Luka Doncic Discussion: Lean Mean Slovenian Extension Machine

Jokic is a 7 ft point guard tho. And he's an advanced analytics defensive darling. He and Luka are not the same. I know you like to equate Luka to Jokic..but nah.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/44346405/nikola-jokic-quietly-league-analytics-defender

Murray has proven to be a big game performer, in the playoffs with consistency, since he and Donavan Mitchell, were putting up dueling 40pt games in the bubble. He and Austin are not the same either.

 

root for denver, i guess? i disagree, and i think denver covers for jokic like crazy defensively, and the metrics are showing that as much as his ability. denver lost in the playoffs last year in part bc okc figured out the spots that jokic wouldn't go to and just scored from there at key times. he was exploited as much as luka, but people like him so there was no discussion of it.

 

Man you are the advanced analytics guy around here. Now you disagree with the numbers? Nothing wrong with being a Homer bro..Nothing at all.



Salute..f*** Denver..I'm with you.

 

I think advanced stats overvalue bigs on d and let some offense slip into defense by accident--like, luka was a positive in some defensive metrics i like, but i think it's more a function of his teams having to play fewer transition defense possessions, etc.

the larger point is that in the playoffs, jokic and murray are easily as exploitable as reaves and luka on defense. denver got the roster and coach to get a ring anyway. dallas got to the finals with luka and kyrie...and the right personnel surrounding them.

we have a bunch of non-defenders, and our few defenders are bad on offense.

 

he has some fair points, but people are going way overboard with this s***.

yes, luka should complain less. but the idea that somehow his whole game is foul-grifting is just completely out of touch with reality. and many of these folks piling on right now constantly use SGA as the paragon of ethical hooping, which...holy s***, man...

and this guy even has to check himself after he spends all this time being like "in the playoffs, the refs don't bail you out!" yeah, d******, you know who's been REALLY GOOD in the playoffs? and he realized what he was saying and hedged at the end because it was so incredibly stupid.

he also correctly points out that inconsistent officiating is at the heart of all of it (he doesn't say it like this). when harden was grifting his way to the mvp, it was the refs who let that happen. harden was just doing what worked for him. it was unethical, but so is SGA just shoving off on every. single. drive.

honestly, if i were jj, i'd tell luka to go out there and start stiffarming, as that seems to be what the league will allow. and a guy who's 6'8" 240 will be able to clear some serious space this way. of course, luka will get immediately whistled for the offensive foul (like 90% of nba players will, benedict mathurin excepted).

anyway, i agree that luka has to find it in himself to complain less, even when the calls are bad, as the complaining clearly isn't working. and i also agree that he and jj need to develop offensive schemes that involve a bit less ball domination from him (and reaves, tbh).

my fear there is that we're doing this intentionally to cut down on turnovers, which the video guy is right--when you're unathletic and your top players like to complain instead of run back on defense, turnovers are EXTRA deadly. but the solution is to move the ball, move bodies, and run back on defense when you turn it over or miss a shot.

 

Luka works best with a second star who can play off-ball like Kyrie did and then a team filled with tough rugged defenders who will do the dirty work and play defense.

That's just the reality of the situation.

When he has to share the ball with a guy like LeBron, who honestly, he respects too much, he'll hesitate and his mindset is much different.

He needs those lob dunkers who at the other end, will block shots and shove defenders out of the way. Then a 3/D sniper who is always lethal out there so Luka has options at the paint and on the 3 pt line.

Three stars doesn't work anymore in this league because you have a very huge overlap with similar talent just wasting value. I prefer the one or two-star model at this point. Even with Reaves, he's not the ideal fit for a guy like Luka because he doesn't really play defense as well. Imagine if Luka had guys like Derrick White/Jrue Holiday with centers like Claxton and a decent power forward who can spread the floor.

 

If he's getting hunted, he needs to be taken out of 1 possession games.

 

That'll fly.

 

It's just one of those things, like how the best player typically takes technical free throws even if someone else is a better free throw shooter. You don't usually see stars taken out for defensive possessions. Like Shai for example is better than Luka defensively (although I think he is way overrated on that end), but he probably shouldn't be in a 5-man OKC lineup to get one stop (Wallace/Caruso/Dort/JDub/Chet, or maybe both Chet and Hartenstein against certain teams is probably their best defensive lineup). But he'll nevertheless be on the court for those possessions.

