Luka defense is atrocious, now with stats

[90sgoat]

Luka is an absolute selfish diva lol.

Just flat out refuses to play even the minimum of defense.

Honestly I think this team does not like Luka at all and that it is probably equal right back. It's pretty clear that his teammates don't want to play defense when Luka is completely hogging the ball, but Luka will not pass the ball when they're not playing defense, so it's stuck there.

It was monumental mistake to trade away Boban and DFS. "Nico" the shoe salesman is probably the worst GM of all time.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GIAZHFlbcAAzixG?format=jpg&name=small

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GIAZHFibAAAy7D0?format=jpg&name=small

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GIAZHFjbAAQUglM?format=jpg&name=small

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GIAZHFjbAAATZWm?format=jpg&name=small

[SATAN]

You left out the stats part...

[SATAN]

Recently, ESPN analyst Tim MacMahon revealed a statement from a scout who would define him as the worst transition defender in the league.

I talked to a scout about his defense and bluntly, he’s the worst transition defender, even the worst in history. He simply told me to watch him and I would understand immediately
- Scout NBA

Luka struggles to be decisive on both halves of the court: in transition, he often lags behind his teammates, forcing them to close his gaps, and he tends to vehemently protest with the referees, which impacts his defense.

Players like Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Jayson Tatum are the only ones who can be a factor on both halves of the court, the few remaining in an NBA always geared towards spectacle. Luka Doncic may win an MVP without excellent defense, but he will also need that for an NBA championship.

:confusedshrug:

[SATAN]

While addressing reporters on Tuesday, Doncic took ownership of his defensive performances, saying he needs to improve.

"I've been playing basketball for 3 straight years," he said. "4 weeks in between it was free. Sometimes it's really hard for me to play really hard on both ends. But obviously, the defensive end I gotta be way better.”

:confusedshrug:

[Xiao Yao You]

You left out the stats part...

stats don't seem to matter when you stan The Bum

[SouBeachTalents]

I'm not even disputing the OP, I just find it funny you see very recent articles stating the opposite.

https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2024/1/16/24039623/lowe-luka-doncic-defense-much-improved-dallas-mavericks-nba

https://www.si.com/nba/mavericks/news/mavs-star-luka-doncic-improved-defense-shouldnt-be-overlooked

[90sgoat]

It's like Luka thinks that the same doesn't go for everyone else.

If you choose to dominate every possession on offense then you won't have energy for defense.

[90sgoat]

I'm not even disputing the OP, I just find it funny you see very recent articles stating the opposite.

https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/2024/1/16/24039623/lowe-luka-doncic-defense-much-improved-dallas-mavericks-nba

https://www.si.com/nba/mavericks/news/mavs-star-luka-doncic-improved-defense-shouldnt-be-overlooked

He began the season playing better defense.

He's gotten much better at the technical aspect of playing defense in the NBA, it's just that now, the simply doesn't play defense. Not at all. No effort at all.

[SATAN]

stats don't seem to matter when you stan The Bum

The irony of you saying this if hilarious. Jordan Clarkson goes for a near 40 point triple doube, puts the team on his back for the W yet it's still all slander.

And yes I know he isn't a very good defender either.

[Axe]

The irony of you saying this if hilarious.
:oldlol:

[Xiao Yao You]

The irony of you saying this if hilarious. Jordan Clarkson goes for a near 40 point triple doube, puts the team on his back for the W yet it's still all slander.

And yes I know he isn't a very good defender either.


Among the 83 players with at least 12 FGA per game, Jordan Clarkson ranks 82nd in true shooting percentage

Among the 94 players with at least 30 MPG, he ranks 86th in Defensive Rating

Among the 134 players shooting at least 4.5 3’s per game, JC ranks 132nd at 29.5%

Among the 135 players with at least 1,100 minutes played, Clarkson ranks 120th in LeBron. Most of the players worse than him are 25 years or younger.

52.2% of his shots are after 3+ dribbles (15.1% are after 7+ dribbles!). 50.4% of his shots are against tight or very tight defense. He touches the ball for 6+ seconds 23% of the time!
Jordan Clarkson ranks in the 36.8th percentile as a pick and roll ball handler and the 25.8th percentile as a spot up shooter
On defense, Jordan Clarkson ranks in the 39.1 percentile in isolation, 32.1 percentile in the pick and roll, and 11.3 percentile against a spot up shooter


Jazz (out of 309)

19. Lauri Markkanen (23.6)
40. Collin Sexton (47.3)
88. Walker Kessler (101.5)
118. Kris Dunn (126.4)
150. John Collins (150.8)
175. Talen Horton-Tucker (172.9)
238. Jordan Clarkson (227.0)
270. Keyonte George (252.8)

No matter how you spin it, he’s just bad this year. And his on court attitude can be even worse at times. Like the team leading 36 minutes in last night’s loss to Orlando? A game where he scored just 5 points on 10 shots. His demeanor is of someone who is clearly done. That’s just one game you say? Ok well over the last 11 games he’s playing almost 32 minutes a night, shooting the ball nearly 13 times a game, and is shooting just 36% from the field and 28% from 3, oh and he’s an average of -5.2 per game over that span. It’s pretty hard to win games or develop young talent with heavy minutes going towards that kind of production.




