the All-Defense teams.

Hearing that Anthony was extremely upset with his decision at the time, the 40-year-old looked to clarify what he meant. J.J. initially said that he believes AD is one of the top three defenders in the NBA at the moment. However, he then said that selection for the All-NBA teams happens in a different process altogether.

“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.”

There are a few things that aren’t quite in Redick’s favor here, especially considering the logic of his argument. In years past, the All-Defensive teams were required to be based on the positions of players. However, last season’s selections were to be made regardless of position.

Despite this tweak to the rules, AD did not get a spot on the first, or the second team. Instead, for the first team, Redick went with Alex Caruso, Herb Jones, Rudy Gobert, Victor Wembanyama, and Bam Adebayo. For the second team, JJ chose Derrick White, Kentavios Caldwell-Pope, Jarett Allen, Jalen Suggs, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

All his picks are undoubtedly great defenders. However, it feels extremely difficult to pick anyone other than Victor Wembanyama ahead of Anthony. And even then, Wemby’s team had horrible defensive numbers overall. Of course, it doesn’t seem likely that someone with Redick’s basketball knowledge would simply forget about ‘The Brow’. So, it is likely that he simply looked past him to choose who he felt would be better.

Still, it is understandable why AD feels a certain way about not being picked by the head coach in any of the 10 spots. Fortunately for him, he made it to the first team in the NBA’s official All-Defensive list. While there was somewhat of a happy ending for the Lakers’ big man here, many still fear that this may pose an unfavorable situation between him and J.J. However, when the 31-year-old spoke on the matter recently, he seemed to be positive about the whole ordeal.

Anthony Davis’s thoughts on being coached by JJ Redick

Davis is with Team USA at the moment. However, that hasn’t stopped interviewers from asking him about his thoughts on the Lakers’ new head coach. Seeming ready to adapt to whatever this new situation throws at him, he said,

“It’s going to be, definitely a partnership with him, his coaching staff… and me and Bron [LeBron James]. Just kinda seeing what we like. And then also him, what he brings to the table, you know, what he wants to do. And then, just try to put it in the end together. We know it’s not going to be done in one day, one week, one month. But we just got to… take it one day at a time” [per Lakers Nation]

AD then also made sure to point out that the team still has an NBA championship on its mind. However, at the same time, they are aware that adapting to a new process won’t be complete as soon as the conclusion of the training camp. Instead, he made it clear that being an NBA head coach for the first time, J.J. would take time to adjust, and that the team also would adjust with him.

Of course, if there was some kind of conflict, Davis likely wouldn’t be forthcoming with it to the media. However, judging by his answer, he does seem to be ready to help Redick as much as he can, something the newly minted coach will probably appreciate very much.

Post Edited By: Bhavani Singh
Anthony Davis JJ Redick LA Lakers NBA

About the author

Tonoy Sengupta

Tonoy Sengupta

Tonoy Sengupta is a Senior Editor at The SportsRush. Coming from an athletically inclined family, he has been surrounded by sports ever since he was 4 years old. But, while initially pouring all his time into Football (soccer), at 14, Tonoy discovered basketball through the countless highlights of Stephen Curry humiliating players from Curry Land. And just like that, a fiery passion for the game was ignited within Tonoy. And soon after, he decided to become a student of journalism, graduating in 2022, and choosing sports as his area of interest. Today, you can find him spending 99% of his time browsing through every type of content on every team in the NBA, before uncorking everything he has found to the world. In the 1% he isn't doing this, you can find him playing Basketball, Football, Volleyball, or practically any other sport he has had the opportunity to learn.

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