Luka Doncic Discussion: Lean Mean Slovenian Machine

Bad game last night. Everyone has them, this was just his first truly bad one since he got here. He started to get in a little rhythm after the FTV parade, but overall it just wasn't there. Props for owning it in post game.

I would like to understand this


This and then Steph getting the bogus whistle after playing dead after heaving up the 3 and getting rewarded with a trip to the line were two of the worst things that happen to his approach last night, even though he was able to get the same call as Steph on the very next play. I thought it resulted in him really ramping up the foul hunting and further prevented him from finding any kind of flow out there.


He can make it up by putting NO out of their misery early tonight.

 

I think the main thing is him getting used to a new system that isn't built around him. He's coming back from injury missing the most time he has missed as a pro. Lots of uncertainty this year for him. JJ definitely needs to run more sets to get him comfortable. That will help. But, honestly, most of it will be just retooling things in the offseason. They are learning on the fly.

 

The FG% is because he's playing in an imperfect system. He went from dominating the ball in Mavericks to having to share it with a superior all-time player and an All-Star level player in Reaves. Then you add in the fact that there isn't a good center on the team so he can't run the plays he's mostly familiar and beneficial with.

I do get annoyed that he plays inefficiently at times but we gotta be cognizant that there wasn't enough time to build around him.

I think the Mark Williams trade is coming back to hurt the Lakers... Past 15 games, Mark Williams is averaging 16/12/3 on 70% shooting. I thought the Lakers should have just gambled on it because Hayes was not the answer... Mark Williams would have given Luka what he needed and the Lakers would have the big they needed.

 

I just wish he would take the easy layups he has under the rim that he has seemingly a handful of times per game. Instead, he does the super slow euro, fake, tries to get contact or does a kick out… i get so nervous when he draws those fouls bc he could get injured considering how often he does it.

great FT shooting for a guy that shoots under 80% there. Horrible fg percentage again just like last night.

i agree that Hayes really isn’t that guy for Luka, but he’s all we got rn..

 

lakers shooting curse never fails

 

Huh? Luka shot 10/21 he was one make away from being 50 percent.

Luka had 35 points on 10/21 shooting. I swear some people are never happy. Kobe had a lot of shooting nights like this btw.

 

my mistake!!! I seriously think i saw whatever he was shooting in the Q1 or 1H, and didn’t bother to look how it ended. Thanks for the correction. 10/21 fg shooting, sorry Luka.

 

Yeah, he had another dismal first quarter. He missed his first 7 shots, I was worried. Seemed like JJ gave him a bit of an extended rest and when he came back in, he went 3 for 4 and was back on track for the rest of the game.

 

He played in the post during the second half and good things happened !

 

Overall passing up layups for 3pts shots has killed the game of basketball

 

yeah, it's easy to forget that we just made a huge, franchise-altering trade and haven't really had a chance to consider the best schemes and roster construction.

this has struck me a lot since the trade, and i should have recognized sooner how similar luka and kobe are. both are guys who aren't afraid of bad stats and are just ultra competitive. from a media/fan perspective, they're always going to have detractors with low-hanging fruit to pick (shot selection, defense, whatever), and those detractors exist mostly due to these guys' tremendous success at the expense of their favorite teams.

 

Thanks for showing up against the Pellys, fatty.

 

I really like Luka's post game - the fatty frame is difficult to dislodge and he just doesn't get bothered when he goes for the turn arounds

In terms of organized offense - i'd like to see this more. When the offense ain't working either for the team or the player, got to throw a different pitch and right now even Haye's lob game isn't being used so it's all drive and kick right now.

 

We need a superstar game out of Luka tomorrow!

 

Fat Luka game sonning every defender

 

Taking a moment to appreciate having a guy who can have as bad of a 1st Q as Luka had Friday night and STILL crank out 35/6/6 on 10/21 shooting with 11/11 FTs. Manna from heaven as Rob would say.



More from Cuban on the trade with Screaming A

 

True but the one thing about Kobe is he's going to try and get his back on the defensive end. It's more frustrating to watch Luka toss up a bad shot and then on the opposite end, gives up a wide open shot.

And Kobe played in the era where everyone had lower FG%. Nowadays, it seems if you shoot below 50% from the field, you're inefficient. I remember when 45% FG% was good for guards and wings. Now, fans call them inefficient.

 

I love it sooooo much that Cuban couldn’t stop one of his worst nightmares from coming true.

 

Ahh, the times when guys were actually allowed to play defense…