You are correct he has put the team on his back and they've been almost perfect in their tanking post trade deadline! :cheers:

[SATAN]

I mentioned one game. You refuse to give him credit for anything at all. Crazy.

[SouBeachTalents]

I mentioned one game. You refuse to give him credit for anything at all. Crazy.
Yes he is. He's honestly 3ball level, just not as much of an asshole.

[FKAri]

This thread somehow became about Jordan Clarkson.

[Xiao Yao You]

I mentioned one game. You refuse to give him credit for anything at all. Crazy.

why should a guy get credit for 1 game when he's been one of the worst players in the league? **** him!

[BarberSchool]

He’s either the best offensive player in the league, or 2nd best. He can score at a league leading rate with great efficiency, on literally every single all-NBA defender out there. And he can kill you with passing when you double.

But he’s also one of the 5-10 worst transition defenders in the league (the rest are all aging bigs), and he’s also among the worst perimeter defenders among players designated “guard”. Physically, he’s either a chubby SF, or a very small, heavy PF.

He is really best suited (and weighs enough with strong enough legs) for guarding small c’s, PF’s or slow SF. When he is matched up with guard or wing players with quick first steps, he is a bullfighter. Pretends but lets them right past, hoping lively or Gafford clean it up. Somebody make a Spain joke/meme with that bullfighter comparison.

[90sgoat]

He’s either the best offensive player in the league, or 2nd best. He can score at a league leading rate with great efficiency, on literally every single all-NBA defender out there. And he can kill you with passing when you double.

But he’s also one of the 5-10 worst transition defenders in the league (the rest are all aging bigs), and he’s also among the worst perimeter defenders among players designated “guard”. Physically, he’s either a chubby SF, or a very small, heavy PF.

He is really best suited (and weighs enough with strong enough legs) for guarding small c’s, PF’s or slow SF. When he is matched up with guard or wing players with quick first steps, he is a bullfighter. Pretends but lets them right past, hoping lively or Gafford clean it up. Somebody make a Spain joke/meme with that bullfighter comparison.

Definitely.

The thing is, in years past, and in FIBA, there would be a big guy to clean up but there isn't in the NBA.

Even so, if Luka is going to be playing this little defense, you need to start him at PF and have him guard them. Then you need to have 2 guards. The AI recipe.

[Lebron23]

It's like Luka thinks that the same doesn't go for everyone else.

If you choose to dominate every possession on offense then you won't have energy for defense.

I agree with your 2nd sentence

[Carbine]

Definitely.

The thing is, in years past, and in FIBA, there would be a big guy to clean up but there isn't in the NBA.

Even so, if Luka is going to be playing this little defense, you need to start him at PF and have him guard them. Then you need to have 2 guards. The AI recipe.

None of this matters because teams will search him out via pick and roll and force the switch, now you have the same situation + a smaller overall team to rebound.

[ImKobe]

It's like Luka thinks that the same doesn't go for everyone else.

If you choose to dominate every possession on offense then you won't have energy for defense.

No shit, but OP's whole thread is based on a sample size of 4 games, against great offensive teams no less. We all know Luka's not a good defensive player and that he does get targeted, but he's still a massive fking positive on his team and not the reason why they're losing.

Luka's 3rd in EPM behind SGA & Giannis despite his defense. He's not even among the worst defenders in the league in terms of EPM, he's in the 54th percentile (-0.4) which isn't great by any means, but he's also #1 in offensive EPM (+7.8). He has a +6.3 Net Rating with the defense only being 1.5 points per 100 better when he's on the bench, so clearly the poor defense that's being played by the TEAM is not all on him.

Looking at the stats, Opponent FG%, 3PA and 3PT% are all above league average, and they get killed on the boards. Luka's bad defense is being way overhyped on this board. It's a team problem.

[hold this L]

He’s either the best offensive player in the league, or 2nd best. He can score at a league leading rate with great efficiency, on literally every single all-NBA defender out there. And he can kill you with passing when you double.

But he’s also one of the 5-10 worst transition defenders in the league (the rest are all aging bigs), and he’s also among the worst perimeter defenders among players designated “guard”. Physically, he’s either a chubby SF, or a very small, heavy PF.

He is really best suited (and weighs enough with strong enough legs) for guarding small c’s, PF’s or slow SF. When he is matched up with guard or wing players with quick first steps, he is a bullfighter. Pretends but lets them right past, hoping lively or Gafford clean it up. Somebody make a Spain joke/meme with that bullfighter comparison.

He's the best scorer in the league right now, not the best offensive player. Those are two different things. He's the biggest ballhog in NBA history that doesn't allow his teammates to shine.

[Wardell Curry]

He's the best scorer in the league right now, not the best offensive player. Those are two different things. He's the biggest ballhog in NBA history that doesn't allow his teammates to shine.

