Luka Doncic Discussion: Lean Mean Slovenian Scoring Machine

Sigh .... AR solid in the 10th spot 97,000 above 11th.

 

Had to mention AR in the Luka thread. What do the kids call it nowadays? Glazing? That's it. Maybe simping?

ROFL.

 

LOL it was up there in the votes. Don’t be a d***. Again.

 

Does anyone else feel like Luka isn't having a great season? This is a pretty basic breakdown:

- Almost half of his games have a FG percentage of >50%
- He has attempted more than 10 3pt'ers, 15 times this season (15/23 games)
- In 13/23 games he is shooting sub 36% from 3

Much of his offensive issues are coming from the fact that he is spamming his step back 3pt'ers. To start the season both Luka and Reaves were attacking the rim and finishing at league leading rates. That's really changed and I think spamming 3's makes us a much easier unit to defend.

From the playmaking point of view, the eye test to me shows that he isn't really getting the most out of our guys. We have a 45% 3pt shooter in Rui, an automatic midrange PnR partner in Ayton, high flying Hayes, Lebron as a leak out outlet in transition, LaRavia who should be letting it rip. In my opinion with this team, Luka should be averaging 10-12 assists a night. It just feels like none of our parts are being maximised and instead we have our main guys taking turns iso'ing at the top of the key.

Maybe JJ is to blame, but it's disappointing. I think this team is better than it's showing right now. We have an MVP caliber guy, 2 good second options in Lebron and Reaves, two automatic shooters in Ayton and Rui, some good role players in Smart, LaRavia, Gabe and Hayes.

Defensively we need to obviously improve, but Luka also hasn't been up to scratch from the high expectations we should have of him.

 

statistically, so far, the only season he had better than this one was 23-24 (and he's had several great seasons already).



that matches what i've seen. his flaws have always been and probably will always be the same. his strengths are basically not counterable, though. i think it's an imperfect roster and a coach who hasn't figured out how to maximize his talent--the latter can be excused a bit due to all the injuries, but not entirely.

i think the the three spamming is because we either don't have or haven't found the right counters to the full-on blitz. early in the season, teams seemed to be testing him, thinking (as if they were nico harrison) that he couldn't bury them by himself if they just played straight up. that was a mistake. they adjusted, and we've struggled.

but again, luka's the least of our problems. feels a bit like when folks complained about kobe's "hero ball" post-shaq. possible this is because it's our best option sometimes. the team is much, much better when he's on the floor, no matter who else is out there.

 

If this team had the personnel to play good D(top 10), we would be in second place behind OKC.
Our offense could be better, like when JJ runs plays consistently throughout the game, but Luka most definitely is not the problem.

 

L. M. A .O. …. it’s already started in that bastion of entitled we’re Laker fans and deserve better …. negativity, LG, with a thread title of Ready for the reboot. Meaning trading Luka and blowing it all up as Nico was right you can’t win a title with him. 2 pages and counting with probably more than half the replies agreeing.

 

I don’t agree with LG at all. Luka is one of the best players in the league.

But being effective doesn’t mean he is playing as good as he could be. He needs to either get his 3pt shot up, or stop spamming step back 3’s without going into any organised offense.

Also I think he is getting his but our other players need to be involved and maximised more.

I’ve also been highly critical of AD and Lebron in the past too. When you’re the leader, you shoulder the blame.

 

I refuse to give any stat called LEBRON any credibility, and he's my favorite player.

Just weird.

 

he's been off since he took the break for the birth of his daughter

playing injured? just a slump?

 

8 turn overs

-15

 

why'd he leave in the second half for that time period? i didn't watch the 4th. luka was our only + player in the first half.

anyway, too many turnovers for like, the 5th straight game. not sure how much it matters, though, as we're getting our doors blown off. and no, the defense isn't all his fault, reggie miller. he was one of the better ones on that end last night.

 

Agreed, Luka's TO is a real back breaker rather than his defense. Those cross court "thread the needle passes" wasn't working and then gave Detroit easy transition buckets.

 

Too many TO's. Missed FT's. He takes too many 3's. Luka needs to live free-throw line extended down & operate in the post more, IMO.

He isn't a bad defender. You'll see him get blown by by more athletic wings because he can't move laterally very well, but he's great at bodying up and using his length to contest shots. In a high leverage PO series, he'd be fine.

I think he's better suited with another 2 way wing ala Kawhi Leonard in his prime that can do things at an all NBA level on both ends. Or a Mobley, Adebayo type All-Star big with athletes shooters that could space the s*** out of the floor for him.

Just my thoughts. He isn't perfect, but nobody is, and we complain a lot as Lakers fans. I remember some of Kobe's horrible shooting games; those were fun times on the old forum. Happens.

 

yeah, the gameday forum complaints seem almost copy-pasted from the prime kobe era.

the turnovers are out of control right now--he always turns it over but not like this. and he's in a long-range shooting slump, something that also happens to him for a period every year. he usually corrects and starts hitting, though.

i really think in the halfcourt defense he's been pretty good. he doesn't always get back in transition, and that sucks and should be fixed.

 

dagger in my heart. luka has lost IT

 

Ummm …. that’s:

 

On let's not keeping bagging on Luka, surprised no one posted this trash talk to Dennis:

 

that's cold.

 

luka HATES the german team. he almost beat them by himself this past summer

explains the beef with schroeder and that time he got into it with mo wagner