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LA Lakers superstar big man Anthony Davis recently reflected on how he became a dominant low-post scorer during his time at the University of Kentucky. However, his story unexpectedly resulted in his teammate Jaxson Hayes catching a stray for his lack of post game.
The nine-time All-Star recounted his development during a recent appearance on his teammate D’Angelo Russell’s “The Backyard Podcast.” According to Davis, during the start of his freshman season at Kentucky, he didn’t have many post moves, leading him to embarrass himself at practice.
“We’re having practice at Kentucky, it’s one of our first practices, and they throw me the ball in the post. I take a dribble and I’m like, ‘Ah, s**t, I’ve seen big men do a hook, I’mma do a hook,’” Davis said. “Left hook. Airball.”
However, before he could complete his story, Russell interjected to compare Davis’ early college struggles to Hayes’ latest game.
“That s**t looked like Jaxson Hayes’ s**t yesterday,” Russell said.
The Lakers duo then burst into laughter, with Davis agreeing.
“It was just like that. It was just like that,” Davis said.
Hayes has been a bigger part of LA’s rotation over the past five games, providing serviceable production. During that stretch, he is averaging 8.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 2.0 steals and 0.4 blocks per game on 80.0% shooting.
Thus, he probably didn’t expect to be publically called out by his teammates. However, it appears that Russell's comments were lighthearted.
Also Read: "It f**ks teams up": Anthony Davis slyly takes dig at Darvin Ham citing his defensive 'speciality'
Anthony Davis on what happened after he airballed hook shot at Kentucky
As for the continuation of Anthony Davis’ story, he recounted Kentucky coach John Calipari’s reaction to him airballing his hook shot at practice.
According to the 30-year-old, Calipari was so frustrated that he prevented him from getting any more post touches. So, that motivated him to develop his post moves over the rest of his freshman season.
“Man, the whistle blew so fast. Cal said, ‘If anybody throws Anthony Davis the ball in the post again, we’re running,’” Davis said. “So, I had to learn how to become a post player.”
Fortunately for Davis, he was able to become an elite post player. Over 40 games at Kentucky, he averaged 14.2 ppg, 10.4 rpg, 1.3 apg, 1.4 spg and 4.7 bpg on 62.3% shooting.
Davis went on to get selected No. 1 in the 2012 NBA draft and has since developed into one of the league’s premier big men.
Thus, it appears that Calipari’s strict practice approach paid off.