 

Happy 27 th birthday, Luka
hopefully you did not drink yet your favorite beer
Destroy GSW and then we can celebrate together

 

When you can't guard Grayson freaking Allen, it's kind of an issue. Yes, he needs to be taken out especially when we're fighting for positioning and until tonight were on a skid.

It is what it is; hey, then maybe his fat a** will be better in those situations in the future.

 

i mean, lebron and reaves can't guard grayson allen, either. you going to just do a full hockey line change every single game (on a team that until last week was far and away the best clutch team in the nba)?

jokic and curry are hunted, too. it's just less effective when you're not surrounded by 3 more guys who also can't effectively contain dribble penetration.

it's not hunting against us, it's gathering.

 

It's hunting, bro. Did you not watch the Suns game? Watch the end of the game again, please. It's was actually Collin Gilliespie & Grayson Allen, actually. Then, when Luka can't guard Grayson, his back starts wincing after he just hit a step-back 3 on a great freaking move & not he can't guard laterally? Yeah, I love Luka, but it is what it is.

Steve has subbed out Curry, Jokic is 7'1", etc, etc. Either way, it's a problem when Luka can't guard Grayson Allen. LBJ & Reaves? LBJ is 41, and I've watching Austin get cooked against those types of players all season. That isn't nothing new.

FYI, they are going to need 4 other players who can guard next to Luka, IMO. That's fine. He's once in a generation offensively. Austin isn't going to work long-term unless he's a clear cut third option, but you guys will figure that out by next summer.

 

so again, your plan is to remove all three of our best players at the ends of games or just our very best player?

 

Depends on the matchup and who's getting cooked; in this particular case, it was Luka. All good. I understand leaving him in; just not a fan of it when we're fighting for playoff positioning, but I understand not want to piss him off (he's competitive), and he's an FA in a couple of years.

But yeah, if JJ has some b****, maybe we sub him out, win the game, and everybody is happy or maybe we lose, he's pissed, etc. We play Phoenix the last game of the regular season and if we happen to be in the play-in because of that game, yeah, not a good look, IMO.

We'll see. Should be an easy night tonight against Sac.

 

Just saying... but maybe Luka should also stop taking so many shots as well and think about spreading the ball more to others. I think so far, the discussions have largely been what the team has to do for him and I get that, he's a fantastic player in his prime. But part of Luka's game will be taken to the next level if he's also focused on being more efficient out there with his shot selection. I think you saw that

Maybe instead of 22-25 shots per game, he takes 18 and gives some action to Reaves, Rui, etc.,?

Maybe he can play better off-ball as well?

We're expecting LeBron to do it, which is fair. But at what point does Luka get some of the blame? He's had games where he's shooting 40% from the field and quite a few shooting 33% from the field whilst taking 25+ shots. If LeBron gets criticized for his bad play, he actually has an excuse: He's won a title for the Lakers before and he's older. So what's Luka's excuse?

Time for him to play more efficient and also play a bit more off-ball.

 

All true, but Luka isn't a good off-ball player. His off-ball activity is subpar (honestly, bad) while his superpower is obviously the on-ball playmaking. So it's tricky taking that away from him. He's also more efficient shooting pull-up threes vs catch-and-shoot threes, opposed to AR who shoots nearly 10% higher on catch-and-shoot threes.

 

luka doesn't even lead the league in FGA, and is basically right in line with all the other top scorers. he doesn't shoot too much.

his percentages are also right in line with everyone else at that volume save SGA, who gets to shove off on every play for a nice, wide open look.

he maybe takes too many threes, but despite our griping, he hits 36% of them, and has one of the highest TS% among high volume scorers--i think only curry is higher among that group.

when you employ doncic, the ball is in his hands. do we wish he could also be a movement shooter off the ball? yes! is he? absolutely not. is that going to happen? probably never. so work with what he is: the best on-ball offensive hub in the league (jokic doesn't count, as he's a point center and needs the ball delivered to him, and SGA doesn't count bc it's fake lol).

 

Right, and after his slump in November/December, he's been shooting over 40% from three and he's really been our only consistent sourcebof offense. If anything, he should have shot more. Things will change with AR returning back to form, and I'm hoping LeBron would settle for fewer shots, but not Luka who's been on a tear.

BTW the narrative by the media that Luka is already declining is hilarious. He's leading the NBA in scoring with elite efficiency.