Alvin Gentry Pushing Anthony Davis to Become a Three-Point Shooter

Long before the New Orleans Pelicans fired Monty Williams and hired Alvin Gentry, the team’s coaching staff was planning to add the three-point shot to Anthony Davis’ burgeoning offensive repertoire.

Davis has been working hard this summer to improve his range—the All-Star has only made a trio of three-pointers throughout his three seasons in the NBA—and his new head coach says the big fella will be expected to launch and connect from beyond the arc next season.

Gentry is confident in AD’s ability to hit threes since he was adept at it early on in his high school career.

Per The Times-Picayune:

In a conference call to season-ticket holders on Tuesday night, Gentry says he has already told Davis that every day he works out in the gym this upcoming season he wants him to make 150 corner 3-point shots from each side of the court.

 

“That’s got to become a consistent shot for him,” Gentry said. “I don’t think he’s going to have any problem doing it. If you go back and look at his high school days, he was a very good 3-point shooter. But all of sudden he decided to grow six or eight inches. He still has that range, but I don’t think it has been incorporated in the offense in college or the pros that he’s been in. […] We want him to shoot that shot. So I think you probably see him make more 3s than he’s made his entire career.”

 

The eventual NBA champion Golden State Warriors swept the Pelicans in four games, but Davis became the first player in 40 years to average at least 30 points and 10 rebounds participating in his first NBA playoff series. […] “He’s a building block for everyone and we will try to run our offense through him,” Gentry said.

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