LA Notes: Davis, LeBron, Koloko, George, Dunn

One of JJ Redicks The most significant changes since taking over as head coach of the Lakers has made Anthony Davis the “center” of the offense, write ESPN’s Dave McMenamin and Matt Williams. Davis is experiencing more touches than ever before, which has led to a dramatic increase in his production. He averaged 30 points and 10 rebounds in nine games while shooting 55% from the field Wilt Chamberlain the only Laker to reach that mark.

“He did a good job putting me in a position to be successful.” Davis said of Redick. “My teammates did a good job giving me the ball where I feel most comfortable. Of course they encourage me to try, but I’m still trying to play the right way.”

Davis’ increased commitment has robbed him of opportunities LeBron Jamesthe authors add. Redick stations James off the ball more often, and his 24.8% usage rate would be the lowest of his career. As Redick tries to maintain James’ energy as he approaches his 40th birthday, he is on screens more often and getting the ball off screens.

“We’re not going to rely on LeBron James’ iso ball in the fourth quarter.” Redick said. “That’s not what our identity will be. I think it starts with what was presented to the team on day one: here is our identity in attack; here our identity is defensive; and then your system should help highlight those things. That’s why we took a particularly targeted approach here.”

There’s more from Los Angeles:

• Christian Koloko will be that Lakers‘ Backup Center during Jaxson Hayes is out with an ankle injury, tweets Jovan Buha of The Athletic. Koloko has only appeared in two games since being medically cleared to return to the NBA, but he will play a larger role until Hayes is reevaluated in another week or two. “Disappointed. Feel for Jaxson, especially after the last two games he played for us.” Redick said.
• On his podcast P-Show Paul George clarified comments on which he commented Hair clippers Fans during a recent visit to Los Angeles (Twitter video link). “I didn’t call Clippers ‘the B team'” he explained. “I said it feels like being on the B team because all over L.A. people say, ‘You should be a Laker.’ That wasn’t a minimization. … I was a clipper. I decided to play for him. I didn’t compare them or say they were worse than the Lakers. It’s just a matter of how LA interprets that or how LA treats players that are in LA.”
• The Hair clippers made a change to their starting lineup this evening in Houston and replaced Terance man with Kris Dunnaccording to Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link). trainer Tyronn Lue said after the game that he wanted to continue using the new lineup (Twitter link).