He's right up there with Westbrook and Harden in terms of time of possession in the relatively modern era.

[FKAri]

He’s either the best offensive player in the league, or 2nd best. He can score at a league leading rate with great efficiency, on literally every single all-NBA defender out there. And he can kill you with passing when you double.

But he’s also one of the 5-10 worst transition defenders in the league (the rest are all aging bigs), and he’s also among the worst perimeter defenders among players designated “guard”. Physically, he’s either a chubby SF, or a very small, heavy PF.

He is really best suited (and weighs enough with strong enough legs) for guarding small c’s, PF’s or slow SF. When he is matched up with guard or wing players with quick first steps, he is a bullfighter. Pretends but lets them right past, hoping lively or Gafford clean it up. Somebody make a Spain joke/meme with that bullfighter comparison.

Agreed but a few weeks ago we saw him playing much better D which puts to rest the "he just isn't capable of being better" idea. It's more of a question of how much energy does he want to spend on that end and then what's the tradeoff between that and his offensive output.

The trouble is you can't hide guys on defense in today's league. You can't have a system like Iverson had in Philly where you could hide him on D by surrounding him with defensive guys and he could focus on just carrying the offense.


He's the best scorer in the league right now, not the best offensive player. Those are two different things. He's the biggest ballhog in NBA history that doesn't allow his teammates to shine.

You could rephrase it as, he's the best on-ball offensive player in the league. Nobody can match his combo of scoring and passing. He's also not bad off the ball but most of this talk about him ball hogging isn't really relevant because their offense works well. The problem is on defense and when Kyrie is beside him the other 3 guys now need to play out of their minds to plug all the holes.

[90sgoat]

It's a team problem.

Yes, it's a team problem, his teammates doesn't like him and don't want to bust their ass for a selfish white ballhog.

That's why it was such a huge mistake to trade DFS, Reggie Bullock and Boban etc, because those guys seemed to like each other and they played hard and made Luka play hard.

It's plain obvious to me that Luka and his team are disconnected. They don't like him, he doesn't care about them.

If you want to have Luka play like this, then his supporting cast can't be average black players, because they feel emasculated by a white dude hogging the ball.

[hold this L]

Yes, it's a team problem, his teammates doesn't like him and don't want to bust their ass for a selfish white ballhog.

That's why it was such a huge mistake to trade DFS, Reggie Bullock and Boban etc, because those guys seemed to like each other and they played hard and made Luka play hard.

It's plain obvious to me that Luka and his team are disconnected. They don't like him, he doesn't care about them.

If you want to have Luka play like this, then his supporting cast can't be average black players, because they feel emasculated by a white dude hogging the ball.

Why are you making it a race thing?

:biggums:


He's right up there with Westbrook and Harden in terms of time of possession in the relatively modern era.
He's already in 2 or 3 of the highest postseasons in usg in NBA history, and he's played in the PS only 3-4 times. :lol He's the white Harden but doesn't turn into a mental midget at the last 5 minutes of the game.

[ImKobe]

Yes, it's a team problem, his teammates doesn't like him and don't want to bust their ass for a selfish white ballhog.

That's why it was such a huge mistake to trade DFS, Reggie Bullock and Boban etc, because those guys seemed to like each other and they played hard and made Luka play hard.

It's plain obvious to me that Luka and his team are disconnected. They don't like him, he doesn't care about them.

If you want to have Luka play like this, then his supporting cast can't be average black players, because they feel emasculated by a white dude hogging the ball.

Wow, and how do you know what his teammates are thinking without being on the team? Do you have a source for this?

You already answered the question I was going to ask with the bolded. They don't have the personnel to not get beat on the glass and the perimeter. Has nothing to do with Luka. All stats point to Luka being a huge net-positive for his team, even with the poor defense. The help just isn't there for them to be any better defensively really, and Kidd is not a championship-level coach.

It's fine to criticize Luka, but he's the least of the Mavs' problems. They're right where they're supposed to be when you look at the talent on the team. They might end up as the 6th seed which sounds about right.

[90sgoat]

Wow, and how do you know what his teammates are thinking without being on the team? Do you have a source for this?


I have eyes, I can spot body language and facial expressions, it's not rocket science. There is no excitement and enthusiasm on this team.

Luka and DFS were friends, many sites even say best friends. Boban was popular with everyone and another of Luka's friends on the team, that is also well documented.

The new guys simply do not have that connection with Luka, it is obvious. If you like someone, you're willing to overlook their faults to some degree, but if you don't like them, you get resentful if you think they're selfish.

Luka is selfish. It's not fun to play with Luka like that.

DFS and Bullock were also bad offensive players. Luka maximized their earning potential. It's not the same with guys like Kuzma, who turned down the Mavs.

[90sgoat]

Why are you making it a race thing?

There's definitely a racial aspect to this.

[SATAN]

He's the biggest ballhog in NBA history that doesn't allow his teammates to shine.

This.